George Fox's interior design major educates students to become creative and responsible designers of residential and commercial spaces. Program components emphasize problem solving in applied design studios, and with a focus on space planning, sourcing and industry connection, you will learn to design environments for residential and commercial spaces in a broad range of design programs.
Our program focuses on the human health and safety of spaces and prepares students to work in a variety of settings in the professional interior design world. As courses progress, you will be challenged by design problems that increase in size and complexity, and develop an understanding of sustainable building.
Program curriculum and outcomes are all directly tied to NCIDQ (National Council for Interior Design Qualification) Certification and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) accreditation competencies, preparing students to join the interior design industry immediately upon graduation.
Our program is deeply connected to the local Portland design industry, and you will work with industry mentors in several classes to create professional relationships. We also work closely with local professional organizations like IIDA and ASID.
Our curriculum is based on the fundamentals of the NCIDQ (National Council for Interior Design Qualification) exam, which you can take after entering the industry. From building codes to ADA regulations, you will be equipped with the knowledge to design for the health, safety and welfare of building occupants.
You’ll also be prepared to take the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Associate exam, allowing you to be a step ahead when you enter the field and be an expert on sustainability before you even graduate.
With a curriculum that covers the facets of both residential and commercial design – by tackling real-world design problems, developing innovative solutions to challenging topics, and learning professional practices for the industry – you'll be equipped to be a successful and creative member of the design community.
The Studio
You’ll gain hands-on experience in classes with real clients. The Studio is a class with a focus on real clients, in which students come alongside real businesses and nonprofits to work on a project being built.
These projects provide you the client-facing experience, budgeting understanding and decision-making skills needed to complete a project. Plus, many projects even pay students for their work.
Life@Fox: A Day in the Life of a Interior Design MajorClose
Program Distinctives Why Study Interior Design at George Fox?
All students complete at least one industry internship, with several students completing multiple internships during their time at George Fox.
We are connected to the industry through IIDA, the International Interior Design Association, and student membership fees are covered by the department.
The major shares a foundational curriculum with the studio and applied design areas of our program. As a result, students are exposed to an interdisciplinary, integrated curriculum that stresses the broad intellectual development needed for a robust design practice, whether as a team member of a larger design firm or a freelance practitioner.
Learn how to be a practicing and professional member of the design community, interacting with industry professionals whenever possible through reviews and industry events.
Gain knowledge of universal design when considering your projects, including how building code and ADA requirements fit into space planning and design.
Courses / Curriculum What Will I Study?
Designing residential and commercial spaces
Knowledge in sourcing for furniture and finishes
Detailing and building custom furniture
Understand sustainability and green building
Creating safe and equitable spaces
As courses progress, you will be challenged by design problems that increase in size and complexity. The curriculum will help you develop an understanding of the influence of sustainable building and reuse on human health, well-being and performance.
The Cornerstone Core is a set of 12 courses across 10 academic disciplines that undergraduate students take at George Fox to cultivate their character within the Christian context.
Art majors given preference. This course is a study of materials, methods, and techniques used for drawing with pencil, ink, charcoal, and other drawing media. Additional course fee is required.
A survey of the elements and concepts of art theory and practice as reflected in culturally and historically significant painting, sculpture, architecture, and other art forms, from 1450 to the present. Additional course fee is required.
Art and its relationship to a non-Western culture, e.g., African, Asian, Latin American. Specific topic will be dependent on the instructor's area of specialization. Additional course fee is required.
A study of the relationship between art and Christianity in the contemporary world. Designed primarily for studio art majors. Prerequisite: either ARTS 382 Twentieth Century Art or ARTS 384 Contemporary Art Forms. Additional course fee required.
This seminar course will meet weekly to focus on theory, concepts and methodology of art historical study and their application by engaging students in discourse surrounding lectures of visiting professional artists. Investigations of film and writing will be a secondary approach to this course. Must be taken minimum 5 out of 8 semesters in students’ program. Satisfies: core major requirement.
