So You Want to be an Interior Designer? Start Here
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So you want to be an interior designer but you don’t know where to start? You don’t have the ability to do an online program or don’t have any knowledge of interior design to get a job as an assistant? I hear you. I coach students in exactly the same position. So what do you do if you haven’t the cash or the time to do a course…I’d start with a book. Yep …the paper kind. The type you get in a bookstore or library (or you can be lazy like me and download them) .
Here is a starting list of 4 books.
If you just want to get to the list, just skip this bit- but you may be interested in my journey if you haven’t met me before.
This post was inspired by a request on a Facebook group where a young woman expressed a desire to be a designer, but circumstances have made it difficult to go back to design school. I remember feeling exactly like that when I started working. My first job was as a finance analyst with IBM which I accepted after I finished my degree in Economics. I didn’t even know about interior design or that interior designers even existed. I’d come across architecture, but I thought you had to be good at drawing, and I wasn’t. I don’t even think I even considered it as a career. I loved the creative life and worked at an art gallery and an antique shop during uni. I mixed with artists at the gallery and learned all I could about art and design, even stuck in Australia. I had a burning dream to go to Europe and work in an auction house.
Anyway, long story, but in my first year of working I had a car accident- a bad one. Car was totally written off and I survived without a scratch, to the amazement of the rescue crew. I thought I wasn’t traumatised but I basically gave up my job, got the insurance from the car (it wasn’t my fault!!) and went to Europe. I didn’t drive again for 8 years. My parents, who I think were just glad I was alive, kindly funded a year in Europe where I worked and completed some post-Grad studies at Christie’s London, one of the world’s leading auction houses. It was amazing and some of the books I am going to recommend I found there. Fast forward, I didn’t have the right visa to stay in London, so came home.
I still didn’t know what I was going to do so I completed a Diploma of Education and became a teacher for 15 years. During that time I completed a Masters in Education and started a Ph.D. I got married and had 3 children. I moved from high schools to teaching at university. I built three houses with my husband, designing the interiors. One day he turned to me and asked me why I was studying a Ph.D when I just loved design. Why don’t you go back and study interior design?, he asked. Hmm, simple. So I did. I had 4 hrs sleep at night for all the time I was at uni.
Now for some of you, it’s not so easy. I married an amazing guy who supported me the whole way even though he had a very demanding job. I have three children (now all adults) who love design and art too, and love going to galleries and travelling, my two favourite things to do. My youngest is starting an architecture degree next school year. Anyway, it’s been a trip.
Though I made the choice to go back to uni, it was a time that there was no YouTube, no online courses and software came on a disc and cost thousands. My computer weighed about 10 kgs, sounded like an aircraft was taking off, and learning something like Photoshop required me to hire someone to teach me. With the resources that are available now, would I go to university to study design as an adult? Probably not. In my whole career, no one has ever asked me where I went to school. They are only interested in whether I can do the job.
So here’s the answer to the question: you want to become an interior designer and you don’t know where to start? Start with developing knowledge & skill. Start with these books.
NYSID- Home- A great introduction to the interior design trade. Very easy to understand
A great and short overview of interior design since the beginning of the 20th century
The definitive drawing book- if you do anything , practice drawing every day. You don’t have to be great, you just have to be confident
A basic book explaining design principles
So let’s talk about each of them.
Home - The Foundations of Enduring Spaces
This is a really basic book that explains the main concepts that underpin how interiors are designed. The book is a little dated but it is a primer of design terms that you would come across in the interior design world. Study this book and you would certainly have a basic knowledge of interior design and the interior design process.
Drawing on the Left side of the Brain
If there is any skill that hands down impresses clients, it’s the ability to draw. Draw for 15 mins every day and in a year you will be incredibly impressed at what you can do. There are plenty of artists on YouTube with basic drawing lessons, but this is the book that I started with and I love it so much. I started from not being able to draw a straight line to being able to confidently pick up a pencil and make sketches in front of others. An iPad helps ( a lot) and there are a number of excellent courses you can do now. specifically on architectural drawing. Can get pricey though. The great thing about drawing is its so cheap!! A nice sketchbook, some pencils and black felt tips and you are good to go. Honestly, if you are in your late teens, 20s and you want to become a designer, this is the one thing that no one can fail to not to be impressed . So pick up a pencil and draw for 15 mins every day.
Interior Design since 1900
I love this series of Thames and Hudson art books so much. When I was buying them 20 odd years ago, they had black spines and looked really nice in a row, always a good reason to buy a book. The design writers are some of the top in their field. This one by Anne Massey has a lot of great images that you can use for reference. You will find pictures of classic furniture that you will see used in design magazines today. From Arts and Crafts to the Bauhaus , Mid Century modern etc , this book covers the major design styles that you absolutely need to know.
The Interior Design Handbook
This is a great reference book to back-pocket. A lot of the words & concepts that we use to describe interiors -’anchoring’ , ‘contrast’, ‘tactility’, ‘visual weight’, ‘odd number rule’ are explained in this book. Again, pretty simple stuff, and a lot of the advice seems common sense. I owned a design store in Hong Kong, and when I trained my sales staff, I used to refer to some sections of this book to give them a bit of a vocab heads up. They were often talking to designers and this book helped quite a lot.
I could give you a ton more books to read, but you have to start somewhere and these are as good a place as any! The key here is to pick up vocabulary and the concepts and then start to train your eye. How do you do that? I hear you ask. Well that is the subject for another blog.
I’ve created a email list for anyone who wants to get into interior design. As I said, I do 1 :1 coaching for emerging designers that just need a bit of practical help to get a job in the design world but this obviously does not suit everyone. I’m thinking of starting a free membership to help people in this situation who are trying to enter into the design world with knowledge and practical skills that are attractive to employers. Put your name on the list if you are interested in joining.
