i+D - March/April 2018 - 18

Business
of Design
Presentations

Anna Kenoff,
Morpholio

Andrew Furman,
Ryerson School of
Interior Design

Furman says he encourages undergraduate students to envision a real-world
scenario with clients in which they'll need to deal with a problem requiring
an instant solution without the use of a computer. "The hand sketch is the
quickest tool to basically communicate, because [visual] communication is
really nothing more than giving another person the illusion of shape or space
to fool the eye to trick someone into thinking about space three-dimensionally
or conceptually. So, that handy quick sketch...you can't compare the speed
of it to express what you need to communicate quickly," he explains.
Gaining Momentum
When it comes to selling clients on a design, timing is essential, according
to Stephanie Dixon, co-founder of Wecora.com, an online solution that helps
designers organize and present their ideas. "If designers can paint a picture
for the client right on the spot and help them picture a vision of some kind
they're trying to sell them, they can capture them, they can excite them,"
she says. "And, there's time lost when you have to go back to put together
an idea-you open that window for that excitement to be lost."
Thanks to innovative apps and tools, like Wecora and Morpholio, the process
of presenting has never been more efficient-or more different. Whereas in the
past, a design professional would attend a meeting with a potential client for
an initial consultation and spend a tremendous amount of time researching,
shopping, and creating a beautiful, detailed presentation, Dixon says that old
process doesn't work in today's world for a number of reasons. First, thanks
to sites like Pinterest and Houzz, clients have access to so many ideas at their
fingertips that they can be inspired and take an entirely different direction than
discussed during an initial consultation.
Additionally, Dixon explains that presentations have become more informal
than in the past. Rather than waiting to develop a detailed presentation, many
designers now are using these online tools to pitch clients with initial concepts
in the moment to stay ahead of the curve. "What we're finding is that these
early-on ideas, even if they're loose and informal, they get the ball rolling and
designers stay ahead of the client, as opposed to the client really pushing the
project along and dictating what's going to happen," she says. "It really keeps
that professional in charge of things and helps to validate the need for [the
professional] to be used in the project."
Cusick agrees that clients care less about the format of an idea-whether it be
hand sketched or digital-but they do expect design presentations to be well
thought out. "Whether it's prepared by hand or whether it's prepared in some
sort of software, I don't think clients care how the presentation is prepared.
I think they care that it's thorough, and, if you can do it digitally, it's really nice
to be able to email them drawings," she says.
http://www.Wecora.com https://www.tie-inc.com/portfolio/asid/ http://www.tie-inc.com/
i+D - March/April 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of i+D - March/April 2018
