Interior Designer Resources Directory :: Interior Design Article
The Real Value of Design
It has always been an interesting phenomenon to me how few interior designers really value the services they perform. In many ways, I believe, this is one of the reasons that clients don't tend to value design services as much as they do from other professionals.
From my point of view, what designers do is just short of miraculous. Talented designers can visualize a space, develop the program and a budget, design it with input from 1 to a dozen or more people, sell it, schedule it, order it or specify it with all the hundreds of details, and complete the project, for the most part, on time and in budget. Considering the fact that once a project is designed, it is really no longer totally under the designer's control but is subject to the vagaries of dozens of suppliers, artisans, contractors, sub-contractors, and delivery services, I find this to be an amazing ability. Most designers think this is just "doing their job".
To have the public buy into the real value of design, designers themselves have to believe and to make the leap in their own minds that what they do is valuable, not easily performed by non-professionals and, therefore, worth money. I find this trait of not valuing their services to be far more evident in residential designers than contract designers, although my observations have recognized that it happens in both fields.
Consider first if you know anyone who would attempt to diagnose their own illness, fill their own prescriptions, defend themselves in a court of law, pull their own teeth or even, generally speaking, do their own electrical wiring or plumbing. It is certainly not illegal for people to do any of these things for themselves, yet the majority would choose to hire a professional for these services because they value them enough to pay for them-and pay well.
In addition, many people hire professionals such as architects, landscapers, accountants, graphic artists, even caterers, painters and personal shoppers because they value their professional expertise and because they believe their own personal time is more valuable than the money they pay for these services. Again, it is not illegal for anyone to perform these services for themselves-but is it always smart?
Yet, the general public believes that they, themselves, can design their own interiors and that people who hire interior designers are too busy, too lazy or have too much money-or all three. And, as designers, we write those people off and settle for competing for the under 5% of the market who are "too busy, too lazy or have too much money-or all three".
OK, maybe this is an overstatement. But, it got your attention. And, I am still willing to bet that a huge percentage of the remaining 95% of the market goes to doctors, dentists, lawyers, electricians, and plumbers for their services.
For years I have heard from both designers and the public that a designer's value lies in their sources and their craftspeople. While I do not for a moment wish to minimize that aspect of a designer's services, this is not where the real value lies. If it were, then as soon as the public could identify these and use them on their own, designers would no longer have value. It is an assumption that devalues the actual value of the designer and one that has been largely exploded with the advent of the Internet. Over the past 5 years the Internet has proven the fascinating fact that while literally everything is now available online, the design profession is growing and healthy. The simple truth is that with all these "designer secrets" pretty much available to the public, this same public is realizing that they do not know what to do with the overwhelming amount of information. And, herein lies the true value of the designer. They do!!!!!
A designer's real value is in his/her head and nothing or no one can usurp it. Creativity is a gift that good designers have in spades. Not only are they loaded with creativity, that creativity is different for each designer. And, while designers may believe that everyone has that talent, it just is not so. Here is why.
First, look at the bones of a project-that is, the empty space and structure. Now, as a designer, visualize that space as a functional space down to the last lamp and accessory. Piece of cake, right? How many people do you think can do that? In fact, I would venture that you can visualize it a number of different ways and describe them all to your client so vividly that it appears easy. It has nothing to do with sources and craftspeople. It has, instead, to do with your vision, your creativity, your magic. And, each designer who envisions this space would envision it differently, making your vision and creativity unique and original, of even more value. Visualization is an art that very few people have. In fact, even when you have drawn up a project for the client to see and explained all the details, many people still can't "see" it until it is a finished product. Do you know people like that? There are more of them than there are of you.
Second, how do you take all those ideas and convert them to a functional design? Many people have great ideas but just do not have the knowledge or discipline to put them into a package or plan that enables others to envision it well enough to produce it. Again, the mind of the designer understands the space, organizes the details, and plans the steps to get to the vision. Business people would call this Strategic Planning and pay big bucks to have someone do it for them. Designers call it "doing their job"-.no big deal.
Both envisioning and strategic planning are very big deals. And, they are at the heart of what makes design services so valuable. But, often what the public sees and perceives is the flash or flamboyance of the design and not the endless hours and thought that produces the end result. I think designers prefer it this way-.and it has, of course, added to their mystique over the years. But, it is counterproductive to confirming their value and it further undermines their own belief that what they do has value.
In establishing that designers have great value, I like to think in terms of a cake decorator and a Pâtissier or pastry chef. The end results of both efforts are decorative, often flamboyant, and certainly creative. But, let's look deeper.
The Pâtissier creates an experience for the senses from his/her imagination. It can be said that the cake decorator also creates an experience for the senses from his/her imagination. But, the cake decorator decorates the surface only. The Pâtissier envisions the complete experience-.the flavor, the texture, the aroma, and the presentation, knowing that while icing may and often does cover over a very bad cake, a really great dessert must be great to the bones. While both types of skills are essential to the designer, the value of the dessert created by a pastry chef is perceived by the public to have far greater value because they cannot imagine themselves creating it.
While designers certainly decorate surfaces, it is in the hidden cake that the value lies-.the bones. Bones in a design project deal with space, scale, balance, form, function, style, texture-the elements that hold a design together regardless of the color, flash or visual appeal. These elements are enduring just as the memory of a very special dessert is also enduring. Yet, these elements of the design are so subtle and seamlessly woven into the overall fabric of the design that they do not seem to exist. That, too, is part of the value and the innate creativity in a really good design.
Designers are problem solvers. Using everyday products like wood, glass, stone, paint, paper, textiles and metal, talented designers create functional and often stunning spaces. But, it is in the knowledge and understanding of these items and their performance that the true value of design belongs. The subtleties of lighting, the ambience of acoustics, the manipulation of space, the details of comfort flow from the talents of designers as effortlessly as the selection of furnishings and accessories. No value? As I said when I began, it is an interesting phenomenon that they do not see it.
If you are a designer reading this, I hope you will give it a great deal of thought and let me know how you feel about what you do and how your clients see you. Are you responsible for that perception? Over the next 2 months, we will explore the value of design further. I look forward to hearing from you.
Joan Gaulden, FASID is co-founder of designerEsources. She also develops courses and teaches for education-works in Dallas Texas. Because of the extreme popularity of the Emerging Textiles part of the course, a new course on New and Emerging Materials will be completed in the late Fall of this year. Also watch for "Fibers, Fabric and the Whole Cloth" online soon at http://www.education-works.com.
