Commercial Interior Design takes the basic concepts that anyone can use to design the inside of their own home to a whole new level. While the average layperson might be able to successfully and pleasantly decorate their own homes with a minimum of previous training, education, and experience, such is most assuredly not the case with the much more daunting task of commercial interior design.

It's one thing to decide how you want to decorate a couple of bedrooms, a living room, and a dining room, but quite another thing altogether when having to design the interior of an office building with potentially dozens of floors to have to take into consideration. It involves much more than arranging furniture and hanging .

A commercial interior designer, therefore, will go through years and years of arduous schooling to gain the necessary education to be able to fulfill the requirements of any commercial project. He will undergo training and schooling for a variety of different subjects all related one way or another to commercial interior design. The field is broken up into different specialties, and with the plethora of different directions one can take, the decision to know which way to go can be quite confusing and will take some careful thought and consideration on behalf of the aspiring designer. There are some things, however, that all commercial designers must know, and certain common challenges that all designers will face, regardless of their area of expertise.

Probably the most important tool at the commercial designer's disposal will be computer software. More specifically, software that is commonly referred to in the industry as Computer Aided Design, or CAD is what we are referring to. It is the one tool that is common to almost all commercial designers because of it's extensive ability to translate the designers ideas into a format that general contractors can use to make their ideas a reality. CAD programs can create a variety of different blueprints and design drawings that are fundamental and essential to getting a project of often great magnitude up and running. Any modern day designer without intimate knowledge and ability to use CAD software will be seriously limited to how effective he can hope to be in the industry.

While often thought of as a separate field of study, a working knowledge of engineering will also be required by the commercial designer. The study of space, and how to most effectively use it, will come into play time and time again. Designers are often faced with incredible challenges and are asked to perform the equivalent of miracles at times when asked to create space where there seemingly just isn't any available. Engineering aptitude is what will help the designer achieve such lofty goals.

So while a career in commercial interior design will most certainly be challenging and will require a great deal of discipline, effort, and studying to become successful, it can also be incredibly rewarding and the payoff of finishing a big project is quite satisfying to say the least.