Interior Designer: Job Profile and Role

Your home is your castle and, therefore, you have spent a lot of time and effort into making it as hyggelig or stylish as possible? Or do you just enjoy designing the interior of a place? If so, you may find out in just a few minutes if we have found your dream career: the job of an interior designer.

This profession is what the following blog is all about. We give you tips for thriving, insights into a day in the life of an interior designer, and tell you which qualifications and skills you need. We also give you a first inkling of the expected annual salaries and who your future employer might be.

Short Summary

• As an interior designer, you coordinate with both contractors and suppliers, ensuring that everything is shipshape and in place on a building site and that all the needed materials are at hand.
• As an interior designer, you prepare so-called mood boards that show your client the possible layout and design of a space, room, or building.
• As an interior designer, you give colour scheme advice, for example, when redecorating a room or parts of a building.

Job description

In interior design, your job can be both very colourful and 50 shades of beige or white – since as an interior designer, you deal with colour schemes that need to fit both a room’s character and your client’s expectations and taste. Colours and clients are not the only things occupying you in your job. You also liaise and coordinate with contractors on a construction site and suppliers whom you order materials from. Naturally, you also need to plan and design an interior space which is where mood boards and client presentations come in. All in all: the job of an interior designer is anything but dull and colourless.

Responsibilities

• Contractor/Supplier Coordination
• 3D Modeling/Visualisation
• Material/Finish Selection
• Colour Scheme Advice
• Prepare Mood Boards
• Project Supervision
• Client Presentation
• Client Consultation
• Project Planning
• Space Planning

Different types of Interior Designers

• Furniture Designer
• Luxury Interior Designer
• Residential Interior Designer
• Educational Interior Designer
• Sustainable Interior Designer

Salary

You can expect an annual starting salary of around ￡24,000 when working in interior design in the UK. With experience, you can earn up to ￡41,000 per year or even more – namely, when you get promoted to the position of a senior interior designer. Here, you can look forward to earning between ￡39,000 and ￡52,000 annually. Keep in mind that what you earn is further influenced by your employer and your location, meaning higher or lower salaries per annum.

Working hours

You should be prepared to work between 40 and 42 hours per week. Besides the regular office hours from 9 to 5, you will also be expected to work evenings and the odd weekend. Moreover, you will attend functions and events once in a while and be present at business appointments. Events, appointments, and site visits can also mean travelling – another time-consuming factor you should take into consideration when thinking about becoming an interior designer.

Employers

You can find employment with an interior design firm when looking for your first job. Such a firm is also a good option when you want to do an internship, either before or during your education. An interior design firm as a potential employer places you with another company which is looking for an interior designer. Here, you can work in varied sectors, from retail to the healthcare, corporate, and educational sectors. Equally, you can be employed by private individuals who want to revamp their homes. By the way: the job of an interior designer is also a good option for going self-employed/freelance.

Qualifications

You can become an interior designer through these three options: a university course, a college course, and an apprenticeship. In some cases, you can also work towards this profession. Depending on which way you choose, you will need entry qualifications, generally A-Levels, for example, in art and design, textiles, and maths, or four to five GCSEs at pass grades 9 to 4 (A* to C).

Moreover, you need to familiarise yourself with interior design software, among which are SketchUp, Revit, Adobe Creative Suite, and AutoCAD.

Skills

Let’s start with some obvious skills you should have when you want to become an interior designer. You should be an excellent communicator and have strong numerical skills. Moreover, you should have spatial thinking to visualise an interior space. Before we look at some more valuable competencies, one more tip: please always check the respective job ads for the exact skills requirements. 

An Eye for Colour

Even our slightly ironic comment about having to deal with 50 shades of beige hints at the fact that you need to have an excellent eye for colours when working in interior design. After all, beige is not beige is not beige. And do not get us started on all the other colours and their nuances! In short: as an interior designer, you need to know which colours work together, which colours make a room brighter, and which colours represent moods and needs. 

An Eye for Details

An interior space does not only live through the colours used. Details like furniture, lighting, and decoration are equally important and give a room its unique character. For example: a dark room should never be overloaded with dark furniture, rugs, or hardly any to no lighting. Equally, dark statement furniture can brighten up an otherwise monotone room. Therefore, you need a good eye for details to ensure that a finished project meets all requirements and expectations. 

Historical Knowledge

Why would an interior designer need historical knowledge, you may ask? It is quite simple, really. You may be leading a redecoration project of an old building. In some cases, some details must not be changed and the interior design must also meet optics that were in fashion some decades or centuries ago. If you want to perform an excellent job, you need to be aware of these things to further ensure that the redesigned space does not lose any of its former glory and splendour.

