Story: Commercial Interior Design
One day, one of the previous Upwork client asked me below.
Hi Takashi, do you do any interior design? Thanks. Also can you recommend any interior decorators in the NY area, including northern New Jersey?
I like design-related topics, but I don’t know how I can help a client. I may be able to provide some ideas. I have obviously no network in the NY area.
This does not apply only to an interior designer. When a target audience looks for some services(web design, Webflow development, graphic design, architect, etc) in some areas, people take a similar mind and process. I should consider it when I develop a website.
– How to find an interior designer in New York/North New Jersey? (Google, Pinterest, Instagram or LinkedIn?)
– Approach/process, the way to think about a project.
– What problem an interior designer needs to solve.
When I search for an interior designer, Google shows some other keywords, architect, interior decorator. How does it differ?
the spruce: Interior Designer vs. Interior Decorator
Board & Vellum: Architecture vs. Interior Design
Architecture Short Course: How to Develop a Design Concept
©30X40 Design Workshop
Practical constraints:
– About the site(address), climates, legal framework
– About client, history, culture, preference
– About building typology (museum, school, clinic, etc)
His logical thinking very makes sense to me.
Google Masp
When I Google search, Google considers where I am. It’s useful, but it is not convenient in this case. I type near NY/New Jersey. I do think the map should show the red pins more.
Keywords(I don’t use a capital letter when I Google search):
– commercial interior design near new york/new brunswick
– office design near new york/new brunswick
– interior designer portfolio site (like a behance/dribbble)
I checked some of the websites. What I used as clues are review, home page and copywriting. This is important for me to understand the way to think like a client.
Behance
Looking at an interior design portfolio, awesome photos are fun. I can select categories and areas. So, Behance is generally useful for finding an interior designer. Not easy to pick up 1 candidate.
When I need to get ideas, I sometimes look at Pinterest and saved board in my account. When I need to hire someone from a certain area, I am not sure whether Pinterest is the best place or not.
I searched for an interior designer near new york. The result shows some people who work as interior designers or related positions. I checked the company which they are working, but it looks huge development project. I even could not contact them.
Magazine
dwell
AZURE Magazine
When I visited Chapters(bookstore), I browse dwell, Azure. It’s a hobby level, but I can trip my feeling to well-designed architecture. I have never considered working with top-notch architects. Simply I don’t have a project.
houzz
Houzz is an American website and online community about architecture, interior design and decorating, landscape design and home improvement. It was founded in 2009 and is based in Palo Alto, California. – Wikipedia
I found Houzz on the 1st page on Google. I felt it’s for residential rather than commercial.
bark
Bark.com instantly finds the best local service professionals for you – fast & free. Save time & money and get your job done, fast. – Bark Website
Conclusion: Power of networking
When I look for an expert in any industry, thanks to social media and the internet, we can find someone through many platforms. The difficulty is how to choose the right person, meet the skills, fit the personality, and of course budget. This process is quite important to me as well.
These questions below give me what I need to do next.
– How people find my service
– How to decide who works with
– What they consider during the consideration…
