Workplace

Want to Become an Interior Designer? Here’s What You’ll Need to Do

Curated by Aline Chahine | 
September 20, 2022
| Est. Reading: 2 minutes

Interior design is a great career option for people who have an eye for beauty and would like to create great interiors for individuals or businesses. Another benefit of being an interior designer is that you can work on your own and decide your own hours. You can decide to take as much or as little as you want and still get paid handsomely. But you do have to know that it takes some time and work for you to become one. Let's take a look at what you'll need to do if you want to become an interior designer.

Create an Inventory of Your Skills

Interior designing is much more complex than people think. You will not only be choosing colors and furniture; you will need to have a solid understanding of architecture and build interiors for ergonomics and movement. You also have to understand how different structures work and know which design option would be viable and which one would not.

In addition to that, you need to have a good understanding of geometry and angles. You need good organizational skills to be able to coordinate all the different professionals you'll be working with and make sure that projects are completed on time. And since you'll be working personally with clients, you need to have good interpersonal and communication skills.

Get a Bachelor’s or an Associate’s Degree

You will need to start looking for either a bachelor’s degree or an associate’s degree. An associate’s degree would allow you to get a job faster and start building a portfolio, but the openings might be limited. A bachelor’s degree will allow you to work for virtually anybody and will give you a much wider array of skills, so this is something you should consider if you don’t mind waiting too long.

Once you’ve received your degree, you can complete your NCIDQ test and get certified. You will then be a fully licensed interior designer. Know, however, that the field is very technologically demanding, and you will need to invest in the proper gear to follow classes. You'll be learning how to use AutoCAD tools and 3D rendering/imaging programs, so you need a laptop for AutoCAD that is powerful enough to handle those things. 

Start on Your Own Projects

Building a portfolio is essential in this business, and you need to start building one as soon as possible if you want to get clients. You may also have to be ready to do some pro bono work at first so you can have projects to show and get references. Make sure that the pictures are professionally taken with great lighting. Also, make sure that your website looks professional as it will reflect your competences as a designer.

Interior design is a hot field with lots of demands and tons of possibilities. Look at what will be expected of you and ask people who are currently working in the field what their opinion is on it.

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