10 Signs You Should Choose Interior Design as Your Career

A profession constitutes almost three-fourths of your life. In a new research study by Times Jobs, about sixty percent of employees say they hate their current jobs. Job dissatisfaction is not new and all professionals go through such a phase many times in their careers. But this must be spotted early and the employees should be mentored about this so that they can find their true calling. An applicant applying for employment opportunities out there must be well-informed and well-thought about the profession they are seeking. This article is about interior design as a career option. Interior designers are creative yet logical thinkers who understand what it takes to pull a room together into a cohesive, beautiful, and most importantly, functional space. The average salary for an interior designer in India is Rs. 307427, while a senior interior designers at their maximum potential can earn up to Rs. 3000000 per annum. Interior design can be a very lucrative career option, both creatively and financially, but only if you understand and identify with the points listed in "what it takes to be an interior designer." The following are the 10 signaling points you can identify to ensure whether interior design as a career is an option for you.

1. You Have Been Subconsciously Involved in Design Right from the Childhood

There is a very famous saying in the English language, "Coming events cast their shadows before". William Cullum, a senior designer in Jayne Design Studio, has a memory of his childhood fascination with a massive antique Mahogany breakfront in the dining room of his house. He used to love it when his parents had parties and the contents would be arranged on the dining table to determine what would be used. In his childhood, Frank "O" Gehry (of The Bilbao Effect fame) was encouraged by his grandmother, Leah Caplan, to build little cities out of scraps of wood. The majority of renowned architects and interior designers were subconsciously involved in designing and its thinking process right from their very early childhood days. So, if you can recall yourself playing with LEGO blocks, coloring sketches, solving puzzles, and watching cartoon shows like Bob the Builder in your childhood, then you must have thought of becoming an architect or an interior designer at some point in your life.

2. You were More Fascinated with the Geometries of Your Surroundings than other Subjects in School

Are you one of those clueless students in schools who doesn’t resonate with any kind of subject education provided in school, be it physics, chemistry, biology, economics, mathematics [except geometry], etc.? Nothing is helpful for your design aspirations. Most architects and interior designers never fit into the traditional schooling system. Your observation of the environment and its interpretation in your sketchbooks must be the only useful education you have got for designing in your school. You were more into creating new compositions out of known shapes than knowing about the number properties of known shapes.

3. You Prefer Sketching Over Speaking

“All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once you grow up”, as said by Pablo Picasso. Artistry is not a sustainable gift; you have to keep yourself reminded of it. As we grow up, we tend to mix ourselves into the general conventions of society. This takes up the majority of our time, leaving no time for exploration or making things with our hands. However, here, introverts get an additive advantage. They prefer solitude over companionship. They sketch and draw their imagination instead of speaking it to people. Extroverts can be good artists too, but here the law of exercise by Thorndike applies. The more you practice artistry, the more you become proficient in it. As Le Corbusier said, I prefer drawing over talking; it leaves no scope for lies. In the design business, too, if you can explicitly draw your vision, it is more appealing to your clients and jurors. Your words are not enough. You need to be in a practice where you can create stuff with your pencil on paper and explain it to others.

Know why Sketching Is Our Favourite Architectural Tool

4. You Always Complain About the Space You Arrive in

An architect’s mind is an ever-tickling device. When a normal person arrives at a place, they appreciate it; but when an architect arrives at a place, they always try to make the best out of it, which makes them restless and unsatisfied with the surroundings. Sometimes you have a problem with the anthropometry of the chair you sit on. Sometimes you have a problem with the color of the wall. Sometimes you think the artifacts you see can be more aesthetically pleasing to the eyes. And sometimes it is even the composition of the best things that makes you irritated in a space. If you have any of the above characteristics, you should consider an interior design school.

Here are some Sparkling Ideas To Brighten Up Your Spaces

5. Your go-to Luxury is Decor and Art Collection Rather Than Gadgets

It's a well-known fact that the thing on which you spend time, even money, will make you an expert in it. An architectural prospect thinks more about the components of the home he resides in rather than the cars and electronic gadgets they own. A design enthusiast’s shopping bucket is always filled with home decor, furnishings, artifacts, etc. They are frequent visitors to art exhibitions and prefer to brag about the value of their art collection rather than their car and electronic gadgets collection.

