How to become an interior designer yourself: what you need for this and where to start

Content:

1. Interior designer: what kind of specialist is this
2. Pros and cons of the profession of “interior designer”
3. Responsibilities of an interior designer and features of his work
4. How to get trained and become an interior designer: possible ways
5. Where to look for work and orders

Interior designer is one of the most sought-after professions on the market today. The popularity of designer services is well founded. Every person wants to live in a cozy home, and an interior specialist fully develops the style concept of the room - beautiful, ergonomic, convenient for everyday life. Many people today would like to get a fashionable and promising profession, but not everyone knows where this specialty is taught, where to start and how to find a job after completing the course. Here are the answers to these pressing questions, as well as recommendations from successful professional designers.

Interior designer: what kind of specialist is this

An interior designer is a creative, creative person who faces many tasks. He deals with the planning and decoration of residential and commercial premises, taking into account the interests of the client, the functional purpose of the room, as well as its technical features. In the process of developing a design project and its implementation, the interior designer performs the following actions:

• Develops the overall style of the room, selects the appropriate color scheme.
• Deals with comfortable organization of space: arrangement of lighting, acoustics, ventilation systems, as well as zoning of premises.
• Selects finishing materials, furniture, decorative elements.
• Carries out supervision over the implementation of the project.

To create a comfortable space that has aesthetic value and meets all the needs of the customer, an interior designer must have certain skills and a solid base of knowledge. Basic requirements include excellent knowledge of ergonomics, color, compositional principles of design, as well as the ability to apply them correctly. For example, when developing the layout of an apartment, many factors are taken into account: the geometry of each room, the lifestyle of the owners, lighting standards, furniture dimensions, optimal width of passages, and so on.

In addition, the interior designer will have to learn how to do 3D visualization. Of course, you can find a good design idea and think through the decorative design without it. But you still need to figure out what the interior will look like with different finishing materials, hone the proportions, choose the ideal color palette - in this matter you can’t do without 3D visualization.

Pros and cons of the profession of “interior designer”

Perhaps the main advantages of working as an interior designer are the opportunity to bring joy to your clients, bring beauty to the world, and realize your creative abilities. There are other advantages:

1. Ability to work both for hire (for example, in a design studio, architectural bureau) and independently.
2. Obtaining valuable knowledge that will definitely be useful in everyday life.
3. Independence from management control and flexible schedule. In some cases, interior designers can work remotely or on a part-time basis (an important advantage for mothers on maternity leave and people looking for an additional source of income).
4. Stable demand for interior design services from clients. Although, to achieve success you will need experience and some talent.
5. The opportunity to regularly replenish your portfolio, which means acquiring new customers and increasing income.
6. Good earnings. The range of salaries is quite wide: beginners usually earn from 40,000 rubles, and the income of a professional can reach 300,000 rubles. per month.
7. An opportunity to earn excellent money even in old age. Employers are almost never interested in the age of an interior designer - only experience and creative flair are important.
8. No need to spend money on advertising their services - thanks to word of mouth, designers usually have no shortage of clients.
9. Positive emotions. Since creativity is a positive process, interior designers almost never suffer from stress or other negative conditions. Each successfully implemented project brings the designer not only profit, but also great moral satisfaction.

However, sometimes people give up interior design and choose other areas of activity. This can happen due to the disadvantages of the designer’s work:

• Great competition - the design market is periodically oversaturated, and customers choose the best specialists.
• The need to have a portfolio and positive reviews is difficult for beginners who don’t have either.
• Difficulties with planning vacations, because started projects can rarely be entrusted to someone else.
• The likelihood of creative disagreements with colleagues and customers.
• The need for additional skills - an interior designer cannot do without knowledge of the basics of decoration, design, as well as building regulations.

However, it is worth considering that the profession of an interior designer is unlikely to suit introverts. The creation and implementation of a project requires constant communication with clients, contractors, builders, and you need to find an approach to each of them. Another point is the lack of opportunity for rapid career growth. For most interior designers, the limit is opening their own design studio.

