Top 6 tips for being a successful Local Interior Designers
1.Fall in love with a profession and you will never work a day in your life because all tasks will be a labor of love. Like most worthwhile enterprises it is vital that you have a passion for interior design. Commitment is needed for even the most mundane chore. Even before deciding to pursue an interior design major at college, it would be valuable to start at the shop floor level at a local interior designing firm. Starting at the ‘grunt’ level’ gives you a ‘bird’s eye’ view looking up. By rubbing shoulders with new graduates, novices, seasoned professionals and even named partners of the interior design firm, you gain perspective. Even as a ‘grunt’ making close to minimum wage, you learn the hours, rigors, timelines, demands and pleasures to complete projects. Exposure to all phases of project completion including marketing your form, soliciting new clients, sourcing materials, supervising the project and then turning over the final product to the client can be observed from a ‘grunt’s’ perspective. This experience serves to inoculate you against the tedious and nerve-wracking parts of interior creators. You become aware of the pitfalls and challenges of the interior creation trade before embarking on four plus years of college. Such hands-on experience will prove to be helpful while taking interior art courses, as an intern and as you get promoted up the interior creation firm ladder or start a firm on your own.
2. Learn and practice effective budget management. Clients understandably become very upset when the different creative projects go over budget. It is your job to ensure that the project stays within budget. This starts with personal life and career where budget management is practiced fastidiously. Make detailed notes of what the client needs. Get a picture of what the final space looks like. This requires several meetings. Encourage the client to write down major items that are highly valued. This may include the use of local vendors, colors, tones, materials, lighting, and impact on the environment and immediate surroundings. Create a storyboard and treat it as a digital canvas where changes can be made with the stroke of a mouse and keyboard. Treat your proposal as contract and get client input not only at the beginning put during various phases of the project. This limits budgetary surprises and allows the client an opportunity to make changes in real time. The client can approve or make changes knowing impacts on the budget.
3. Get to know your client. You are not trying to please yourself but rather satisfy the client’s vision and needs. The final look of a room, hall, and building must live up to the client’s expectation. Of course, the final product will reflect your creativity and experience. Never forget that the client’s needs take precedence. Create a list of the client’s needs. Prioritize the list and discuss rigorously with the client. This interaction will most likely lead to revisions initiated by you or the client. Effective communication will facilitate a productive working relationship with the client as the project evolves. When the client delegates the project to a subordinate your focus is to do the same with him/her while seeking as much facetime with the client as time allows. Updates are essential. Often this can be done via email and use of social media. However, in person contact is valuable and highly recommended as the project matures.
4. Color and lighting are immensely important tools of the trade. Apply judiciously before making a widespread application. Color and lighting set the mood, highlight imperfections or magnify impressive qualities in any space. Before making large scale applications such as painting an entire room, it is helpful to apply to a small area and digitally or mentally forecast the final effect. Time spent on using samples to project final effect is well worth the time. Considerable savings can be achieved because the cost of repainting a room or recreating lighting can be extensive. The same principle applies to furniture and decorations. Rather than making huge investments in conference room tables, sofas, paintings and sculptures it is a good idea to simulate their effect. There are powerful software programs that can accomplish this job and generate 3D graphics of the final product.
5. Get to know your market. Each community has distinctive qualities. A city and its suburbs may differ due to historical, cultural and economic factors. The Latin influence of sections of Miami may differ from its early roots dating back to the pre-railway entry. Immigration may bring new influences such as Haitian culture with its distinctive color schemes and flavors. The ensuing interaction may interact to create a distinct culture unique to Miami and South Florida. A client may challenge you to capture the many tones and themes of a community. Conversely, you may get jobs with themes more easily identified with other parts of the USA or world. Most creators may get a request to recreate a New York mood, a California beach life, Hollywood theme or European flavors. The creators must be an expert on local themes but also versatile to step outside local norms. Continuing education prepares the inside creator for this reality. Periodicals, magazines, trade shows, conferences, and professional associations are all resources for indoor creators to stay current and sharp. Indoor creative skills and knowledge must be refreshed and nurtured constantly.
6. Interior designers must emphasize team. Contributors to a project’s success are not limited only to employees of the firm. Vendors, subcontractors, and clients are also team members. They must all be nurtured as such. The creative architect must cultivate a sense of team and comradery. This process starts with the attitude of the interior designer. Enthusiasm for success must be infectious. Team members must be motivated not only by compensation but by the very act of working together towards a common cause. That common cause is a successful project where all are invested. When team members are treated with respect, their opinions are encouraged and warmly received and communication is enabled, then a healthy environment is created. All players will celebrate upon project completion.
