Tips for New Designers

By Linda Merrill

Okay, so you’re a freshly minted design professional with your degree clutched to your bosom or your first assistant job under your belt. You’ve decided that it’s time to hang out your shingle and start attracting clients. And there’s the rub. Unless you are socially connected to the “right” people who will become clients or who will refer you to qualified clients, you’re going to have to work hard to attract each and every client. All I heard from friends (who had no actual knowledge of the industry and nor were they potential buyers of my services) was “all you need is that one good client to get you going”. And, in a perfect world, that might be the case. But, the perfect early client who has the connections you can use and the interest in offering them to you is a rare thing indeed.

One of the biggest stumbling blocks to getting those early clients is lack of a portfolio of work. If you attended formal design school you may have some design sketch work that you can employ and if it was beautifully executed, it will definitely help. But proof of ability to move from design plan to execution is still preferable.  And there we have the dilemma: how do you get a client without a portfolio and how do you develop a portfolio without clients?  You get creative because more and more, lack of a good website showcasing your work is a reason why otherwise wonderful, experienced, designers are not getting hired.

1. Use what you have. If you have a student portfolio with beautifully rendered project designs, scan them and use them.  Excellent rendering and art skills will go a long way. Photograph your own home if it’s photo worthy and consider hiring a professional photographer to bring out the best. Even an excellent vignette of a small corner can have significant impact. Using your own home is completely legitimate – it is your own design, after all.
2. Create vignettes that showcase your style. If you have a good relationship with a design shop or someone in a showroom, ask them if you can create a vignette or store display using their merchandise and photograph it. A small shop may appreciate the opportunity to have someone create new storefront windows or in-store vignettes for them for free. Don’t forget to bring in fresh flowers or food to flesh out the scene.
3. Decorator showhouses and holiday houses are an excellent way to showcase your skills for a wide variety of people and media. A design colleague of mine did a very small space in a very big deal show house early in his career and found it very rewarding. He did most of the labor himself, including schlepping everything in a taxicab. He worked smart and then stood in the room the entire time to meet and greet everyone who came through and made contacts. For several years I participated in a Christmas showhouse for a local historic site that garnered media attention. Of course, always take the time to document your work with before and after photos.
4. Sometimes local television stations will run makeover segments for a local deserving homeowner. This may be a way to get television coverage of your work, which can be highlighted on a website. Obviously, these are generally not high-end projects, but creativity and style can be had in most price points.
5. Start a blog. While blogging isn’t for everyone, I do believe that it gives a new designer the opportunity to establish their design aesthetic and knowledge even if they haven’t had a lot of paid work yet. Of course, never showcase images that aren’t your own without proper attribution to the source, designer and photographer, but don’t hesitate to use images from other designers as a way to draw a line to your own design style. If you have a very definite “look” – vintage style, mid-century modern, or classic to name but three – keeping your blog content focused on your area of interest will focus the reader and potential clients in that direction. Always link your portfolio website with your blog as the keywords used on the blog will bring in hits from search engines.
6. Network your way to contacts. Social networking via Facebook, Twitter and the like is an excellent way to gain contacts in the media and other design industry professionals. While I have not found it to be a source of clients, other designers report that they have gained clients this way. However, getting to know who’s who in the field and in the media is invaluable. Once you have good project completed, you will be a step closer to getting the project published if you have already made contacts.
7. Document, document, document. Take high-quality photographs of everything you do, before, in process and after photos. Whenever possible, hire a professional photographer. You never know when a single photograph of what seemed like an inconsequential project will serve a purpose.

Linda Merrill is a residential interior decorator based in Massachusetts. Linda's design style can be described as "comfortable luxury" and she believes in working closely with clients throughout the entire design process. Her clients are mainly located between metro-Boston and Cape Cod and the Islands. Linda writes a nationally regarded design blog called ::Surroundings:: and is the host of the design podcast series The Skirted Roundtable.