Public Image vs. Reality

First let me start by sharing this paragraph with everyone because it couldn’t be any truer. 

“The public's perception is their reality. The public believes that interior designers select colors and materials. Certainly, interior designers do select color and materials as part of their job, but it is only a small part. Yet the public only sees and understands the final form, not realizing what it takes to get there.”

“The public believes that architects create buildings and that interior designers select colors and materials….. In actuality, the roles of architects and interior designers are much more complex and can be better understood in comparison to a conductor playing a symphony. They are both striving for the successful outcome of their vision, and rarely do they perform as a solo act. They use their own experience and expertise to lead a team of specialists to turn an initial vision into a final form.” Mitchell E. Sways, FIIDA 

Now the question at hand is why and how did the public get so misinformed?

The first thing that comes to mind is television programs, magazines and of course the internet. The truth is that the media has cast a dark cloud over the truth of what an interior designer is and all the hard work that goes into a real design. 

The fact is that everyone watches television, and there are so many shows that make interior designer look like decorators.  There is: Trading Spaces, while you were out, top design, Design Star and many more. And unfortunately, even popular television shows like Desperate Housewives, interior designers are being misrepresented.  However, for most people, if it is shown on TV as just making things look pretty, in a ridicules time frame with an even more ridicules budget then why would it not be true?

With that said, I wonder how many interior designers have had to go through having to explain to a future client that a full room make over like the ones seen on TV cannot be done in 24 to 48 hours with a one to two thousand dollar budget.

Sadly enough it doesn’t stop there. Magazines and the internet don’t help the matter.

When walking past the magazine racks under the interior design section you will find titles like: Better Homes and Gardens, Southern Living, Florida Design, Country Living etc. but none of these actually show the true design process and steps that go into a real design. 

And with the internet if you type in the words “interior design” this like: Colleges, Furniture places and decorating ideas pop up.

With all these outlets of tainted information it all makes me wonder
How did this happen?

Why is this still continuing today?
And with all the misleading going on do you have any fears or worries when entering the design world?

Designers World Wide

I titled this entry “designers world wide” because that is the future. As technology, education and firms progresses the ability for an interior designer to take on projects in different locations around the world aren’t that unheard of. Many firms have locations all around the world and communicate via e-mail, fax and phone calls. Between firms, distributors and manufactures a good designer will eventually have to opportunity to branch out to other locations. 

A great example of how the process would work would be a little like academic projects. Most academic project  work similar to how it would be if working on a project a good deal way. The client would contact the firm, a purposal would be put together, and once all terms have been agreed on the designer would go to work on designing a space for a purpose. With many of the projects students work on, the designer puts together a full set of construction documents  without ever seeing the site/ space.

In addition, with programs like Autodesk Autocad and Revit that are being used world wide I feel as long as we have a good understanding of the space, client needs, and the function the space should service we as interior designers should be able to design from anywhere.

Good luck, the sky is the limit!