A huge number of designers. Different prices. Various works. How to find an interior designer, your own performer for the design of an apartment or house? Why somewhere a project costs 300 rubles per square meter, and somewhere - 3,000 rubles?

Choosing an interior designer

What should you pay special attention to when choosing a designer? Here is the necessary a list of what you should pay special attention to when choosing a designer.

1. Portfolio of your chosen designer:

You should like the designer's work. If viewing your artwork doesn't make you feel like it, it's not your designer. The atmosphere of your future home is in the hands of the designer. If you do not like the works that are in the portfolio or they simply do not evoke any sensations, then do not expect that they will design the interior better for you. A designer can have many awards, several degrees, and be a great specialist, but if you don't like the work, this designer just isn't right for you.

2. High-quality images in 3D graphics

The more realistic the 3D images (3D visualization) are in the designer's portfolio, the easier it will be for you to understand, even at the design stage, how your interior will look like. Attention should be paid to the clarity of the transmitted materials, to their coverage.
Compare the 3D renderings of the project with the photographs after the renovation of the same object. This is what the quality of 3D visualization and detailing of the project will show.

3. The presence of photos in the portfolio and video reviews

It's one thing to draw beautiful images, and quite another thing to bring the conceived project to life. Ask the designer for photos of completed projects. Ask to tell about the object in the photo. Find out what difficulties were in the implementation? What material did the designer use?



At a construction site, everything is not perfect: problems always happen, any inconsistencies, difficulties. The point is who will decide these difficulties: the customer or the designer. It is imperative to ask about this in order to understand how the designer organizes the work on the project.




Photo projects are one thing. And it is quite another thing for the designer to have a video with reviews of completed projects. With the advent of YouTube, finding professionals has become easier. Now, to look at a designer, to understand how he communicates with clients, works with builders, it is enough to watch video reviews of interiors.



In general, the presence of a video confirmation of the live already implemented
interior design is an indisputable confirmation of the results of the designer's work. It is very difficult to fake such a video.

4. Price

As for the cost of a designer's services, it most often depends on how much the designer or studio frees up time for clients. A high-quality serious project is not cheap - we will not talk about this, since this is a constant for everyone.



One of the most significant investments after buying a property is renovation. Therefore, the most important thing is to find out the cost of all repair work, ask the designer how he is going to work with this budget. Therefore, always look at the cost of the final implementation, and this cost should be reasonable. The task of the designer is to correctly distribute the budget, and not only to render everything beautifully.



It is clear that the budget for the entire project at once can be presented rather approximately. Therefore, we recommend that you discuss the reality of the proposed budget with the designer, ask him to show you estimates of similar and already implemented design projects.



Based on the information received, determine how much time you need to free up for all these processes. And, depending on how much your time is worth, you can determine for yourself the adequate composition and cost of the designer's services.

5. Cooperation with factories of materials and furniture

In Europe, it is accepted that by contacting a designer, a client saves money during renovations, since designers work directly with furniture and materials factories. Therefore, purchasing furniture through a designer is cheaper. In Russia, there is a stereotype (and there are indeed cases) that a designer is in collusion with suppliers and increases his value by offering a service to a client. Therefore, take an interest: does the designer cooperate with furniture suppliers and will you save on materials, which factories are these?

6. Comfortable in communication

You should be comfortable communicating with your designer. A professional designer will work with you for a long time. It also happens that a project has been implemented for several years. And throughout the entire time you will tell him about your lifestyle, share your characteristics. Therefore, mutual understanding with the designer from the very beginning and from the very first contact is very important.

7. Narrow specialization should match your desires

Ask the designer what they do best and what are their weaknesses. A specialist who is good at designing restaurants and residential interiors, both classic and modern, should alert you. There are no super specialists in everything. It is better for a designer to specialize in one thing and to be a professional in that specialization. Your task is to find a designer whose specialization matches your needs.

