“The essence of interior design will always be about people and how they live. It is about the realities of what makes for an attractive, civilized, meaningful environment, not about fashion or what’s in or what’s out. This is not an easy job.”
Interior design primarily involves the design of elements inside a building or structure. This does not involve building the structure, construction work or exterior elements. The intent is to create a liveable, aesthetic interior environment by focusing on materials, colours, furniture, finishes and other complex works. These solutions are functional, enhance the quality of life and also improve the culture of the interiors that will be positive for the occupants.
There are many career opportunities for interior design graduates. This article aims to shed light on such career paths.
Interior Design Course
Bachelors of Interior Design or B.I.D is a 4-year course that teaches the construction, design and maintenance of housing and spaces. Interior design course focuses on the art of designing interior spaces and making them more comfortable, using new and old techniques, principles with the use of up and coming technologies and software. The course also provides a strong foundation for the principles for designing and planning as well as basic architectural principles to provide different types of spaces and their needs. Also, the use of advanced software that will help bring the vision to life through realistic renderings and 3D models is a part and parcel of the course.
With all these skills learned, an interior design course provides a great set of skills and knowledge that can be applied in many other fields involving design. The scope of interior designing has broaden with the advent of digital age. Students learn about materials, aesthetics, texture, colours and also about spatial elements that are of great use when it comes to different professions.
Trending Career Opportunities for Interior Design Graduates
In this list, different career opportunities for interior design graduates will be discussed. We assure you that this list will help you make an informed decision about your journey in the world of home decor.
01. Interior Design and Ideation
After doing a bachelor’s in Interior Design, one can do a masters in interior design as well (Msc. Interior Design). In this postgraduate course, in-depth specialisation of interior designing and all its principles, science and skills that go into it is covered. It is a 2-year course where students are taught about environments, space and aesthetics. Interior Designcourseis a very popular and versatile field that is growing in demand. New renovations, interior renovations and up and coming large scale projects need interior designers to create comfortable, liveable and beautiful spaces.
Some of the famous Interior Firms and Architects are Kelly Wearstler, Peter Marino, Else Crawford, Victoria Hagan of Victoria Hagan Interiors, Hitchcock, MuseLAB, Sanjay Puri Architects, RichaBahl Design studio and Starck Interiors- Yoo.
The skills learned during a bachelor’s degree will provide a great foundational base to excel in the Master’s and subsequently in the profession as well. From here, one can pursue a specialised spatial design career such as the interior design of institutions, hospitals, homes, offices etc. specifically. This can be done through hands-on experience and work with people and projects to gain specialised knowledge.
The profession also involves the design of museums, convention centres and showrooms.
02. Furniture Design
Furniture Design is a field that is extremely unique and interesting. While furniture has always been around, the need for new, improved and aesthetic furniture that is optimized for its use and advance as compared to its competitors is increasing.
Having custom-designed furniture, tailor-made for the space it will be in, is something that many interior designers and their clients want. One of a kind sofas, chairs, tables, desks, drawers, counters etc. Furniture Design can be pursued through a 2-year Masters in Furniture Design course, where different skills such as materials, textures and carpentry are taught as well as the design of advanced furniture that has inbuilt electronic systems, automatic systems and more. The profession can also be achieved through apprenticeship or taken up as a specific subject in other courses.
Some of the Famous Furniture Designers are Le Corbusier, Aakriti Kumar, Anjali Mody, Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe, Marc Newson. Some notable Furniture Design Firms are Herman Miller, Steelcase, Bernhardt Design, Knoll, Kristalia, Kartell.
03. Kitchen Designer
Kitchen design is a spatially specific interior design career opportunity where one focuses on the design of the kitchen, the heart of the home. It involves planning the layout, choosing appropriate materials for all the different surfaces to have an overall appearance that is well received and is aesthetic. It also involves designing with integrating the different services and appliances and creating a design that is optimized and efficient in terms of use, circulation and planning.
