An Interior Design Student Journal : What is it like to be an interior design student?

Many people thought a design student life is a laid back fun life with a lot of spare time because you got no essays, no memorizing, no counting, and not much thinking. After all, what they do is just draw, isn't it? Well it isn't. There are A LOT more than just drawing for a design student, and in this case an interior design student. Of course you got to draw because it is a design department but being an interior design student is also about how you can develop your ideas into reality. We need to think hard to make a good concept, we count and use measurements in making technical drawings, we have to memorize certain size and dimensions of furniture and parts of buildings and we do have exams (drawing exams that last for almost 5 hours).

All that I can say is it's very far from being laid back. We have a ton of projects and assignments to do with a rather short deadline. And like it's not enough, we even get other assignments (writings, essays, etc.) from the general education classes. Occasionally we have mental breakdown moments where everything seems like a mess tangled up real bad. But we do find satisfaction when it all finished - especially when it receive appreciation from others.

Just like any other people, we do have difficulties in pursuing our dreams. Nothing worth having comes easy.

And to share my first year experience, here are some things about what being an interior design student is about for me :

  1. Dealing with Lack of Sleep  

Tired. Just tired. Gif from here, credits to owner(s)

  2. Dealing with Rejection  

To be honest, it wasn't the best feeling to be rejected. Having your work disassembled in front of your eyes or feeling it has become another trash to throw away is not good, especially the ones that you have worked on for a long time with a lot of thoughts put into it.

It may sound harsh but maybe that's what it is all about : learning to deal with rejection. In the work field later, our ideas won't always be accepted by people and we need to deal with that. But I just want to say that if our idea is rejected, it doesn't always mean that it is not good. It just isn't the time yet for it to shine. I like to think of it as people haven't got the chance to see the 'beauty' in it. After all, everybody has their own opinion and we need to respect that.

  3. Dealing with Imperfection  

The younger me is somewhat a (mild) perfectionist for the things I love. But being in interior design department, I've learnt that wanting everything to be perfect can break you. Having the desire to make my works without any flaw is very very hard. Even if other people don't see or notice it, I'll know even the tiniest flaw in my work as I'm the one who made it. It really gets me down because it bothers me for a long time.

As it goes by, I've learnt that maybe it doesn't have to be 'that' perfect to be perfect. Being such a perfectionist is just going to tire you through out the years. But that doesn't mean that you can be lazy and not care for your works. Fix what you can, but let go of the tiny flaws. Try your very best until the deadline reach but be easy on yourself if in the end you don't get the result you wanted. Keep that in mind and ask yourself how you can be better in the future. You got to deal with the imperfections. Imperfections has their own beauty and uniqueness. You just have to try your best in everything and find perfection in your imperfection.

  4. Dealing with Shyness  

I'm an introverted person and I like that. I'm not anti-social but talking to new people (or any people I'm not close to) often make me nervous because I can't do small talks - it can get very awkward as in numerous occasion, I don't know what to say. This is a problem in the world of Interior Design because I will provide services and I have to do a lot of presentation, explain a lot of things to my clients and contractors (although now just my lectures) - meaning I have to speak a lot . . . to other people that mostly I haven't met before.

And there's also the 'asking for materials samples' situation. Material samples are a piece of materials that are (usually) given out or sold as a sample and they are important to make a material board which every interior design student has to make (I suppose). You can usually find them at an interior / architecture / furniture related expo.

I had been anxious because I was too shy to do presentation or to ask for the samples. But thankfully I improved with time and although I'm still shy, I encourage myself to just do it because it's what I have to do. Doing presentation for the lectures turns out to be not so bad and many people/companies are very willing to give out samples, maybe even explain the materials to you. So don't be shy and just boldly (and politely) ask for them.

Although I'm still the same introverted person who need to not talk to anybody for a while at times and still avoiding small talks 'cause its still somewhat awkward, speaking to other people now isn't as hard as it used to be. I figure that I need to adapt myself to this situation to improve myself to be better.

  5. The Interior Design Student Syndrome  

As I've finished my first year as an interior design student, I kind of develop this strange (but not harmful) habits :

Occasionally writing in all capital letters
I blame the technical drawings :D Writing in all uppercase letters in a dozen (or more) sheets of technical drawing really affected my original handwriting style.

Looking around the restaurant where I happen to eat and wondering/guessing in my mind what material is used for the floor, ceiling, etc.
It is good to be curious about these sort of things right? ;)

Get excited every time there is a sample material available to be given out
Will be more excited if they just hand it out to me without me having to ask first :D

P.S : actually you can also buy some material samples through some online shops in instagram but if you can get it free by asking, why not? :)

Think of an a4 paper as a really really small piece of paper
I used to think an A3 paper is big. But after working with an A1, A4 seems soooo tiny in comparison.

And last but not least, although it isn't exactly a habit, my room is so messy, it looks like a storage room (especially on busy final weeks)
Let's face it, if I got the time to clean my room, I would rather sleep more ^^


Overall, my first year in interior design department has been an exciting, interesting, confusing and tiring experience. Most likely, it will last until I graduate. But we have to have strong will to achieve something big right? So just get on with it and enjoy every moment.

Are you an interior design student too? Or are you planning to be one? I'd love to hear your experience or thoughts in the comment section below. That's it for this post, hope you enjoy reading it :)


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