If you are looking for a designer for a 250 m2 home, it is advisable to find a professional who has a lot of practice with such projects, rather than contact a super specialist who does everything. A designer with your specialization will make the project better, faster, and offer the best solutions, as he constantly makes such projects. And this is obvious.

Be careful when looking for a designer, take a responsible approach to the process of choosing an artist. Get to the bottom of the details and essence of the designer's presentation. Pay attention to the designer's reaction to your questions.

8. Reviews

Of course, video reviews are very rare. But, if there is at least one such review, this is a high indicator. Not every customer agrees to a video review, so text reviews should be read too. It's never too perfect. Therefore, if everything is written very well, then either the designer does not post everything, or the reviews are fake. A genuine review can always be understood by its description; real emotions in a text are difficult to fake.

9. Publications in the media, speeches.

A real expert is invited everywhere: write an article, give a comment, speak at an event. Professionals in their field share their knowledge, as it is very difficult to keep it a secret and keep it in oneself. There comes a time when the owner of skills and knowledge begins to transfer them, because he wants to share his experience.

Pay attention to publications of works, articles of the designer, speeches. But it's important to remember our first rule - not every Expert Advisor is right for you. First of all, a designer should be suitable for you in spirit, the philosophy of the designer and his approach to design should be suitable. You should look in one direction with the designer and your views on design should coincide - this is the only way to create the perfect interior for you.

Gerasimov Pavel

If earlier only people with high incomes turned to designers for help, now this work is one of the most demanded among all those who wish to equip their house or apartment as comfortably as possible.

Young interior designers of the Yudu website have the following necessary professional qualities:

• sociability
• artistic imagination
• spatial thinking

The young designer will transform the interior of any room. For him, project development is an interesting task in which you can embody your creative impulses.

Changing the interior: stages of a novice specialist's work

Finding a designer who does his job efficiently and inexpensively will not take much time if you use the Yudu service. With it, the creation of the project will be effective, the end result will definitely please the customer.

Before developing the documentation, the specialist agrees the following issues:

• room decoration style
• dimensions and number of storeys of the object
• primary colors
• preferred materials
• preparation of documentation corresponding to the project

The main task of a young specialist is to find optimal solutions and create a project that will take into account all the customer's requirements. He will be able to find a way out of any situation, so that, if necessary, combine the incompatible in order to emphasize the individuality of the client.

What a design project consists of

The services of a novice designer are not much different from the work of specialists with extensive experience in this area. If you hire a beginner specialist, then you will receive the same package of documentation as when working with the most famous masters of architecture and design.

The documentation consists of the following sections:

• planning solutions
• technological solutions
• style solutions
• decorating
• selection of materials and equipment
• author's supervision

To find a suitable solution for decorating a room, a novice designer visits the facility, makes the necessary measurements, and also discusses all issues with the customer. A significant change in the project is possible only at the initial stages, therefore it is very important to immediately determine what exactly the client wants.

How to order services from the masters of Yudu

With the help of the Yuda website, you can hire a designer who, at a low cost, can complete the design of the project. To order services, you must fill out an application in which you specify the main criteria, as well as the price for the work. The advantage of the site is that the client can set his own prices.

After placing an application, free performers will begin to send their proposals. The price for creating an interior designer can vary. If you wish, you may not indicate the cost of the work in the application so that you can discuss this issue personally. On the Yuda website, any interior designer is a master with a specialized education and creative thinking, and a beginner also has a “fresh” view, an approach to solving the problem.

Instructions

Build your portfolio. Regardless of what you specialize in - design, website development or landscape - the potential client needs your capabilities and understanding of the level of skill. Create a portfolio in paper and electronic form and do not forget to replenish it with new samples as you work.

Designers specializing in website design and graphics should turn their attention to freelance exchanges. The significant disadvantages of these sites include the increasingly growing monetization, in which specialists are offered to pay for an increased status in the system or access to a job search. Also keep in mind that you will most likely have to start with low fees and this will continue until you have earned a good reputation for yourself.

Create a business card site. A few pages will be enough for clients to assess your abilities. Develop a database of design projects for various types of layouts or sites, depending on your specialization.

