Interior designer, a creative driven career without the importance of being creative

When we talked about any design, the first thing came to our mind would be creativity, but the fact proves creativity does not play any important role in interior design business anymore. Instead, how well you can socialize, and how good the connection you have become the main factors for success. That is why we always can see the most stupid designs published on the magazines with no taste, no creativity, but full of mistakes and improper designs. Who else can we blame?! No one! Even NCIDQ exam does not test designers’ creativity. It is not like surgeons must be very good at what they do, interior designers can design ugly interior space, so what?! the clients will not die!!

Milk To The End

Construction business is suffering but at least construction companies or the workers that did big constructions will have the government’s Job Bills to help to work on infrastructures, the interior designers, architects, contractors, and the suppliers who usually did high end residential projects will have no such luxuries. Reckless spending cuts start to show its negative impact on the economy, and the congress gridlock will even worsen the already depressed market, so I really do not see anyone will spend big money on high end residential interior design in the near future. Many interior designers have started to advertise more aggressively and even turn themselves into business consultants to educate others how to survive in this tough economy and get more clients. Well, I admire those interior designers and design magazines can adjust their business strategies and goals quickly in order to survive themselves, but the fundamental problem of the market is not people can’t see or find your advertisements, but no one is willing to spend that kind of money even though they have seen your ads a thousand times, so under this kind of circumstance, all of those big talks in those marketing speeches, classes, strategy conferences to me are simply business agenda for those design magazines or interior designers turned business consultants. They knew there would be no one out there looking at those ads you spent a fortune on, and they also knew the possibilities for you to get a big client in this kind of economy climate would be nearly zero, but they are still trying to educate you how important it is to market yourself even more aggressively by asking you to pay to attend their seminars or to post your ads on their magazines. For me, they are just treating you like a big mama cow and milk you till you exhaust the last bit of money you have saved.

Interior Designers' Backgrounds

Being in interior design business for more than a decade, I have heard all kinds of backgrounds the interior designers were from, from showroom sales, furniture store sales, department store sales, artists, hair stylists, make-up artists, to teachers and house wives, you name it, but when I learned a well-known interior designer from South Florida who used to be a truck driver, I was speechless.
I have to ask why the interior design field in the US is full of the designers who are not professionally trained, not NCIDQ certified, not state licensed but all can be design firm owners and make a fortune but those who are formally trained as interior designers, NCIDQ certified, and state licensed interior designers can barely survive?! Why has interior design become a profession that is un-professional leading professional? What is wrong with interior design business? Has any interior design organization been doing anything about it? Has any design school been doing anything about it? I am outraged to see those armatures who are making all the money while professionally trained designers are struggling to survive, not only it is wrong but unfair to the consumers.