Interior Design B.S.

A comprehensive approach to contemporary interior design

If you are interested in learning physical environment design through a multidisciplinary lens, the Interior Design B.S. degree may be a good fit for you. It is a highly structured CIDA accredited program, at the forefront of sustainability, that focuses on state-of-the-art methods to train students to enter the design profession.

Faculty members emphasize collaboration and the creative use of technology to prepare students for their careers. Your mentors come from a wide range of design disciplines and possess a broad experience of the design fields, including interior design, architecture, landscape architecture, fine art, graphic design, and information design.

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CIDA Accreditation

The interior design program in the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design program has been continuously accredited by CIDA (the Council for Interior Design Accreditation) since 1992, along with 150 others nationwide and in Canada.

Prepare graduates to use experience, knowledge, ethics, and design thinking to address problems that require new directions and unknown challenges.

We understand interior design as a human-focused, culturally contextualized, and ecologically aware discipline. We believe design unites humanity. The curriculum emphasizes relationships between aesthetic, behavioral, technological, social, and ecological systems in creation of responsive and responsible interior environments. Our interior design program is built on these understandings—and is necessarily interdisciplinary.

  • Provide students with the interdisciplinary education, historical perspectives, and technical skills required of thoughtful, ethical, and critically and self-aware designers.
  • Develop students’ graphic, written, and oral communication skills so they effectively understand and share humanistic and technical information.
  • Cultivate user-responsive, inclusive, ecologically aware, and socially responsible design philosophies within students so user needs drive design process, rather than vice versa.
  • Provide students with opportunities to establish and refine creative skills in design, art, and humanities using the latest technologies.
  • Prepare students to engage the world with empathy, professionalism, and respect.
  • Encourage and allow students to explore a range of design specializations, including but not limited to cultural spaces, health care, hospitality, office, rehabilitation, retail, and emerging typologies.
  • Support students’ exposure to a global world that includes family, peers, and community, as well as international experiences and contexts.
  • Advance students’ recognition of collaboration’s value in shaping the better world we seek.

The Interior Design Program maintains information regarding student achievement at https://soaad.indiana.edu/undergraduate/majors/interior-bs.html

Graduation Rates

2015–2016: 63% of students who matriculated in the ID curriculum in 2012–2013 graduated in four years (16% graduated in five years; 0% graduated in six years; 21% changed majors or left the university)

2016–2017: 64% of students who matriculated in the ID curriculum in 2013–2014 graduated in four years (18% graduated in five years; 9% graduated in six years; 9% changed majors or left the university)

2017–2018: 82% of students who matriculated in the ID curriculum in 2014–2015 graduated in four years (0% graduated in five years; 18% changed majors or left the university)

2018–2019: 47% of students who matriculated in the ID curriculum in 2015–2016 graduated in four years (33% graduated in five years; 20% changed majors or left the university)

2019-2020: 88% of students who matriculated in the ID curriculum in 2016-2017 graduated in four years (0% graduated in five years; 12% changed majors or left the university)

2020-2021: 63% of students who matriculated in the ID curriculum in 2017-2018 graduated in four years (6% graduated in five years; 30% changed majors or left the university)

Student Attrition and Retention

2016–2017: 100% of students admitted in 2016–2017 returned in the fall of 2017, putting attrition at 0%

2017–2018: 100% of students admitted in 2017–2018 returned in the fall of 2018, putting attrition at 0%

2018–2019: 94% of students admitted in 2018–2019 returned in the fall of 2019, putting attrition at 6%

2019-2020:  76% of students admitted in 2019-2020 returned in the fall of 2020, putting attrition at 23%

2020-2021: 83% of students admitted in 2020-2021 returned in the fall of 2021, putting attrition at 17%

Job Placement Rates

2018–2019: 60.0% of students who graduated in 2018–2019 are employed in interior design or a related profession

2019-2020:  80% of students who graduated in 2019-2020 are employed in interior design or a related profession

2020-2021: 89% of students who graduated in 2020-2021 are employed in interior design or a related profession

Acceptance into Graduate Programs

2018–2019: 2 students who graduated in 2018–2019 applied and were accepted into graduate school

2019-2020:  10% of students who graduated in 2019-2020 applied and were accepted into graduate school

2020-2021: 15% of students who graduated in 2020-2021 applied and were accepted into graduate school

The interior design program leading to the Bachelor of Science in Interior Design is accredited by the Council for Interior Design Accreditation, www.accredit-id.org, 206 Grandville Avenue, Suite 350, Grand Rapids, MI, 49503.

The CIDA-accredited program prepares students for entry-level interior design practice, for advanced study, and to apply for membership in professional interior design organizations. The Bachelor of Science in Interior Design granted by Indiana University Bloomington meets the educational requirement for eligibility to sit for the National Council for Interior Design Qualification Examination (NCIDQ Exam). For more information about NCIDQ Exam eligibility visit: https://www.cidq.org/eligibility-requirements.

