Most people go into interior design with one goal in mind, to become an interior designer. However, you could be the type of person who likes to keep their options open. If so, it could be comforting to know some of the various avenues you can take once you’re done school.
There’s surprisingly a lot more you can do with an interior design degree apart from becoming an interior designer.
If you are thinking about or are taking interior design in school right now, here are some of the different paths you can take.
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1. Interior Design
This is an obvious one. It’s not a surprise that when most people decide to take interior design in school they usually do it to become an interior designer. That being said there are so many different avenues you can take when it come to the type of interior designer you want to be.
There are such diverse project types you could be working on such as residential, hospitality, commercial, corporate, healthcare, education, luxury retail, restaurants etc. Many of these project types differ from each other tremendously. Thus, finding out what types of projects you enjoy designing the most will be helpful in deciding where you want your career to go.
2. Blogging
Okay so obviously the best part about blogging is that anyone can decide to do it. I’m certainly not telling anyone to go to school just to start a blog. However, that’s not to say that the knowledge you learned at school won’t be helpful in creating a blog and making you a little more credible at the same time. I certainly know a lot more about interior design by going to school than I did when I was simply interested in it.
3. Interior Decorating
So maybe you didn’t even realize that there’s a difference between interior design and interior decorating. If so, I’ll just say you’re not the first and definitely not the last. When I tell people I’m in interior design, they often mistake it for interior decorating. In the UK interior designers are actually called interior architects and interior decorators are called interior designers. Which makes it all that much more confusing.
Interior design is four years of school while interior decorating is two. We are able to design the actual build of interiors such as the walls, ceilings, floors and much more. Interior decorators focus more on the decor, furnishings, paint colours etc. While interior designers can become interior decorators, interior decorators aren’t able to do interior design.
4. Home Staging
Home staging is similar to interior decorating but not exactly the same thing. The main difference is that home staging is used as method to get homes sold. Residential interior decorators often work closely with the home owners to fit there own personal needs while staging is used to sell a certain lifestyle to potential buyers.
5. Set Design
A set designer designs sets for television, films and theater. This will often require reading the script and working closely with the director and producers. They will create a detailed list from the information they’ve collected when it comes to atmosphere and prop requirements. It’s important that they are able to get enough information that they can hint at time periods, time of day, location, etc.
6. Furniture Design
Since there aren’t really furniture design programs, many people who end up going into this field end up taking a bachelor’s of interior design or industrial design. Furniture designers often work closely with manufacturers and can design any type of furniture under the sun such as sofa’s, chair’s, table’s, cabinetry, etc.
7. Exhibition Design
Exhibition design is yet another path an interior designer can take. An exhibit designer communicates a certain message or story through fixtures and display stands. Exhibition designers can design exhibits for museums, libraries, art galleries, trade shows, and conferences.
8. Freelancer
If you would prefer to be self-employed or work from home, freelance may be an avenue you want to take. The benefits of becoming a freelancer include independence, flexible hours, choosing one’s own clients and working remotely. Some of the downsides include job security, responsibility over taxes, collecting payments from clients, lack of employee benefits and isolation.
9. Showroom Sales Representative
If later down the road you see yourself more as a sales person, working in an interior design showroom may be the perfect fit for you. I had a prof who left her interior design career to work in sales. She used to talk often about how much she loved it and you could definitely tell that she did.
10. Architect
Now obviously you won’t be able to become an architect straight out of school. This will require taking a master’s degree. But if architecture is something that interests you this could definitely be a path you could take. Many architecture firms hire interior designers. So if this career is something that interests you perhaps working alongside architects could give you some more insight as to whether or not it’s a good fit for you.
11. Teacher
Many of the profs that work at my college work or have worked in the design field either as architects or interior designers. If you are someone who loves to help and teach others this may be a path that is of interest to you. I love learning from people who have many years of experience in the field. It’s so interesting to hear their stories and gain more insight into what a the career is really like.
