In the 'new economy' of 'controlled consumerism', interior designers will need to increase the revenue they earn from fees to make up for declining profits from other areas. To do that, designers will have to devise new ways of marketing their skills to set themselves apart from other design-related service providers. They need to let clients know that they offer not just interior design services in a narrow sense, but also ways of thinking and problem solving that result in more encompassing solutions.

Looking back on the boom years, design principals now recognize that they were more focused on the work—and the revenue—coming through the door than on what they were spending to run their businesses. They realised that the old ways of doing business weren’t working any longer. Resourceful designers began taking steps to trim their operations and adapt their business models to the new environment. If they were starting their firms from scratch today, they would make them smaller, more nimble, and much, much more competitive.

A&D firms and designers now have another resource to turn to during a lingering economic downturn thanks to The American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), who released a new report, “Interior Design in the New Economy: Lessons Learned from the Great Recession.”

The study, which highlights relevant A&D business survival strategies from experienced designers, presents an innovative toolkit for today’s design professionals, featuring data and insights from established firm principals across a wide range of design markets.

Download the " Interior Design in the New Economy" report from ASID website.