Career focus: How to enter Interior Design?

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Updated on Sep 1, 2021 20:54 IST

Interior Designing, a popular domain known more for its skills rather than degrees, finds many enthusiasts. Though this field is open to students from all academic backgrounds, many aspirants tend to have inhibitions and curiosity about future prospects. If you are interested in making a career in interior design, this article will clear your doubts and help you focus on achieving your goal. Depending upon your background and career requirements, you can choose from the academic programmes categorised into three sections:

Undergraduate Programmes
Postgraduate Programmes
Vocational / Distance Programmes

Undergraduate Programmes

After pursuing standard XII, different undergraduate programmes are available to study interior design. For admission to these programmes, you will have to take:

Name of the entrance	Eligibility	Institutes accepting score	Courses Offered	Entrance test parameters	Month of Exam
NIFT	Age Limit UG: 23 years PG: No limit	NIFT (all branches)	B.Des. (Accessory Design)	Quantitative ability; Communication ability; English comprehension; Business domain test; Analytical Ability; Power of observation, innovation and design ability	February
NID	10+2	NID Branches	Graduate Diploma Programme in Design (Furniture & Interior Design)	Observation power; Utilisation of form, colour, shapes; Innovative ways to look at and describe objects and environment; Imaginative expression; Drawing & proportion sense	January
AIEED	10+2	Several institutes (see details below)	4-year degree in Interior Design	General awareness; Language comprehension; Logical reasoning; Psychological analysis; Visual understanding; Lateral thinking; Design awareness	May
SIDET	10+2 with at least 45% marks		4-year degree in Interior Design		July

Remuneration: Students can start their career under a interior designer. Those employed in design firms can earn a starting salary of Rs 8000-10,000.

List of institutes that accept AIEED:

National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bhopal, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi
Sir JJ Institute of Applied Art (JJIAA), Mumbai
School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi
International Institute of Fashion Design (INIFD)
Raffles Design International
Modart International
B D Somani Institute of Art and Fashion Technology, Delhi
Vogue Institute of Fashion Technology, Bangalore

Post Graduate Programmes

Many a time, students realise their interests a little late or decide to follow their dreams a little later due to various reasons. They can opt for:

Name of entrance

Eligibility

Institutes accepting score

Courses Offered

Entrance test parameters

Month of Exam

NID

10+2+3/4 years

NID Branches

Post Graduate Diploma Programme in Design (Furniture & Interior Design)

World view; Mental Ability; Drawing; Creativity; Communication skills

January

AIEED

10+2+3/4 years

As listed above

M.Sc in Interior Design

General awareness; Language comprehension; Logical reasoning; Psychological analysis; Visual understanding; Lateral thinking; Design awareness; Creativity

May

Remuneration: The salary differs from organisation to organisation. The starting salary is somewhere around Rs 14,000 per month and rises with experience.

Distance Programmes

It’s not always possible for a candidate to pursue a full-time programme. That’s when distance learning or part time programmes are useful. These not only provide the candidate with requisite knowledge but also make them more job ready. The below listed programmes are applicable for all the candidates and minimum eligibility required is successful completion of class XII for bachelors and graduation for masters.

Name of the University	Degree Offered	Duration	Eligibility
Annamalai University	B.Sc, Diploma	3 yrs
Kuvempu University	B.Sc	3 yrs	PUC / Equivalent. This course isin collaboration with JD Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi.
RVD University	B.Sc	3 yrs	H.S.C / 10+2
Vinayaka Mission	B.Sc	3 yrs	10+2 or equivalent
Karnataka Open University	B.Sc	3 yrs	10+2 in any stream or equivalent
Yashwantrao Chavan Open University	B.Sc	3 yrs	10+2 or equivalent
Karnataka Open University	M.Sc	2 Yrs	Graduation in any stream or equivalent