How and where to find an interior designer: a complete guide. How and where to find an interior designer: a complete guide Interior design orders

Finding a good interior designer is akin to finding a good dentist. You will need to meet and communicate with the designer several times a week, and spend many hours discussing the project.

Communication will take months, unless, of course, the object is large and you are not in too much of a hurry. Therefore, choosing a designer is a responsible matter that requires time and effort.

Let's consider how to plan your search for a specialist more wisely and what criteria to evaluate candidates by. What is more important – professionalism or a fair price, extensive experience or the fresh perspective of a young specialist? Today we will tell you how to find an interior designer inexpensively, but with a good portfolio and professional qualities. And also where it is better to look and what to pay attention to.

Looking for you - ways to find a designer

You should think about where to find an interior designer as early as possible. It is advisable to start looking two to three months before the renovation begins or the moment you need design services. The sooner you decide on the choice of a specialist, the better the final result will be.

The ideal option is to invite a designer at the stage of purchasing a home or planning a house.

In any case, at the time of the start of repair and construction work, you should already be provided with a completely finished design project for the future interior. Just remember, you may still need to make changes to it, as well as coordinate them, which also takes time.

You can organize search work in any of the following ways:

• Word of mouth

The most common method in Russia. For some reason, we usually trust the opinions of our friends and loved ones more than our own eyes. You can ask friends and family to help you find an interior designer.

Ask those who have recently moved, made renovations, or are simply involved in the field of construction, architecture and design. Good designers are usually very popular, and their clients are happy to pass on their contact information to other people.

• Internet

The Runet is full of necessary and important information, the main thing is to be able to find it. You can’t fake photographs of already completed objects. At the same time, you can save the photos you like and apply them to your own interior.

Advice: specify your search queries. For example, by location - “ interior designer Pskov" or " interior designer services Samara" Another way to search is by style that you like: for example, “the best designers in the Provence style.”

• Thematic exhibitions

A visit to an interior design exhibition gives you the opportunity not only to see the works of masters, but also to get to know them yourself. Here you can start a casual conversation, get answers to all your questions in an informal setting, agree on cooperation or simply schedule a meeting.

At the exhibition, you are more likely to find a private interior designer with good experience, his own website and a team of craftsmen. Typically, such a specialist has already achieved a lot and earns money not by the quantity of orders, but by quality.

That’s why he finds time to participate in exhibitions. Usually this is a much more professional specialist than a young and inexperienced employee of a design bureau. But the cost of such a master’s work will be higher.

• Visit to a design agency

Here you can choose a specialist from several candidates offered to you. One small drawback of this type of search is that usually design firms position their employees as generalists. In fact, such a state of affairs is almost impossible.

If a specialist is ready to take on any style direction, this does not mean that each of his projects will be equally good and original. Much more interesting and professional work is produced by those who specialize in a particular style.

But to understand which style a particular designer is best at, you need to look at his portfolio.

Search for a designer in the capital and major cities

This issue should be given special attention. Unfortunately, finding a specialist in large cities of Russia, especially in Moscow and St. Petersburg, is much more difficult than in small regions or regions remote from the capital. Especially if you want to save on design services.

For example, any search engine will give you the query “ find an interior designer in St. Petersburg» more than two million links. It is almost impossible to process these results, and there is no point in going in such a complicated way.

The best option is to search by type word of mouth or at a design exhibition. The first method is still more reliable. When a person works with a designer for 3 to 6 months and then lives in a space organized by this master, he can say with confidence whether his specialist was a professional or not.

Finding an inexpensive interior designer in Moscow is an almost impossible task. Doable only if you agree to the work of a young master without experience. This, however, does not doom your project to failure, although it is still safer to trust a professional.

In Moscow, good designers charge quite a lot for their services compared to other regions. But at the same time, 80% of these people are truly excellent specialists.

An important question is how not to fall into the clutches of the remaining 20%, those who, even being mediocre masters, charge dearly for their services. And here everything is also quite simple - ask for photos of finished work, project materials and customer contacts.

