Interior Design and Styling

Develop your skills in interior design and styling, emphasising colour, texture, materials, surface and ambience across a range of environments. Build specialist technical and professional skills to enter industry as a well-rounded interiors specialist.

This course has been devised to develop your skills in interior design and styling, emphasising the impact of colour, texture, materials, surface and ambience in a range of environments. We will ensure you enter industry as a well-rounded interiors specialist, ready to work on a range of projects, from super yachts to magazine photoshoots.

You’ll gain a great introduction to designing interiors for a variety of environments, from residential and commercial spaces to the public realm and even transport.

At a glance

• Degree: BA (Hons) Interior Design & Styling

• UCAS codes: 3-year degree 5LWB / 4-year extended degree B68G

• Typical UCAS points: 104–120

Designing for a range of environments

You’ll design interiors for a variety of environments, from residential and commercial spaces to the public realm and even transport.

Your studies place special emphasis on trends, colour, materiality, sustainability and accessibility in a range of interior contexts, both public and private.

Styling, materiality and making concepts real

You’ll develop your own distinct taste in style curation, exploring lighting, furnishing, and surface and textural finishes to make your design concepts a reality.

You’ll also develop a keen understanding of consumer trends and learn how to design for different levels of the market.

Specialist modules and technical skills

Specialist modules cover interior project management, materials and regulations in design, event planning and live design briefs.

You’ll also develop skills including technical drawing, visualisation, editorial photography and industry-standard CAD software.

Who you’ll learn from

You’ll be taught by industry-active academics and specialist technicians who are responsible for some of the world’s most impressive design and styling choices in hotels, restaurants and private residences.

Our team’s combined client list includes the National Trust, the BBC, Royal Caribbean Cruises and Sheraton.

They have also delivered multi-million-pound commissions in New York and Barbados, and are well connected and at the forefront of their field.

Why choose this course?

• #3 in the UK for Interior Design (The Guardian University Guide 2025).

• Industry-facing course with strong connections resulting in outstanding levels of progression into professional employment.

• We nurture you to find your own individual style and career.

• Vibrant focus on materiality, colour and styling as well as technical skills you’ll learn with our specialist resources in an industry-standard workspace.

Careers and future opportunities

Career opportunities include:

• Interior & Spatial Designers

• Interior Stylists

• Art Directors

• Set Designers

• Exhibition Designers

• Product Stylists

• Trend Forecasters

• Retail Buyers

• Merchandisers

• Magazine Stylists

• 3D Designers

• Visualisers

• Freelance Artists and Designers

Course Modules

Arts University Plymouth offers a year long sandwich year option. Framed within the institution’s innovative Common Unit Framework, the sandwich year experience is offered as a unit that contributes to your BA (Hons) Degree.
The sandwich year can take the form of an internship or work placement, and can take place in the UK or abroad. It is intended to give you the possibility of gaining experience in art and design practice in a ‘real life’ industry setting, before you return to complete the final year of your degree. You will be able to build your CV and, if you choose to take on your sandwich year outside of the UK, enhance your experience of international creative practice.
Sandwich year placements will be selected by each student who wishes to take one, assisted by Course staff within AUP. Opportunities may also come through corporate approaches to AUP or through links built by your course tutors. Each placement opportunity will be reviewed by the University before being approved to ensure its suitability to be part of your course. During the Sandwich Year you remain enrolled at AUP with access to IT and your email accounts, online library and learning support.
Once approved, the sandwich year will count towards your overall degree and completion of it will be acknowledged on your degree certificate.