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Student work by Lucy Cave collage of an exhibition space with warm colours and sound baffles on the ceiling

Interior Design BA (Hons)

Turn your creativity and problem-solving skills into real-world solutions for how we live, work, and play.

Key information

How to Apply
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BA (Hons) Interior Design offers you the chance to explore how we can reimagine, remake, reuse, and rebuild our world to meet the changing scenarios of contemporary inhabitation. Sustainable practice and inclusive design principles are key components of the course, giving our graduates the tools, knowledge and understanding to design responsibly and create spaces that improve lives.

Why study with us

  • You’ll share studio and workshop spaces with our Architecture course ensuring students benefit from a lively and vibrant studio culture that mirrors the workplace.
  • Respond creatively to climate change through the carefully considered use of resources and the reuse of both built environment and material resources.
  • Study the fundamental skills of thinking and working in 2D and 3D methods, including technical drawings, 3D visualisation, sketching and model making.
  • Explore how light, colour, materials and their acoustics affect our perception of space and our wellbeing as you consider the social implications of design.
  • Learn key technical knowledge through a range of academic workshops based in a vibrant studio culture and industry-focused CAD facilities.
  • Experiment with materials and construction technologies for interiors with particular focus on sustainability, efficiency and environmental performance.
  • Work on a variety of exciting projects, including live briefs set by industry partners, to develop professional skills and benefit from cutting edge insights.
  • Join professional bodies to broaden your industry expertise and begin networking in national and international contexts.

Course details

Year 1

Core Units

This unit provides you with a dynamic exploration of the fundamentals of interior design through a range of projects, workshops, experiments and exercises. You’ll look at the range of technical, practical and environmental principles involved in spatial design and begin to develop an understanding of the impact space can have on the user’s experience. You’ll develop fundamental design skills in creative communication and drawing, exploring form and function through freehand and observational sketching, and 2D and 3D design visualisation techniques using digital media and model making. This unit also looks at how wider social issues – such as politics, sustainability, the economy, and technology – influence interior design throughout history and in the present.

40 credits

In this unit, you will explore and experiment with techniques, materials and media. This unit provides an overview of major themes needed to understand the context of interior design. Lectures and seminars examine case studies to understand the historical and cultural dimensions of spatial design and related disciplines that inform the built environment in general. You’ll continue to learn about 2D and 3D methods and techniques, including digital modelling and scale drawing in 3D CAD packages. You’ll study various building materials and their characteristics, looking at design issues related to structure and function. You’ll evolve your communication skills to support your design work while working individually or as part of a team in a collaborative and professional setting.

80 credits

Core Projects

The first week of each academic year is called Wayfinding week. It’s an opportunity get your bearings, establish new connections and, after your first year at Norwich, re-establish old ones. Your course team will talk you through the year ahead and explain the expectations for the year. We’ll help you navigate new encounters and identify areas to focus on as you progress through your course.

An important element of Wayfinding Week is taking part in our annual ‘Make it Manifest(o)’ project. Your course team will introduce the project in which we’ll ask you to consider your hopes and vision of the year ahead at Norwich and work with students in other year groups to bring your ideas to life. The project culminates in a celebratory display of work across the campus. The project will help you to develop your critical creativity through different approaches, concepts, and mediums. You’ll encounter diverse perspectives and build friendships and networks within our university community.

Interchange weeks are opportunities to step away from your disciplinary studies and engage in projects, workshops, visits and talks that extend your knowledge and understanding of the world. Whether you learn a new skill or take part in a global challenge project with students from other courses, you will come away with new insights to take back to your course. Interchange is part of the schedule for all Norwich students with sessions held across and beyond the campus led by university staff, visiting lecturers and students.

Year 2

Core Units

This unit will enable you to expand your specialist knowledge and skills and help you to identify areas for personal development. You will engage in industry-based briefs, developing and applying experimental approaches to factual and fictional ideas and stories. Technical workshops and seminars will develop your digital and analogue skills alongside sessions focused on illustrative thinking, materials, processes and development. You will develop an understanding of visual communication that will sharpen your research and evaluation skills, informed by design principles and cultural ideas. This unit will also explore contemporary issues such as sustainability and ethical practice in illustration and how visual language can raise awareness.

80 credits

This unit focuses on helping you understand your practice in a wider context through interdisciplinary working. You will be introduced to different ways collaborative working can help you focus and enhance your creative strengths. You’ll explore the principles of co-design and, as a group, conceive, develop and produce a response to a given brief. You will build your skillset using research and information from specialised design literature to inform and define an investigation and develop creative design solutions. You’ll also learn about the career opportunities within the design sector, which will help you identify your final year specialism and future career pathway.

40 credits

Core Projects

The first week of each academic year is called Wayfinding week. It’s an opportunity get your bearings, establish new connections and, after your first year at Norwich, re-establish old ones. Your course team will talk you through the year ahead and explain the expectations for the year. We’ll help you navigate new encounters and identify areas to focus on as you progress through your course.

