WHITEPAPER
The continual assessment of professional designers Kenneth Laidler, president of APID, has written a paper proposing the continual assessment of professional interior design practioners. practioners Over the next few months, CID will be publishing exclusive extracts Given the various specialisations operating within the interior design profession, it is essential to ensure that operatives know and understand a basic set of criteria relating to their own area of expertise. To this end, an examination should be prepared in order to test and assess the level of knowledge and understanding within each specialisation. These tests are based on the acceptance that there are a series of different roles and functions within the interior design profession. Titles are used as a means of classifying individual design inputs – but first we need to identify a designer’s basic competencies, which can then be translated into job roles. These basic competencies include imaginative and design skills; technical comprehension; visualisation expertise; specification competence; administrational expertise; knowledge of construction practices; client awareness and cultural comprehension. In simple terms, it is important to classify what a professional interior designer needs to know in order to practice the profession. I would list the attributes that an interior designer needs as follows: • An understanding of user psychology; • A clear understanding of the business model they are designing for; • An objective understanding of past, present and future design psychology, including architectural history; • A clear understanding of past, present and future construction practices;
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• Total comprehension of the position of interior design within the global building envelope; • Complete understanding of the role of the many other professionals engaged and involved in the process of creating built environments; • A familiarity with the production of visual information, in order to clearly explain a concept and describe the methods of achieving the finished product; • A thorough knowledge of material specifications, covering suitability, conformity to regulations, durability, structural integrity, economic viability, aesthetic suitability, safety and, not least in today’s climate, sustainability; • A superior technical knowledge of predesigned products, such as furniture, lighting and floor coverings; • A legal and contractual understanding of the designer’s obligations to the client and contractor; • A clear legal and contractual understanding of the contractor’s deliverables to the client; • An ability to carry out clear analytical processes when reviewing the client’s brief, the site budgetary allocations, technical feasibility, co-ordination with associated consultants and contractors, as well as the capability to demonstrate that analysis in some written or graphic form; • An aesthetic appreciation of design issues such as scale, form, texture, colour, proportion, ergonomics, anthropometrics, physical weight and
psychological influences. Whilst it may be argued that aesthetic appreciation is subjective, it is equally contested that good design follows accepted principals relating to this list of design issues. • A clear understanding that interior design is a true profession and requires an integrity of both design input and personal character; that it is a business and therefore must be practiced as such, and not as a hobby or charity; • General knowledge of geography, history, politics, science, physics, cultural awareness, religion, technology, sport, hobbies, music, dance… almost anything that has some relevance to the interior environment. Most of the above are learned through experience and travel but can only be fully used in design if the interior designer has an interested and enquiring mind, and never accepts anything without questioning it. It is with these issues in mind that any test or examination must seek to discover the level of knowledge that has lodged within the brain of an interior designer. This can be measured as a level of attainment – and can be used to not only confirm the classification of the specialist but to grade his level within a specialisation, based also on their age and experience. Next month, Laidler will provide a detailed breakdown of the different skill sets required by concept designers, visualisers and design technicians.
Commercial Interior Design November 2009
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