Thinking of switching careers? Becoming an interior designer could be a great option for creative individuals who have flair when it comes to styling homes or businesses. As an interior designer, you can expect no two days to be the same with homes or businesses of all shapes and sizes needing your services.
Becoming an interior designer also gets you a great wage in the UK with the average being over £38,000. However, with the job spec being exciting and the salary being higher than the UK average, you can expect plenty of competition when applying for jobs. Currently, there are estimated to be around 34,500 interior designers in Britain and that means you’ll be competing for clients with many of them, so having the necessary skills is a must if you want to go into this profession.
We’ve identified four of the most important skills that interior designers need to be competent and effective at what they do. So, if an interior design career has piqued your interest, continue reading our guide below to find out what skills you must have to be successful.
Attention to detail
A great interior designer will have a keen eye for the smallest details, so they can pull a room together. This means you’ll know what materials, textures and colours work well together to create a seamless home design that your clients should love.
Proficiency in CAD
What some people don’t know about interior design is that much of the work is done using CAD design software. This is used to help you get a scale view of the room you’re working on and you can add furniture to it to see if your vision can become a reality when you move the physical objects into the space you’re designing.
What’s more, this design software also allows you to play around with colours to see which shades complement each other well before you start to implement them in the room for real. This can save time, energy and money by ensuring you get it right digitally before physically.
Communication skills
To realise and fully understand your client’s vision, it’s vital that you have good communication skills and can have a professional conversation with them to convey your ideas without sounding dismissive or condescending. You should take a collaborative approach where possible to allow the clients to have the design they want but you also suggest improvements that they should consider too.
A creative eye
Finally, you should be a creative person at heart who can see features in a room that others simply can’t. This will set you apart from the competition and help you wow clients whenever you work with them.
