You have always Searched how to become an interior designer? Even if your career has taken you down a road you preferred not to travel, it’s not too late to turn your dream into a reality.
With the right work ethic and time allocated, you could become the next top interior design firm in Denver. Though, work will be needed to make this change.
But what sort of education do you need to achieve this goal? How long will it take, and how much can you expect to realistically make when you’re ready to hit the job market?
Becoming an interior designer comes with certain challenges, such as money needed to fund education, finding a firm that will hire you, and gathering enough experience to be reputable.
Below are some statistics and demographics on interior designers in the United States, according to Zippia:
There are roughly 43,000 interior designers currently employed in the United States
79 percent of all interior designers are women, while 21 percent are men.
The average age of an employed interior designer is 42 years old (so it’s not too late to make a career change!)
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Interior designers are in the most demand in New York City
In this blog, we’ll break down what it takes to become an interior designer, detail the average salary based on different areas of the country, and lay out some of the common tasks of interior designers in the world today.
What Is The Job of An Interior Designer?
An interior designer is a person or consultant who designs or works on architecture or interior space. The interior designer will develop a plan for a certain space or project, which includes researching, coordinating, laying out plans for their team, and being the manager of bringing the space to life based on a client or business’s vision.
Interior designers can specialize in a certain field, like commercial design, residential design, environmental design, and more.
The New School of Architecture & Design in San Diego detailed the responsibilities of an interior designer that include, but are not limited to:
Listening to the client’s needs, goals, space, interest, & budget for the desired project
Creates a sketched design plan of the layout keeping in mind how many people will be using the space
- Uses computer software to finalize design plans
- Calculates estimated cost for projects
- Creates a timeline for the project and project completion
- Face-to-face meetings with clients to ensure the satisfaction of a project
- Seeks out any potential clients & makes offers on new projects
What Education Is Required to Become An Interior Designer?
To become a licensed interior designer, generally you will be expected to earn an associate’s degree or bachelor’s degree from an accredited university or interior design school to practice in the field.
This is different from becoming an interior decorator, for example, which requires no formal training or licensure.
Many U.S. states and Canadian provinces have passed laws requiring interior designers to be licensed or registered—documenting their formal education and training—and many of them specifically require that all practicing interior designers earn the NCIDQ Certificate to demonstrate their experience and qualifications, according to the Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design.
So you’ll need to plan to spend a few years in school before you can hit the market in your new field.
What Are The Different Types of Interior Design?
There is no one-size-fits-all career for interior designers. As listed above, there are many different ways to specialize in interior design depending on the field you want to focus on. Some common types of interior designers are:
- Residential interior designers: These interior designers focus on homes, apartment buildings, real estate company designs, neighborhood designs, and other residential design areas. These designers can flip your home into a dream house or lay out an apartment complex.
- Commercial interior designers: These designers focus on public spaces and commercial buildings like office buildings, restaurants, hotels, entertainment centers, and community centers.
- Retail design: These design services can be attached to designing retail stores, shopping mall areas, design for local businesses or big corporations, etc.
- Lighting design: As the name suggests, these designers focus on the lighting aspect of a building or space, such as deciding on hotel lobby or apartment building lighting, or creating illuminations for modern outdoor fountains or other outdoor spaces.
- Exhibit design: These designers space design for exhibits, such as trade shows, museums, business fairs, libraries, art shows, and more.
- Sustainable design: These design services keep a green and sustainable focus in mind when revamping or designing a new space. There’s a focus on cutting down on what processes may cause pollution or waste energy, and often sustainable designers will try to update an existing space to become more sustainable.
- Healthcare design: These designers focus on designing spaces like hospitals, doctor’s offices, surgery centers, psychiatric offices, medical and dental office suites, and more.
- Transportation design: This area focuses on all areas of transportation design, like airplane or train terminals, airplanes and airplane hangers, houseboat design, and more.
How Much Do Interior Designers Make?
The question you’ve been waiting for: what will my reward be for all my hard work in becoming an interior designer? Depending on the niche field you choose after earning your degree, and what area of the country you live in, your pay could fluctuate greatly.
According to salary.com, the median salary for an entry-level interior designer in the United States falls between $39,478 and $54,602, depending on your experience and location.
In Denver, the salary range for an entry-level interior designer falls between $31,000 and $60,000.
- In Mississippi, the range falls between $26,000 and $51,000.
- In California, the range falls between $34,000 and $66,000.
- In New York, the range falls between $36,000 and $71,000.
Conclusion
An interior designer career can be challenging, inspiring, fulfilling, and difficult. It requires a formal education and licenses to practice in the field, and what you make coming out of college will depend greatly on where you live, if you were able to gather any experience, and if you’re willing to move for work.
If you love bringing spaces to life, interior design may be the perfect career choice for you, but it requires a lot of work and it may take a while to make some good money in the field.
