You may not know how to describe what you do and how you do it yet, but it’s time to start understanding and exploring more about yourself and what it is you actually do and how you do it.

One of the most asked questions of interior designers is “what is your style?” or “how is your way of designing different?” It took me a really long time to figure out what this was for myself and to define it easily.

These exercises are designed to help you to figure what makes you unique and helps guide you to figure out what your way of designing is so that if you were to create a system based around your designing “method” you could (and of course, you could patent it, create a product from it and potentially sell it.)

Of course, not everyone at this stage has created an interior that they are proud of or that they would define as their own 100% on brand statement. That’s ok (in fact it’s rare for anyone to have that unless they have free rein and built their own home – that’s why architects and interior designers in the past used to use their own homes as their show project!)

If you haven’t created a project that defines your brand 100% yet, just think about what it would be if you had already completed one. So before starting this exercise go find an image of an interior that you believe is 100% “you” and you wish you had created it.

These questions may be difficult for you. That’s ok, they are designed to really make you think deeply, so just do your best, but you are required to answer every question.

The reason why you shouldn’t feel afraid of your direct competition is because I am helping you to understand yourself better. Designers who live in fear that everyone around them are steeling “their” clients are too busy looking outside of themselves for all the answers to their own business.

The truth is that interior design is pretty straightforward and you’ve done the right thing by getting educated (through this program or another) and getting the practical and business tools required to work as an interior designer, but there is more to business than just interior design!

The thing that sets you apart from other designers is what helps you be more authentic and use your natural creativity to create your own success, your way. This is where many designers go wrong, they believe that someone else’s way is also “their way”, but it can’t be, because there is only one you and there is only one of them. You can be inspired by someone else, but the way to success is to do things your way.

In the past interior designers and architects were distinguished by their style. These days, interiors (and architecture) are more complex than just style and so this doesn’t really cut it any more! If your style and brand is strong enough at the early stage of your business, your style can be the leading thing that sets you apart.

In order to lead with your style however, you need super clarity and you need to have a style that is super obvious (as in, so obvious that a child could tell you what your style is) or alternatively so unique that no-one can tell you what your style is because it’s just so unique to you (as in, you’ve created it!)

Have a think right now. Is your interior style something you are going to lead with as your unique brand? Do you think you are the new Kelly Hoppen that IS “taupe” and east meets west or the funky Kelly Wearstler that can make any room look like a chic hotel with the use of your bespoke designed furniture?

If this is you, well done for developing your style so well. For the rest of us, don’t be fooled into thinking that you need to lead with a style though. Because for many, what is unique to your way of doing things, is not going to be style!

Now that you know the basics of interior design, we need to put some of what you learned into practise. But there is one last thing you need to really think about and it’s the key to beautiful interiors. It’s called balance.

There are two definitions of balance that I’m I’m drawn to:

(Both taken from https://www.dictionary.com/)

It’s important, in my opinion, to know what balance is, but also to know how to actively create it. So now that you know what balance is in an interior, how do you actually set about creating it?

Balance in an interior can be achieved by distributing the visual weight of objects, furniture and surfaces within the space to achieve harmony. Just like a dark, large scale pattern on one wall in a small room can be overbearing and heavy, the individual elements such as furniture can draw your eye towards (or away from) a focal point in a room. So in order to create visual balance you’ll be weighing up the individual elements of the space adding and taking away (also known as editing) until you achieve your desired affect of visual harmony.

Don’t forget that balance doesn’t have to be symmetrical and you can always put your own spin on that final result.

Just like when I walk the streets of Paris or London, I want to feel and experience the beauty of my surroundings, I aim to create a feeling of balance in all of the spaces I create for my clients. In reality, there is so much at play when it comes to budgets, deadlines, quality expectations and individuals involved that you can feel like the essence of what you are trying to achieve gets moved to the bottom of the pile.

This happens more often than I like to admit, and anyone practicing already, will know that it’s a very special project and client that gives you full reign, a large budget and an open timeline to complete your best work. Sometimes you lose the battle on a project when it comes to your designs (maybe a client’s wife decided to take over in the middle the process and the direction of the design was very different to yours) but in the end, you still have a responsibility to complete the brief, get paid and be proud of the work you have done.

So the beauty about achieving balance, is that it can be done with as many or as little resources as you have. It can be a book on a coffee table or a unique tree branch or flower in a strange vase on an entrance hall table. It takes an experienced eye to pick it and that’s what we are going to try to develop in these exercises.

Reading all of this is all well and good, but it won’t help you unless you actually take action. So it’s your turn. Don’t over think these, just give them your first shot and move forward knowing that it’s ok for now.

I will guide you with what to write, with the aim of getting you to having some basic text written that you can post on the front page of your website. You can write more, but no less!

