The portfolio is two years behind the studio
Ask an interior designer which project they are proudest of and they will describe something finished last spring. Then look at their website. The newest project there is from three years ago.
There is always a reason. The client was still moving in. The last lamp was back-ordered. The photographer’s dates did not work. The designer meant to write the project description and was pulled onto a site problem instead. Each reason is fair, and together they mean the studio is presenting an older, smaller version of itself.
A prospective client only knows what they can see. They are about to trust someone with their home and a large budget. They look at the portfolio, read the about page and check the social account. If the work on show does not match the work the studio now does, they hire the studio whose work is on show.
A prospective client only knows what they can see.
What we take off the designer’s desk
We work as an outsourced business manager inside your studio. The list is agreed in writing, and it can include:
- A weekly conversation with the principal, short and written up.
- A project close-out routine. When an installation finishes, the photography is booked, the client’s permission is confirmed, the credits are collected and the project description is drafted, every time.
- Keeping the studio’s working documents current: the services overview, the process guide for new clients and the welcome packet.
- Enquiry follow-up, so a prospect who wrote on Monday has a thoughtful reply and a next step by Wednesday.
- Coordination with your photographer, stylist, web developer and printer.
- A monthly report in plain words.
We do not design, specify, purchase or manage your projects, and we do not keep your books. We work alongside your bookkeeper and your project team.
Marketing: explain the thinking as well as the room
A portfolio shows the spaces. It rarely shows the thinking, and the thinking is what a client is paying for. Two studios can produce equally handsome rooms. The one that explains how it listens, how it decides and what working with it is like will win the client who is nervous about the process.
We begin with three questions. Who are you? What are you about? Why should a client choose your studio? The answers fit on one page and guide everything else.
- Project stories. For each project: the brief, the constraints, the decisions and the result. Three short paragraphs beside the photographs change how a room is read.
- The about page. The principal’s background and point of view in their own voice, with a good portrait.
- The process page. What happens from the first call to the final installation, how fees work in general terms and what the client is expected to decide and when. It answers the questions people are shy to ask.
- The website. Recent work first. Fast on a phone. One clear way to enquire, with a short form that helps you tell a good fit from a poor one.
- A studio summary. One page you can send to an architect, a builder or a referral partner.
PR: getting published without losing the project
Design publications want projects that have not been seen elsewhere. Many ask for exclusivity, and some will pass on a room that has already appeared in full on social media. Studios lose features this way without knowing it.
We plan publication before the photographs are shared. For each finished project we decide with you where it should go first, then prepare what an editor needs: a selection of images, a short description, a source list with accurate credits and the photographer’s details. We write to the editor or writer directly, and we follow up politely.
We keep track of what has been offered to whom, so a project is never promised to two places.
A feature is the editor’s decision and we do not promise one. We can promise that the submission is complete, well presented and sent to the right person.
Social media: steady, selective and true to the studio
Design is a visual field and the platforms reward it, which tempts studios into posting everything at once. A better approach protects your publication plans and still keeps the account alive:
- Details, materials and work in progress from current projects, shared with the client’s say.
- Sources of inspiration and the reasoning behind a choice.
- The team, the studio and the trades you rely on.
- Finished rooms released in full only when the publication plan allows.
We prepare a monthly calendar for your approval, write the captions in your voice, credit photographers and makers correctly, and answer enquiries that arrive by message.
Permission, credit and discretion
A designer’s work lives in someone else’s home. Many clients are private people, and some projects come with confidentiality terms. We never publish a project, a location or a client’s name without written permission, and we remove identifying details when asked.
Photographs belong to the photographer unless your agreement says otherwise. We keep a record of the license for each shoot, so you know where each image may be used and for how long. Makers, artists and trades are credited by name.
How we work inside your team
One person approves what goes out, usually the principal. We ask for about an hour a week. Your website, your accounts, your photographs and your client list stay yours, and we work in them with access you control.
Where to start
The 90-Day Plan is a good fit for a studio with a backlog of unpublished work: a review of your website and social accounts, your three answers, five rewritten pages, twelve pieces of content and a monthly discussion with your team, for one fixed fee.
Or begin with a conversation. Tell us about the studio, the client you would most like more of and the projects that have not yet been seen.