6. You Have a Clear Distinction Between Architecture and Interior Design

If you know a clear distinction between an architect and an interior designer, then you are in the minority. Architects design buildings, while interior designers use furniture fixtures and other accessories to create the desired look and function for spaces inside a building. The above four mentioned qualities are common between architects and interior designers, but interior designing is a restricted principle. Architecture has multiple specializations, and interior design happens to be one of them. To know whether you want to pursue interior design, you need to ask yourself some questions. Is interior design the specialization you are looking for in architecture? Are you more interested in the arrangement of spaces inside buildings than in the design and construction of buildings? A product designer designs a single working product, but an interior designer builds nothing from scratch but instead uses already existing market props to make a workable arrangement of spaces. So, do you care more about the utility of space rather than just one single product? Furthermore, the interior design branch of architecture is more concerned with aesthetics than with the utility of creation. Of course, interior design serves a purpose, but 90% of it is just pure love of visuals and aesthetics. Remember this well for interior design as a career.

We suggest you to read following, which will help you to understand the difference between

Architecture Vs. Interior Design 

and Interior Design vs. Interior Decoration

7. You have an Eye for Precision, i.e., Aesthetics That Appeals to All

Now you have a fair share of knowledge about how to be an interior designer, but there is a minute difference between a good design and a bad design. A good design is careful. A bad design is reckless. An interior designer identifies this for the space. The arrangement of components in space is not a big deal for a normal person. For an interior designer, it is very important to make the space properly functional for the inhabitants. The color and tone of the walls, the shape and size of the furniture, the color and intensity of lighting, and other space props may not have an immediate impact on residents, but they have a significant long-term impact. Research shows the space we dwell in has a profound effect on our health, working productivity, and minds. Do you have this realization in you? -- Creating an aesthetic that is appealing to the majority is one of the most difficult tasks in the world. Only those with a keen eye for detail can tell the difference between a good design and one that appeals to all eyes. Interior design is not at all the same as other branches of architecture, where you have a broader scope of experimentation. Here, the margin for error is very thin. The utility is very streamlined, leaving fewer tools to experiment with aestheticism. However, the biggest money churner in the interior design business is hospitality. Hospitality demands the highest performance in visuals. If you can't appeal to the masses in hospitality, you'll struggle to gain traction in interior design as a career.

8. You are Clear About What you Want

Interior designers make good designs, but better interior designers make statements with their designs. There is an increased use of automation and computation in every field. The design is the only one that is left untouched and will be. As an interior designer, your design style is your brand. You create a value that people want before you deliver a product. You offer a new prospect every time. Your design can be copied and multiplied to be sold in the market, but your design approach to a unique problem creates a unique selling proposition. Interior design is the story-telling of spaces If you have something unique to offer the market, interior design as a career is for you.

When starting out as an interior designer, there are many things to consider before getting started. Learn about these tips from an expert and read Expert Tips to Become an Organized Interior Designer

9. You have a Good Financial Management Aptitude

Accounting is one of the most important aspects of interior design, just like design is an important parallel to interior design. If there is a course where art and commerce meet, then it is interior design. Design school never teaches us this. For them, implementing what you are thinking as a designer and incorporating critical feedback from jurors into your design are the only keys. We don’t care much about budgeting in our interior design school as there are only fictional projects you are creating there. But in your profession, you are creating things for a client, something tangible, something that requires money from that client’s pocket. Most of the time, construction projects get delayed primarily due to over-budgeting. Time and budget are the two primary points that you should take care of while handling an interior design project. Good financial management is not a skill, it is a habit that you can inculcate by gaining knowledge about the market and being punctual. Consider this while pursuing interior design as a career.

Read Architect's Guide- How about Changing the Design due to Financial Crunch?

10. You have Marketing Skills

Interior designing is just like a stock market ring, only interior designers are not shouting. To stand out in this growing market, you have to make your presence felt. Architects are growing by 4 percent every year, but there is a decline in demand. You need to push yourself harder to get work in this industry. Competition is getting bigger and tougher with growing technology and an increased number of professionals. This forces every interior designer to adopt an entrepreneurial way of living. Marketing skills are therefore necessary for this. It is one of the basics of entrepreneurship. In the age of social media, if you can advocate your design through a strong portfolio of work and word of mouth, then only you can grab some interior design projects for yourself. Marketing skills are more than just developing a strong portfolio of work. It is how you represent yourself and your services in daily life; it is your networking of professionals and clients, and it is your reach in the manufacturing market. Interior design as a career demands a go-and-get attitude, and if you have this, quickly enroll yourself in this course.

The article was about the 10 signaling points you can identify to ensure whether interior design as a career is an option for you. Although these are critical, they are not commandments to be followed. Even if you lack some of the above-mentioned qualities, you can still pursue interior design as a career if you want to. The guiding principle for choosing a profession should be your passion for it. When there is motivation, money will automatically follow. You can create your unique path to interior design as a career, and if you are still not sure about this, read more articles about interior design on Plan n Design.

Lastly, take a read to the Unbelievable Facts About Interior Design Business

and, The Life Of An Architecture Student