Amazing Career in Interior Designing

Who This Career is For?

This career is for those people who are passionate about design and are artistic. Since this career involves designing homes/properties, and then executing those designs to create the environment that the client wants, the person should have excellent management and communication skills, as well as be creative with his/her work.

Those people who are good at maintaining their spending according to a budget as well as people who have a good knowledge about various materials are people who should defiantly be looking at interior designing as a potential career path. Moreover, people who have an eye for detail and enjoys solving puzzles would be an ideal interior designer.

Want to know more about it?

Interior designer is not new to us, as all our lives we have been organizing and designing the places around us. Interior designing is basically shaping the look of an area to create a pleasing aesthetic for the client.

There are many areas that the interior designer may want to specialize in such as residential (houses, flats, canal boats, and anywhere else used for domestic accommodation), workplaces (includes factories, offices, and any number of other settings), temporary exhibition designing (museums, galleries, and a wide range of other private and public settings), commercial (includes retail shops and shopping malls, warehouses, conference centers), leisure (cinemas, theatres, and gyms), hospitality (hotels, restaurants, pubs, cafes, and nightclubs), education (schools and universities), healthcare (local health centers, hospitals, nursing and care homes, and private clinics).

A typical cycle of an interior designer involves many processes. Firstly, the interior designer meets with the clients and discusses the needs of the client, the budget and time available to complete the project. Initial ideas are presented to the clients as well as visiting the site area. After determining the client’s needs, the interior designer needs to research what he/she wants to do with that space. The interior decorator should consider building regulations, planning considerations etc. while researching.

After this a proposal needs to be created which will include producing sketches and a detailed outline of what the interior designer plans to do with the space, as well as patterns and designs that he/she intends on using. The costs and timescale are then monitored to make sure that everything is going according to plan. The next step is for the interior designer to select a group of contractors and suppliers based on the budget.

After the suppliers and contractors are selected, work on the project begins and the on site supervision starts. When the work is complete, the client is shown the final result as well as updating them on the use of the space; the maintenance needed as well as any safety issues that they have to keep in mind. If the client has any problems or is not happy with the work done, the interior designer rectifies this.

What are Salary Prospects?

In India, Depending on the employer and one's experience the salary, including bonuses and commission for assistant interior designers ranges between Rs. 30,000 to Rs.40,000 per month. For senior interior designers, the salary, including bonuses and commission is approximately Rs. 800,000 to Rs. 3,000,000 per annum.

How is Life?

Life for the newly starting interior designers is very hard because reputation and experience takes a while to build. However, once you get past the initial years, the career prospects are huge. From starting up your own firm and taking on various different projects, to being hired by big architectural firms to cope with the large project load they have, an  interior designer is in much demand due to the retail boom. Interior designers usually divide their time between the office and the on site location.

A large part of their time is spent in meetings with contractors, clients and suppliers, and there may be large amounts of travelling involved in this career. Interior designers are usually required to wear protective equipment such as safety hats when there is a lot of structural work involved. Since the design industry is a creative industry, the interior decorators are allowed to wear whatever they want, expressing themselves. Interior design is about 90% networking, marketing, selling, knowing the right people 7% paperwork and 3% design.

What Perks come along with this career?

Being an interior designer is a fun and creative job. There is no monotonous work as every single client has different expectations and this makes sure that the work keeps changing and is kept interesting. The work is also very rewarding because of the different number of options which an interior designer can specialize in. There are many different paths that an interior designer can take.

Moreover, the salary scope for an interior designer is very high, thus making it a very attractive field to enter. There is also a lot of advancement in the interior design career. You may start off as a junior designer and end up as a partner in a firm. Along with that, interior designing lets you be free and allows the ‘creative genius’ in you run wild.

Which Downsides are there in this career?

An interior designer has no fixed clientele. Only when new projects come about, will the interior designer get a chance to work. The industry is also fast moving, which means that the interior designer has to be aware of the different trends and fads to keep evolving their designs.

Customers may also be difficult in terms of convincing that your designs are the best. The interior designer has to be very confident about the design so that he/she can sell it to the client. Along with this, studying interior design is very expensive as well as difficult because of the constant portfolio reviews.

How is Competition?

Becoming an interior designer is not easy because the industry is closed. However, if you have the basic principles and the passion, you can become an interior designer. One way of entering the industry and creating a good impression with potential future employers is to get internships to gain real world knowledge. Between 2008 and 2018, the interior design employment was expected to grow from 19%-20% thus proving that the industry is growing.

Interior design does not have the structured career path or clear promotion-based approach found in many other industries. This is partly due to the very diverse nature of the design world and its liking for self-employment, but also because this is a creative industry. To a large extent, interior designers must make their own career – initiative, ambition, and individual skill and creativity are the key to success. Luck can be an important factor too.

Locations where this career is good?

Interior designing has a lot of scope throughout the world; UK, US, India etc.

Career Path

Over the years this field has become more specialised and employers give more importance to academic and professional background. Studying engineering or architecture before specialising in interior design can be helpful. Many design schools offer interior designing courses and some offer masters in fine arts with a specialisation in interior design

Prime Institutes for this career

• National Institute Of Fashion Technology - New Delhi
• International Institute Of Fashion Technology (iift)
• Institute Of Indian Interior Designers
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More Institutes for this career

• Parsons The New School For Design
• Domus Academy