Interior Design is a field that greatly impacts society and the well being of the world's inhabitants. It is imperative to make sure that designs as well as students and professionals practicing interior design, impact society in a positive manner that are well received, emotionally, physically, and psychologically. But important questions to be asked are: how are designs perceived if the users are falsely educated about interior design? If the public is only educated about design through “design television” that has little or no credibility based on several factors such as entertainment demands, proper examination, education and experience of those practicing interior design on television, where does that leave interior design credibility in the public's eyes?

Clearly, significant advances have been made in educating interior design students and there is starting to become an imbalance between designers and consumers. Not enough proper education about interior design is being provided to the public. An earlier survey, conducted by this author, has found that the general public is not well educated about interior design and the depth of knowledge and ability that comes with the profession. There is a concern that with the growth of popularity of “design” television shows, the public has been miss-educated about interior design. The television audience could easily conclude based on what is viewed that: interior design is about surprising the client, good design is trendy and cool, quality and speed are synonymous, anyone can be an interior designer regardless of education, examination or experience, designing a space is either incredibly expensive or cheap, and interior designers are often zany and flamboyant airheads (Martin, 2004, pg.160–163).

This study addressed the kind of public perceptions and views of interior design that have been generated by watching television design shows, and compared the perspectives of television viewers with that of what interior design actually is. The intention was to determine how much proper public education there needs to be, and develop a conclusion about how to properly and accurately educate the television viewers about the real interior design profession compared to that which is seen and portrayed on television. This study reviewed strategies by which the profession of interior design might seek to close the gap between perception and intervention.