Each profession should be recognized for the work. The training required for our profession, Interior Design, is not understood because we haven't clarified to the public what we do. In order for the public to understand and appreciate the significance of our training and the affect a good interior design has on the quality of life, we must educate the public about what we do.

It has a significant effect on public health and safety just as much as aesthetic effectiveness. It requires a bachelor's degree plus a 2 year internship BEFORE WE ARE EVEN ELIGIBLE to apply for the exam with the NCIDQ (National Council for Interior Design Qualification). This exam qualifies us as competent, educated professionals. In order to to continue regulation of Interior Designers I suggest we change the name of our profession to one that will more accurately reflects our job description. Using the name interior designer can be confusing not only to the general public, but obviously to law makers.

When I mention interior design to people (regardless of how educated they are) they automatically assume we decorate. A decorator works for a furniture company selling furniture and accessories. Being a designer involves so much more than matching colors. For example, we take into consideration things like IBC codes; ADA requirements; structural elements and their function; Fire codes; function associated with usage of the space; green design using pure non-off-gassing products with focus on air quality; and finally aesthetics and lighting with focus on their affects on emotional and psychological well-being on the end users. We are not just decorators and we have a degree and NCIDQ accreditation that qualify us as competent professionals that can be held liable for faulty, dysfunctional or unsafe designs. We even have to carry liability insurance to cover us. In order to eliminate the confusion, I believe we need to change the name of our profession to Interior Architectural Designer to reflect Interior Functional Aesthetic Architecture. In fact we should have IFAA tagged onto our title.

Thanks Eleni Georgakopoulos http://esgeo.webs.com