Professional Interior Design Diploma
Study in our UK Studio for your Fully Accredited Level 3 Interior Design Diploma; offering essential skills, career pathways and guaranteed progression to an NDA Bachelor’s Degree.
Entry Requirements
UK Student Loans
Assessment
No exams – Tutor assessment only, portfolio moderation by AIM Qualifications.
Become a Professional Interior Designer!
This Professional Interior Design Diploma is designed to give you practical, industry-ready skills whether you want to work on your own projects, support clients, start a business or progress to degree-level study.
Delivered in-studio, the course provides a structured, hands-on learning experience alongside other aspiring designers. Working to a live residential client brief, you will build a wide range of professional skills, taking your project from initial concept through design development to a fully resolved and professionally presented final proposal.
What our Students Say
Course Breakdown
You will study 8 dedicated units during this professional interior design diploma.
Unit 1 - Interior Design & the Role of the Designer
Interior Design & the Role of the Designer
This unit introduces you to the fundamental elements and principles that are common within a successful design scheme and how they are adopted by Professional Interior Designers today. You’ll learn how and why interior design has changed over time and to identify key interior design trends. What you learn in this unit will provide an essential foundation to underpin your future designs. This unit also includes:-
- The 7 design elements of good design
- Interior Design history and contemporary practice
- The role of an Interior Designer and different project types
- Professional presentation boards
- How to write a short design report
Unit 2 - Using Colour in Interior Design
Using Colour in Interior Design
This unit will spark your creativity by giving you the opportunity to play with colour. You’ll explore practical colour theory to enable you to design both historical and contemporary colour schemes. This unit also includes:-
- Basic colour principles and terminology
- The impact of colour in a design scheme
- The psychological importance of colour in an interior space
- Historical and contemporary colour trends
- Creating a successful interior design colour scheme
Unit 3 - Exploring Surface Finishes in Interior Design
Exploring Surface Finishes in Interior Design
This unit covers the wide and exciting range of surface finishes now available to create fabulous interiors. You’ll explore the versatility and impact of materials for walls, floors and soft furnishings and how to use them to create an effective design scheme. This unit also includes:-
- The characteristics and suitability of different materials
- Sourcing and using materials to develop a design scheme
- Practical skills to represent colour, pattern and texture
- How to visually present your design ideas
Unit 4 - Plans and Space Planning in a Professional Context
Plans & Space Planning in a Professional Context
This unit shows you how to plan the space for a room design. From initial sketches to final layouts, you will visualise and present design solutions to meet a client brief. This unit also includes:-
- Understanding the space and the client brief
- Traffic flow and zoning of space
- Developing floor plans by hand
- Creating elevations by hand
- Practical sketching and hand drawing techniques
Unit 5 - Furniture & Accessories in Interior Design
Furniture & Accessories in Interior Design
This unit focusses on the limitless range of furniture and accessories available to the Interior Designer. You’ll learn to recognise key styles in furniture and accessory design and how to select and source appropriate furniture and accessories to meet a client brief. This unit also includes:-
- Understanding of different furniture and accessory styles, historical and contemporary
- Influential practitioners and design movements
- Characteristics & suitability of furniture & accessories
- Choosing and sourcing items
- Producing furniture layouts
Unit 6 - Creative Lighting in Interior Design
Creative Lighting in Interior Design
This unit explores the potential of creative lighting in interiors and develops your knowledge of lighting design, including traditional and contemporary products. You’ll learn how to choose lighting for your schemes and how to deal with suppliers. This unit also includes:-
- Understanding different lighting products and lamps
- Task, ambient and decorative lighting
- Lighting levels for room design
- Cool and warm lighting
- Creating a lighting scheme for a furniture layout
- Applying symbols appropriate to industry lighting plans
- Developing a lighting plan to meet a client brief
Unit 7 - Professional Practice in Interior Design
Professional Practice in Interior Design
This unit explores the diverse possibilities for a career in the Interior design industry and helps prepare you to work successfully in the professional environment, whether this be in an established practice or setting up an interior design business. With a focus on your personal and professional development, you will consider the steps you should take to achieve your own progression ambitions. This unit also includes:-
- Being employed, self-employed and setting up an interior design service
- Portfolio development
- Working with others in a professional environment
- Effective marketing and promotion
- How to charge for your design service
- Studying for a degree
Unit 8 - Professional Interior Design Project
Professional Interior Design Project
For this final unit of the course, you bring together all your newly learned skill by producing conceptual designs to create a wonderful interior design scheme for a new client. When complete, your work will form an asset to your developing portfolio to show future clients. This unit also includes:-
- Developing a design concept
- Creating a colour scheme
- Selecting surface finishes
- Space planning, including furniture and accessory arrangements
- Creating a lighting plan
- Professional presentation techniques
Qualify in Just 12 Weeks!