Additional course fee required.
This seminar course will meet weekly to focus on theory, concepts and methodology of art historical study and their application by engaging students in discourse surrounding lectures of visiting professional artists. Investigations of film and writing will be a secondary approach to this course. Must be taken minimum 5 out of 8 semesters in students’ program. Satisfies: core major requirement.
Additional course fee required.
This seminar course will meet weekly to focus on theory, concepts and methodology of art historical study and their application by engaging students in discourse surrounding lectures of visiting professional artists. Investigations of film and writing will be a secondary approach to this course. Must be taken minimum 5 out of 8 semesters in students’ program. Satisfies: core major requirement.
Additional course fee required.
This seminar course will meet weekly to focus on theory, concepts and methodology of art historical study and their application by engaging students in discourse surrounding lectures of visiting professional artists. Investigations of film and writing will be a secondary approach to this course. Must be taken minimum 5 out of 8 semesters in students’ program. Satisfies: core major requirement.
Additional course fee required.
This seminar course will meet weekly to focus on theory, concepts and methodology of art historical study and their application by engaging students in discourse surrounding lectures of visiting professional artists. Investigations of film and writing will be a secondary approach to this course. Must be taken minimum 5 out of 8 semesters in students’ program. Satisfies: core major requirement.
Additional course fee required.
This course is an introduction to industry-standard graphic design applications such as Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign. Additional course fee required.
This course prepares students for an internship or professional experience that will follow this course as a dynamic program graduation requirement. Additionally, students will gain exposure to common business practices such as the development of contracts, estimates, invoices, accounting, promotion, and project management. Prerequisite: Junior status or instructor approval.
This course focuses on the organization and preparation of a portfolio showcasing a student's creative work in preparation for employment in the field of design. Students will explore visual composition and organization, document assembly methods, and various reproduction image management techniques. Computer photo editing and printing are used to create a paper and digital portfolio. Additional course fee is required. Prerequisites: Declared Art and Design major/minor with Junior or Senior status, or by instructor permission. Course may be taken twice for up to 4 credits total.
This course is an introduction to computer-aided design and drafting using Autodesk AutoCAD and Revit softwares. Students will learn digital drafting software effectively to create computer-generated plans for interior spaces while reviewing Life Safety, ANSI, ADA and regional building codes related to their projects. Also included in this course, students will learn digital rendering through programs like Enscape and Sketchup alongside drafting mark-up softwares like Bluebeam Revu. Additional course fee is required.
This is the first studio in a sequential series of interior courses in which students apply their skills, knowledge and understanding of the design process to living environments. Emphasis is placed on the interrelationship of design elements and principles, spatial organization and sequencing, and conceptual problem solving in three-dimensional space. Open to all students. Additional course fee is required.
Study of materials used in the built environment with emphasis on the interior. Students develop knowledge of material characteristic, selection, application, installation methods, and industry regulations. Lighting design plans will also be covered. Students produce product specifications following Master Specification standards. Additional course fee is required. Corequisite or Prerequisite: INTD 200 Interior Foundations.
This class studies how to represent design ideas to viewers - learning how to clearly communicate space, form, and human experience within the built environment. Students will further develop skills rendering perspective-based drawings, as well as honing presentation skills in both oral and graphic presentations. Additional course fee is required. Prerequisite: INTD 331 CADD II.
This course builds on concepts and theories introduced in Interior Foundations and guides students through the complexities of the space planning process addressing both function and aesthetics. Students will complete a series of assignments increasing in size and difficulty designed to develop space planning skills. Additional course fee is required. Prerequisite: INTD 200 Interior Foundations.
This course will study methods and materials for interior construction. Students will create details and specify materials for interior components, including walls, floors, ceilings, glazing, millwork and cabinetry. Additional course fee is required.
Prerequisites: INTD 300 Space Planning and Programming and INTD 331 CADD II.
