Better Sooner than Later for Aspiring Designers

At present, applications to become a recognised interior designer in North America require educational qualifications, work experience, and success in an exam administered by the NCIDQ. The current work experience requirement can be fulfilled by spending a set amount of hours involved in any quality, verifiable interior design work. But the new regulations will mean that work experience will only be recognised if it is conducted in association with an interior designer already recognised by the NCIDQ system.

For aspiring interior designers, this signifies a tightening of the entry requirements for professional recognition in North America. There are only a limited number of NCIDQ-accredited interior design practitioners in existence, and competition to clock up the necessary work experience hours with them may turn out to be tough.
With the tougher new accreditation requirements only two years away, aspiring interior designers may look on the bright side by taking advantage of the temporary window between now and then, in which work experience requirements can still be fulfilled in any professional interior design context. As Maria Flynn, Director of Limperts Academy of Design points out, “The new regulations mean that students who begin their interior design education now will have an advantage over those who follow them two or three years down the track. If students want to get their work-experience under way before the January 2008 cut-off, it is imperative that they begin their education very soon, so that they can start making arrangements for work experience in 2007.”

While there is no doubt that the NCIDQ’s new regulations will help to make North American interior design standards more consistent, this may also make the field more difficult to break into. The new system will give interior design all the characteristics of classic ‘guild’ industry, where licensing to work in the field can only be gained by apprenticeship to those who are already ‘guild’ members.

For those with ambitions to professional design, the clear message is that they will do well to start planning their future today.


Limperts Academy of Design provides innovative, professional design courses with the flexibility to suit every lifestyle. Courses include Interior Design, Landscape & Garden Design, and Image & Fashion Styling. Find out more at www.limpertsacademy.com