What Every Designer Should Know, But Aren’t Taught In School
Each year, thousands of interior designers enter the workforce. A variety of courses ranging from math to graphic design, to various components that make up a space is required for a Bachelor’s degree. And while the classroom can show the mechanics behind using a computer to aid in drafting and design, there are some things that you should know but aren’t taught in the classroom. We asked some our designers, new and seasoned, what they thought was important for interior designers to know and here’s what they said:
Aurora F. Cammarata
Director of Business Development:
How firms actually get work: I was a guest at the BAC masters in architecture class – they spent 2.5 hours in the entire year discussing how to determine your backlog, how to develop a multiplier, how to write a proposal, how to develop a winning interview and networking/finding new work.
Paul Koch
Senior Architect
Learning Doesn’t Stop Because You Graduated: Strive to learn something new every day. Keep learning and this will make you more valuable in a team. Learn to collaborate. Learn from your peers. Identify Mentors. GROW!
Kendra Preteroti
Designer IIDA, NCIDQ, LEED
I learned it was unethical to steal pens from your company, but not the importance of networking: I had one class that dealt with professional practice, but I don’t recall learning much about the importance of networking or how to do it. This is something that also came up recently at an event I was at for professionals the need for identifying mentors and sponsors, and the difference between the two. For those of you who don’t know the difference (because I didn’t): a mentor is someone you go to for advice or learning material, whereas a sponsor is someone who will promote you to
others when you are not present (and by promoting, I mean speak highly of you, not promote you to a higher position). I think that needs to be reiterated in school.