Design Tools for Working From Home

Here in Minnesota we currently have restrictions on movement, but the shelter in place order has not yet arrived. Last week I did my best to use resources “out in the world” before that’s no longer possible. I went to tile showrooms, stoneyards, and a hardware showroom, where I was screened before entry. I kept my distance and carried hand sanitizer and wipes. I still felt guilty and anxious about every stop. I am less worried about becoming ill (though of course that is nerve wracking) and more worried about unknowingly infecting people should I have the virus and not know it. (For the record, I have no symptoms of any kind and no known exposure.) These are strange times.

As we brace for a likely shutdown, I am aware that I am relatively well set up to take my operations home. As a self taught designer, I had to find tools early on that I could learn myself. With clients all over the country, including one of my very first clients being in New Jersey, I also had to learn from the get-go how to do this job remotely.

Today I thought I would share some of the tools I rely on, in case they are useful to other designers who need to do more to adapt to our strange new reality.

Client Measure sheets

Working remotely puts a bit more burden on the client if you can’t get in the space yourself. I have created a simple measuring guide for clients, instructing them how to create a floor plan and elevations of each wall in a room. They can then email them to be or share in Drive, whatever they are most comfortable with. It doesn’t need to be anything fancy, just a clear and consistent rundown of what information you need.

Floor planning: Icovia

In recent years I moved to Sketchup and then CAD with employees who had those skills, but through it all I have kept my subscription to Icovia because it allows me to get my hands on space planning. I need to move things around myself to learn a space, and while it doesn’t look particularly sophisticated, Icovia makes it easy for me to do that. I can also share plans with clients with a hyperlink or print as a PDF for clients viewing on their phone or an ipad.

I have a designer account for plan view only (no elevations) for $19.99. The program is preloaded with furniture and structural items and you can resize items as needed. I may do a future post on tricks and tips for this program as I have learned a lot over the past 8 years!

Design boards: DesignFiles

Formerly Olioboard, this is a flash-based program for creating design boards. It offers a “clipper” for importing items from manufacturer websites and tools for manipulating the images as needed. This was originally a free program but when they rebranded, Design Files added a subscription fee of $35/month for unlimited projects (but you can try it out for $19/ month with a 3 project limit). They also added more robust project management tools, which I do not use because I am covered elsewhere, but I’m sure those are worth checking out.

I have found this program to be invaluable in showing clients the big picture of how all the elements will look together. I will say it is less effective on projects with a lot of custom elements, but it has its place even then.

I will also mention Morpholioboard, which was developed by an old friend of mine from New York and has won a bunch of awards. Similar concept and in many ways cleaner and more sophisticated. When this product was new, I had the opportunity to test it out and really liked it. At the time, I did not switch over because I had built up a robust library on Olioboard. Additionally, morpholioboard runs on Mac products, which may be convenient for some but did not work for me.

Project Management and Accounting: Studio Designer

Studio Designer is pretty much the cadillac of software for Interior Design Accounting and Project Management. I have been using this program since January 2019 and honestly don’t know how I did this job without it. Fees per user are $35/month for basic and $45/month for pro. There is a pretty steep learning curve but there are good resources to get up to speed (live webinars, training videos, live chat, etc.) Early on I did hire someone local to train me in on key aspects and I would highly recommend doing that.

I should note that Studio has its own accounting platform, it does not integrate with Quickbooks. There is an import function, but I found it simplest to start clean at the beginning of a year. (I was lucky that I did not have projects carrying over, which is unusual.)

The other big players in this field are Design Manager, which was recently bought by 1st Dibs, and Ivy, which was purchased by Houzz. For an in depth rundown of these three programs, check out this article in Business of Home.

Team communication: Slack

Lauren just set us up on this last week when we started each working from home. It allows you to create channels for each project so you have all communication in one clear thread. We are still getting used to it but it does seem to be more effective than sending a million emails back and forth! Slack is free.

Video instruction of your computer screen: Loom

Okay, I don’t actually know how to use this, but my web designer uses it to essentially record a tutorial that shows her computer screen and records her talking me through something while she clicks around to demonstrate. So far Lauren and I have done okay just describing things in words, but I can see this becoming useful as we do more complicated collaborative drawings from a distance. Loom has different fees for different levels, all of which have been cut in half through July.

Resources for the Big Picture

Finally, if client work slows down during this time or you find yourself with extra time, this could be a great time to hone your skills and refine your processes in general.

There are many podcasts and blogs with a ton of relevant information. Some to get you started:

Coaches

Desi Creswell: I have been working with Desi for a year and a half and can’t recommend her highly enough. She just opened up 3 spots for intensive coaching. I would also sign up for her newsletter, which comes out on Mondays and download her free guide How to Create more Time and Profit in your Business.

Capella Kincheloe: Capella has a ton of excellent resources on her website. I have used her free resources as a starting point for everything from my contract to my annual budget. Use her website as a resource and get on her email list! She also offer different types and levels of group training, including a webinar coming up in Monday called Thriving in a Pandemic.

Julia Molloy: I considered working with Julia years ago after learning about her on Lauren Liess’s blog. Ultimately it was not a fit because of religious overtones, but her website has good resources, some free and some paid.

Gail Doby: also offers coaching, but my experience here is largely with her robust and well written blog.

Websites, Podcasts, and more

Business of Home: A website and newsletter with a broad reach in covering the design industry. Their podcast is hosted by Dennis Scully, part of the original Domino team, who sits down with Interior Designers (Kathryn Ireland and David Netto were recent guests) as well as innovators and disruptors in the industry for in depth conversations.

Business of Design: a popular podcast (and website) from the perspective of a design business coach

The Life Coach School: This podcast has a more general approach but focuses on mindset tools that apply to everything we do. There are also very practical episodes about tolls like time management. My family makes fun of me when I listed to this podcast but I find it very useful and empowering! To understand the main teaching (known as the model) you need to go back and listed to early episodes. They are all archived on the website.

I hope this list is helpful! I have enabled comments on this post. If you have resources that you love, feel free to add them in comments, or drop me a line at heather@heatherpetersondesign.com. I would love to learn about them and continue to share.

Also feel free to reach out to me if you have questions about any of these tools. I’m more than happy to share my experience and knowledge with you.

Stay home, stay safe, and use this unusual situation as a time to invest in yourself and in your business.

All the best,

Heather