Theory & Practice: Key Skills for Interior Designers

Professional interior designers are experts at transforming spaces into coordinated, functional, and most importantly tailored environments. Whether they’re designing an office space for a small business or an open living area for a home renovation project, interior designers are responsible for the cohesion of colours, materials, furnishings and fixtures.

Using their creativity and technical capabilities, interior designers deliver valuable insights to their clients, ensuring that design projects stay on track and that the end results align perfectly with expectations.

Given how many plates interior designers can expect to spin on any given project, it’s safe to assume that these professionals boast some pretty diverse skills. And in truth, interior designers don’t just build skills from an academic background. They also let their lived experiences power their critical and creative eye, and even to help them navigate some of the customer service and collaborative aspects of their role.

Below, we’ll be diving into some of the skills that have proven to be most valuable for professional interior designers. If you’re a budding designer yourself, then read on to see how you can tailor your self-development and come into your own as a professional interior designer.

Design Thinking

Contrary to popular belief, design thinking is about so much more than just developing an eye for colour and composition. Design thinking is actually more a human-centric scientific process, that prioritises the needs of the user in abstract, spatial problem-solving to develop comprehensive and cohesive solutions.

The best way for interior designers to hone their design thinking capabilities is naturally to study design across a variety of disciplines (i.e. interior design, graphic design, design psychology, etc.). Here, we recommend looking into psychology courses online to find courses that specifically include design thinking subjects and modules. You’d be surprised how much there is to learn, and of the full impact that a background in psychology can hold on the quality of your design briefs and project proposals.

Creative Problem-Solving

Interior designers need to be able to visualise and conceptualise new ideas and designs at the drop of a hat. Here, it definitely pays to hone your creative thinking and problem-solving skills, encouraging your creative brain to develop a flair for adaptability, and “outside the box” thinking.

The good news is here that critical and creative thinking actually go hand in hand, so aspiring interior designers can hone creative problem-solving skills by even just studying the work of other designers and applying your findings to your own experimentations. By incorporating different design concepts into your own work, you can also develop a real-world understanding of these methodologies, and how they can be represented, emulated, and even modified and merged to create new and unique approaches.

Simply put, creative problem-solvers can break down entire disciplines and principles into modular components, and they can use these components to adeptly generate new ideas that are innately balanced. This is ultimately what thinking outside the box is all about, and it’s exactly what you need to position yourself as a refreshing change of pace in the design industry. So don’t be afraid to push creative boundaries, and incorporate your own personality and influence into your work. Building a refreshing and captivating portfolio that showcases your problem-solving capabilities is, after all, one of the best ways to attract new clients as an interior designer.

Project Management

Working around time constraints, towards goals, and in collaboration with other designers are all vital skills to support your completing every single project to a high standard. And for career interior designers, learning how to manage your time effectively is of the utmost importance, as you can expect to be juggling different projects and deadlines throughout any given calendar month.

Thankfully, there are plenty of short courses like business management training courses that can help equip you with the project management skills you need to work effectively as a career interior designer. Qualifications like an MBA can also help you establish yourself as a commercially oriented professional, who has all the financial and managerial skills needed to see a project from conceptualisation to completion – and all within budget and in alignment with the agreed upon timeline.

Technical Proficiencies

As we shift further into the digital age, designers of today are naturally also required to possess technical skills to complete their work. Using computer programmes to mock up 3D vector art or even to read and interpret blueprints and floorplans are rapidly becoming a must for professional interior designers – so much so that design courses of today are now incorporating whole subjects that are specifically concerned with building these software skills.

The good news is that you don’t need to be a computer wizard to be able to build these proficiencies. In fact, 3D modelling programmes like AutoCAD and 2D/3D floor planners like Homestyler and Planner 5D are all designed to be easy enough to master for those with a strong academic background in design principles and methodologies. And once you do master these software skills, you can add them to your CV where they’ll definitely act as a strong trust signal for prospective clients.

Interpersonal Communication

Networking actually plays a crucial role in building a name for yourself as an interior designer. For starters, you’ll want to make sure your reputation is strong enough to attract new customers. One of the best ways to cultivate a strong reputation is to go out there and build connections with your client base so that they’re more likely to recommend your services to others. And one of the best ways to cultivate these strong connections is to hone your interpersonal communication skills.

As an interior designer, you will need to regularly and effectively communicate with clients, contractors and other designers. To ensure the project meets standards and deadlines, you must understand how to effectively convey your ideas and meet the needs of others, presenting clear concepts and coordinating regularly to ensure your projects stay on track.

Keep in mind too that interpersonal communication applies to digital channels as well. From your LinkedIn engagement to your email tone and style, the way you communicate is an extension of your personal branding, so you’ll want to make sure you’re representing well both digitally and IRL.

Adaptability

Finally, with design trends and technologies constantly changing, being an interior designer requires a high level of adaptability. Staying up to date with current industry trends and upskilling to learn new skills and techniques helps you stay relevant and advance in the industry.

You can stay up to date with current trends through industry publications and trade shows, displaying new materials and techniques within the industry. Keep your finger on the pulse with emerging trends like smart home technology, sustainable materials, energy-efficient fixtures, and other similar subjects. You might find that you end up learning so much about one area or design field that it ends up turning into a bit of a speciality for you!

Shape your Future as a Professional Interior Designer

Whether they’re implementing design choices ahead of trends, or opting for colours that hold emotional attachment, interior designers really do perform nothing short of miracles every day. And alongside juggling multiple projects, professional interior designers also continue to upskill, be it through online courses, via hands-on practical work and connecting with others they are growing not only in a professional sense but personally too.

So, if you’re looking to advance in your interior design career, keep learning. Attend workshops, read design magazines and expand your knowledge in any way possible.