How to become an interior designer

CONTENTS

1. Routes into interior design

2. Skills you’ll need

3. Professional bodies and credentials

4. Finding work experience

5. How to get a job in interior design

6. Specialisations

7. What it’s like

8. Is interior design right for you?

Interior designers create custom design schemes for everything from homes and hotels, to shops, offices, and public buildings. You’ll blend creativity with technical design, bringing concepts to life in collaboration with your client’s ideas. 

Routes into interior design

You can enter the profession through university, college, an apprenticeship, or by working up from assistant roles. Whichever route suits you best will depend on your circumstances and goals, and how quickly you want to start earning. 

University 

An undergraduate degree in interior design gives you a mix of technical training, studio time and space to build a portfolio in a creative environment with great resources and plenty of opportunity for feedback.  

Entry requirements vary widely, with the entry requirements ranging from 48–168 UCAS points. Undergraduate fees are currently set at £9,535 per year for most courses in England and Wales. Many students choose related degrees such as architecture, fine art, or graphic design and transfer their skills into interior work after graduation. 

College 

Level 3 Diplomas, T Levels, Foundation degrees, and HNDs are all great preparation for interior design work. Entry typically requires 4-5 GCSEs including English and maths, and these courses often include practical units in CAD, materials, drawing and presentation. 

Apprenticeships 

You’ll find that there are relevant, skills and craft-oriented apprenticeships available such as the Level 3 Furniture Design Technician, although relatively few specific interior design programmes. These apprenticeships provide on-the-job training from day one, and have the advantage of paying you a wage while you also avoid hefty tuition fees. 

Alternative routes 

Since Interior Designer isn’t a protected title, like Architect, there are plenty of routes into the profession that do not require formal qualification. Many interior designers start as design assistants, and develop their skills and portfolio while they work.  

This gives you the advantage of being able to earn a wage from the start of your training, and accumulate hands-on experience from day one. There are short courses, evening classes, and online programmes available for career changers to access structured learning, without needing to go down the degree route. 

Postgraduate 

Completing an MA in Interior Design is a great way to get into the profession if you hold an undergraduate degree in a related subject. An MA typically takes one year full-time or two years part-time, with tuition fees ranging from around £9,000 to £12,000.  

Entry requirements typically include a 2:2 or 2:1 degree, although it’s worth remembering that interior design is heavily portfolio-oriented, so applicants with substantial professional experience who are able to showcase their prior work are often considered. 

Skills you’ll need

Interior design is a multi-disciplinary profession, and you’ll be able to exercise both creative and technical skills in your work. Employers look for: 

• Creativity: Strong concept work is a must. You’ll learn to represent your creative ideas using a variety of mediums. 
• Spatial thinking: An eye for proportion, scale, and designing something that is buildable. 
• 3D modelling: Clients will want to see visualisations of your ideas, so you’ll get to know design programs like AutoCAD, SketchUp, Revit or Rhino and build familiarity with 3D tools such as Blender or 3DS Max. 
• Project management: The pragmatic side of the job requires strong organisational skills, for things like scheduling, cost calculations and procurement. Often it will be useful to present several different designs at different budget tiers. 
• Client communication: You’ll be doing a lot of client facing work, so timely communication, presenting proposals, and negotiating with suppliers are all part of the deal. 
• Attention to detail: Accurate plans and specification documents matter. So do realistic budgets, and fully itemised inventories.  

Professional bodies and credentials

There is no legal registration requirement for interior designers, however there are various professional entities through which you can apply for accreditation or membership to boost your credibility.  

The British Institute of Interior Design (BIID) is the largest and most connected organisation of its kind in the UK, and it offers BIID Registered Interior Designer status for designers with a minimum of six years’ combined education and experience.  

Membership costs £420 per year and members meet the institute’s professional review and insurance requirements, after which they benefit from networking opportunities, professional guidance, and discounted access to industry events. 

Other similar organisations include the Society of British & International Interior Design (SBID) and more generally, for designers of various disciplines there is the Chartered Society  of Designers. If you work on site you may also need a CSCS card or contractor checks, depending on client or contractor requirements. 

Finding work experience

Gaining experience is one of the most effective ways to launch your career in interior design. Practical projects help you apply your creative skills in a professional context, while learning to understand client needs, budgets and timelines — all essential to professional success. 

