Interior Design Program Guide

While it may feel like an obvious first step, defining the scope and direction of your research is very important! It will determine the direction your programming and research go, the sources you consult, and the eventual outcome of your exploration. 

Often, our research is prompted by a problem we want to solve or a pressing question we want to answer. We use resources to explore potential answers and select the most likely one(s). 

• How could we improve ___?
• What would eliminate ___?
• Has anyone attempted ___?
• How might ___ work here? 

One method of getting started is to select an area of interest or emerging trend in the field to explore in greater depth.

Some industry trends include: 

• Aging in place
• Antropometry
• Barrier-free design
• Biomimicry
• Business of design
• Corporate design
• Environmental behavior
• Ergonomics
• Facilities planning
• Green/sustainable design
• Healthcare design
• Historic preservation and restoration
• Hospitality design
• Human factors
• Institutional design
• Lighting design
• Modularity/impermanence
• Museum and exhibit design
• Residential design
• Resiliency
• Retail design
• Set design
• Universal design
• Way-finding methods

List quoted from Botti-Salitsky, R. (2017). Programming & research : Skills and techniques for interior designers (Second ed.).

Other places to explore industry trends: 

Before moving forward, it's a good idea to clearly define the question to be answered or the problem to be solved. This defines your scope and helps keep you track in your research. 

Possible questions to consider:

• What is the problem here?
• Why is it worth investigating and learning about?
• What opportunities exist within this problem?
• Have others tried to solve this problem?
• What is the scope of the problem? Are there other issues connected to this? 
• What are the limitations of the problem?

List quoted from Botti-Salitsky, R. (2017). Programming & research : Skills and techniques for interior designers (Second ed.).