Here are our tips on how to make your kitchen functional:
There is no specific post-graduate course but a bachelor’s degree in Interior Design is enough to cover the basics. Furthermore, one can join firms and designers in the field and can become assistant designers while learning about all the details and nuances of building a kitchen. From there, they can have a successful career designing kitchens for clients.
Some notable Kitchen Design Firms are Arclinea, Binova, Dada, Fadd Studio, DBI Design-Build, Studio Nishita Kamdar.
04. Workspace Designer
Workplace design includes designing and organizing a workplace setup to optimize working performance as well as safety. It not only involves spatially designing the workplace but also the design of different safety systems, lighting, furniture, ventilation and more for high-risk and low-risk environments.
There is no specific postgraduate degree for this course but many online courses are available. Apprenticeship is another way to become a workspace designer. Essentially the same knowledge, principles and techniques that are taught in interior design are applied here in a more work-related capacity. The importance of furniture and safety comes into great importance here. Some of the notable exhibition designers in India are Parekh Associates, Ahmedabad.
05. Interior Styling
Interior Styling is essentially “dressing” up space or “finishing” it up using different items of decor and furniture. These items will add functional and aesthetic value to spaces. The course is an integral part of scope of interior designing and involves creating a new colour scheme, adding new textures and other elements that will complete the space. To pursue this career, there is no requirement for a postgraduate course. Working in an interior design firm under stylists who know the craft is good enough for one to be successful in the career path.
With the necessary knowledge of aesthetics, colour schemes, decor items and furniture and with the skills to put all of these together is what the work of an interior stylist entails. This interior design career opportunity is very popular in today’s professional world as clients always want a space that is complete and elegant, one that is much more than space and its furniture and small finishing elements that round up the overall aesthetic.
06. Lighting Design
It is a field of work or study that is concerned with the design of lighting systems within a built environment. Not only does it involve the design of artificial lighting in a space, but also the effect of natural lighting and how it can be optimized. For those who are keen, there is a specific postgraduate degree known as Masters in Architectural Lighting.
The design is a 1-2 year course where all the nuances of lighting are taught. The course will cover lighting concerning spaces as well as creating different types of lighting appliances, and through models and drawings can produce well lit, advanced and optimized lighting systems.
Know about different types of lighting:
Some of the Lighting Design Firms are PSLAB, Foscarini, Lightemotion, Design Matrix, The Ministry of Light. AWA Lighting Designers.
07. Exhibition Design
Exhibition design is a unique career path for interior design graduates. An exhibition designer essentially designs the custom exhibition booths, layout, fixtures, displays and works for different events like exhibitions, conventions, conferences etc. They spatially configure the different installations to make sure every piece has space, deal with the circulation path of a view, lighting and sound design as well as the overall aesthetic of the event.
Now, this profession can be pursued with just a bachelor’s course under the apprenticeship of an individual who is already in the field, or one can do a Master’s course in Exhibition Design. It is an advanced degree that will teach students the already existing knowledge of the landscape, interiors, lighting and AV design learnt during B.I.D and amplify that knowledge and detail it out on the canvas of exhibition space. Some famous exhibition designers are Patrick Gallagher, Rahul Shrivastava, Atish Kumar, Sufiyan Qureshi.
08. Product Design
Product design is an extremely versatile career opportunity for interior design graduates to pursue. It involves the creation of a product that blends usability with aesthetics to optimize the user experience. It involves keeping with the specific brand and business goals to make a consistent and workable product that can be in the market for a long time.
Product design is becoming very popular in the design industry as the creation of new or improvement of the old product is becoming a trend. Everything that’s there in the market needs to be usable, long-lasting, workable and better than its competitors.
Product design involves making shoes, cars, appliances, furniture and so many more. Many different courses can be taken up that are product specific, like Masters in Shoe Design, Masters in Automotive Design or they can pursue Master’s in Product Design that has a wider scope in interior designing.
