A series to get your creative juices flowing for your interior design firm’s blog. Read the introduction here.
Choosing towel colors. How to use a spa-like approach or to accent with your bath towels.
5 favorite pedestal sinks.
Photo: Better Homes & Gardens
How to tell good upholstery from bad. Possibly show pictures that will educate your reader on what they can look for when selecting a piece of upholstery.
Effects of glazing cabinetry. How different glazes change the natural colors of woods.
Choosing the right area rug. Size, style, and more. Do you put the sofa legs on it?
Photo: Apartment Therapy
Be sure to check back next Monday for five more blog post ideas!
Whenever I ask people what their main concern and block is for social media, a majority of them say producing content. This is true. All of a sudden, businesses that never had to write before are now tasked with being editors and journalists for their online diaries. Blogging offers great opportunities to establish yourself as an expert, show your company’s personality, and be more searchable, but it can be overwhelming to think about coming up with a new idea 2-5 times per week.
In 30 minutes, I developed 35 ideas for blog posts for your interior design firm. I realize I am leaving this to you to do the hard part—the writing! Most of them are residentially-inclined, but I know that they will spur ideas for the commercial folks too. You are more than welcome to use these blog post ideas verbatim. However, you will also be thinking about your own spin so don’t let these limit your creativity. Hopefully this list will help you think of even another 35 things that you want to write about. If it does make you think of some posts, will you share them in the comments? Remember that posts don’t have to be long, but they have to be interesting. What is interesting to your reader? They’ll tell you by what they retweet on Twitter, link to from their own blog, or comment on your blog. It’s a learning experience and you’ll probably end up being surprised at what they most want to hear about.
I’ve divided this list into groups of 5. It will give you enough to think about for the week and we will post them every Monday for the next 7 weeks.
1. Pantone color of the year and its uses. Show ways that it can be used as a base color or as a subtle accent.
2. Outdoor living rooms. The change in fabric technology and options are amazing. Highlight this or something similar for your reader.
Photo: Martha Stewart
3. Window treatments and appropriate uses. Educate your reader on the different window treatment designs and when each might be used.
4. Ceiling fans– not from your first apartment. Choosing a fan with style.
5. Painting floors. What to consider with color and sheen.
Photo: Design Sponge
Stay tuned for five more blog post ideas for interior designers, every Monday!
For those of you who have iPhones and frequently want to take pictures to post on your blog, Facebook page, Flickr, or other platforms, you may have previously been disappointed in the quality of the photos. In many cases, the contrast and color of the iPhone photos do not do the design justice. There are two iPhone apps—AutoStitch and Touch FX—that I recently started using that have significantly changed the quality of the photos that I can take with my phone.
AutoStitch:
AutoStitch allows you to take multiple overlapping photos that you can then “stitch” together for a panoramic view. This is great for getting more of a room into the pictures.
One part of the image, before AutoStitch
And again, after AutoStitch
I am typically very stingy with spending money on apps, but I found the $2.99 for this app to be a well-spent business expense. Now, when I take photos of any of our design projects in process or when I want to photograph the entire vignette at High Point Furniture Market, I am not limited.
Touch FX
For 99 cents, this photo editing app for your iPhone is also business money well spent. I find most of my iPhone photos to lack contrast in color. With Touch FX, you use your finger as a brush to touch up your photos. You can also use your “brush” to make your photo sepia, black-and-white, posterized and more. I particularly think that the “Contrast” tool is the most important for taking design photos and really punching up your colors and textures. In the photo below, I used the contrast tool to doctor the left-hand side of the photo and the right hand side is untouched. You can see the brightness and difference.
Left side– Touch FX contrast tool used; Right side– untouched
Todd Whiting, one of our GDM advisory board members, is the creator of Touch FX so that is how I found out about it. I must say that I went kicking and screaming to actually spend money for an app (even an app made by someone I know- sorry Todd). However, I can honestly say that these two apps, often combined, have made a huge difference in the caliber of photos that I can take and post with just my iPhone.
Alexandra and Amanda have just arrived in New York City to enjoy a few days of meetings, great events, and of course– fun. (Would you expect anything less?)
Kicking off today is House Beautiful’s “Kitchen of the Year“ in Rockefeller Plaza– an event full of cooking demonstrations with celebrity chefs, tastings, kitchen design tips, and a fully rendered “Kitchen of the Year” designed by Jeff Lewis. After the daytime activities conclude, Alexandra and Amanda will attend House Beautiful’s “Kitchen of the Year” opening night gala! For more details, watch the video below– and be sure to check Twitter for updates and photos by Alexandra and Amanda.
