What Makes Interior Design a Profession?

Interior design is a profession in part because of designers’ special skills and
education, but also because of designers’ special relationships with their
clients. According to Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary,

a profession is

“a
calling requiring specialized knowledge and often long and intensive academic
preparation.”

An art is a “skill acquired by experience, study, or observation,
an occupation requiring knowledge and skill, and the conscious use
of skill and creative imagination especially in the production of aesthetic
objects.”

Acraft is “an occupation or trade requiring manual dexterity or
artistic skill.”

These definitions stress a difference in training, suggesting
that only professions require university study. That difference does not precisely
hold anymore, since both arts and crafts are taught at the university
level.

Recalling David Maister’s definition of a professional as a “technician
who cares,”

we might ask, “Who benefits from the care that interior designers
exercise in the course of their practice?” Clearly, the beneficiaries are
those who use the settings that they design.

In defining the professional practice of interior design, the Foundation for
Interior Design Education and Research (FIDER) provides the following
outline of its scope:

• Analyzing client needs, goals, and life safety requirements

• Integrating findings with a knowledge of interior design

• Formulating preliminary design concepts that are aesthetic, appropriate,

and functional, and in accordance with codes and standards

• Developing and presenting final design recommendations through

appropriate presentation media

• Preparing working drawings and specifications for non-loadbearing

interior construction, reflected ceiling plans, lighting, interior

detailing, materials, finishes, space planning, furnishings,

fixtures, and equipment in compliance with universal accessibility

guidelines and all applicable codes