Reasons Not To Skip The Designer - Part 1
Updated: Sep 4
Mary walks into a tile store recommended by her contractor to “pick her tile”.
She browses for about an hour and finally decides on a beautiful marble tile which has exactly the tones and movement she was envisioning. She takes the sample home with her and falls even more in love. She is so inspired that she starts looking at paint chips, vanity colors, and fixtures. Two weeks later, all selections have been made, all coordinated perfectly with the beautiful tile she selected. Mary returns to the tile store the following week to place her order, and finds out that there are only a couple boxes left in stock, no replenishment date available, and no other vendor that can get the material.
The salesperson offers to help Mary re-select, but she is devastated. Every component of her bathroom project was selected based on this one tile she fell in love with. She is too disappointed to think, let alone reselect, since that will likely mean reselecting not just the tile, but everything else too.
Mary's problem was not that she didn't have good taste, or the ability to make her own selections for her home. Her problem was she had no process, no emotional bandwidth for a sudden change of plans, and no time in her schedule to start all over again. Her problem was not about taste. It was about not having the proper support from the beginning.
In my design business, I start by helping my client identify a target design concept they love, and of course iron out their various lifestyle requirements (i.e. needs roll in shower, high capacity medicine cabinet, and more light), and then all the finer details and exact specifications get sorted out on my watch.
The client is spared not only from the many hours it takes to research and select, but also from the stress and disappointment when certain products are not available. In the end, the design integrity, or “the look” is intact, but the process and hours that it took to pull everything together is a burden that the designer carries, not the client.
That sort of arrangement is not for everyone. Many clients I’ve worked with prefer a much higher level of control and awareness. That is understandable, and there are many designers who specialize more in what I call “hand-holding”, or what clients will commonly describe as a “collaborative” approach. I’ve been down that path in an attempt to be more accommodating and found that it can be less advantageous for both parties.
REASON 1:
The designer is pretty much forced to charge hourly, which makes it less clear if not completely unclear how long the project is going to take, and how much the client can expect to spend in fees.
REASON 2:
It compromises design integrity, by placing the client in a position of leadership, when they are usually not in a position to lead design decisions of any sort. What might start as a solid composition on the part of the designer can unravel quickly from too much back and forth, too much interjection, and too many cooks in the kitchen.
REASON 3:
The designer is forced to be forceful. I have a design colleague who offers a collaborative approach and what I’ve noticed about her technique is that she is VERY DIRECT. At first I was repelled by this, finding it rude and abrasive. But after years in the business, I completely understand why she operates the way she does. She doesn’t waste time explaining why something won’t work. She simply rejects it and moves on, because to do anything else is pointless. This approach is not one I have been able to accept, because in the end, it still takes MORE time and produces weaker results.
I don’t need a year to learn what a client likes. I'm a professional.
I know almost instantly from the images a client shares, from the furniture they have purchased. from the way they talk, from how they react to images I share with them. I get a read on them very quickly and develop an individual client style profile that helps me make design decisions on their behalf. While every client is different, people generally tend to have distinct styles that are easy for an experienced designer to flesh out with a few questions and visual aids.
In my business, I like clarity. I like efficiency. And I like to have consistently HAPPY clients. While what works for me and my personality may not work for others, I have found that when I follow my specific process, when I lead, handle the design decisions (because that is my specialty) and oversee the completion of the work to my meticulous standards, I consistently produce happy clients.
I listen, I plan, and I execute.
My approach is well received by busy professionals who above all else want to preserve their spare time, and make that limited spare time as enjoyable and comfortable as possible. They don’t just want efficiency. They NEED it. They depend upon it. They respect it. For the busiest of clients, my process is very easy to accept, because it was designed for them.
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