B.S. in Interior Design curriculum

Along with the CASE Credit Hour and Residency Requirements, students must complete the following:

  1. Foundations
    1. CASE English Composition
    2. Mathematical Modeling
  2. CASE Foreign Language Choose from:
    1. CASE Foreign Language: proficiency in a single foreign language through the second semester of the second year of college-level coursework.
    2. Proficiency in a single foreign language through the second semester of the first year of college-level coursework in addition to the completion of the CASE Culture Studies requirements (both CASE Diversity in the United States and CASE Global Civilizations and Cultures).
  3. CASE Intensive Writing
  4. CASE Breadth of Inquiry
    1. Arts and Humanities: 4 courses
    2. Social and Historical Studies: 4 courses
    3. Natural and Mathematical Sciences: 3 courses
  5. CASE Critical Approaches
  6. CASE Public Oral Communication

Interior Design coursework

Students must complete at least 54 credit hours of coursework in the Interior Design major, including:

  • SOAD-A 100 Pathways: Introduction to Art, Design and Merchandising
  • SOAD-A 101 Creative Core: Color or FINA-F 102 Fundamental Studio—2D
  • SOAD-A 211 Cross-Disciplinary Workshops in Art, Design, and Merchandising
  • SOAD-D 168 Beginning Interior Architectural Design Studio
  • SOAD-D 271 Intermediate Interior Architectural Design Studio 1
  • SOAD-D 272 Intermediate Interior Architectural Design Studio 2
  • 12 credit hours of Advanced Studio courses, chosen from the following (at least 3 credit hours must be in D374):
    • SOAD-D 374 Advanced Interior Architectural Design Studio: Global Context
    • SOAD-D 475 Advanced Interior Architectural Design Studio: Contemporary Issues
  • SOAD-D 264 Digital Architectural Drawing
  • SOAD-D 335 Lighting Interior Spaces I
  • SOAD-D 336 Lighting Interior Spaces II
  • SOAD-D 263 Design Methods
  • SOAD-D 268 Architectural Theories and Concepts
  • SOAD-D 365 Architectural, Interior, and Furniture Design Studies
  • SOAD-D 277 Materials and Components of Interior Design
  • SOAD-D 302 Building Detailing and Systems
  • SOAD-D 469 Professional Practices in Interior Design

Choose two (2) courses from the following:

  • SOAD-D 201 3D Modeling for Design and Digital Fabrication
  • SOAD-D 202 Interior Visualization
  • SOAD-D 203 Green Building Concepts and Technologies
  • SOAD-D 290 Special Topics in Interior Design
  • SOAD-D 394 Advanced Digital Architectural Drawing
  • SOAD-D 485 Advanced Special Topics in Interior Design
  • SOAD-X 490 Independent Study in Interior Design
  • ARTH-A 102 Renaissance through Modern Art

View a full list of courses and descriptions

See Interior Design degree-specific laptop requirement information.

Enhance your major

Find internships

Study overseas

Collaborate + volunteer

Is it for you?

Interior Design is a major for people who are interested in combining the aesthetic qualities emphasized in traditional art programs with the technological qualities associated with scientific disciplines. If you have a strong desire to create compelling environments where people live and work, you might want to check out interior design.

Students typically have some of the following qualities:

  • Fascination with residential and commercial spaces and how they are used
  • Particular interest in the fine arts, especially the following disciplines: drawing, graphic design, sculpture, photography or furniture building
  • Interest in sustainability and ecological living

Learn the industry of interior design

You will gain broad understanding of 3-dimensional design principles, space planning, and the history of interior, architectural, and furniture design.

You will also acquire skills with the latest design and documentation software to illustrate your concepts and solutions for projects examining the whole spectrum of human activity. Examples include business and commercial establishments (offices and stores), places for recreation and hospitality (hotels, restaurants, resorts), health and cultural institutions (hospitals, schools, libraries, theaters, museums, places of worship), and residential interiors.

Architectural rendering.
Three students work on a project together.

Work productively in teams of artists + designers

Creative collaboration is a skill that takes years to master. You will have the ability to respect, understand, and critically evaluate work across the disciplines of art, design, and merchandising. And you will gain a thorough understanding of the skills needed to solve problems unique to the industry.

Interior design internships

Interior Design majors take their education in many directions. Most students will work approximately 2–3 years to qualify to take the National Council for Interior Design Qualification exam. Others may choose to attend graduate school.

Interior Design majors can become commercial designers, civic designers, residential designers, in-store designers, and design specialists. They can work in sales and marketing or education, among many other options.

Previous Interior Design students have accepted internships with the following organizations:

  • arcDESIGN
  • Brenner Design
  • Brynn Olson Design Group, LLC
  • Exhibit Columbus
  • Gensler
  • IDO Incorporated
  • Haworth, Inc.
  • HKS Maregatti
  • Indiana University Architect’s Office
  • Indiana University Office of Sustainability
  • Indiana University Residential Programs and Services, Interior Design Department
  • Interior Management, Inc.
  • Kimball Office
  • Mitsch Design
  • Nate Berkus Associates
  • Shanghai Xian Dai Architectural Design (Group) Co., Ltd.
  • SOM | Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
  • The Walt Disney Company
  • Urban Outfitters, Inc.

Learn more

Review our degree maps and watch our videos to learn more about our majors.