Designing YOUR Future: An Introduction to Career Preparation and Professional Practices in Interior

Offering a unique combination of professional practice and career development, this book includes self-assessments, personal resource management techniques, and career strategies specific to the interior design profession. It takes a personal approach to the career search by first focusing on self-discovery and then showing how to identify (and ultimately land) design jobs that fit one’s own interests and abilities. The book covers professional practices in a broad sense and uses professional profiles to help readers learn about various jobs in the field. Emphasizing individuality throughout, readers learn how to plan their career based on their own strengths and successfully design their own future. Shows readers how to find good jobs that match their distinctive interests, strengths, and personal requirements. Shows how to effectively target employment opportunities, develop personal marketing tools, and prepare for and navigate the interview process. Helps readers understand some of the initial responsibilities and situations they may encounter during their first job. Encourages readers to think about long-term career strategies. A career guide tailored to the interior design field.

Cindy Beacham, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor and Program Chair in the Interior Design program at West Virginia University. She currently teaches introductory interior design courses, technical courses on codes and construction, and upper level contract studios. In addition to an undergraduate degree in interior design, she holds a Master’s in Interior Design, a Master’s of Science in Architecture with a concentration on construction management, and a Ph.D. in child development. She has a varied professional background, and has worked for major corporations, small-to-midsized design firms, and has been self-employed. Positions have included corporate design, construction management, project management, free-lance residential design, and all of the activities that go along with small-business ownership. Her areas of design and research interest include children’s designs, design pedagogy, and design as a tool for advocacy. The combination of 25+ years of professional design experience coupled with over 7 years of teaching and academic involvement fostered her interest in writing a textbook addressing many fundamental issues students face in preparing for professional life.

Barbara McFall, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor, Interior Design, and Interim Division Director, Family and Consumer Sciences at West Virginia University. Dr. McFall holds a BA in Business Administration, an MS in Housing, Interior Design and Resource Management, and a Ph.D. in Human Science-Organizational Systems. Her research on the Personal Resource Systems Model is featured in this text. Two decades of professional experience as owner/operator of small design and finance-related firms and experience as a professional development consultant further inform her contributions. This text was piloted in her classroom for two years prior to release. She currently teaches Interior Design Professional Practices, Design for Quality of Living, and Graphics II. She has also taught History of Furniture and Interiors, Residential Design, and Design Foundations.

Shari Park-Gates, Ph.D., IDEC, NCIDQ, ASID, is an Assistant Professor in the Interior Design Program at Auburn University in Auburn Alabama. Shari has taught undergraduate commercial design, rendering, graphics, design foundations, professional practices, history of design, and residential studios. She has also taught graduate level design students in research on current issues. Shari has over twenty years of experience in the practice of commercial interior design with an emphasis on the work environment. Her practice experience includes working for architectural firms, dealerships, consulting, and as president of her own design firm. She has an undergraduate degree in Psychology from West Virginia University, an Interior Design degree from IDI in Denver Colorado, and is nine hours away from a degree in Fine Art. She has a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Charleston and a PhD in Interior Design from Virginia Tech. Her areas of concentration are visual communication and creativity. She has exhibited her drawings on a national level and has done traditional research on the contributions and enhancement of creativity. Her belief in the importance of interior design as a profession and her background in business both played a role in the motivation to co-author this book. The major impetus was a concern for preparing students to make contributions to society through their role as a member of the profession of interior design.