I have been a designer for several years now and whenever someone learns I’m an interior designer their first response is, “Wow, what a fun job!” The misconception is that creative fields are not work, it’s all fancy fluff, and hardly worth taking seriously. Today, I’m going to talk about the ugly truth of design.
Most of the time In response to the “Wow how fun” remark, I smile idiotically and take a swig of my cocktail and agree, “Yeah, so fun”. At the same time, I’m rehearsing the conversation I will have with my client about the electrician going AWOL, the fabric we designed the room around and ordered five weeks ago being on back order for two more months, and the light fixture arriving with a missing part… are we having fun yet?!
Although there are many aspects of the design process I love and it may be fun, make no mistake about it – interior design is a legitimate profession that involves real life issues, safety standards, and real hard earned money.
Trust me – many designers (including myself!) never talk about the unglamorous side of design – like measuring a building in 90+ heat with no air conditioning, schlepping back-breaking boxes of tile samples around, or the exhaustion after a day of installation all to provide that big reveal moment to our clients.
So when it comes to the so-called glamorous side of design, we’ve earned every sexy second of that fleeting experience because our day to day lives don’t remotely look glamorous.
If the design world looks fun from the outside, it’s because any designer worth their pearls will never let onto the ugly truth about design (unless they absolutely have to). Mums the word when it comes to the near-misses, sleepless nights, and endless amounts of cookie-dough consumed just to make everything perfect for the client.
As designers, we do so much more than create a pretty room and fluff pillows. To execute a project to completion, we step into many different roles such as mediator, motivator, negotiator, forensic accountant, counselor, and ninja problem solver because of the many different personality types we expertly juggle on any given day.
The same way Michael Jordan dominated basketball and made a slam dunk look so easy, we design professionals are so good we make the whole process seem easy – almost like we waved a magic wand to bring the vision from your head into existence!
And that’s how we know we have done our job well – when we can give you the best home experience possible within your budget, we make it all look easy and dare I say…fun.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Ahh, the glamorous life of a designer. LOL You’re right! It IS a business after all. It is still fun though. 🙂
If I had a dollar for how many cocktail swigs I have had to take….lol. Good times.
Totally loved this blog. Everyone assumed that our job is glamorous & fun. While there is fun, we also go through sleepless nights and often the value we bring in is forgotten because we try to make it look easy. Having said that, the end result is always worth it, though we dont get to keep all the rooms for ourselves.
Yes, there are large aspects of the job that we love but there are definitely others that aren’t so “fun”
I second Dixie’s comment! All jobs have different sides and there are going to be things you love and others not so much. Thanks for breaking it down!
Fun- yes. Hard work – YES! It’s all in the perception. Great points here, Elle.
This is so true!! I believe all jobs have the good, the bad, and the ugly! 😉
This is a fantastic post. People have no clue what being a designer really entails. Some people think all designers do is shop, attend parties, and fluff pillows. I will admit that I truly enjoy being a designer but this job is not as glamorous as many think.