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Interior design has even taken up this torch! "Every decision an interior designer makes in one way or another affects the health, safety and welfare of the pu

Interior design has even taken up this torch! "Every decision an interior designer makes in one way or another affects the health, safety and welfare of the public. Those decisions include specifying furniture, fabrics and carpeting that comply with fire codes and space planning that provides proper means of egress. Additionally, interior designers deal with accessibility issues, ergonomics, lighting, acoustics and design solutions for those with special needs." His prognosis for the general situation doesn't look good: "My colleagues tell me that it would just seem silly to make a fuss over this; it is just not a serious topic. Yes we can't take seriously the idea of legally requiring a college degree to suggest where pillows go, but we also can't take seriously an economist who would focus on such a trivial and obvious point. [...] But if we cannot actually apply that knowledge effectively to obvious cases, what is the point exactly?" http://robinhanson.typepad.com/overcomingbias/2009/04/silly-consensus.html http://robinhanson.typepad.com/overcomingbias/2009/04/silly-...

cabalamat 16y ago
Indeed. Requiring a permit to do interior design is clearly a way of gouging the public, and societies need to have robust means to prevent it.
jimbobimbo 16y ago
I just recently had a conversation with a friend who does interior design professionally (not licensed though). At first my reaction was exactly - "that's stupid to require license for THAT". However, she made a great point - people confuse interior DECORATORS and interior DESIGNERS. You hire decorators to make certain taste decisions, but designer to design interior from ground up. Designer will make choice whether to put certain important things like, say, lights. I bet, you'd better have someone who understands how much lights your staircase must have.

cabalamat 16y ago

Indeed. Requiring a permit to do interior design is clearly a way of gouging the public, and societies need to have robust means to prevent it.

jimbobimbo 16y ago

I just recently had a conversation with a friend who does interior design professionally (not licensed though). At first my reaction was exactly - "that's stupid to require license for THAT". However, she made a great point - people confuse interior DECORATORS and interior DESIGNERS. You hire decorators to make certain taste decisions, but designer to design interior from ground up. Designer will make choice whether to put certain important things like, say, lights. I bet, you'd better have someone who understands how much lights your staircase must have.