Serious About Becoming an Interior Designer? Read This First!
Becoming successful in any industry requires a huge amount of work and effort. Becoming a successful interior designer is a very lucrative and satisfying career, but you’ll need to put a lot of effort in to get there. It won’t necessarily be all sunshine and rainbows either while you make client’s houses look pretty. There will be times when you are working with ratty clients, with ridiculously hard to understand numbers, and even times when you make mistakes. It isn’t all about picking the prettiest prints. There’s a difference between a decorator and a designer. Anybody can be a decorator, but it takes skill to be a designer. If you’re serious about becoming an interior designer, read this first:
A Rundown of the Role
An interior designer has practical skills and a huge amount of creativity. They are also well organised, and can communicate concisely. You can’t go into a job like this without a degree either, as it involves working in client’s homes, you must be qualified for the job. If something goes wrong and you aren’t qualified, you could be in for a world of trouble! This is the type of work you can expect:
- Discussing ideas with clients.
- Coming up with design ideas.
- Sketching out ideas.
- Thinking of colour schemes, fittings, furniture, etc.
- Giving quotes and estimates.
- Finding elements to make the design work.
- Hiring people to complete certain tasks.
And more! As an interior designer, your hours aren’t set. They will be irregular days and hours, as you need to visit clients at a time that suits them. You may also work from a studio or from home. It’s an extremely varied job.
Skills and Qualities
It goes without saying that to do well in this role, you need to have the right skills and qualities. If you do, you’ll not only excel in the role, but enjoy it too. You should be:
- Creative – to help you come up with designs.
- Practical – to help solve problems and get things done.
- Organised – to meet deadlines.
- Good at sketching – to come up with ideas and show clients.
- Concerned with safety – to keep everybody safe.
- A problem solver – to overcome challenges and hurdles you’ll no doubt be presented with.
- Business orientated – if you want to forge your own career.
- Good with numbers – when working out what you need and how much of it.
- Focused on the little details – to really make an impact and impress!
Stay in Education as Long as You Can
By staying in education as long as you can, you’ll get all of the knowledge you need to succeed in this competitive industry. It isn’t all about picking the prettiest colours and fabrics unfortunately; you need to learn the hard stuff too, such as maths! Just like any other subject, if you put the work in, you can learn it. You have lots of options with an interior design degree. Don’t be discouraged and make sure you believe in yourself!
Do an Internship
By going for an internship, you’ll get hands on experience in this industry, and learn valuable things you wouldn’t necessarily have learned on a course alone. You’ll also quickly get an idea of whether this industry is really for you! People often realise that something isn’t for them after doing an internship. Don’t feel bad if this happens to you; you’re one step closer to finding your calling in life!
Be Bold and Brave
In this industry, you must be bold and brave enough to try new things – perhaps even things that might not work. Only by doing this can you truly release your creative potential and learn what works and what doesn’t. The world would be a boring place if nobody was bold and brave! Of course, you should be careful when working with client’s money. But still, don’t be afraid to take risks!
Perfection? Don’t be Silly!
This industry isn’t about creating something perfect at all. Bet you didn’t think I’d say that, did you? What you’re really trying to do is make something that generates a positive feeling. Something beautiful that means something to somebody. Character is much better than perfection.
Get to Know the People You’re Working for
If you don’t know the people you’re working for, how can you expect to create something right for them? Find out about how they live their life, the rooms they use the most, and more. Ask them detailed questions so you can create something truly amazing and tailored to them.
Get Inspiration From Everywhere
Search the internet, shops, books, magazines, and more for tons of inspiration. When you see something you like, make a mental or even a physical note of it. You’ll probably be able to use it later on down the line! Don’t directly copy other’s work; that would be immoral. Simply take inspiration and come up with your own spin on things.
Practice, Practice, Practice
Why not volunteer to help your friends and family when they have some decorating to do? You’ll be able to practice your skills and get great experience. You could also get feedback from them to hone in your skills further.
Create a Portfolio
To work with people later on down the line, you’ll need a portfolio of the work you’ve completed. Take photos of your best work and display it proudly in your portfolio, as well as showing the pictures on a professional website online. You must have a website if you want to market yourself properly! You could even consider sharing pictures of your work on decorating blogs, Instagram, and Pinterest. This could end up getting you lots of attention and exposure.
Make sure you have a list of references potential clients can speak with too.
If you’re serious about becoming an interior designer, you’ll use these tips to help you get ahead. I guarantee they’ll help you to build a lucrative career to be proud of.
See you next time!
