Thirty-Year Development of Interior Design Research through Keyword Data Analysis

The purpose of this study is to analyze the research characteristics of interior design studies and systematically review the trends over time based on articles by the “Journal of the Korean Institute of Interior Design”. The 30-year development aspect was classified into 10-year intervals and analyzed across three periods, spanning from the establishment of the Interior Design Society in 1992 up until 2021. A total of 3,098 papers and 7,279 keywords presented in the articles were analyzed and VOSviewer, a network analysis software, was utilized to classify and visualize the keywords. Through keyword network analysis, the frequency and total link strength were extracted, and it was visualized to identify the distribution and connection of the keywords. The research findings revealed that during the first period (1992-2001), there was active research about exhibition spaces like museums and interior space planning altogether with remodeling and spatial organization. Regarding residential spaces, most of the research focused on detached houses. In the second period (2002-2011), the research scope expanded to include apartment houses and public libraries in addition to exhibition spaces and research with emotional design and digital technology were added to research on interior space theories. In the third period (2012-2021), the most significant development was the surge in the research about spatial analysis that utilized digital technology like eye tracking and space syntax and there was also a growing interest in public spaces. Furthermore, active research was conducted about socio-demographic changes, such as the elderly and single-person households, marking a shift from space-centered research to user-centered research. In conclusion, from a time-series perspective, research related to interior design studies has been subdivided and diversified, and a trend has been identified that focuses on human-centered design.