5 main criteria for finding a designer

After identifying a few desirable candidates, you need to meet them in person. Of course, one by one, and not with everyone at once. But it’s better if it’s a casual meeting in an informal setting. And not yet at the design site.

Prepare for it in advance: think about the issues that you want to discuss with a specialist and prepare photos that reflect your vision of the future interior. The following criteria are of great importance in how to choose an apartment interior designer:

1. Project budget

Each designer calculates the cost of his services differently: if one is ready to provide a ready-made price list for several types of services, then another will name the cost only after receiving the technical specifications and analyzing it.

But in any case, according to experts, it is better to plan at least 5–10% of the total amount that will be spent on repairs for the design project. This roughly corresponds to current market prices. Another important nuance is that the larger the total budget, the less of it will have to be invested in the interior.

Important financial issues to discuss in advance:

• How much can a designer expect?
• Can the amount be increased and under what conditions?
• Can your ideas fit within this amount?
• What part of the money does the designer want to receive in advance: advance payment, percentage of the total budget, money for materials, etc.

The cost of one project in Moscow currently ranges from 1 thousand rubles. for 1 m 2. In St. Petersburg, prices are approximately the same. They depend not only on the region, professionalism and experience of the designer. The housing segment is also important: elite, business class or economy class. Another criterion is whether your project is original or standard, exclusive or standard.

Under no circumstances should you agree to a strangely low cost of work. A professional will never offer a price lower than the market price. Fans of extreme savings should remember that good, cheap, and fast simply do not happen. You can select only any two of these parameters, but any.

The work of good designers and architects is not cheap, but there is a simple explanation for this - in order to earn good money, they have to work hard and hard.

2. Style direction

The designer must be able to work with the style that you want to use for the interior. It is possible that he will offer a more reasonable option than what you originally planned.

This is due to the fact that usually people who are far from the world of design create for themselves the image of an aesthetically beautiful space, but at the same time forget about its functionality. Whereas a designer will help you create both a beautiful and comfortable interior. In any case, discuss these issues before starting work.

If you are not well versed in style trends, just take with you those photographs of the interior that you like. This way the designer will understand what you want from him.

Another good way is to try to create your own design project in one of the computer programs used by designers. This way you can clearly show the specialist what you want the end result to be.

Be sure to ask if your candidate has a portfolio and references. If all good designers have the first, then the second may not exist. But it is possible that the designer works on a freelance site, while real professional designers always have their own website. On these resources you can see reviews of the work and examples of finished projects.

There is a reason to be distrustful and cautious if there is little work in the portfolio or practically no projects in the style direction that you need. Then perhaps you really should look for another specialist. Unless you agree that the work on the interior design of your apartment will be the first work of a master in a style in which he has not previously worked.

Don’t be embarrassed to ask a specialist to provide contacts of previous customers, ask about their education, certificates, experience and membership in professional clubs. This will allow you to form an opinion about the candidate’s expert level.

One more nuance - ask the designer to take with him, in addition to the portfolio, intermediate materials for two or three completed projects: sketches, drawings, a design project and a photo of the finished interior. This is necessary to compare the master’s initial plan with the finished work: did he achieve what was planned?

Even if you don’t understand anything about design, evaluate the work according to the principle “beautiful - ugly”, whether you would like to implement this in your apartment or not.

To better understand the specifics of the work and navigate the design world (and this will make communication with the designer much easier), check out some useful books on interior design.

4. Drawing up a contract

A huge number of problems arise between the client and the designer, even if both are adequate people, due to misunderstandings. Therefore, before starting cooperation, it is extremely important to draw up an agreement. Think over this document as carefully as possible, indicate on paper the smallest details and nuances of the work.

Questions that are important to pay attention to:

• Technical task.
• Price and payment procedure (including individual services: specialist consultations, delivery, materials).
• Composition of the project.
• Work order.
• Project deadlines (plus last working deadlines if the project is delayed).
• Delivery of the project: in parts or in its entirety (the first option is more practical).
• Hiring a team of workers (often the designer has his own team).
• Penalties for failure to meet deadlines.
• Options for terminating the contract.