09. Graphic Design
Graphics design is the creation of visual content to communicate the desired message. Graphic design uses different art and craft forms as well as digital means, typography, colours, visual hierarchy, pictures, drawings and more to bring their visualisations to life. The designs are usually user-specific and focus on displaying elements in interactive designs to optimize the user experience.
A Masters in Graphic Design is a 2-year course that can be attended if one wants to work in that profession. In this course, students are taught the various aspect of graphic design and typography like manual, experimental, web design, logo design etc. through learning different art forms, software, models and other spatial and visual elements that are crucial to the course. Graphic design will always be in great demand as the need for visuals is always growing. The fast-paced world prefers visuals over text and hence this profession is very versatile.
Jessica Hische, Alex Trochut, Paula Scher, Akshar Pathak, Gopi Prassana and Stefan Sagmeister are some very famous Graphic Designers who are successful in their field.
10. Scenic Design
Scenic Design is the creation and design of scenes and sets for film, television and theatres. Scenic Designers create sets that support the overall artistic goals of the production, which entails work such as graphic design, prop making, model making, spatial design, lighting design and more while taking into account the different elements of the production like camera work, audio-visual aspects as well as the performers.
To pursue this course there are 2 ways. One is through apprenticeship and doing courses in Film, theatre, performing arts or design and also doing groundwork on actual sets and production houses. Another way to become a scenic designer is by pursuing a 2-year Postgraduate course in Stage Design where students are taught theatre arts, lighting, costume, set design, script analysis and history of drama through computer technology, hands-on work and real-time assistance to existing projects.
Scenic Design will always be relevant career opportunity for interior designers due to the large amounts of media being produced every year across the world. Different production houses will require a large number of these designers to keep up with the demand while not skimping on quality.
Some famous Designers in the field are Jason Sherwood, Kim A Tolman and Shizuka Hariu.
11. Textile Design
Textile design is a field that includes fashion design, carpet design and other cloth related fields like furniture, curtains, bedspreads etc. Textile Designers have deep knowledge and understanding of different materials, fibres and dyes as well as know techniques like sewing, weaving, printing, stitching and production of these. This profession requires a lot of technical know-how and knowledge to be truly perfect.
To pursue a career in textile design, there is a specific course known as Masters in Textile Design that focuses on styles, different types of materials, production, creation as well as the marketing and sales of these. Different fabric-related skills like sewing, weaving, dyeing etc are taught to create creative and aesthetic textiles that can be used in the market. From here, a person can move onto fashion design or interior design where they can implement their work in clothes or furniture.
How To Choose From Different Career Opportunities in Interior Design After Your Under Graduation?
So, overall the course of interior design provides a solid base for an extremely versatile and large set of career opportunities for a graduate to choose from. The course provides all the necessary skills and knowledge as a foundation to pursue any of the fields listed above.
The best way to choose the right career path is to decide what peaked one’s interests and creativity, enough to pursue it seriously. After doing all the necessary research, going through different options and narrowing it down, one should be able to conclude what exactly they’d like to do. All the different career paths mentioned in this article are so different from one another which is exactly what encapsulates interior design as a course.
The course is fluid enough to push people to whatever they want to do, whenever they want to do it, without having to be chained to a single type of job for the rest of their lives. The versatile, free and detailed nature of the course gives one the motivation they need to pursue something more advanced to excel in the professional world of tomorrow. So, choose your niche and get on with this beautiful journey of interior design to designing amazing spaces!
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Author Bio
Saili Sawantt – She is an Architect and Interior Designer by profession. Writing is what she treats as her passion. She has worked as an Architectural Writer, Editor, and Journalist for various design as well as digital portals, both national and international. Formerly she has also worked with Godrej Properties Limited (GPL) Design Studio, Mumbai, due to her keen interested in learning about Sustainability and Green buildings. Apart from this, she runs her blog ‘The Reader’s Express’ and is a practicing Architect & Interior Designer.