Responsibilities of an interior designer and features of his work

The range of responsibilities of interior designers is very wide - as a rule, such creative specialists have irregular working hours, and not one of them is similar to the other. But every work process begins with a meeting with the client, which can take place in the designer’s office or on site. Further work looks something like this:

1. Visiting the site, discussing order details, taking the necessary measurements, photographing the premises.
2. Signing a contract for the provision of services.
3. Detailed study of the plan of each room, preliminary development of an interior design.
4. Preparation of sketches and visualization, in which the interior designer creates 3D models of rooms.
5. Determination of a palette of shades, planning of lighting and electrical wiring (calculation of the required lighting power and number of lighting fixtures).
6. Calculation of the amount of finishing and other materials, drawing up cost estimates. To make a competitive offer to the client, an interior designer must have an excellent understanding of the range of flooring, plumbing fixtures and everything necessary to bring the project to life.  
7. Studying catalogs of trusted suppliers, choosing furniture, accessories and other interior elements.
8. Coordination of the work of builders, quality control of their activities within the framework of designer supervision. If necessary, the interior designer draws up a list of shortcomings and monitors their elimination.

Thus, the interior designer has very little free time. However, it is in his interests to complete the work not only efficiently, but also in a short time. For projects completed on time, designers often receive additional rewards from satisfied clients.

How to get trained and become an interior designer: possible ways

Another important question is where to study to become an interior designer. Here the opinions of people close to the design industry differ. Some believe that it is impossible to become a great interior designer without receiving a full-fledged academic education, while others are confident that a designer can easily get by with courses. Of course, a lot depends on the person’s abilities and hard work, but in any case, the future designer has a choice of several options:

• Professional university or college. The duration of study is from 2 to 5 years; upon completion, graduates receive a diploma and can quickly find a job. The advantage of this option is deep theoretical training: students of specialized institutions study composition, color, history of architecture and many other useful disciplines. The only disadvantage of academic training is the minimum of practice.
• Courses. The advantage of the courses is that you can master the profession of an interior designer in 3-6 months. Another advantage of such educational programs is the opportunity to combine work with study, but the disadvantage is the need to pay for training. This option is suitable for motivated people who are ready to practice on their own - not all course teachers have the necessary practical experience.
• Self-education. Training to become an interior designer without teachers is a long and difficult process, because you have to rely only on yourself, books and video tutorials. But this option does not require financial costs, and if the future interior designer has the potential, everything will definitely work out.

As for practical experience, an excellent way to gain it would be an internship in an interior design studio or workshop. In most cases, it is not paid, but the intern designer gains invaluable experience and a chance for further employment in the agency.

Where to look for work and orders

After graduation, the interior designer faces the question: where to find work and customers. Beginners shouldn’t count on word of mouth or collaboration with fashion interior magazines: they will first have to gain experience. Therefore, at the very beginning of his career, an interior designer will have to read job advertisements, publish a resume both on the Internet and in print media, and offer his services on city forums and resources like Avito.

Sometimes freelance exchanges are also useful - usually orders for them go to interior designers who provide samples of work and offer the best price. There are also special directories of designers - competition there is high, but information about services is posted for free, so it’s worth trying your luck.

To achieve success faster, famous interior designers recommend:

1. Create a portfolio. It may present design projects developed during study or, for example, made for friends for a small fee.
2. Feel free to participate in various creative competitions for interior designers - this is a great chance to attract attention.
3. Create a personal channel, blog, account on social networks - on them you can talk about your profession and demonstrate examples of work.
4. Agree with small companies specializing in construction and finishing work. Perhaps they will agree to recommend a promising aspiring designer to their clients for a small percentage.

Interior designers have at their disposal a huge range of products that combine chic and elegance and allow you to create interiors in different styles, a cumulative system of discounts and comprehensive support (providing advertising products, promptly providing information about new collections). By working in a team with Garda Decor specialists, you can significantly increase profits and reach the heights of design excellence.