First, discuss with the designer all the questions that interest you. It is important to come to a common understanding of how the collaboration process will be organized: whether you will intervene in the design of the premises or the development of the project, how often you will do this.

5. Comfortable communication

When two people work together, even for a short time, trust and comfortable communication are very important for them. If the designer completely suits you professionally, but at the same time you don’t like him as a person, it’s better to choose another specialist.

If you get annoyed and quarrel at every step, the project will not end well. But there will definitely be disputes and difficult situations.

Finding a good interior designer is a completely solvable task. In Russia there are a huge number of experienced specialists in their field with extensive work experience and wonderful portfolios. The main thing is to take your time and show maximum patience and attention to all criteria for selecting candidates. A worthy result of the time and effort spent will be a functional and aesthetically pleasing interior.

The eternal problem of those who are just starting their business: you already understand how important high-quality design is right now - after all, it is the “face” of the company. And then we realized something else: there is no money for this at all.

Have you already asked for help from a friend who accidentally had Photoshop from 1996 on his computer? Have you tried to find an undemanding student on YouDo? There are many options - and we tried them all. Most of them turned out to be a waste of time and money.

If you want great design at a great price, then outsourcing design services is your option. Compared to the usual search for friends, it will be faster, cheaper and more reliable (thematic sites give you guarantees). Getting high-quality results on “cheap” freelance sites will not be easy. But it is quite possible - if you know the right approach.

It’s better if you can translate the technical specifications into English - this will greatly expand your capabilities.

All prices are indicated at the time of writing.

Method one: design competition

You place a task and choose the reward amount. Several designers will work on your project completely free of charge. You choose a winner who gets the money.

Yes, you can get up to hundreds of options. And in many cases you don’t have to pay if none of the options suits you.

At first glance, this is an ideal option. But the designers themselves are far from perfect.

Most of them are either inexperienced students or guys from India (or another low-wage country) who are desperate to make money. They enter competitions because they can't get another job. So you're left with a hundred options from twenty different designers. And they are all absolutely terrible. This is what happened to us.

To attract better designers, you need to offer good compensation. In our experience, competitions are the best for logo design. Even if you don't get a logo that suits you 100%, you at least have initial concepts that can be improved. Tasks that require attention and involvement (UI, website design, etc.) simply cannot be achieved in competitions.

The most popular sites with design competitions:

This is more of a competition platform than a regular freelance marketplace. The minimum price for posting a project is $299 (reward to the performer is $200). Crowdspring promises you'll get about 50 options.

As work comes in, you can make edits for free and choose the best option once the corrected versions are sent to you. Next, you choose the winner and finalize the best one with him. The designer will receive payment once you have finalized the work.

If you still don't find a suitable option, crowdspring refunds your money (except service commission).

You post a project, set a deadline and leave a deposit equal to the price of your project. The project is seen by more than 33 thousand designers and design studios around the world. DesignCrowd states that tasks on the site receive an average of 50 responses. The minimum price for posting is $59. To this you need to add the price you are willing to pay for the design. The support team will help you determine the price if necessary.

If you do not find a suitable option, the money will be returned excluding the service fee.

Everything is as usual: you post technical specifications, designers send options. You give feedback, make edits and choose a winner. The designer receives a fee, and you receive the rights to his work. Minimum prices vary depending on the project, ranging from $79 for a Facebook page header to $599 for a web page or WordPress theme.

It's difficult to say which of these services is better. In our experience, there are more experienced Australian designers on DesignCrowd. But if you want to attract designers from developed countries, you need to offer compensation at the top end. But 99designs is the most popular site, it has a huge database of designers. We have tried other services, such as Hatchwise, but we do not recommend them: at least they have an inconvenient interface.

Warning for Freelancers / Good News for Clients

99designs and Crowdspring are criticized for dumping the work of designers and promoting the principle of speculative work (where people invest a lot of effort and time without any guarantee of payment). 99designs also transfers to the customer all rights to the original work.

Yes, some designers do not recognize such a scheme, but others happily respond to orders. Therefore, these sites remain a good option for those who want to get a project done quickly, have choice, and still fit into a budget.

