19th October 2021 | IN DESIGN ADVICE | BY SBID ShareTweetPinterestLinkedIn So that you don’t need to make further changes in the future or receive incorrect specification, it’s important that you choose the right professional interior designer for your projects. From your level of involvement to clear communication, here are some of the best ways to ensure that you choose the most ideal designer based on your requirements. Understand What You Want and Communicate This Clearly Often, what leads people to think that they chose the ‘wrong’ interior designer is that they either didn’t fully understand what they wanted or that they didn’t clearly communicate this with the designer. The best way to understand what you want is to ask yourself some key questions before you even start looking at interior designer options, fabrics, colours, and styles. Here’s an idea of the type of questions you should be asking yourself: What’s your budget? What kind of ambience would you like to create? Who will use this space and why will they use it? How functional do you want this space to be? Note that these are fairly broad questions. Also, keep in mind that it’s fine not to know what you want. What’s important is to make this clear to your prospective interior designer so that they can guide you through your choices. Understand What Role You Want to Play Another important thing to think about is how involved you’d like to be in the decision-making and designing process. Your interior designer will be a lot more confident with your project if they know how involved you’d like to be. For instance, if you’d like to be led and to hand over most of the decision making to the designer then you’ll need a proactive one. Equally, if you have a specific idea about what you’d like and you just need somebody to assist this then you’ll need an implementer rather than a decision-maker. This balance is crucial so that you get exactly what you want. Check Reviews and References A reliable way to ensure that you choose the right interior designer is to take the time to check reviews and references. With the accessibility of the internet, this should be even easier than in times past, as you can now check their website, Google Reviews, Trustpilot, Glassdoor, and more. You can also look out for third party endorsements as a reliable indicator of design service quality. Check to see if the practice has gained any relevant industry awards, certifications or professional accreditations. There are three main things to look out for: Firstly, was the interior designer willing to spend as much time with their client as possible in order to fully understand their style and requirements? Secondly, how close did the interior designer get to the client’s desired design? Thirdly, although this depends on the type of client, was the interior designer more engaged in the selection and design process or were they more passive, allowing you to take the reins? A lot of choosing the right interior designer involves having good self-awareness. What do you want and how do you want this? How involved would you like to be in the process? These are questions you need to ask yourself, as well as checking reviews and references online, to make sure that you don’t end up forking out extra cash in the long run because your design wasn’t quite what you’d hoped the first time around. Here at The Society of British International Interior Design, we accredit professional interior designers for their level of education, experience and comptence in practice to ensure they are appropriately skilled and qualified to successfully complete your design projects. Explore our official Designer Directory to discover Accredited designers near you! If you have any further questions about finding an interior designer then don’t hesitate to get in touch by calling +44 (0) 207 738 9383 today!