This course examines the construction systems, codes and regulations for the built environments in both commercial and residential interiors. Specific topics include plumbing, thermal, HVAC, electrical, communications, security and acoustics. Students are required to determine occupancy types and loads, applicable ADA regulations, means of egress, compartmentalization, and a variety of fire protection systems and their locations. Additional course fee is required. Prerequisites: INTD 300 Space Planning and Programming and INTD 331 CADD II.
A continuation of CADD I. This course includes advanced CAD techniques and introduces Building Information Modeling (BIM) software for 3D modeling interior design. Students learn how to render spaces and use creative suite techniques from Photoshop and InDesign for portfolio purposes. Additional course fee is required. Prerequisite: INTD 131 CADD I.
A study of the design process involved in a residential space. Students refine space planning skills and develop furniture, finishes, fabric, materials and source knowledge with respect to the residential environment. Students learn and apply residential kitchen and bath principles to projects while working on construction documentation. LEED, Life Safety, Fire, ANSI, ADA and regional building codes related to their projects will be reviewed. Additional course fee is required.
Corequisite or Prerequisite: INTD 300 Space Planning and Programming.
A study of the design process involved in a commercial space. Students refine space planning skills and develop furniture, finishes, fabric, materials and source knowledge with respect to the commercial environment. Students learn and apply commercial kitchen and bath principles to projects while working on construction documentation. LEED, Life Safety, Fire, ANSI, ADA, and regional building codes related to their projects will be reviewed. Additional course fee is required.
Corequisite or Prerequisite: INTD 300 Space Planning and Programming.
The Interior Design Capstone course will focus on innovative solutions for real-world design projects, incorporating connections to community-oriented design. By designing around project parameters, students will work on a course-long design project based around their focused area of Interior Design. Additional course fee is required. Prerequisites: INTD 411 Residential Design Studio and INTD 412 Commercial Design Studio.
This uniquely-designed building historically has housed the art and design programs. It offers classroom space, a computer lab, and interior design labs.
The Maker Hub
As an interior design student you’ll have the opportunity to create furniture, paint decor, and design projects in our 16,000-square-foot maker hub.
Career Outlook What’s After George Fox
The shape of the interior design field is shifting, creating opportunities for young designers with a vision and technical ability to break into the field and achieve success. In the current booming building industry, interior designers are in high demand and our students graduate with a skill set that allows them to have a front seat in the design industry immediately upon graduation. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment as an interior designer is expected to grow 4% between 2022 and 2032.
Our students go on to work in a range of design opportunities, from large commercial firms working on offices and hotels to small residential teams designing single family homes. The skill set of our graduates is applicable to a broad range of pathways with an interior design degree, allowing our young designers to choose the design path that’s right for them. They work alongside industry professionals from their first year in the program to allow a broad network to grow throughout their time at George Fox University.
100% of interior design students at George Fox complete a paid internship in their field before they graduate. Here's where some of our student interned during the 2023-24 academic year:
Tiny Pods for Houseless Population: Working in coordination with the Forest Grove Foundation, students designed trauma-informed interiors for theses spaces
Alaska Airlines: Students designed an aviation project and engaged with the Alaska Airlines team to understand the company’s standards and branding.
Kingsley Field BX: Students designed renovations of buildings to bring the Klamath Falls military base to code.
Designing for Houseless Populations
George Fox interior design students partnered with Portland State University students focused on trauma-informed design, color psychology, sustainability and creating a true home for someone who has experience living on the streets for a significant time. The class talked with specialists in trauma-informed design and those who work with the Portland metro’s homeless population. Working in groups of four to five students, the class presented their final design solutions to industry reviewers and members of the community.
Our courses have been designed to help us succeed in the world outside of our campus by emphasizing industry standards and practices that might not be in textbooks. Along with connections made with working professionals in my field, the friendships I have made in the classroom are exceptional. In a small major, and at a small school, I have had the opportunity to grow close with my peers. We help each other with projects, offer feedback and collaboration, and create a fun atmosphere to learn and work.
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