Method 2: project and hourly work

If you find yourself a good designer, take care of him. After all, he already knows what you like and will give you the desired result faster than a new person.

Posting competitions for any reason is simply not profitable. To begin with, you can organize a competition, choose a winner, and then hire him on an hourly basis for the following tasks.

What's better: paying by the hour or by the result? It’s possible both ways. If you don’t have a lot of tasks, then it’s better to pay for results. If there is a constant flow of tasks for several months or longer, then it is more convenient to pay by the hour. Then you won’t have to constantly calculate how much the next task costs. You will need a time tracking tool (for example, Time Doctor or Upwork).

Where else can you find designers for hourly or project work?

On freelance sites like Upwork (formerly oDesk), you can post a job offer, and contractors from all over the world will bid for your project (virtually an auction).

In our experience, finding a qualified designer there is very, very difficult. Most designers are from low-income countries like India. Their skills, frankly speaking, vary from mediocre before terrible(or maybe they just have a different understanding of aesthetics). There are exceptions, but to find them you will have to work hard and spend a lot of time scrolling through profiles.

Design jobs that are best suited for outsourcing

Logos

In our experience, design competitions work best here.

Simple website or printed product layouts

Design competitions are also quite suitable for this. If you don’t have any special design requirements, you can make everything even simpler - use ready-made templates (search design templates on Google).

Complex sites

If the site has more than 20 pages, it is better to find a permanent designer and pay him by the hour or as the work is completed. You can pay for the entire project at once, but then try to make an extremely clear technical specification.

Interface design

Can new users quickly find what they need? Do the forms on the site work effectively or are they difficult for users to fill out? If you have a complex website with many functions, then usability is everything. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to find a designer who has a good understanding of UX principles. And it’s even harder to find an inexpensive UX designer. If you're on a tight budget, it's best to try to figure out the theme yourself and then carefully guide the designer. You can also copy the solutions of sites that have already spent billions of dollars on usability (Facebook, LinkedIn, Google).

Improved conversion

Do you want your website to actually sell for you? This is a very advanced skill that is not found in low paid designers (or even high paid ones!) Again, you will have to figure out all the conversion stuff yourself (and guide the designer yourself). These sites have a lot of free information on conversions: marketingsherpa.com and abtests.com.

The right brief for the designer

One of the most important factors for getting quality work is a competent task. 99designs offers a very competent sample technical specification, it contains all the information that you need to provide to the designer. For example, is your new logo just a word (text logo), a symbol, one letter?

Should the style be feminine, youthful, fun and catchy, simple and modern? A good designer will definitely ask about this before starting work. It would be a good idea to prepare examples of logos that you like.

Tip: Ask for the finished design to be sent to you in as many different formats as possible. For example, a vector version of a logo will be much more useful than a raster image in Photoshop (you can change the size without losing quality). But also ordinary .png may be useful for certain purposes.

Other useful information that needs to be included in the statement of work

In addition to the general description, you should clarify for yourself and indicate for the designer:

1. Project name.
2. Where will the project files need to be uploaded? FTP? Dropbox?
3. Deadline and completion dates for intermediate stages.
4. Any sketches and other existing resources you already have, including market research.
5. Headings, calls to action, body text that need to be included in the design.

Conclusion

• Design competitions are a great way to get started, especially if it's a logo.
• If the work ahead is more complex and lengthy, it is better to find a permanent designer who pays an hourly rate.
• You don't necessarily have to spend $10k on a design for your business. You can get excellent results for a much more modest amount.

If you need someone for a permanent job, place an ad on one of the design forums, for example, DesignerTalk (English-language, international audience). If you only need a Russian-speaking specialist, you should look at Freelance (paid subscription, from 500 rubles).

Bonus

If you haven’t tried working with outsourced specialists yet, this guide will help you do everything as efficiently as possible.

If you want to read more about design services, here is a list of “101 Design Blogs You Should Follow” .

", told Netology about the experience of searching for a designer, sincere approach, self-criticism and the ability to take responsibility.

What kind of designer were we looking for?

