Interior design isn’t all about home renovations; it is a whole industry with a range of different roles and specialisms to choose from.

Interior designers can work on planning interior spaces and architecture. They might specialise in different industries spanning retail, commercial spaces and offices, home interiors, or restaurants or hotels; they might even specialise in environmental design or accessibility. At the core, an interior designer creates strong visual concepts that drive design choices and create cohesive, functional, and beautiful interiors for a variety of clients.

Our upcoming learning program is designed to give you a view and experience of what it is like to be an interior designer.

What does the day-to-day life of an interior designer look like?

Across a project lifecycle, an interior designer will be expected to:

  • Write pitches or bids for new projects - connecting to the needs and aspirations of the client.

  • Be attentive and listen to clients’ needs so that designs match the client’s taste, goals and budget.

  • Put together an initial concept and sketches, which set out the layout of the space and consider how it will be used.

  • Select and buy the furnishings and fixtures, furniture and materials that will be used to complete the project - ensuring everything works within the concept and is within budget.

  • Finalise designs in programmes such as autoCAD, Sketch-up, In-design.

  • Provide plans to and brief any contractors on the work they will need to complete.

  • Project planning and management; creating project plans, budgets and timelines.

  • Supervising and quality assuring the work within the space.

  • Helping the client feel involved and supported through the work undertaken; answering any questions and making sure the work meets the client’s standards.

Interior Designer

Interior designers (or Interior Architect) can design any room or space from scratch inside a house or building. This can often include structural alterations, such as removing walls and designing new kitchens or bathrooms as well as any decorative changes such as creating cabinetry and specifying custom carpentry. Often interior designers work closely in partnership with architects, technicians and builders in order to create the complete package of a space - so if your space requires a major renovation, an interior designer is often the best person to provide a full service to start at the initial planning stage, and take you all the way through to the stylistic finishing touches. Interior designers concern themselves with all things interior related and can provide services across all the other interior fields (including staging, decorating and styling). They can provide something as simple as a design of the layout of a room, décor designs for the interiors of a building and often include styling as the end result of a complete service.

Interior Decorator

In some areas of the United States, the title and some of the functions of an Interior Designer are protected and so a license is required to call yourself an Interior Designer. The same is not true for an Interior Decorator. An interior decorator’s job is to refresh your home without engaging in any structural renovation or alterations. They predominantly focus on the look and feel of a space and can advise on color, textiles or fabric, room layouts, furniture styles, and finishes. They would rarely propose an extension or building work, so they tend to work within the existing fabric of the building - unless working closely with building and design professionals such as architects, licensed interior designers, lighting and kitchen designers and suppliers. Unlike interior stylists, decorators typically have some job-related educational qualifications, such as a certificate or diploma. Or sometimes they have vocational training such as serving a number of years as an apprentice or assistant to an experienced interior designer or decorator.

Interior Stylist

Interior stylist: An interior stylist is often confused with an interior designer because interior designers can take on a stylist’s role. However, the majority of the time, their roles are quite different. The primary job of an interior stylist is to beautify spaces by either adding, editing or collating items. They focus on the dressing and entertainment value of an interior space, carefully selecting smaller accessory items, playing with current design trends or a particular design tools .This is the magic in their skill – they can change the complexion of any room without any structural alterations. For an interior designer, this would generally happen at the end of a longer project which has transformed a space - but is not the main focus of their work. An interior stylist’s role can vary quite a lot as their skills can be used to style commercial, retail and domestic projects. However, the majority of the time, interior stylists tend to work for event producers or magazines on editorial projects. Stylists tend to be hired to showcase products like furniture, art or stage a photoshoot. Many interior stylists can also work alongside developers to showcase the finished product of a home before the sale.

Interior Stagers

Interior Stagers are similar to stylists in the way that their work revolves around preparing a space for an event. An interior stager not only prepares a property for sale, but they also dress the home for the sale. In a similar way to stylists, their work aims to bring a high return of profit for the seller and in a stager’s case, of the property.

Which industries can an interior designer work in?

  • Residential Design: residential interior designers work with the private spaces inside households. They focus on making living spaces feel aesthetically pleasing and cohesive, and may design particular rooms, suggest alterations or design cabinetry or bespoke furniture.

  • Commercial Design: commercial interior designers plan public spaces. This could be for private businesses, public buildings, restaurants, hotels, or even hospitals and banks. Each field often requires specialist knowledge about how the space will be used by customers, employees and any specific legal or structural requirements.

What qualifications do you need to practice and become an Interior Designer?

  • Each country has its own rules around qualifications and accreditation in order to establish protective legislation for both clients and professionals. In the US, no state requires a license to work in Interior design with the exception of Louisiana, Florida, Nevada, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. In these exceptions, you must be registered if you wish to work unsupervised in any commercial space.

  • In most states in the US and countries around the globe, our courses give you the training to practice interior design as a profession. However, we do not teach local building codes or regulations. Therefore we strongly advise working with a licensed interior designer, architect, engineer or building contractor who can review and sign off designs.

  • We would also expect students to participate in internships or work in partnership with experienced interior designers for at least 6 months before setting out on their own.

  • We advise you to learn more about the regulations governing your area; and can provide support on where you can find this information during the course.

Certification

  • When you complete the course, your assigned teacher and mentor will review your assignments and give you a certificate to confirm your participation; give you a level of achievement and reference**.

  • You can use the certification as evidence of your participation and list the course on your CV or professional portfolio.

  • **reference only applicable for Masters course.