Interior Design
Self-Paced Instructions
Teachers Details
Please note that you will be assigned to a Mentor who will assist you through the course the teachers are not the ones grading your work. Please only contact them if its something your Mentor can’t assist you with.
Equipment Needed
Before your training session you will need the following equipment:
- Supplies list
- High-speed internet connection (Suggested minimum speed: 5mb)
- Headset with microphone: It is advisable to use a plug-in headset and microphone as the inbuilt Mike pick up background noise.
- Webcam (An internal webcam is suitable. If your computer does not have a webcam inbuilt, you can purchase one online.)
- An external device to backup your work.
- Access to a scanner or digital camera for the first few weeks is helpful.
- Please ensure you are using Google Chrome and not Microsoft Edge browser.
How to Join Class
Awesome, you have registered for your course and set up payment – nearly ready to roll, here is a quick checklist, run through it, and get started!
- Download the Software (instructions below)
- Request a student letter, generally needed to download the student version of the software.
- Read through course instructions, and expiry details, (all below).
- All filter details and suggested computer specs are listed below.
- Register for an account on Design Alive’s exclusive Forum – the Jewish Design Forum. (Sign up for an account in the top right corner)
- Still facing an issue? Use our help page so we can help you.
Upon setting up payment you will be automatically directed to your course where all the course material is available to start learning. You will also have received an email with a link to your course.
Alternatively, you can log in to school.designalive.com with the login details that you received via email
Username: Email address
Password: Check your emails
You will find your course in the left menu under ‘my courses’ or on the dashboard
Software Details
You will need to have either AutoCad / Revit functioning on your computer so that you can practice during lessons and do assignments. Please use the link below provided as its a free student version, do not download the 30-day free trial.
Course Instructions
Course Structure
- Design Elements & Principles, Sketching and Perspective Drawings
- Design History, Color Theory
- Measuring, Space Planning and Construction Basics, Building Codes
- Kitchen and Bathroom Design
- Lighting and Electrical, Materials and Finishes
- Technical Design Communication & Professional Practices
Projects covered throughout the course include
- Bedroom Design
- Cafe Design
- Kitchen Design
- Office Design
- Complete Residential Remodelling
General Info
- Each class is approximately 45min – 1 hour long.
- Lessons generally build on the material and content of the previous lesson so it is important to watch the classes in order.
- Each class will have a Construction class alongside a Design Theory class.
- A few weeks into the course the smaller Homeworks will be replaced by larger continuous project work where you will be expected to complete various stages of the project before the next recording, in the build-up to a final presentation according to the deadlines as per your calendar.
- Your Mentor will devote some time to review your project progress and give critique to enable you to correct and improve your work.
- This course involves considerable out-of-class input so please ensure you have allowed adequate time in your schedule for this course. If you require advice about this please email the office.
- We provide a basic timeframe calendar to ensure that you are keeping on track with the course, please email the office if you did not receive one.
Homework Assignments
- There are assignments given after each class. These assignments are posted on moodle. Assignments need to be uploaded to Moodle.
- Homeworks are due before starting the next recording, you may need to upload your homework to enable you access to your next class recording, this is in the student’s best interest.
- You may email your Mentor with questions, we advise you to jot down your questions as you are watching the class and then send 1 email with any questions you had at the end. The teacher will respond via email.
- Your grades and comments can be viewed on moodle by checking the grade option in the left side menu under my profile unless the teacher prefers to email your feedback.
Course Expiry
You have 18 months to complete the course.
If you did not manage to complete the course within the time frame, we have the option to extend the course for a monthly extension fee for $50 from when the course expires. You can extend your course for up to 6 months.
If you would like to pause the course due to an unexpected circumstance (such as getting married or birth), only upon approval from the Design Alive office you can pause the course for up to 6 months where your access will be removed for a fee.
Once you have completed the course and all the course work, you will receive a certificate and transcript, it may take some time for us to complete all your grading and process your certificate and transcript.
Please email the miriam@designalive.com if you wish to receive a basic course calendar guide.
Filter/Whitelist Info
Design Alive recommends the following filters as students have been very happy with these filter companies and the support they provide.
- Techloq
- Gentech
- Nativ USA
- Netfree filter has also be approved for Design Alive but please note that having a filter which blocks skin content may be frustrating at some point
Before you begin the course please ensure that all the following sites below are unblocked: You can copy the list and send it to your filtering company.
- designaliveschool.webex.com
- webex.com
- designalive.com
- school.designalive.com
- for cisco webex- exclude multiple EXE
- You will need the cisco webex app working.
- autodesk.com (for Autocad students)
For more information regarding filter issues and troubleshooting please use this link
Mentor Details
We have great mentors that will be guiding you through the course, grading your homework’s and critiquing your projects at every step of the way. When you begin the course you will be assigned to one of our fantastic mentors only contact the mentor that you are assigned to;
Computer Specs
Here is the link to the AutoCad and Revit specs from the Autodesk website.
Design Alive does not offer assistance with buying a computer suitable for the course, but below are suggested computer specs and details of a computer technician who can help you. Please be aware that you will need a high-end computer for (Revit) rendering.
Please refer to these computer specs that are appropriate for all of our courses ranging from Interior to the very robust 3D modeling applications (Autocad & Revit)
- An i7 or i9 CPU
- At least 16GB of RAM & 256GB of storage
- A 64-bit operating system
- A dedicated (internal) graphics card (ex. NVIDIA) – not integrated!
- Besides being more expensive, we do not recommend Apple especially because our instructors use a PC (and Revit is not supported on Macs.)
- While a 17 inch laptop is easier to see what you are designing, it would be too heavy to carry when visiting clients. Instead; we suggest a standard 15.6 inch screen and when working from home, you can opt for a secondary & larger 27” monitor (about $200).
- An (external) SSD drive to safely hold your projects and ensure that your computer does not get overloaded
Design Alive has partnered with B&H for all computer and technical requirements and queries. They are a well-known and established company and are up-to-date with current specs and performance. Our contact is Baruch Berman and he can be contacted at Boruchb@bhphoto.com. Mention Design Alive when you speak to him.
PLEASE NOTE: Do not call the company directly but email Baruch for a call back:
Here is a link to the type of computers he currently recommends although feel free to do your own research for comparison. (If this link becomes invalid then please let us know) It’s also worth checking the Dell outlet for deals.