We were looking for a person with knowledge of retouching and wanted the designer, first of all, to be able to think. Mastering Photoshop was not that important to us.

We did not give the candidates a test task, because the applicants already had work in their portfolio. If something was missing (for example, they didn’t see a retouch in the portfolio), then they asked to send an example. I understand that completing a test task takes time. If a person is looking for a job and has visited 5-7 employers, then he will receive 5-7 test tasks, and each one requires 5-6 hours of work. It’s easier to discuss everything in the first steps of the interview, and if something is needed for a complete picture, then ask to send it additionally.

We started looking for a candidate through our friends and colleagues - these searches yielded nothing. When the hope of finding a specialist “on our own” disappeared, we posted vacancies on Headhunter, on the company’s social networks and on our website, as well as on the personal pages of employees. Headhunter received the most responses, but the resumes were of poor quality. In total, we looked at about 50 resumes and invited 10 people to the office for an interview.

The resume we posted on Headhunter

When we screened out candidates at the stage of studying resumes, we tried to give feedback to everyone whenever possible: we wrote answers with justification for the refusal, and gave applicants advice on how to develop in the profession.

If a candidate had few works in his portfolio, we told him so. Based on the materials of some specialists, it is clear that their strengths are not related to web design. Then they were advised to develop further in an area of ​​interest to them. For example, one guy had some great modeling work. We recommended that he grow in this field and choose the profession of a concept artist.

We told applicants who did not write cover letters that the employer draws primary information from them. A short motivational story and justification of the desire to work in the company increase the likelihood of a positive response to the resume.

When demonstrating his work, the web designer should explain how his solution improved the site or landing page. Therefore, we advised showing site statistics in the portfolio before and after the redesign. Someone was advised to simplify navigation in the portfolio. For example, one candidate did not have the ability to simply scroll through the work without returning to the main page.

Basic mistakes

The portfolio of applicants is the most pressing issue. It is not clear why they insert works into identical mockups. I’m very tired of studying all this - it looks beautiful on MacBook screens, but applicants probably forgot that I’m not a customer. It is important for me to look at specific elements of their design, and in this form it is inconvenient to do so.

You can't make mockups like this

The candidate sends a picture without explaining what problem his design solves. It is not clear to me what problem the specialist was working on, why he chose this solution, what he wanted to achieve. I see a beautiful website, but why it is so stylish is unclear. This approach is also found among fairly experienced candidates.

To present work to clients, the use of mockups is justified, but in our case it made it difficult to determine how competent the candidate is - on the web you need to see the screen, the degree of rendering and the problem that the designer was solving.

An interview is a meeting in life

At an interview, you see a person in action - how he communicates, whether he is ready to take responsibility. At this stage, many people had problems.

Some wanted unbridled creativity and moving mountains. This is a signal that a person is most likely incapable of planned, systematic boring work. You can move mountains after you learn how to solve everyday problems.

Such people want to create, but often there is no need to create - everything conceptual has already been done. Every second person was ready to come up with a new iPhone, but we don’t need it. I don’t argue that having ambition is good, but it must be backed up by something. Ambitions out of the blue look ridiculous.

Ambition is good, but it must be backed up with something

The problem with the design labor market is that people cannot correctly estimate the value of their work. All you have to do is go to Headhunter, look at the resumes of other designers, and, depending on your skills, adjust your salary expectations and make them correspond to the market. Many people want a big salary for working in one place for five years and essentially doing nothing.

There are people who consider themselves professionals, make mistakes and fundamentally do not admit them. This is inadequate. A true specialist is always ready for constructive criticism and can learn from it and draw useful conclusions.

Previous place of work and education

Experience is a double-edged sword. Sometimes specialists with a great portfolio turn out to be weak designers with high demands on employers.

There is also the phenomenon of hostages of environment and experience. These are inflexible people who find it difficult to move away from their vision and reconsider their approach to work. In our tasks, we often need to look at ordinary things in a new way and think outside the box; not everyone is ready to do this. In the world of such people, the system works, they are comfortable in it, and have no motivation to change.