If you have no work experience and examples of your work, try to find clients who are ready to trust a person with no experience for free. You can also contact your friends, they may need your services. Although this work will not be paid, you will have a real example of your work and a practical understanding of design.

Sources:

• where to find clients for a designer

Tip 2: How a designer can establish a steady flow of clients

The process of finding orders is hardly pleasant. However, there is a way to eliminate it altogether, but at the same time provide yourself with a constant stream of customers.

The easiest way is to knock out orders on freelance sites. This method is bad in that such sites are usually extremely competitive and very low pay. In addition, for a long time, you may not find yourself clients. There is also another option.

It consists in the creation and development of publics dedicated to design in social networks. At the same time, it is necessary to create the "logos" of the groups yourself, to constantly update the content, to show your work, to post materials that are useful for the target reader. If the latter are still few or nonexistent, you can use a "fake portfolio", that is, carry out the expected orders for different companies.

Why is this method good? Firstly, the development of the public and the increase in the number of subscribers, at the same time, increases the number of potential customers. Secondly, the latter immediately see your work, your "portfolio". Thirdly, this option increases the client's confidence: a certain publicity of the designer-administrator of the promoted public creates the impression of his reliability.

If you correctly complete the task, then you don't have to worry about the presence of a clientele.

You have decided to do interior design. The eyes are on, but the portfolio is gone. You can't go far on projects for relatives and friends: expensive customers don't come to such cheap projects of the same type. What to do?

Previously, it was a matter of luck to find the first expensive project for a designer: they were looking for them through their acquaintances. Word of mouth works now, but you can speed up the process, and not wait for the project to come by itself.

We talked with experts and will tell you how to start an interior designer, how to fill a portfolio and reach dear customers.

Make projects for apartments you've never been to

Nobody will order if you don't have any work. Shrug and say: “Well, I’ve just started,” is useless. The customer wants not to waste money, get the project faster and start repairs. It is difficult to understand that a designer is a professional without a portfolio: you cannot appreciate the sense of style in words.

Start making projects for apartments you've never been to. Until you have a customer, do it on the table. Apartment layouts are posted on the websites of elite complexes. Download them and make some design decisions.

Layout of an apartment in a residential complex Residence "Mone" - residence-mone.ru

It is important to make the most beautiful visualization of the project. Imagine: a client came who bought an apartment for 20-30 million rubles. You will not do a project on your knees, somehow cutting out pictures in Photoshop. If you do not own design programs, hire a designer, design beautifully. Do the same with your portfolio work. You will invest your energy and money in them, and then they will work for you.

The interior of the kitchen-living room of a country house from the "Studio 3.14" project

The interior of the kitchen-living room in the residential complex "Fili Grad" of the project "Studios 3.14"

If you're good at drawing, sketches instead of a computer design project. These are quick freehand sketches with ink, watercolors, or markers. A quick sketch takes 10 to 15 minutes, with detailing it takes several hours. This presentation will make your portfolio stand out and add skill in the eyes of the client.

If you don't have an art education, sketching is easy to learn in three to four classes at art schools.

Sketches of interiors by designer Elena Lapshina

First customer - table

Make a website

You have drawn several interior designs. And what to do with them next? Post it on your Vkontakte page or on the freelancers' exchange?

The best way is to post projects on your site. On designer exchanges, you are limited by the rules of the site: you adjust to someone else's design template. At any time, the site will close, and you will lose your work.

You design your site as you want. You will be able to upload an unlimited number of photos, tell you what goals the customers had and what problems they had to solve during the preparation of the project.

It seems that creating a website is difficult and I don't want to think about it. You need to learn programming languages ​​or spend money and go to freelancers or agencies. It will be expensive and long.

Make a website using a free constructor - Tilda, Redimage WordPress, Pingendo. Tilda is simpler, she makes layout according to the "sandwich" model, just fill in the layers with information. In Redimag, you place objects yourself, it is more difficult, you need to know the basic principles of layout. If you are already somewhat familiar with columnar layout, it is convenient to create a website in Pingendo.

