Interior design requires knowledge of appropriate building regulations, health and safety legislation, project planning and technical specifications, background culture all applied in a creative fashion to generate an environment.

Interior design is about much more than designing for aesthetic appearance. It has to consider communication and the key user experience

•  How spaces work
•  How they deliver a message
•  How individuals respond to this when conducting their daily lives
• How people move around space and interact with objects or people.

When within popular design culture, people consider the look of architecture; the true meaning of spaces and places is developed by interior specialists.

Designers are the breed with the knowledge and ability to combine engineering, construction, psychology, art and culture, in creating spaces.

Our environment says a lot about us, and the spaces that we inhabit in our daily lives can actually affect our emotions to a great extent.As human beings we buy into the culture of places in order to suit our personal needs and it is often the space – not a particular item – that can affect us. Global influences on design are not new, but have been felt for centuries.

The global society of our world today is a part of everyone’s lives. Whether or not anyone is a casual observer or a global businessperson, it is easy to see the effects of globalization.One of the most interesting areas to see the global effects is in design.

The editor of DÉCOR magazine is quoted as saying the following:

“Global politics notwithstanding, great design transcends geographic borders, so now is not the time to be timid about getting away and bringing back bits from abroad. Traveling with an open mind, a keen eye, and a willing wallet is the easiest way to give your rooms a lived-in, many-layered, culture-conscious look.”

The global influences are abundant in almost every aspect of interior design.Although most people only see the resulting design feature, global design has roots in many years of historical reference.The purpose of this subject is to show the impact of global influence on interior design and why it is essential for family and consumer sciences professionals to recognize these influences and be prepared to interact as successful people in a global society. One of the best ways to understand how cultures work is by studying history. “History repeats itself” is apropos when discussing design trends. Trends do go in and out very quickly, but the basis generally has a historical reference.

Recognizing these trends in a design career is important to the success of a business. This quote taken from the book World Furniture represents this idea. “It is within the framework of broad stylistic changes through the centuries that national cultures must be considered. Ideas have constantly flowed from country to country and from East to West. Fashions have spread in a number of ways: as a sequel to military conquest, in movement of craftsmen from one land to another, in the general use of engraved designs, and by the traffic in furniture itself as a part of international trade.”

So even within the small area of furniture design, global trends can be seen. It is impossible today to look through a design magazine and not recognize the international influence throughout the photographed spaces.

How can current and future professionals be more prepared for these challenges?

• Presenting a strong foundation in historical design knowledge will aid professionals in seeing future trends and preparing for their adoption.
• Secondly, designers need to recognize population, production and decor trends and their relation to the market.
• Thirdly, use a variety of teaching tools to help future professionals transfer knowledge to real-life situations.
• By combining these strategies professionals can receive the benefits for current and future professional development.

It is an Interior Designer’s responsibility to recognize their client’s own cultural platform and to celebrate this with current styles and design trends.

•  Residential design is an intimate and emotional process.
• It is imperative that the client is comfortable with the individual or organization they hire in order to effectively convey not only how they live but also the different cultures, religious practices and lifestyles that they embrace.
• In general terms, programming is the process where the Designer gathers information from the client to ascertain their life-style needs; daily routine rituals, entertaining dynamics, religious customs, cultural draw and beliefs, dreams, and expectations – all to identify client goals and objectives.
• Armed with such information, the Interior Designer’s concept proposal can be tailored specifically to an individual client.

For Example:Some cultural beliefs dictate that the number 13 is unlucky and therefore many developers commonly remove the 13th floor numbering from a building. However other cultures find the number 13 to be lucky and seek it out.At the same time the numbers 4 and 14 are sometimes considered unfortunate and areactively avoided.

We can quickly notice how the multicultural aspect of a community can affect development!