Placements and internships  

Many interior design degrees include a placement or sandwich year, offering experience in design consultancies or interior design studios. Even having a short-term internship under your belt can teach you valuable skills that will inform your own process and strengthen your CV. 

Freelance and volunteering opportunities 

If formal placements aren’t available, look for smaller-scale projects. Volunteering to assist on redesigning a local café, staging a show flat, or contributing to a small renovation project builds confidence and provides tangible visual work for your portfolio. 

Shadowing 

Shadowing an interior designer gives you an opportunity to observe a professional at work. Taking notes, asking thoughtful questions and offering help with administrative tasks can leave a strong impression, and may lead to future paid opportunities. 

Retail 

Working in an interiors-related environment such as furniture showrooms, fabric suppliers, lighting specialists or tile retailers is another good way to build industry knowledge. These roles help you understand materials, pricing, and current market trends, while improving your customer communication and project coordination skills. Retail experience also broadens your network of suppliers and craftspeople, which can prove invaluable later in your design career. 

How to get a job in interior design

When applying for interior design roles, be proactive, and tailor each application carefully. Contact local studios, respond to advertised positions, and follow up politely after submitting your application.  

Many designers secure their first role through placements or internships, so if you’ve already volunteered or completed work experience somewhere that you enjoyed, condor approaching them for a paid position. Even if they don’t have anything available, they’ll likely keep you in mind for future work, or refer you to other places that might be a good fit.  

Remember, persistence and networking often pay off, so stay focused and consistent, and you’ll find something that suits you. 

Potential employers

Interior designers work across a wide range of environments, so consider what sort of studio and team you’d like to be part of. You find opportunities in design consultancies, architectural practices, and property development companies, as well as furniture and retail brands. You could branch off into theatre or television set design, or go solo and seek freelance or self-employed practice, working directly with clients and collaborating with contractors. 

Portfolio building 

Your portfolio is your calling card. Employers and clients will assess your skills on the quality of projects you can show them, not just your grades. Start small and document everything. 

This can include college or university projects, personal commissions, retail displays, and any freelance or community work you may have been involved with. Combine concept sketches, mood boards, technical drawings and photos of finished spaces. Keep everything well-organised and include short summaries describing each project’s brief, your role and the outcomes.  

Use professional platforms such as Behance, or your own website to share your work. Whenever possible, gain real client experience through placements or internships, as they’ll strengthen both your portfolio and confidence. 

Specialisations

You can specialise in a number of established design areas within interiors, like residential, commercial, hospitality, retail, exhibition or heritage design.  

Alternatively, you could focus on something which applies to all areas, like sustainability, becoming an authority on materials and low-impact design styles, or accessible design which addresses more social factors in spatial planning. 

It’s worth giving some thought to where you’d like to take your career, however it’s likely that your specialism will develop organically, once you begin working professionally, so it’s best to start with something you enjoy, and see where it leads. 

What it’s like

In your weekly schedule you can expect a mix of studio time, client liaison, and on-site work. You’ll meet clients, carry out site surveys, develop concepts and coordinate with contractors to move projects forward.  

Standard working weeks are around 37–40 hours, but deadlines can sometimes mean working during evenings or at the weekend, so be aware of this possibility. It often depends on the size of team you’re working with, the scale of project, and your specific role within it. 

Freelance designers structure their own time but should allocate time for business development and non-billable administrative work alongside the design work itself. 

Your career progression within an established firm typically looks like this: 

• Design assistant 
• Junior designer 
• Designer 
• Senior designer 
• Director 

Salaries vary by sector, location and studio. Typical UK ranges are:  

• Entry-level: £18,000–£28,000 
• Experienced: £25,000–£56,000 
• Senior or lead roles: £36,000–£45,000+ 

Is interior design right for you?

Interior design offers a flexible, creative, and accessible career pathway. If you enjoy creative problem-solving, can visualise spaces in three dimensions and like a mixture of client communication and technical work in your day-to-day, then it might be a good one to consider. 

Formal education does accelerate your learning but ultimately hands-on experience and a quality portfolio are what win you jobs. You’ll need to invest a bit of time and patience to build a portfolio that gets you the type of work you want,  

If you prefer fully technical or purely artistic roles, then consider adjacent careers too, such as furniture design, architecture, set design, or product design, each of which required similar skills, and allow you to transition into interior design later on.