They will also be meeting with ultra-talented GDM member Ondine Karady at the event, whose 50’s movie- inspired kitchen, “Bumblebee by the Beach,” which was designed for House Beautiful’s “Uncompromising Design“ video series can be seen below. Alexandra and Amanda have just updated that Ondine’s video has been playing on the big screen in Rockefeller Plaza throughout today’s event– congratulations! Tomorrow, Ondine’s kitchen design will continue its reign in the spotlight at cooking demos and more sponsored by Jenn-Air.
Credit: Ondine Karady for House Beautiful
Tomorrow, Alexandra and Amanda will attend the Word of Mouth Marketing Supergenius Conference hosted by Gaspedal for some educational nourishment. The event will feature how-to crash courses in Word of Mouth (WOM) Marketing, brilliant speakers, and real-world case studies.
If you happen to be in New York, head over to Rockefeller Plaza to partake in some of these exciting events. Even if you’re not a design enthusiast, there’s sure to be something for everyone to enjoy!
Again, stay updated on Twitter and follow Alexandra and Amanda as they journey through New York! More to follow…
It’s no surprise that the dirty martini, a symbol of refined revelry and exceptional taste, is also Gibson Design Management’s chosen symbol for a reward of member excellence. Each month, the Dirty Martini award is presented to one of our members, honoring the innovative, devoted and impressive achievements of the people we are so fortunate to work with. What better way is there to applaud a job well done than by unwinding with a cocktail?
This month, we’d like to congratulate Lane Elisabeth Oliver of LEO Interior Design for her recent media recognition, which praised her skilled design sense and innovative approach when it comes to transforming an interior. Although Lane’s work has been featured in many publications, last month’s Denver Life Magazine highlighted an LEO Interior Design project in a lengthy spread (“Tidy Transformation”)– describing Lane’s ability to “add life” to an outdated home interior by combining traditional elements with light colors, bold patterns and some impressive faux finishes. (To read the full article and see pictures of the final interior, visit the LEO Interior Design website and download a PDF version.)
After a job well done, we think Lane deserves to put her feet up and enjoy a refreshing martini. Congratulations again to Lane Elisabeth Oliver of LEO Interior Design–cheers!
While waiting for a pretty significant writer’s block to clear up, I thought a dip into my Twitter stream might help refresh me a bit. Even though it is against the general “how-to’s” of Twitter, I have focused my following to design, marketing and artistic tweeps— so that the noise doesn’t become too overwhelming. Well, lo and behold: when I really focused, some great new, inventive and interesting ideas and products revealed themselves. And, miraculously, the writer’s block vanished.
Below is a selection of some “twinspirational” Twitter finds.
@LadyFabrics (visit their website): Gorgeous, 100% natural, sustainable, biodegradable fabrics.
A wide array of colors from Lady Fabrics
@Alluminare (visit their website): Fully customizable fabric, wallcovering, pendants, lamps, pillows and so much more! Wonderfully interactive.
Fully customizable lampshades and more on Alluminare's website
@tracyhiner (visit the website) This is NOT your average wallpaper, it’s Art, and yes, with a capital A!
Two examples of Black Crow Studios' artful designs
@modernica (visit the website): Uber-cool furnishings that would make the Jetsons’ swoon.
Ultra modern chairs from modernica.
@HomeDecorNews (visit the website): A lot of something about a lot of everything for the design industry, from the DIY-ers to professionals.
@myperfectcolor (visit the website): Anything and everything you would ever want to know about Benjamin Moore paint.
The moral of the story: inspiration comes from many sources, Twitter being only one of many!
Starting in 2007, the market for interior designers turned into quicksand. The credit markets tightened, and projects that typically went to designers were brought in-house both residentially and commercially.
HGTV and the Internet created more competitors in the middle of the market from the consumers themselves, and frankly, for most designers, those weren’t and aren’t your best clients anyway.
High-end projects stayed fairly steady until the economic debacle of October 2008, and then many of the projects slowed, stopped or didn’t start at all. Especially in markets tied to the financial markets like New York, the wealthiest clients lost their jobs and their sense of security if they were in jobs associated with money and wealth.
The commercial market was devastated by the credit crisis, and according to economists, the concerns aren’t behind us yet.