The Diploma course consists of a first week (5 days) in-studio followed by 5 weeks online home study through your Virtual Learning Studio (VLS). Then a second week (5 days) in-studio with up to an additional 5 weeks home study to complete any project work for submission.
We are passionate about delivering high-quality courses to our students, and we believe that students learn faster in smaller groups, which is why we cap the number of students who can attend each course.
All VLS course material and resources are available during home study weeks. Your tutor will also be on hand to support you through your studies.
Course Timeline
2 weeks In-Studio + Up to 10 weeks home study – 12 weeks total.
Week 1: Monday to Friday in studio, 9:30am to 4:30pm.
Week 2 – 6: Flexible Online Home Study via the VLS.
Week 7: Monday to Friday in studio, 9:30am to 4:30pm.
Week 8 – 12: Flexible Online Home Study via the VLS.
10 x Studio Classes
+ Home Study
12 Weeks Total
Internationally Recognised
A Trusted & Accredited Qualification
NDA has over 35 years experience in teaching interior design and over 35,000 alumni from over 100 countries. This course is a trusted way to help pursue your passion and kick-start your career.
This Level 3 Professional Interior Design Diploma is globally recognised and accredited by AIM Qualifications, meaning you can work legally as an interior designer or gain enough educational credits to study an online Bachelor’s Degree if you so choose.
Why Study in Studio?
You will develop the professional skills needed to manage your own projects with confidence, start a business or enter the interior design industry ready to work with clients. On completion, you are guaranteed progression onto one of our online bachelor’s degree programmes.
The course also introduces you to industry practice, including how to build professional contacts, source materials, samples, furniture and lighting, and begin developing your own design network.
With direct, hands-on guidance from experienced NDA tutors, the in-studio environment brings together a diverse group of aspiring designers, creating a collaborative and supportive space to share ideas and learn from one another.
Upcoming Course Dates
You may need to find accomodation near by while attending in studio sessions. We’ve put together some suggested local places to stay and directions to our Nottingham Studio below.
In-Studio (UK) Diploma Pricing
Fees and payment options differ depending on whether you are a UK resident or an internationally based student.
Price Match Guarantee:As a not-for-profit foundation, we are so confident in the price of our Diploma’s that if you can find the same level of education for less, we will match it!
UK Students
Student Loan
Most Popular
£50*
Loan Covers Full Course Fee of £2,390.
* Refunded on course completion
Pay in Full
£2,390
£1,500
On Enrolment
Save £890 by paying in full with UK Government funding.
Spread the Cost
3x Monthly Payments
£550
£1,650 in Total*
Breathe easy. Spread the cost of your course over 3 months.
*Monthly payments includes admin fee
International Students
Pay in Full
One-Time Payment
$3,225 (USD)
On Enrolment
Make one easy payment to cover the full cost of your course.
Save $275 by paying in full
Spread the Cost
3x Monthly Payments
$3,500 (USD)
In total*
Spread the cost of your course.
$1,500 on enrolment + 2 x $1,000 monthly payments.
*Monthly payments include admin fee.
Or Choose Our Ultimate Design Mastery Bundle & Save 10%
Achieve full-scale mastery by combining your chosen Interior Design Diploma with all three of our specialist short courses in one bundle; Exterior Design, Software (CAD) and AI for Interior Design.
The Ultimate Interior Design Mastery Bundle
- Study our Interior Design Diploma + Software (CAD), Exterior Design and AI
- Choose from 3 Diploma study options
- Up to 18 months to complete all additional short courses
- No exams - fully coursework assessed
- Save 10% on fees compared with taking each course separately
You Can Afford to Study a Diploma Course
UK Advanced Learner Loans (ALL) are the most popular way for NDA students resident in the UK to study as they cover the entire cost of their interior design diploma course.
Loans are not based on income or means tested and most students in England will qualify (Wales, Scotland & NI have different arrangements).
How Will You Study Online?
Swipe tabs to navigate.
Responsive Learning, Designed For You.
Offering a fully responsive learning experience, our course content can be opened, studied and enjoyed on any device, from anywhere in the world.
