How to Become an Interior Designer
Discover how to become an interior designer and turn your love for creating beautiful, functional spaces into a fulfilling career.
Summary
– Interior designers focus on creating functional and aesthetically pleasing interior spaces, considering design principles, client needs, and safety regulations. They must complete a degree or certificate in interior design, gain hands-on experience, and pass the NCIDQ certification exam to become licensed professionals.
– The career offers various paths, including roles such as drafter, furniture designer, and lighting designer. Interior designers often work closely with architects and contractors, selecting materials, furnishings, and ensuring code compliance while crafting personalized spaces.
– Interior designers typically earn an average salary of $72,849, with top earners making up to $112,515. With professional growth and increasing expertise, designers can expand their earning potential and establish a strong reputation in the industry.
Q: Which degree is best for interior design?
Most interior designers hold a bachelor’s degree in interior design or a bachelor’s degree in interior architecture. However, it is possible to earn an interior design certification with a degree in a field outside of interior design. Students who initially earn a degree in a field other than interior design must complete undergraduate courses in interior design, such as an interior design certificate, before they can qualify for certification.
Is Interior Design a good career?
Interior design is a popular career choice because the profession provides an opportunity to work in a creative field while earning a competitive salary. In addition, career advancement opportunities are largely dependent on an individual’s ability to draw positive attention to their work and develop a positive professional reputation.
What Is an Interior Designer?
When people think of an interior designer, they often picture someone working in a stylish loft apartment or designing gorgeous Mediterranean-style homes featured in magazines. While this stereotype holds true for many successful designers who work in high-end homes and commercial spaces, the profession is much more diverse and multifaceted than that.
According to the Council for Interior Design Qualification, an interior designer is a professional who brings artistic vision, aesthetic sensibility, and specialized knowledge to the planning and design of interior environments. Their designs should enhance the function, safety, and human experience of their clients’ spaces while also meeting the objectives and requirements of the project.
What Does an Interior Designer Do?
Interior designers develop design concepts based on client input, ensure compliance with relevant building codes, and select furnishings, materials, and finishes. They create design renderings using CAD or sketches, collaborate with architects and contractors, and provide on-site supervision from start to finish.
The primary goal of an interior designer is to make buildings beautiful, functional, safe, and sustainable through carefully executed design that reflects the personal style and preferences of their client. The process of bringing this vision to life is complex, and interior designers must be experts in all aspects of design including space planning, color, lighting, acoustics, furniture, materials and finishes, electrical solutions, window treatments, access/visibility considerations, sustainable practices, universal design, and more.
Interior Designer Education and Background
69%
32%
How to Become a Certified Interior Designer
1. Earn an Interior Design Degree or Certificate
To be eligible for NCIDQ certification, candidates must complete at least 60 semester or 90 quarter credit hours of college-level interior design coursework from an accredited associate’s or bachelor’s degree, certificate, or diploma program.
2. Gain Supervised Professional Experience
Every candidate for NCIDQ certification must accumulate a significant amount of work experience hours that are earned and affirmed by a certified design professional, such as an NCIDQ Certified Interior Designer. The amount of supervised experience a candidate is required to complete is determined by the level of education obtained.
Candidates with a bachelor’s or master’s degree in Interior Design from a CIDA-accredited program are required to earn 3,520 supervised work hours (two years full-time). A candidate with an associate’s degree, certificate, or diploma must earn 5,280 work hours (three years full-time) to be eligible for certification.
NCIDQ Eligibility Requirements
What to Do After Interior Design School
3. Pass a Certification Exam
Careers in Interior Design
Drafter
Environmental Designer
Exhibit Designer
An exhibit designer creates displays, models, and interactive exhibits for commercial trade shows, museum exhibitions, product launches, pop-up retail spaces, and other temporary installations. These events are often created to promote a business or organization, highlight a company’s brand, or educate consumers about certain products or services.
Furniture Designer
A furniture designer creates and manufactures items such as tables, chairs, beds, cabinets, and other furniture. Similar to interior designers who work in residential or commercial design firms, a furniture designer typically works with clients to meet their individual style preferences and needs through the creation of custom home furnishings.
Interior Decorator
Kitchen and Bath Designer
Lighting Designer
Lighting designers specialize in the design, construction, and installation of interior lighting systems. Lighting designers generally work with owners of commercial, retail, industrial, and other professional workplaces to create functional lighting design systems, improve energy consumption, and enhance the appearance of interior space.
Interior Designer vs Interior Decorator: What's the Difference?
While the roles of interior decorators and interior designers share some similarities, there are key differences. Interior decorators focus on the aesthetic aspects of a space, while interior designers have formal education and training that allows them to handle more complex design projects, including structural changes and compliance with building codes.
Explore the key differences between interior decorators and interior designers, including their education, skills, and the types of projects they typically work on.
Interior Designer Salary
According to ZipRecruiter, the average nationwide salary for an Interior Designer was $72,849 in June 2024, which is the equivalent of $35.00 per hour. Interior designers in the top 10 percent nationally earned an average annual wage of $112,515.
An interior designer’s earning power is highly dependent on their artistic skill and level of experience. This means that there are significant opportunities in the job market for interior designers to earn more as they grow their reputation, cultivate a larger clientele, and develop a larger body of interior design work.
$56,698
$90,665