Even with this perfect storm, some designers were very busy. Why? They adapted to the market shifts, changed their pricing strategies, developed an online presence, spent as much as 10% on marketing, focused on a niche, learned how to differentiate themselves better, and didn’t wait for the phone to ring. They took these conditions as a challenge and they worked even harder than before.
If commercial and hospitality is your preferred area of business, you’ll want to focus on renovations. If you can show companies that an investment in renovation can lead to more dollars at the bottom line especially if they depend on consumer spending, then you have an opportunity to build a logical reason why a company should invest. The commercial designers that become a marketing partner with their clients differentiate themselves and become a valuable solution-oriented team member instead of an expense.
If your specialty is residential design, bathroom and kitchen renovation is still steady. The budgets might be smaller, but there is work in this specialty area.
A kitchen renovation featured on the Traditional Home blog
Some designers created packages of services they offered on their websites. Why did that work for them? The consumers wanted (and demanded) to know the investment required .
Other designers offered Value Based Fees because consumers resisted hourly fees. ASID surveyed consumers a few years ago and approximately 70% said they wanted fixed fees. Designers who offered this option found that it completely shifted their role from an hourly wage slave to a trusted advisor, and that helped many designers kick-start their businesses even during the last several months.
You could be the greatest designer, but if people don’t hear about you consistently, then your business will struggle. These days, you need great photography, a great head shot, articles about you in magazines, online and in newspapers (third party endorsements), a web presence including a website, blog and social media and search engine optimization of your website and blog.
And, if you don’t have a written business plan, marketing plan, vision and strategy for your business, it’s time to get busy and take action. Referrals and networking may have worked in the past, but they are less effective than ever, so that means it’s time to rethink and reposition your business.
I’ve been an interior designer for over 20 years, so I’ve had plenty of time to make these mistakes. Here’s a startling statistic (and I’ll bet it is higher during this recession) – 62.8% of all new businesses fail within 6 years according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and 96% fail within 10 years. That means you’re lucky to be one of 4 out of 100 to make it past 10 years…or is it luck?
What if you could avoid the mistakes that these business owners made?
I’d like to see you avoid them, and if you’ve already done a few of them, now you can learn what not to do so you don’t waste your valuable time and money:
Not having a written “ideal client” profile – If you don’t know who your ideal client is, how can you tell other people who they can refer to you? If you’ve ever had the client from &%$&, (or more than once) the key is to know what you don’t want in a client as much as what you do want.
Not knowing the lifetime value of your client – If you’ve been in the business even a few years, you can add up your billings and divide by the number of clients to get your current lifetime value. You should also look at how long they stay as a client. These two metrics are critical in your business planning and if you have this data as part of your Business Dashboard, it will help you grow your business. (more…)
We work with many design firms that utilize 3D photorealistic renderings to show clients their design vision. This is a great way to communicate and sell your vision through imagery instead of words, but why not use renderings in your business for other purposes as well?
Design by Gibson Design Group | Rendering for Upcoming Charity House Show
Here are 3 ideas for using 3D renderings that you might not have thought about previously:
Work backwards. If you have a great project in your portfolio that you have already completed and photographed, why not render that project as well. This will beef up your portfolio by showing potential clients what they can expect as a “before” (the rendering) and “after” (the photograph). The similarities will be astounding to the potential client.
Project never built, but design done. Unfortunately, given the economy over the past two years, many large projects never got off the ground. However, you may have done great design work for these spaces. If you have a project that was not ever completed, or the client pulled the plug for budgetary reasons, why not render your vision and add that to your portfolio?
Substitute for traditional photography. While professionally photographing your best work is extremely important for your portfolio, there are some projects that might not be quite worth the thousands of dollars to photograph. As a less expensive alternative, you can take photos of the spaces with a point and click camera and then have photorealistic renderings done to mimic them. This is also an opportunity to add the window treatments, art, accessories, or additional pieces that were part of the design, but not purchased by the client.
Conventional or non-conventional uses aside, utilizing photorealistic 3D renderings in your portfolio is a great way to win that next client, and set yourself apart from your competitors.
We will be working with Ondine on spreading her great design and personality even further through the beauties of social media and online PR.
As part of the 20 Young Designers feature from Traditional Home, the magazine is holding a Reader’s Choice contest. Please support Ondine and support us by voting for her!
Note: Make sure that you click on the “Vote!” button and not just the “Like” button to vote!
Also, by voting you are automatically entered to win a complete room design and $5,000 in fabric to outfit the room so there’s some extra incentive…besides your undying love for us.
