Knowing how to be a good interior designer will genuinely help if you are the type that loves to design spaces. Interior design goes beyond just the painting and furniture. So if you want to make it a career choice, then there are a lot of things to take into consideration.
Just before you take that step to become an interior designer, there are a lot of things to consider first. You must look at the challenges they face and prepare yourself. You will need to do enough research to be much better at the skill. This post focuses will help you have a better understanding of somethings to look out for before going into the interior designing
Key Points
10 TIPS ON HOW TO BE A GOOD INTERIOR DESIGNER
1. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN INTERIOR DESIGNERS AND DECORATORS
The first thing to note in becoming a good interior design is to understand that what differentiates an interior designer and a decorator is simply education.
Almost anybody can become an interior decorator. People who love to play with fabrics, textiles, and colors can become a decorator with their business card and business marketing. This in itself is not wrong, but education is required to be very good in that field.
Consequently, an interior designer must have been educated and accredited to pursue this line of work. To be able to work in the internal designing field, you will need an associate bachelors degree. Being adequately educated in the area will give you an edge because most people will only trust certified interior designers to work on the interior of their home.
2. YOU MUST HAVE A FLAIR FOR INTERIOR DESIGN
To be a good interior designer, you need to have an innate forte for colour, spatial arrangements, architecture, and textiles. If you love decorating your space and you receive a lot of positive comments about that, it doesn’t necessarily mean you should be an interior designer. Still, it is one of those significant signs that the potential to become one is there.
One of the significant ways to be successful in your career is to follow your passion. When you do something you love, it will never feel like work.
3. INTERIOR DESIGN ISN’T JUST ABOUT FABRICS AND COLOUR
Al though fabrics and colour are essential for fabric designing, there are a lot of other things involved that may be more tasking than fun.
Interior designers need to be well educated in the history of design, the structure of buildings, building codes, spatial concepts, ethics, psychology, computer-aided drawing (CAD), and others too numerous to mention.
To become a successful interior designer, you may have to become a jack of all trades because you are not just designing homes, you will create office spaces, maybe even schools. Hence the importance of having vast knowledge of the different aspects of designing.
4. THE PROFIT IS NOT AS MUCH AS YOU IMAGINED
It may seem counter-intuitive that the interior designer with so much knowledge is not paid as much as he or she is meant to be paid. Sadly this happens, and there are various reasons why.
This is not a means to discourage you from chasing your interior designer dream, but the pay depends on a lot of factors. Some factors include education, location, work experience, and size of the firm/company the interior designer works for. An interior designer who works at a furniture company will very likely earn less than a designer who works for a big and well established architectural firm.
One way you can dictate your rate of pay is by gaining enough exposure and experience. Someone with education in the architectural field, building codes/laws, and structural design will excel in the area.
5. YOU MUST BE A PEOPLE PERSON
Working with people can be quite enjoyable. Some people may know exactly what they want for their homes or spaces, whereas some others may claim to know, and by the time you give them what they want, they will still hate it and blame you for doing a lousy job.
A successful interior designer has to be able to please people, discern, and take the load off them. Anyone who can help clients make the right decision and also make them feel they are in full control of the design choices will be an outstanding designer. You will always need to balance your desires and your client’s desires to make things work out. The customer, in this case, isn’t still wholly right, and though he or she may not admit it, they need help.
6. HAVE A PORTFOLIO
It is crucial to have a portfolio in this line of work. People will not be convinced by words they need to see the jobs you have done for them to be able to trust you.
Just in case you are just starting or coming out of school and are new to the job market, try to offer your services for free or at a subsidized rate. This is the best way to begin your portfolio; it’s also an excellent way to get familiar with suppliers of local merchandise and develop a relationship with them for jobs in the future.
Nobody becomes huge overnight; we all start from somewhere no matter the field. Just keep working your way up, and you will surely become successful
7. TAKE NOTE OF THE COMPETITION
This happens to be a very competitive field, and so you will need to have quite an impressive portfolio to excel in interior design. There are so many excellent interior designers out there, so you have to do your best to stand out
Another thing that can help in getting more education. The more you know, the better off you will be. Consider future tendencies like population growth, designing for the older adults, the modern form of architecture, and green design; education within these specific fields of design will give you an edge in the job market.
It will also be wise to update yourself with new design trends continually. Read design publications and websites like Freshome, interact with co-designers and have a mentor. Naturally, when there is more competition, you can’t take any chances.
8. CONSIDER VIRTUAL DESIGNING
We live in a technologically advancing world, and as such, a lot of people may not see the need to get a physical interior designer when they can hire one virtually. Thanks to applications like skype, zoom, and design Softwares, interior designers can telecommute.
There are a lot of free online virtual room design tools available for the general public. Interior designers have an advantage in this competition thanks to their exclusive relationships with elite design lines. A lot of high-end textile companies offer discounts to designers working in the field; this allows them to give their clients the best designs.
9. DESIGNERS MUST KNOW LOCAL CODES AND LAWS
Knowing local codes and laws is another way education plays a massive part in an interior designer’s life.
Some of the information may seem tedious, but they are necessary knowledge for interior designers. Learning about plumbing codes, electricity, and load-bearing walls may not be exciting to you, but it is required. Being conversant with this information will give you an edge over decorators because you have vital knowledge that goes beyond just painting a house of designing a space with beautiful furniture.
10. ALLOW CUSTOMERS CHOOSE THE STYLE THEY WANT
Even though you may offer the best choice in taste, colour and all, you must still work with what the client wants.
Just because designers are educated and have good taste does not mean their choices are higher than that of their clients. The interior designer’s job is to offer various style options and point the client towards the right design choice while allowing the client to feel in charge of the decisions being made. It’s all about the customer’s choice at the end of the day, learn to work with what your customer wants, and give them the best.
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