A lot of degrees nowadays are not even teaching residential
design for interiors, so they might not even touch business
skills. But the advantages that come
with having business skills is that you can know how to price
your projects when you're starting out and you can
understand your margins and your markup and how to get a profit
out of your each project. And then you can have your
contract and learn when to take a retainer and how to write
projects go and what to do when there's scope creep.
And you're now listening to design curious, a place where
you creative one are here to learn about what it really is
like to be an interior designer. And I'm your host and mentor,
Rebecca Ward. If you're worried about how to
succeed in a creative career, if you're ready to learn your next
steps to become an interior designer, and if you want the
satisfaction of doing something you love every day, you are in
the right place. Grab a coffee, a notebook, and
let's dig into today's episode. Hello and welcome to episode 175
of Design Curious podcast. Today on the podcast, we are
continuing in the Design skills series, and this week we're
talking about things that they don't actually teach you in
design school. So if you didn't go to design
school and you're thinking that maybe you're missing out on some
of the things that you need for your business, well, I'm here to
share with you that there's a lot that they don't teach you in
design school that you actually need to know to be a successful
designer. So I'm going to touch on those
today. And if you did go to design
school, then you will understand that these things were not
taught to you in your design program.
But these are all things that the modern designer must know
and it's not covered in the classroom.
A lot of things have changed over the years too, so some of
the programs might not have adopted to the changes that are
taking place and that the mindset shifts and the thought
models that are now happening in the design industry, which is
very much more open and giving. I feel like the residential
designers are much more willing to share than they were in 20-30
years ago. So these are all things that
everyone needs to work on to create a great foundation as an
interior designer and that the industry really should just
start to focus and include these, I think, in the design
programs. But I understand that there's,
you know, a limitation of time and learning the practical
skills are probably the most important part of the design
degree, but it's just leaving you not fully equipped for the
real world. OK, so let's get into what those
skills that are missing are. The first skill we're going to
talk about that you need beyond the degree is that you need
business skills. Business skills are not
optional. Every program for residential
interior design should have multiple business classes.
Because most residential designers end up starting their
own business and working independently.
It's really the best model for making the most profit.
Of course, we've talked about this before.
There's risk involved with owning your own business, and
there's no shame in working for another designer throughout your
career. That's totally fine as well.
Not everybody set up to be an entrepreneur.
However, a lot of designers do want to have autonomy, so having
your own business is the way to do it.
Not just freelancing but actually having a business.
And so business is a whole nother ball game.
It's something that is just not regularly taught and even a lot
of degrees nowadays are not even teaching residential design for
interiors. So they might not even touch
business skills. But the advantages that come
with having business skills is that you can know how to price
your projects when you're starting out, and you can
understand your margins and your markup and how to get a profit
out of your each project. And then you can have your
contract and learn when to take a retainer and how to write
project scope and what to do when there's scope creep.
And having a whole mindset around money matters so much as
a skill set. So all of these business related
skills are things that we address in my design mentor, but
also a lot of other business coaches can help you with.
And so that is definitely something you're going to want
to invest in. Always be looking for
professional development throughout your career.
And so business skills is definitely going to be 1 you
want to spend some time on because it doesn't come
naturally for most designers. So that's why we need to put a
lot of effort and it's going to be one of the most important
things that they don't teach you in school that you really need
to know. The next skill that you really
need to know that they don't teach you with a degree is how
to create a client experience and how to service your client
properly. Residential interior design is a
luxury service. It has certain expectations and
it is not always understood what the luxury expectations are.
Even things like managing timelines and the communication
with your client. Some of those soft skills that
we talked about last time are going to come into play here and
creating processes and touch points that help each project to
feel elevated. As the designer, you are the
guide for your client, taking them through a process of
improving their home, improving their life, and there's going to
be a lot of service that happens in that.
And Speaking of service, if you haven't read Unreasonable
Hospitality, it's about the restaurant business, but has so
many applications to all industries and that's really
gets to the heart of what service is and how it is an
elevated practice. And what are those touch points?
What are the details that need to happen to make sure that
client experience is top notch and really worthy of referral?
Most programs don't have the luxury of time to spend on
developing those types of skills and thinking through the
experience process. The next thing that a degree
probably isn't going to touch on is the technology in interior
design. Now they will do CAT, you know,
like computer aided drafting and rendering and all those
technology things, but there's so much more that goes into the
business side with technology and AI literacy.
Currently we are in an AI revolution.
Almost every app and program has AI integration and we're still
navigating and learning how to appropriately use those skills
in interior design. A lot of it can be used in
creating copy and writing emails and things like that that people
have already started to use pretty regularly.
It can be helpful with marketing and things like that.
But it we're also starting to learn the limitations of AI, so
really understanding how it can help with automations and
processes and maybe brainstorming and things like
that to really help cut down on the time spent on certain areas
so you can have more time to spend in the creative mode.
So that's where I think AI is going to really take us is
really cutting back on some of the more tedious tasks that we
do so that we can really excel in our creativity.
And they're not going to replace us for coming up with a design.
