Interior Designer FAQs

An interior designer is in charge of making interior spaces more beautiful, functional, and safe. They work on almost any type of building and are the ones in charge of determining the space requirements while also allocating the necessary budget and decorative items needed such as lighting, colors, and other building materials.

There are many differences between an interior designer and an interior decorator. However, the main difference has to do with their specialization and scope of work. For instance, an interior decorator will provide aesthetic assistance for already constructed spaces. These individuals will help you choose your preferred style and make selections such as paint to use, furnishings, wallpaper, lighting fixtures, etc., as long as there is no structural work that needs to be done. 

On the other hand, interior designers provide all that decorating assistance and top it up with structural design expertise. This means that they can be instrumental during the architectural design phase, during the actual construction, and will even be available for post-design analysis. 

Unlike a decorator who mainly works with the client, an interior designer is well-versed in working not only with you but also with the architects and builders to make design selections that would be appealing to you. They also apply creative and technical solutions to ensure that the spaces created are functional, safe, and attractive and would benefit your quality of life.

The first thing to consider is getting a bachelor’s degree in interior design. While it may not be a compulsory requirement, most employers that seek the services of an interior designer will indicate their preference for a degree holder. Interior designers also study color and fabric, as well as Computer-Aided Design Software (CADs). They are also taught how to draw, space planning, furniture design, architecture, among other key skills. 

To become a recognized interior designer, some states require one to pass an exam and become registered as an interior designer with the governing council. One such popular professional examination and certification that one should attain is the National Council for Interior Design Qualifications (NCIDQ). Furthermore, most regulations require an interior designer to work under a more established individual for some time before starting their own line of work.

There are many reasons that would back the idea of one becoming an interior designer. As the need for interior designers continues to increase every other year, it is clear that this is a career field with many promising opportunities. 

Even as computers and machines continue to take over many jobs that required human intervention, it has been a little challenging to implement the same with interior design. This makes interior design a future-proof career, that might not be overtaken by machines in the near future.

 The interview phase is the ultimate stage that will determine whether a candidate is ideal for you or not. Whenever you’re interviewing a candidate, ensure that they avail to you their credentials and portfolio. Once you explain to them the scope of the work, you should also expect to hear their budget. Once you move to the next stage of the interview, you could also ask them things like:

• What is their most preferred interior design style?
• Their interior design must-haves
• How they would decide which designs would fit your taste
• How much client involvement they would welcome
• How they collaborate with architects and builders
• If there are any challenges that they would foresee and would love you to help handle. 

Both are professional interior designers, but a freelancer is self-employed and isn’t affiliated with a specific company or agency. They scout for work by themselves and handle several different clients at once. The other interior designers are basically employed by an agency and are bound by company rules. They do not have to worry much about looking for clients as they probably have sales and marketing people to do so, and their only major task is to perform the actual interior design work.

There are many reasons why you should hire a freelance interior designer; the most obvious one being that they will help you to avoid costly mistakes in your decoration that will not only save you lots of money in the long run but also increase the resale value of your building. A professional interior designer is a visual storyteller and will align all your needs and requirements and make them a reality by incorporating various designs to give you your dream space. 

Furthermore, interior designers are well-connected individuals and will know the right vendors that will deliver quality products at reasonable rates. They are also in charge of looking for suppliers and dealing directly with the sellers, so you don’t have to worry about that.

Just like any other common field, interior design is pretty vast, and if you want to make a name for yourself as a freelance interior designer, it would be great if you focused on a particular field. The most common types of interior designers include:

• Interior and spatial designers - interior and spatial designers have some basic architectural knowledge that comes in handy in their daily operations. These professionals mostly work indoors and their main area of specialization is lighting, fittings, color schemes, furnishings, and structural alterations. Under this category, some of the most popular personnel here are furniture, exhibition, lighting, and kitchen designers.
• Production designers - as a freelance production designer, your main clients will be in the film industry. You may be required to design structures in TV productions and in theatres. This means that you must have an excellent flair for visual arts and will be in charge of everything that appears on set - from the lighting, props, costumes, etc. 
• Visual merchandiser - visual merchandisers utilize their skillset to boost the image of a product or brand. These professionals are well-known to create eye-catching product displays and store layouts that would appeal to passers-by and customers, convincing them to try out or purchase the said products.
• Corporate designers - corporate designers are the go-to people when it comes to designing workplaces. They ensure that the spaces designed are fully functional, efficient, and create a safe environment not only for the visitors but also the employees.
• Healthcare designers - just as the name depicts, healthcare designers focus more on planning and renovating healthcare facilities such as hospitals, theatres, clinics, and much more. They take into consideration the local laws that determine how these spaces should look like, while also considering the safety of those that use the facilities. Furthermore, healthcare interior designers go the extra mile to ensure that the spaces they create bring forth a positive environment that would make the patients feel better.

Hiring a freelance interior designer will help you a lot by off-loading much of the work from you. However, you’ll find it hard dealing with one if you haven’t planned yourself well in advance, before their arrival. To help you out, here are the main things that you need to do before you contact a freelance interior designer: 

• Know your budget, and determine how flexible you would be to tune it upward if required.
• Set a timeline for your project.
• Figure out your interior design style. This you can easily do by gathering inspiration from different sources before you settle on one.