Virtual Learning Studio
How do you learn online, you ask? It’s simple: introducing our Virtual Learning Studio, or VLS for short. The VLS is our exclusive, online resource which replaces the normal lectures given in Colleges and Universities.
Students can rewind and re-watch until they are sure they have understood. No frantic note taking and no missing an important lecture! Study when and where it suits you!
Personal Tutors
Every National Design Academy student has a Personal Tutor to guide them through their qualification.
You have unlimited access to your tutor and can contact them by email, telephone, Zoom, Skype or in-person as often as you wish.
Student Support Team
We also have a dedicated Student Support and Administration Team to help deal with any other queries such as payments, student loans advice and anything else you may need a helping hand with.
Our Student Helpline is available Monday to Friday from 9.00 to 17:00 (UK Time).
Group Tutorials
All delivered online via zoom, join NDA tutors and like-minded peers to discuss interior design topics, course content and gain valuable live feedback.
As a Diploma level student, you will be invited to course introduction sessions, interior design discussions and also receive advice on how to progress once you complete your course.
Online Forums
Once you enrol, you will also have the opportunity to join our dedicated NDA Facebook discussion group. Student cohorts will often set up their own Whatsapp chat groups to communicate also.
Students enjoy discussing their design projects, encouraging others and offering advice, as well as sharing work and offering top tips for approaching units.
What's Next?
An NDA Interior Design Diploma will provide you with the knowledge and design skills to start your own business, the qualification to progress to higher education or why not both! Find out more below…
Higher Education
Successful completion of your NDA Interior Design Diploma provides a guaranteed place on one of our online Bachelor’s Degrees with a generous Progression Scholarship. Degrees are validated by De Montfort University (DMU).
For those who wish to continue their study at an on campus university, you can top up any existing UCAS points you may have with points from an NDA Diploma.
NDA Professional Diplomas = 24 UCAS Tariff Points
Careers
The NDA Professional Interior Design Diploma is designed to help you start your own Interior Design business. Like the Diploma course itself, you can work flexibly for your clients around your family commitments and gradually expand your business.
Many of our Diploma students start their own business and then progress to study for their NDA Bachelor’s Degree flexibly alongside their client projects.
Stay On, Study & Save
We love to watch our students succeed, those that complete one of our Short, Diploma or Degree courses gain access to our Progression Scholarship giving you money back for continuing to study with us.
Alternatively, our courses are built with business in mind, giving you the skills to begin work as a freelance designer in the exciting world of Interior Design.
Save £500/$600
On your next course, T&Cs apply.
Progression
Guaranteed
Student Success Stories
Hear what our amazing students have to say about how they have succeeded within the industry once completing their Professional Interior Design Diploma with the National Design Academy.
Since completing my Diploma last year, I set up my own online furniture shop and this year I have started an interior design service in and around Norfolk.
I have slowly incorporated my new skillset into my decorating business. I now have a client that is ready for a new dining room design. I cannot wait to start this journey into an industry I’m very passionate about!
Added an interior design service to his existing business offering
View Full Student Spotlight
After I finished my course I started hiring to help me grow my existing business, Kad Design Studio. I now have a team of an Architect, Interior Designer and a Site Engineer.
Learned the professional skills to grow her existing interior design business
View Full Student Spotlight
I completed my course in early October and I'm now expanding my professional network as I grow Fabian Interiors — a brand dedicated to creating timeless, nature-inspired interiors.
Founded her own business creating nature-inspired interiors
View Full Student Spotlight
Since finishing the course, I have launched my Interior Design services to my small business. I’m super excited for the journey and I’m looking forward for things to come.
After finishing my course, my current plans are to use the knowledge and skills I learned to transform family, and friend’s homes into beautiful and functional spaces that reflect their personality.
I’m continuing my studies with the National Design Academy onto the online BA (Hons) Interior Design Degree, so I can shape my future for a better one.
Added an interior design service to his existing business offering
View Full Student Spotlight
Learned the professional skills to grow her existing interior design business
View Full Student Spotlight
Founded her own business creating nature-inspired interiors
View Full Student Spotlight
In-Studio Gallery
Images of our talented Diploma students hard at work in our UK In-Studio sessions.
Get Equipped
In-Studio Study – All required design equipment and resources will be provided during your time In-Studio, however you will need access to a laptop computer to view course material and the online learning resources.
Home Study – Alongside a computer and an internet connection, there is also essential and recommended design equipment required to complete your NDA Course, all available through the NDA Art Shop at student prices! Throughout home study, you also have full online access to our VLS resources and your Personal Tutor.
