How to work effectively with clients? 5 tips for interior designers

The work of an interior designer is largely creative, but in almost all cases it is also based on maintaining constant contact with the client. Each designer has developed his or her own path for leading a project. If you’re looking for ways to streamline your operations, we’d like to remind you of some best practices to make your work with clients more efficient.

Ask pertinent questions

It’s very common for a client to find it difficult to describe their expectations at the outset. It is the designer, based on his experience, who should know what to ask in order to be able to create the fullest possible picture of what may be just germinating in the client’s imagination. What is worth asking during one of the first conversations? Inspiration. Ask the client to show you arrangements he likes. If he’s been planning interior design for a long time, he may have his inspirations saved on his phone or computer. Such photographs or designs can be a good base for further discussions. The number of household members and their ages. The lifestyle of the household members. Find out if the residents spend a lot of time at home, work remotely, have guests often, cook a lot at home, have any hobbies, have pets living with them, etc. Must-have elements. The client may not be able to describe exactly what he wants in his arrangement, but it is very possible that he will be able to list some individual elements that should be included in the design. Unacceptable elements. Ask if there are colors, materials or other elements that the client absolutely does not want. Many people find it much easier to specify what they don’t like than to indicate exactly what elements should be included in the design. Budget. Only by knowing the approximate amount of money that the client can spend on the renovation, you will be able to prepare a design that maximizes the possibilities and requirements of the recipient.

Prepare moodboards

Creatively and attractively for the client to rearrange the vision and ideas for the interior design is one of the biggest challenges facing designers. Creating a design is a process – it is very rare that after the first conversations with the client you already know what the entire arrangement will look like in detail. However, you already have a general concept in your head, which you should present to the client before you start preparing the 3D visualization.

You can show the initial presentation of the visual concept to the client with the help of moodboards, i.e. special boards or charts, on which you present the general idea of the project. This is an aesthetically pleasing listing of key furnishings, photos of inspiration and examples of materials, textures and colors that will be used in the project.

Moodboards are most often made electronically – such an option is relatively easy to make and you can send it to the client via email. However, if you want to go a step further, you can prepare a classic board in “physical” form and pin photos or samples of specific materials to it. Aesthetic and visually appealing moodboard in such a version has a chance to appeal to the client’s imagination even better than the electronic version viewed on the screen.

Offer an attractive visualization of the project

The next steps are to create a functional layout and visual concept, which for your client will be a key element of the project. Prepare a visualization of the interior in a way that will be as attractive to the viewer as possible. The client’s imagination will be best influenced by a visualization rendered on the basis of a 3D model you made. You can present such visualization to the client in several ways, including static projections of the project from multiple perspectives or an interactive virtual walk-through, allowing the client to explore the created space on their own.

The first option, i.e. project projections generated by you, is of course proven and quite safe, but it has quite a few limitations. The client sees the designed interior from only a few perspectives, and does not have the opportunity to look at the details up close and evaluate the arrangement from other places than those chosen by you. In the case of a virtual walk-through created on the basis of a 3D model, the client can freely move around the created space, look into every corner and analyze decorative details up close.

Give the customer a choice

The customer is thrilled after seeing the first version of the design? Great! However, it is very possible that you will miss, for example, the color of the wall, and the client will want to see how the design looks with a wall of a completely different shade. Changing the design and re-rendering the visualization is not a major problem, but what if there are many more of these corrections? You yourself know how time-consuming it can be to generate successive visualizations of the same interior.

That’s why it’s a good idea to give the client a tool that will allow him to freely change, for example, colors and materials while viewing the project in real time. An interactive 3D virtual walkthrough, combined with the possibility of self-editing, significantly speeds up the client’s decision-making process, and the client has the feeling that he or she is co-creating the design of a space that will surround him or her for years to come. The entire process takes place without having to render successive versions of scenes.

Being able to walk through a realistic-looking interior on their own makes it easier for the client to imagine themselves sitting on the couch reading a book or eating a family dinner at the dining room table.

Hold meetings where you fine-tune the project together with the client

Don’t limit yourself to just phone calls or emails. At the beginning of the design process, let the client know what the next steps will be so they know what to expect. Also offer meetings to discuss what has been created so far. Being able to talk freely about the project and present the client with options for specific solutions can yield much better results than just describing the project in an email. If you can’t see the client in person, arrange an online meeting where you can share your screen and talk about the results of your work.

Shapespark virtual walk-throughs rendered from a 3D model are the key to getting quick feedback from the client and a way to avoid unwanted surprises. With good software, you save time and your clients get a visualization that works on their imagination and gives them the opportunity to directly influence the final result.