Interior Design Facts

• The interior design of structures and environments significantly affects the health, safety and welfare of the public.

• The public benefits from knowing that the individuals they entrust with the design of their interior spaces are qualified.

• Legal recognition establishes standards of minimum competency, including education, experience and examination, which are enforceable.

• Interior designers improve the health, safety and welfare of the public in the spaces they design.

• Legal recognition ensures that only qualified individuals design interior spaces or represent themselves to the public as licensed interior designers.

• Legal definitions of the scope of practice, helps consumers differentiate the responsibilities and services of each of the design professions.

• Legislation allows consumers to choose the appropriate professional and brings the benefit of open competition to the design process.

• Legal recognition enables a state to discipline an interior designer thus protecting the public.

• Legal recognition of interior designers benefits and protects the public by providing standards of practice embodied in an enforceable code of ethics.

• Legal recognition allows consumers a means of addressing grievances with interior designers and prevents unethical designers from continuing to practice.

What is a professional interior designer?

A professional interior designer is qualified by education, experience and examination to enhance the function, safety and quality of interior spaces. Professional interior designers combine critical and creative thinking, and have knowledge of building codes, communication and technology, for the purposes of improving quality of life, increasing productivity and protecting the health, safety and welfare of those who occupy the spaces they design.

What is interior design legislation?

States legally recognize the interior design profession through legislation that establishes minimum standards of qualification that must be met to become registered in the state. Through these established standards, interior design legislation protects and benefits public health, safety and welfare. In addition to establishing standards of minimum competency for the profession, interior design laws legally recognize interior design as a profession and often define its scope of practice.

Professional registration or licensure laws do not say who provides “good design” or “bad design.” This is a subjective decision that can only be made by a client. Instead, professional regulations set a minimum level of competencies required to safely practice a profession.

Generally, there are two types of interior design legislation: title acts (registration or certification), which set standards for the use of a certain title but do not prevent anyone from practicing interior design; and practice acts (licensure), which require that professionals obtain a state license to offer interior design services.

Why should interior designers be registered or licensed?

The answer is simple: Every decision an interior designer makes affects life safety and quality of life. Legal recognition establishes enforceable standards of minimum competency and ensures that only qualified individuals design interior spaces or represent themselves as having the qualifications to do so.

Further, by providing legal definitions of the scope of interior design services and who may refer to themselves as a “registered [certified] interior designer,” legislation helps consumers differentiate the responsibilities and services of each of the design professions, helping them choose the appropriate professional for their projects, and bringing the benefit of more open competition to the design process.

One result of the increased focus on interior design fueled by popular media is an influx of untrained “interior designers” in the marketplace. In states without interior design laws, there are no professional qualifications for an individual to practice interior design. In such cases, the public health, safety and welfare is in jeopardy, as an unqualified individual may make decisions that put lives at risk.

In a state without an interior design title act or practice act, interior design is not a legally recognized profession and therefore, qualified interior designers may be precluded from reaching their fullest capabilities or bidding on certain state projects even though they have formal interior design education, experience and have passed the NCIDQ exam.

In addition, without a legal definition of interior design and a defined scope of its practice, interior designers run the risk of losing their ability to provide certain services through the regulation of other design professions. This means loss of work for interior designers.

Given the mobility and global nature of businesses today, interior designers are unlikely to practice in the same city or state throughout their careers. The ability of interior designers to work on a project across state lines or to move their business from state to state depends upon establishing a standard scope of practice and professional qualifications for interior designers.

Designers can ensure their ability to practice across state lines by ensuring that they have at least two years of interior design education and have passed the NCIDQ exam, even if the state where they currently do business does not license the profession.

For more information regarding the Interior Design profession
Visit the ASID Web site, www.asid.org

The American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) is a community of people, designers, industry representatives, educators and students committed to interior design. Through education, knowledge sharing, advocacy, community building and outreach, the Society strives to advance the interior design profession and, in the process, to demonstrate and celebrate the power of design to positively change people’s lives. It’s more than 38,000 members engage in a variety of professional programs and activities through a network of 48 chapters throughout the United States and Canada.

CONTACT NHIDC
Phone:  603-279-0220 
  Email:  Designers@NHIDC.org

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New Hampshire Interior Design Coalition and NHIDC Members