Many candidates lack developed soft skills. You can have the strongest professional skills, but if a person does not know how to work in a team or manage his time, then he will lose out to other applicants.

Perhaps the specialist lacks experience in something, but you can always improve it if you wish. A lively mind and a thirst for solving new non-standard problems can often compensate for the lack of purely professional skills. Design “gurus” can be too narrow-minded and blindly follow the methodologies they have once mastered.

Diplomas of completion of specialized courses are an additional signal. I understand that if a person graduated from IKRA or went to Britanka, then this is an indicator. Although he may adhere too strictly to the methodologies he learned there. This will hold him back from developing some new, non-standard solutions. On the other hand, such a person at least tries to study something and moves on; he has a goal for self-development.

What does an employer want to see in an interview?

In addition to the candidate’s sober assessment of his abilities, adequacy and mastery of general skills, the following points are important to us.

• Ability to quickly establish new contacts, communicate and work in a team.
• The ability to explain and defend your point of view.
• The desire to develop in systematic and systematic work, without losing a fresh perspective and the ability to look at routine processes in a new way.

To find out how well an applicant fits these requirements, we ask him open-ended, direct questions. We do not ask any riddles with a triple bottom. The simpler and clearer the answer, the better.

We also pay attention to the manner of dialogue, whether a person avoids questions. In theory, if someone has gone through several interviews, then he should come to a conclusion about how to behave at meetings with an employer. You find out that a person has been looking for a job for 2 weeks and has had 4 interviews during this time. You think: “Why are you behaving like this again? You went through all this, why don’t you change your behavior?”

Self-education and self-analysis are necessary for a designer, not only in terms of design and interfaces. You need to be able to analyze your actions and the behavior of people. And this applies not only to designers, but also to any other specialists.

1. If the company does not have an HR specialist, take special courses that will give you an understanding of what, how and why to ask applicants.

I received special training at the agency, so it was easier for me to conduct interviews. I knew how to build a conversation with candidates. Very often, applicants and employers act intuitively and, instead of a professional approach, are guided by personal experience. You can't hire the best specialists that way.

2. Choose candidates who are close to you in spirit.

Work experience and reasons for leaving previous projects do not play a primary role. The main thing is a person’s ability and desire to learn, the ability to manage their time and work in a team.

3. Communicate openly and sincerely with the candidate.

Avoid stress interviews with several applicants at once, without specially created awkwardness. Of course, you need to prepare for the meeting and think through the questions, but you don’t need to create super interview systems or lie detectors.

Our experience has shown that live texts in employee personal accounts work best. This, of course, can be used not only when searching for a designer, but also any other specialists.

5. Always give feedback.

Job seekers will be grateful to you, and you will significantly increase loyalty to your HR brand. Here is an example of a response from a candidate to whom we sent a reasoned refusal. He wrote on VKontakte on the wall of the development director of Ulya:

A huge number of designers. Different prices. Various works. How to find an interior designer, your contractor for the design of an apartment or house? Why does a project cost 300 rubles per square meter in some places, and 3,000 rubles in others?

Choosing an interior designer

What should you pay special attention to when choosing a designer? Here's the one you need a list of what you should pay special attention to when choosing a designer.

1. Portfolio of the designer you have chosen:

You should like the designer's work. If viewing the work does not make you feel anything, this is not your designer. The atmosphere of your future home is in the hands of the designer. If you don’t like the works in the portfolio or they simply don’t evoke any sensations, then don’t expect them to design a better interior for you. A designer may have many awards, several diplomas, and be an excellent specialist, but if you don’t like the work, this designer is simply not suitable for you.

2. High-quality images in 3D graphics

The more realistic the 3D images (3D visualization) in the designer’s portfolio, the easier it will be for you to understand, even at the design stage, what your interior will look like. You should pay attention to the clarity of the transmitted materials and their lighting.
Compare 3D renderings of the project with photographs after renovation of the same object. This is what will show the quality of 3D visualization and the detail of the project.

3. Availability of photographs in the portfolio and video reviews

It's one thing to draw beautiful images and a completely different thing to bring your planned project to life. Ask the designer for photographs of completed projects. Ask to tell about the object in the photo. Find out what difficulties there were during implementation? What material did the designer use?



