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Interior designer

Interior designers plan and supervise the layout and decoration of the inside of buildings.

Annual Salary

£18,000 to £45,000

Average UK salary in 2022 was £33,200
(source Office for National Statistics)

Working hours

40 to 42 variable

You could work: evenings / weekends; attending events or appointments

0.5%
Future employment

There will be 0.5% more Interior designer jobs in 2027.

Day to day tasks

In your day-to-day tasks, you may:

  • meet clients to discuss their requirements and ideas
  • develop designs to suit clients' needs, their budget, and the type of building
  • prepare initial sketches and mood boards for the client to approve
  • advise on use of space, colour schemes, fabrics, fittings and furniture
  • work out costs and prepare estimates
  • create detailed drawings from the initial sketches, usually on a computer
  • find suppliers of fittings, furniture, fabrics, and wall and floor coverings

Working environment

You could work in an office, from home, in a creative studio or at a client's business.

You can get into this job through:

  • a university course
  • a college course
  • an apprenticeship
  • working towards this role
University

You could take a foundation degree, higher national diploma or degree in a relevant subject like:

  • interior design
  • art and design
  • interior architecture
  • spatial design

Entry requirements

You'll usually need:

  • 1 or 2 A levels, or equivalent, for a foundation degree or higher national diploma
  • 2 to 3 A levels, or equivalent, for a degree
For more information
College

You could take a college course to get started, for example:

  • Level 3 Diploma in Interior Design
  • Level 3 Diploma in Art and Design
  • A Level in Art and Design

Entry requirements

You may need:

  • 4 or 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English, maths and a creative subject
For more information
Apprenticeship

You could do a furniture design technician advanced apprenticeship to get into interior design.

Entry requirements

To get onto an apprenticeship, you'll find it useful to have:

  • 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English and maths, for an advanced apprenticeship
For more information
Work

You could start as a design assistant with a company and take further training and qualifications on the job.

More information

Further information

You can get more details about careers and training in design from the British Institute of Interior Design and from The Society of British and International Interior Design.

You can get information on working in this and other creative careers from Discover Creative Careers.

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You could move into related work like theatre set design, visual merchandising, exhibition design or furniture design.

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Skills required and how your skills match up

What skills are required?

You'll need:

  • design skills and knowledge
  • to be thorough and pay attention to detail
  • customer service skills
  • the ability to come up with new ways of doing things
  • the ability to accept criticism and work well under pressure
  • knowledge of building and construction
  • the ability to use your initiative
  • the ability to work well with others
  • knowledge of English language
  • to be able to use a computer and the main software packages confidently
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