Career Path

Senior interior designer, theatre set design, virtual merchandising, and exhibition design: step by step, you can advance or change into these positions after you have completed your time as a junior interior designer and gained more work experience in the job of an interior designer. Where will your career take you? Only you know the answer to that question. What we know are the ways with which to achieve your career objectives.

Educational Background

The most common approach to becoming a UK interior designer is by doing an undergraduate degree. Could this be the right choice for you? If so, you can do a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Interior Design, Spatial Design, Interior Architecture, or Art and Design. If you would rather attend college, you have these qualification options: a Level 3 Diploma in Interior Design, a Level 3 Diploma in Art and Design, or an A Level in Art and Design which, coincidentally, qualifies you for entering a university course. An appropriate apprenticeship to get into interior design is the furniture design technician advanced apprenticeship.

Entry Level

Your first interior design job is likely the job of a junior interior designer. You are tasked with your first interior design jobs, such as creating mood boards and planning colour schemes. You will also extend and deepen your knowledge of interior design software and do your first presentations. All this sets you up for becoming a “proper” interior designer.

Continuous Learning

If you read our other blogs as well, you know by now that we are big fans of continuous learning. We know how important it is to become better at your hard and soft skills and thus, improve your professional portfolio. So, without much further ado, we will look at some training and qualifications you should look into when working in interior design.

One of your first ports of call should be professional associations like the British Institute of Interior Design (BIID) or the Chartered Society of Designers (CSD). Even though this does not offer further training, you can join by becoming a member. This kind of prestige is always helpful.

Alternatively, you can think about doing a postgraduate degree, for example, a Master of Arts (MA) in your chosen undergraduate field or a specialised interior design course. A PhD is another option. Here, you should keep in mind that this degree is both time-consuming and expensive, especially when you have to support yourself financially.

Becoming a BIID Member

Joining a professional association like the BIID is connected to several requirements. To become a member, you must have six years of combined interior design/architecture education and work experience in interior design. If you do not have an academic background, you will have to have at least 6 years of work experience in your job.

A Day in the Life of an Interior Designer

Putting the finishing touches on a presentation, meetings with clients, and negotiations with contractors and suppliers are all part of your daily chores in interior design – but they are not the only jobs you need to perform. Therefore, we will now explore three more tasks of an interior designer.

Design Development

Your job name makes it obvious that designing is a vital part of your job. You are responsible for developing interior designs which can start with the aforementioned mood board where you note everything from colour schemes to lighting ideas and options for furniture and decorations. To give you a better visual idea of what your design might look like, you can also create and work on 3D models.

Sourcing Materials

Do you know exactly what an interior space is to look like? Perfect – then you can start sourcing for materials. Before you do, you must check with your client which wallpaper, paints, and decorations he or she has in mind. After initial research, you can discuss your findings with said client and get in touch with your trusted suppliers.

Site Visits

Mood boards and 3D models are all well in good but they do not show you how everything will work “live”. Site visits are therefore another task on your daily/weekly/monthly schedule. Here, you ensure that your design is followed to the letter and discuss possible readjustments with the contractor and the relevant subcontractors.

Tips for Thriving as an Interior Designer

We have already given you some tips for thriving when working in interior design. Some of these tips we will take a closer look at in this section – and we will also give you some more valuable advice to help you thrive and progress in your job:

• Specialisation
• Social media
• Networking

Specialisation

Being an interior designer does not limit you to choosing the right colours and decorations. It also enables you to specialise and choose an area that is both your perfect fit and wanted by potential employers. As you have seen from the apprenticeship option, you can think about becoming a furniture design technician. Or you can invest time into training to become a sustainable interior designer. The options are almost limitless – the most important thing for now is that you feel happy and comfortable with the specialisation choice you make.

Social Media

Interior design is one of the jobs that is almost predestined to start a career in social media. It is all about function, beauty, details, and inspiration. What better way to attract new clients, than by posting your projects and their respective progress on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, for example? Done right, you can use social media as an accelerator for your career. Which employer would not want to promote you if you attract new and maybe even illustrious clients?

Networking

Social media can also be good for networking to connect with other interior designers and suppliers. Besides this virtual way, you should regularly attend design events, trade fairs, evening dos, and professional workshops. Here, you also connect to fellow interior designers and you also learn everything there is to know about the latest software, technologies, and design trends.

Frequently Asked Questions