On a construction site, everything is never perfect: there are always problems, some inconsistencies, difficulties. The point is who will solve these difficulties: the customer or the designer. You definitely need to ask about this in order to understand how the designer organizes the work to implement the project.




Photos of projects are one thing. And it’s quite another thing for the designer to have videos with reviews of completed projects. With the advent of YouTube, finding specialists has become easier. Now, to look at a designer and understand how he communicates with clients and works with builders, just watch video reviews of interiors.



In general, the presence of a video with confirmation of a live already implemented
interior design is an indisputable confirmation of the results of the designer’s work. It is very difficult to fake such a video.

4. Price

As for the cost of designer services, most often it depends on how much the designer or studio frees up time for clients. A high-quality, serious project is not cheap - we won’t talk about this, since this is a constant that everyone already understands.



One of the most significant investments after purchasing a property is renovations. Therefore, the most important thing is to find out the cost of all repair work and ask the designer questions about how he plans to work with this budget. Therefore, always look at the cost of the final implementation, and this cost should be reasonable. The designer’s task is to correctly allocate the budget, and not just draw everything beautifully.



It is clear that it is possible to imagine the budget for the entire project at once quite roughly. Therefore, we recommend discussing the reality of the proposed budget with the designer, ask him to show you estimates of similar and already implemented design projects.



Based on the information received, determine how much time you will need to free up for all these processes. And, depending on how much your time is worth, you can determine for yourself the adequate composition and cost of designer services.

5. Cooperation with materials and furniture factories

In Europe, it is accepted that by turning to a designer, the client saves money during renovation, since designers work directly with furniture and materials factories. Therefore, purchasing furniture through a designer is cheaper. In Russia, there is a stereotype (and there are indeed cases) that a designer is in “conspiracy” with suppliers and increases his cost by offering a service to the client. Therefore, ask: does the designer cooperate with furniture suppliers and will you save on materials? Which factories are they?

6. Comfortable in communication

You should feel comfortable communicating with your designer. A professional designer will work with you for a long time. It also happens that the project is implemented over several years. And throughout the entire time you will tell him about your lifestyle, share your characteristics. Therefore, mutual understanding with the designer from the very beginning and from the very first contact is very important.

7. Narrow specialization should coincide with your desires

Ask the designer what he does best and what his weaknesses are. A specialist who is good at designing restaurants and residential interiors, both classic and modern, should alert you. There are no super specialists in everything. It is better for a designer to specialize in one thing and be a professional in this specialization. And your task is to find a designer whose specialization coincides with your needs.

If you are looking for a designer for a 250 m2 house, it is advisable to find a professional who has a lot of practice with such projects, rather than turning to a super specialist who does everything. A designer with your specialization will make the project better, faster, and offer the best solutions, since he constantly does similar projects. And this is obvious.

Be careful when searching for a designer, and take a responsible approach to the process of selecting a contractor. Get to the bottom of the details and essence of the designer’s presentation. Pay attention to the designer's reaction to your questions.

8. Reviews

Of course, video reviews are a very rare case. But, if there is at least one such review, this is a high indicator. Not every customer agrees to a video review, so text reviews also need to be read. There is no such thing as too perfect. Therefore, if everything is written very well, then either the designer does not post everything, or the reviews are not real. A genuine review can always be understood by the description; real emotions in the text are difficult to fake.

9. Publications in the media, speeches.

A true expert is invited everywhere: to write an article, give a comment, or speak at an event. Professionals in their field share their knowledge, since it is very difficult to keep it secret and keep it to yourself. There comes a time when the owner of skills and knowledge begins to transfer them, because he wants to share his experience.

Pay attention to publications of works, articles by the designer, speeches. But it’s important to remember our first rule: not every expert is right for you. First of all, the designer must suit you in spirit; the designer’s philosophy and approach to design must suit you. You and the designer must look in the same direction and your views on design must coincide - this is the only way to create the ideal interior for you.

Gerasimov Pavel