Choose one process of creating a mood board. Please choose one that you have not used before and try something new. Push yourself to step outside of your comfort zone. If you don’t usually like crafty things, then try creating a physical mood board. If you’re not techy, then try and create a digital mood board. I dare you to try something new.

Now that you have a basic understanding of how to draw in 2D and 3D in SketchUp, I wanted to show you how to edit your models and plans so that you can start to style your drawings in a way that are on brand but also in a way that helps clarify certain things in your drawings to your clients.

Please remember that this is just an introduction and you are not expected to do more than just have a play and experiment with this at this stage! This is going to be something that you will keep learning and growing your knowledge and experience for the rest of your career, so please don’t get hung up on presenting high-quality, realistic and lifelike renders to your clients at this point in time.

If you want to learn more there are millions (and I mean millions) of free online SketchUp tutorials. You don’t have to pay to grow your knowledge in this area. My personal investment would be to invest in the pro version of the program rather than for further lessons.

What you’ll probably find is that you’ll just keep learning and growing and always want to be better and do better. That is a very natural thing to want. So don’t put pressure on yourself, enjoy playing and experimenting with your models and be open to learning.

In this program, I didn’t want to insult your intelligence and show you how to put a mood board together! But what I wanted to do was show you modern day tools that will grow your knowledge and allow your young interior design business to thrive. For that reason, I want to show you how to firstly, present plans in an informative and beautiful way that is simple, fast and helps your clients to understand what they are seeing.

The main goal with any drawing (digital or printed) is to communicate your ideas and thoughts and get your client’s approval. For your client to approve your drawing and the designs of a space however, they need to understand what they are seeing! That is often harder than you think. For that reason, I have found that deciphering the difference between an object or piece of furniture in a floor plan and a wall or floor is often the bare minimum required for a client to quickly understand a plan.

As you have started to learn SketchUp, I wanted to show you a few things you can do to style your drawings so that you can personalise them and also make communication of drawings fun, beautiful and enjoyable for both you and your clients. I love drawing plans! For that reason, I draw a lot of them! I also have to draw a lot of plans fast, so for that reason, I try not to overcomplicate the design of my layouts so that they don’t take hours to complete or take a lot of processes and different programs.

Please remember when going through this module that you are not going to be assessed on the beauty of your drawings (although if you find joy in creating them, it will show). The main goal is to equip you with the basic tools to be able to present information to a client and give your business a strong chance of success because the biggest failures I have seen with interior start-ups is miscommunication between clients and designers!

Also, in most cases, even if a client is saying yes they understand a drawing, they might just be embarrassed that they can’t read the plan, so do everything you can to make sure that your plans are clear and communicate what you have set out to communicate.

I will show you two different ways that I present plans to clients using two different tools. One is styling my SketchUp model and the other is bringing my plans into Photoshop and colouring them in there. You don’t have to use Photoshop if you don’t want to. You can just stylise the SketchUp model. I just wanted to show you how easy it is to do in both applications. You’re the business owner, watch the videos and make a decision about what is right for you at this point in time in your business.

If you naturally set out to do the most difficult thing (such as learn three new programs all at the same time and expect to create sensational, high-quality results after 30 minutes), you’re going to set yourself up for disappointment. Please just go into this module with the mindset of being open, interested and willing to try new things. Don’t put pressure on yourself to be the best right now. Just be you and have fun.

At the beginning of your career, you’ll need a guide to make sure you don’t forget to do something when creating a design proposal for a project. I have set out some easy to follow design steps for you here so that you can use these for your first few projects.

The following thought processes and steps would be expected of you as a high quality, professional interior designer in the industry.

This week’s goal is to learn to be decisive and make decisions effectively. Keeping your overall business goal at the forefront of your mind and using your intuition is key.

This week we will be working on your ability to make business decisions in a manner that is efficient and profitable but also builds your confidence as a business person.

As an interior designer, you’ll be making lots of decisions. The best gift I can give you as your mentor is to teach you to make essential decisions relatively quickly. This is a skill that you’ll need as an interior designer, an entrepreneur and a successful business person.

Enjoy the process of setting up your business, explore the joy and creativity that comes with this process, but don’t let yourself stall and fall into the perfectionist trap.

Over the next few weeks, you’re going to have lots of ideas. Note them down but remember it’s not wise to explore every idea under the sun – you’ll need a lifetime for that! Keep your business goal at the forefront of your mind (use your vision board as a guide) and try to use your heart to guide you to make the decisions that are right for your business at this point in time.

Know that your business will be evolving – get used to understanding the difference between needing to keep going to get it perfect and needing to complete something and accepting it’s right for “now”. One of these is fear guiding you and holding you back and the other requires strength and confidence in yourself to decide – to make a decision and be ok with it.

We will be keeping pace, and you’ll be moving forward quickly. Don’t forget; this isn’t forever, your business will evolve, so the goal is to learn to make a decision that you are confident with for now, and move on.