Becoming An Interior Designer: The Road to Tread (Important Link Roundup)
If interior designing has crossed your mind and you feel that it is the same as interior decorating, then think again. Considering a career in interior design calls for a clear comprehension of that thin line dividing interior design from interior decorating. As a student that is about to major in interior design, you must study the fundamentals of a constructed environment such as arrangement, scale, proportion, acoustics, light, textures, temperature, colors and materials.
You are also bound to develop surroundings with a pleasing and creative ambience. Understanding the function of a room, the furniture units within and the accessories are also essential.
What to Study
Generally, the courses in interior design are those that relate to building construction, design (but of course), furniture design, the history of design, project management, to name a few.
There have been a lot of changes in recent years pertaining to the interior design profession. These days, interior designers realized the real freedom that they have and have come up with varying approaches in design. There is now a dizzying variety of interior design courses and what is just constant now are the basics or the very fundamentals of design and architecture. These have remained so because consistency still needs to be established in this field, otherwise, with everyone abusing their free reign, interior design fails to become cohesive.
Primarily, most interior design schools took on the decorative path. The courses emphasized on furniture and surface embellishments in a given space. Lately, interior design has gone through the architectural path, and with this shift came spatial design and perfect control of the whole environment.
One of the leading interior design schools in the country is Pratt Institute. Take this school for instance, it offers students with a BFA degree in Interior Design. It also has its own version of the MS in Interior Design. The courses under these degrees are architecture-centered as it is focused on spatial design instead of the usual surface embellishment. The human spirit as is taught, can be affected by elements of interior design such as light sources, scale, space, proportions, texture, colors, materials and configuration.
If you major in Interior Design these days, you can begin working as an interior designer right after graduation. You can do this as an individual or you can be hired by the biggest architectural firms in the country. You can also be a company representative in fabric or furniture design. A few choose to tread the window, bathroom fixture, door, or lighting fixture manufacturing field. The elite few get to enter into the design journalism or criticism world.
Whether you want to learn interior design for your own knowledge or if you really want to make a career out of it, you can find training programs that can be finished in as short as 18 weeks!
There are online courses which were structured to fit your work as well as family commitments. There are also online tutors who can help you develop your knowledge and skills in interior design. Compared to the 18 or more weeks that are spent in traditional interior design schools, the online setup is a lot shorter. Some offer as little as six course modules. Expect to complete a project, though, just to test that you have understood – and not slept through – the training.
In those weeks, expect to learn a comprehensive curriculum which will lay the very foundation that you will use in designing home or building interiors. Basic courses explore the concept of design, its process, producing a working plan, and eventually providing the final sample board. Learn also to draft your very first client contract. So, are you ready to become one of the best interior designers?