An important element of Wayfinding Week is taking part in our annual ‘Make it Manifest(o)’ project. Your course team will introduce the project in which we’ll ask you to consider your hopes and vision of the year ahead at Norwich and work with students in other year groups to bring your ideas to life. The project culminates in a celebratory display of work across the campus. The project will help you to develop your critical creativity through different approaches, concepts, and mediums. You’ll encounter diverse perspectives and build friendships and networks within our university community.

Interchange weeks are opportunities to step away from your disciplinary studies and engage in projects, workshops, visits and talks that extend your knowledge and understanding of the world. Whether you learn a new skill or take part in a global challenge project with students from other courses, you will come away with new insights to take back to your course. Interchange is part of the schedule for all Norwich students with sessions held across and beyond the campus led by university staff, visiting lecturers and students.

Year 3

Core Units

This is the first and shorter of the two units that make up your final year of study. You’ll continue to explore materials and technologies for the construction and operation of building interiors with a particular focus on sustainability, environmental and performance issues. You’ll be expected to respond holistically to spatial design and its conceptual framework, generating complex responses to contemporary design problems. The detailed communication of your ideas will be developed through critical debate and analysis. You will address a question related to your area of interest and professional development through a research project. Your research will identify and discuss contemporary or emerging issues around wellbeing, social challenges, human needs and sustainability within interior design.

40 credits

This unit will allow you to deliver a final major design project, embracing the entire interior design process and demonstrating your approach to and engagement with contemporary interior design issues. You’ll develop your briefs and strategies and respond creatively through an integrated design proposal. Throughout this year, you will consolidate your knowledge and understanding and develop an independent creative voice to prepare you for entry into professional practice or engagement in further research. You’ll display your work as part of our degree show – GradFest – giving you the opportunity to showcase your work to our network of industry professionals and prospective employers.

80 credits

Core Projects

The first week of each academic year is called Wayfinding week. It’s an opportunity get your bearings, establish new connections and, after your first year at Norwich, re-establish old ones. Your course team will talk you through the year ahead and explain the expectations for the year. We’ll help you navigate new encounters and identify areas to focus on as you progress through your course.

n important element of Wayfinding Week is taking part in our annual ‘Make it Manifest(o)’ project. Your course team will introduce the project in which we’ll ask you to consider your hopes and vision of the year ahead at Norwich and work with students in other year groups to bring your ideas to life. The project culminates in a celebratory display of work across the campus. The project will help you to develop your critical creativity through different approaches, concepts, and mediums. You’ll encounter diverse perspectives and build friendships and networks within our university community.

Interchange weeks are opportunities to step away from your disciplinary studies and engage in projects, workshops, visits and talks that extend your knowledge and understanding of the world. Whether you learn a new skill or take part in a global challenge project with students from other courses, you will come away with new insights to take back to your course. Interchange is part of the schedule for all Norwich students with sessions held across and beyond the campus led by university staff, visiting lecturers and students.

Assessment

Assessment for this course is entirely coursework-based, meaning there are no exams. Your progress will be evaluated through the projects and assignments you complete for each unit. Throughout the year, you’ll receive ongoing feedback to help you refine your work and develop your skills. To support your learning and ensure you achieve the course outcomes, we use a variety of assessment methods, including:

  • Finished pieces of work
  • Presentations
  • Written work
  • Your research
  • A reflective journal

Find out more about Assessment at Norwich

Some of the people you’ll be working with

Our facilities

Look around our city-centre campus, and you will find studios, media labs, and creative spaces in 13 buildings that sit among the cafés, bars, independent galleries and shops of Norwich’s cultural quarter.

Here to help you succeed

The UK’s creative sector is thriving, contributing £111.7 billion annually to the economy and offering over 2 million jobs.

Employability and career development are integral to every unit of our courses, ensuring students are well-prepared for the industry. Our students go on to secure exciting roles, launch successful businesses, and make a lasting impact in many sectors worldwide.

From day one, you’ll also get specialist career advice from our Business and Employability Team to help support you as you plan your career.

A photograph of various students working and studying at tables in Boardman House.

Typical career paths

Careers and employability are embedded within the course to ensure you’re fully prepared for the workplace. By the end of the course, you’ll have a clear idea of your individual creative methodologies, and how to apply them to define our career aspirations. You’ll underpin your ideas with insightful research and present your perspective on interior design through professionally aligned processes.

  • Interior designer
  • Experiential designer
  • Visual merchandising and window dressing
  • Scenographer or set designer
  • Temporary or exhibition designer
  • Lighting or sound designer
  • Stylist or colour consultant
  • Project management
  • Design technologist
  • 3D model maker and visualiser
  • Design technologist

92% of our graduates are in employment or further education within six months of graduating”

Graduate Outcomes 2021

Portfolio Advice and Guidance

Portfolios should show examples of your work — both finished and work in progress — that demonstrate your interests and skills. Your portfolio should be made up of work that reflects your creativity, personal interests and influences, as well as demonstrating your technical skills and ability. It doesn’t have to be perfect as we can assess your potential from your work in progress.

Your portfolio should be relevant to this course, but you can include a wide range of work that shows your creativity, technical competence and understanding of storytelling.

Get more advice on presentation formats, layouts and when to submit your portfolio in the application process.

Student work

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