If you ask a, you know, ChatGPT to come up with a design for a
room and then ask it again and again and again, it's going to
get marginally worse each time. And so as opposed to asking a
person to do it and re revise and revise and it's going to get
better each time. So there are a lot of
limitations. I know it's going to look so
much different five years from now than it is in 2026, but it's
something to definitely be cognizant of.
And I doubt that they spend a lot of time in that in design
programs today. But the other technology you
need to know is things like CRM, which is a client management
software or maybe even your accounting softwares.
There's some that are just programmed for interior design
businesses because we have kind of a unique business model,
especially if you're selling product.
So there's a lot of technology there, but we use so many
different apps and programs within interior design that
there's a lot to learn and they're definitely not going to
cover all of that in class. So yeah, so that's going to be
your third area that they don't teach you in design school that
you need to learn in the rural world.
And next we'll move on to marketing and visibility.
Most design programs will have you work a little bit in graphic
design. Sometimes we'll bring in
adjacent design and Fine Arts and things like that.
So you might understand, you know, negative space and
typography or things like that, but that's not marketing and
that's not helping to get your business visible and your
portfolio visible. Designers today really have to
understand branding. Now, you don't have to
understand everything about it, but you need to understand
enough to know what you need. First of all, one of my favorite
branding books is The Story Brand by Donald Miller.
And so that kind of helps you understand how to speak to
people about your business and how to write your copy so that
it's not all centered around you as the designer.
It's really centered around the client.
So it's a storytelling process and you can use that in your
social media and on your website, really important things
there. So I'd recommend that book.
You're not going to be assigned that book while you're in the
design program. These are things you have to do
on your own outside of that. And then you will need help
marketing and presenting your portfolio online.
Now, a lot of design programs do have digital portfolios.
They help you develop, but it's all going to be of course your
projects from school, which are great, you know, renderings and
floor plans and things like that.
But it's not going to be any real world experience.
And so once you get that, you have to then learn how to hire
the right photographer and how to stage the photos and all
those things that go into that you're not going to learn with a
design degree. And then also learning how to
network with in the industry, but especially outside of the
industry with referral partners with other adjacent businesses,
architects, engineers, people like that.
They're not going to tell you how to network with those
people. So that's another thing you need
to develop that skill outside of the design degree.
OK, moving on. The next one is leadership and
decision making. He definitely didn't spend any
time teaching me how to be a leader in my design program.
But leadership is so important. We've talked about this before.
Even as a solopreneur, you are a leader on your project.
You are a leader to your clients.
You are a leader to anyone who might be looking to you as a
mentor and there's just so much that goes into learning how to
be a great leader. There are ways to not be a great
leader and it it becomes evident over time.
So that is something you need to develop a skill that is really
helpful. One person that I love working
with to help develop my leadership skills is Sierra
Collins and I've had her on the podcast a couple times and so
she is great at leadership development and you can seek out
a coach like her to do that. There's also so many great
books. I'm sure I have a lot on my
list, my book list that you can go look on Amazon, my shelf and
see all the books that I recommend or if you're in my
assignment or we have our book club.
And so they will all be in there as well because there's so many
great books to help you develop the leadership.
It's might be something that doesn't come naturally, might
not be a natural leader. And so it's something that you
can build on over time. But you definitely are a leader
in your projects and in your life and with your clients.
But it helps to build confidence and authority when you're in
meetings and then making and communicating decisions clearly
comes along with leadership, another valuable skill to
develop. And then another skill you want
to work on is personal skills that support success.
So this would be things like time blocking and your workflow
habits. How do you manage overwhelm?
You might be take growing and taking on more projects than
you're used to and you might get overwhelmed.
How do you manage that? Do you call in a lifeline, have
another designer come and help you or an intern?
Or do you look to a coach or do double down on your systems?
But it's really important skill to learn how to manage your time
and your workflow and your habits, and that it helps to
support your business and it helps build resilience.
So these are all different areas, the six of them that I
identified that are not something that you will learn in
design school. And these are the things that we
all need to work on. I've been working on these for a
long time and I still am. I'm always learning, I'm always
growing and trying to improve. It's exciting to me because I
always think how I can improve the client experience, improve
my enjoyment of the experience as well.
Because this is my life. This is what I do in day in and
day out and I want to make sure I'm enjoying my time and make
sure it's spent wisely. So developing these skills will
definitely help with that. So if you're needing help to
identify areas that you might be lacking of anything that I might
have said and or just develop those more, or if you're just
starting out and you're like, I have no clue that I needed all
of these things to be an interior designer, then I
suggest you get into my design mentor.
It's my mentorship program and we definitely talk about this
and there there's 12 learning modules that covers a lot of
this. What I'm talking about here,
skills to develop. You can meet with me one-on-one
and we can talk about ways to work on these skills and how to
develop them further. All right, that's all I have for
you this week. Next week I'll have another
great episode for you and until then, stay creative.
Thanks for listening. If you love this episode, please
leave a rating and a review. This helps me reach other
curious creatives like you. If you have a topic request or
would like to contact me, simply head over to my website
ourwardesign.com or e-mail me at podcast@ourawarddesign.com.