In parallel with the nimble, you need to fill the site with information. Create three main sections - information about yourself, portfolio and typical solutions for different interiors. Take your time to write about your accomplishments. Ask yourself: what questions torment the client, what pain do you "treat"?

Each sentence of the text should show how you are helping the client create their dream interior and solve their problems. Write how you work, what projects you like more than others, in what time frame you are ready to start working and how long you have been doing the project.

Nobody wants to buy a pig in a poke: there must be prices on the site. Now is not the 90s, when the cost of the project was determined by the appearance of the customer. Ideal when there is a calculator, and the customer can immediately estimate the cost. Tell us how you work, what is included in the cost, what stages of project preparation, what payment options.

A website is a story that needs to be constantly maintained. You won't be able to make a website once and forget. It is necessary to update, add articles and new projects.

It is better to make a website in a day using the constructor than to do it for months and not do it

Register on exchanges and choose a specialization

You have made a website, but no one knows about it yet. Of course, you can post it on your Vkontakte page, but only acquaintances will go. And you need as many new people as possible to know about you.

Exchanges and interior design portals come into play. Register, fill in information about yourself and post a link to the site.

The most important thing is not to offer everything at once, choose a specialization. Perhaps you have done a beautiful project for a clothing boutique or beauty salon. Focus on these works and find clients in the direction you are already familiar with.

Don't target economy class customers. For them, many programs for self-design have been created. Such clients will come to you for free recommendations, and then disappear and do everything themselves, and you will only waste your time.

The story on the exchanges is the same as with the website: update information, post new articles, answer customer questions on the forums. If a person sees that you answered clearly and to the point, it is quite possible that he will come for a paid project.

Don't waste time on economy class clients

Start a blog

A blog can replace your website or become an additional source of traffic. Search engines raise sites with useful and interesting content higher. A person is looking for information about interiors and repairs, comes to read your article, feels an expert position and goes further on the site, reads information about you.

It is important that the blog is not just a statement of your thoughts, but well-structured materials with photos and examples. If the content solves the problem and contains practical solutions, such an article will move closer and closer to the top by queries. For a budding designer, a blog is ideal. There is no cost other than
time.

What to write about? It would seem that everything has already been written before you.

Do not write banal things and do not retell other people's articles. Steal, but don't repeat yourself. If you have stolen a topic - look at it from a new side, serve it from a different angle or with a sauce.

Make a temnik. Look at the questions that customers most often ask on the Internet, interview friends and relatives, remember how you did the repair yourself. Rely on these topics and write from your own experience: what difficult problem you solved, how you coped with a complex layout, what unexpected color combinations you found.

Elena Lapshina, interior designer:

If it is difficult to find topics, you can spy on English-language sites. They usually go ahead of us, introduce new trends. If you know the language well, you can translate articles. Also useful and interesting
content

It's good if the article contains materials that you can download and save for yourself: layouts and color combinations, universal furniture combinations.

It's easy to start a blog. Like the site, it can be made on the free platforms Aegea or WordPress.

Steal ideas and make unique

Don't ask for good reviews

The first point is where the review is posted. If on your site, there is less trust. There you can write whatever you want. It is better if your customer wrote a sincere review on their social media page. This will kill two birds with one stone. Get a response and immediately find an audience of those who also make repairs from friends of your customer.

The second point is how the review is written. Many people think that there should be a lot of praise in the review. But such reviews from the outside look fake, there is little trust in them. Everything is never good.

Ask the client to share what was good and what could be improved. You will receive feedback and a reliable assessment that will be believed. Nobody expects a budding designer to be the best specialist in the world. The main thing is that everything is done on time, and the customer is satisfied.

If you are on good terms with the customer, ask for feedback on interior portals, for example, Houzz. Authorization is needed there, so there is more trust in such reviews. It is also important to monitor portals, because customers can leave reviews and not tell you about it.

Too positive and fake