Want to Study Interior Design? Here’s What You Should Know Before You Start
You walk into a café and notice the lighting before you look at the menu. You rearrange your bedroom because something about the layout feels wrong. Or you save images of beautiful spaces and wonder whether you could design something like them yourself.
That curiosity can be a starting point for studying interior design. The next step is learning to ask questions about what you see. Why does one room feel comfortable while another feels crowded? Who needs to use space, and what might make it difficult for them? Would the design still work with a smaller budget or different materials?
Studying interior design gives that curiosity structure. Before choosing a program, it helps to understand the thinking, practical work,program and communication involved—and whether you would enjoy the process as much as the finished result.
Enjoying Interiors and Studying Interior Design Are Different Experiences
An interest in interiors often begins with personal taste. You know which colors you like, what furniture catches your eye, and which spaces you would happily spend time in. Studying interior design asks you to consider people whose preferences and needs may differ from your own.
Take a café. A visitor might admire its warm lighting and curved seating. A designer also needs to ask whether customers can move comfortably between tables, whether staff have enough room to work, and whether the materials can withstand daily use. A beautiful choice may need to change when it creates a practical problem.
This is where the subject becomes more demanding—and more interesting. You learn to observe, investigate, and explain why a decision suits a particular space. Personal taste still matters, but it becomes one part of a wider process shaped by the brief, the people using space and the constraints you need to work within.
From an Attractive Room to a Design That Works
Imagine a small room that needs to serve as both a bedroom and a study space. Your first idea might be a larger desk, open shelving, and a comfortable chair. Each looks appealing on its own. Together, they might leave too little room to open the wardrobe or move around the bed.
The design starts to improve when you consider how the room will be used throughout the day. Where can the desk receive daylight without making the screen difficult to see? Which items need to stay within reach, and which can be stored away? Can someone pull out the chair comfortably?
Every choice affects another. Open shelves keep belongings accessible but require a different approach to organization than closed storage. A generous desk offers more working space but takes up floor area that another activity may need.
Working through these trade-offs is part of learning interior design. You test a layout, notice what it makes easier or harder, and revise it. The finished room should feel considered because its appearance and practical decisions support the same purpose.
What You Will Need to Learn to Communicate
A design can make perfect sense in your head and still be difficult for someone else to understand. “I want the room to feel more open” expresses an intention, but it does not explain what needs to move, how much space is available, or why the change would help.
Different ways of presenting an idea answer different questions. A quick sketch can help you explore a layout. A drawing to scale lets you check dimensions and relationships. A material sample communicates texture, while a digital model can help someone understand space from another perspective.
You do not need every idea to begin as a polished image. What matters is learning to make your thinking clear enough for others to discuss and question. If someone asks why you placed the desk beside the window, you should be able to explain the decision—and reconsider it if they identify something you missed.
That makes feedback part of the design process. Revising your work gives you a chance to strengthen the connection between what you intended and what space actually delivers.
How Interior Design Connects with Other Creative Disciplines
A retail display brings several creative decisions into the same space. Its layout needs to work with the products, graphics, and brand message while giving people a reason to stop and look. Each element contributes to how the display is experienced.
Raffles Jakarta | Galeries Lafayette offers a concrete example. Students from Interior Design, Visual Communication Design, and Fashion Marketing & Management collaborated on a visual merchandising display celebrating the department store’s heritage and identity. Their display won the inter-school competition.
For someone considering interior design, collaboration is worth noticing. Your ideas may need to work alongside another person’s visual language, commercial priorities or understanding of the audience. Learning to explain your decisions and understand theirs helps you contribute to a shared result.
When exploring a program, ask to see projects like this. They give you something specific to discuss: how the brief was interpreted, how students worked together, and what they learned through developing the final design.
What Should You Ask Before Choosing an Interior Design Programme?
Ask to see how students develop their work. A finished design can catch your attention, but the sketches, revisions, and decisions behind it can tell you more about the learning experience.
A few questions can make that conversation more useful:
What kinds of projects do interior design students work on?
How are drawing, spatial planning, and digital tools taught?
How often do students receive feedback on their designs?
Can I see how a student project developed from its first idea to the final proposal?
Do students collaborate with other creative disciplines?
The answers can help you picture yourself doing the work. Notice which parts make you curious and which you would like to understand better. You are choosing a process you will spend time practicing, so take the opportunity to look beyond the finished images.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between enjoying interiors and studying interior design? Enjoying interiors may begin with personal taste. Studying interior design involves developing ideas around users’ needs, spatial constraints, and practical requirements, then explaining and refining those decisions.
How are drawings and digital models used in interior design? They help communicate and test ideas. Sketches can explore possibilities, drawings to scale help check dimensions, and digital models can show a proposal from different viewpoints.
Why does interior design involve other creative disciplines? Projects can bring together space, graphics, products, and brand communication. Raffles Jakarta’s Galeries Lafayette display project, for example, involved students from interior design, visual communication design, and fashion marketing & management.
What should I ask before choosing an interior design program? Ask about student projects, how technical skills are taught, the feedback process, and opportunities for collaboration. Request examples that show how students develop and revise their work.
How can I find out about studying interior design at Raffles Jakarta? Explore the Interior Design program and contact the admissions team to discuss entry requirements, program availability, and the January 2027 intake.
You do not need to have every answer before exploring interior design. Start with your curiosity about spaces and a willingness to work through the decisions that make them useful, comfortable, and meaningful. The question is whether you enjoy observing, testing ideas, and finding a better solution when the first one falls short. That is worth discovering before you choose where to study.
Explore the Interior Design program at Raffles Jakarta, or
Meet our team and discuss what studying interior design could look like for you.
Maria Rosliana
Integrated Digital Marketing Executive
Raffles Indonesia
