Interior Design can be a very exciting career. You will be able to apply your creative abilities to a wide range of design projects. In the residential area, projects could range from model homes, vacation homes and yachts and condominiums to shelters for the homeless. The contract design areas could have you working on new restaurants and hotels, specialty stores, senior living centers, executive offices, banks, critical care medical units, university buildings, gaming facilities, cruise ships and even religious facilities.

While you may wish to open your own interior design firm, there are a great many other options open to you. If you enjoy meeting people and traveling, you may decide to become a representative for a firm promoting their products. If your strength lies in creating your own style, you may wish to show your flair by designing for a firm, creating new wallcoverings or fabrics based on historic patterns, designing custom floor coverings or doing special furnishing to meet the needs of the handicapped.

Besides creating attractive living and working spaces, designers first work to solve problems. Designing may mean arranging equipment and furnishings to allow people to work better and more efficiently, creating new areas that function well and can be produced within the given budget or perhaps, working with "green" or recycled products to reduce costs and minimize the impact of buildings on our environment.

Interior Design is a challenging career – creating a space to meet a client’s lifestyle by applying aesthetics, function, and building code requirements. Interior design is a professional field that is rapidly expanding in both the commercial and the residential realms. Contract design, the use of professional designers in the commercial world (business, industry, leisure, etc.), has been on an increase. As people have experienced the environments of hotels/motels, restaurants, stores, shops, theaters, places of employment, and as they are subjected to the advertisements of furnishings and designs, their tastes and standards have become more professionally oriented. Residential design, the use of professional designers in private homes, has been affected by the major transformation of the American family to a dual-career/dual-earner model. Generally speaking, two-income families have more money, less time, and higher standards for their living environments. This combination of factors allows more families than ever before to seek out professionals who are able to design their home environments.

Although some students will open their own firms or take positions in firms as residential or contract designers, many career options are much more specialized. For example, a student might choose to become a space planner, color selection consultant, showroom designer, editor for a professional or trade journal, product designer, hotel/motel/restaurant designer or even an aircraft interior designer. The list goes on. The important point, however, is that by majoring in residential or contract design, students get a basic and solid background that allows them to pursue various design specializations.

A professional interior designer is a person who is qualified by education and experience to identify, research and creatively solve problems related to the function and quality of the human environment. In order to help students reach this level of professional functioning, the program requirements include 47 hours of general education, and 78 hours of core courses. To graduate, students must complete a minimum of 125 credit hours. Courses toward the major include visual presentation techniques, space planning, design skills, business practices, construction management, fine arts, minor arts, law, marketing, computer technology and other special and technical subjects. Please consult the Missouri State Catalog online at www.missouristate.edu/catalog for specific course information.

 

• HID 140: Fundamentals of Design and Interiors
• HID 201: Studio I
• HID 202: Studio II
• HID 208: CAD for Interior Design
• HID 241: Residential Design I
• HID 303: Studio III
• HID 304: Studio IV
• HID 325: Pre-Internship Seminar
• HID 344: Historical Design: Pre 19th Century
• HID 346: Historical Design: 19th-21st Century
• HID 405: Studio V
• HID 406: Studio VI
• HID 408: Computer Applications for Interior Design
• HID 424: Business Practices
• HID 441: National Council of Interior Design Qualifications (NCIDQ) and Senior Show
• HID 499: Internship in Interior Design

At Missouri State, the Housing and Interior Design program is taught by faculty members who have advanced degrees and actual experience in the profession. In addition to teaching,  faculty members conduct research, actively participate in professional meetings and serve the community. One of the special features of interior design faculty members is their interest in international travel. Striving for excellence is what faculty members expect of themselves and their students.

Study Tours

The Fashion and Interior Design Department offers opportunities for travel, both national and international.  Study Tours have been taken to Chicago, New York, Paris, China, Italy and Greece.

Field Experience

Students are required to complete an Interior Design internship.

Service Projects

The senior students, under the supervision of faculty, have designed rooms for the Springfield Symphony Showcase House and the Ronald McDonald House. Other projects have included designing campus offices, church educational units and similar projects. As a requirement, students are assigned to private clients where they meet and interview the families and render designs for designated spaces of their homes. They also may be assigned to produce plans for contract spaces.

Senior Show

Under the guidance and direction of the faculty, senior students display their portfolios in a public venue. Invitations are sent out to various segments of the professional community throughout the state to view student work.

Scholarships

In addition to general and university scholarships, several scholarships are available specifically for interior design students from the Springfield Design Association and the Springfield Home Builder’s Association.