I must admit, when I am in a room of owners and principals of design firms, I can often sense them sizing up one another in a similar way that people at formal cocktail parties might asses each other’s choice of footwear for that particular event. It is human nature to want to compare one’s self to others; the unspoken hope is that you are doing better than everyone else in the room. According to psychologist Leon Festinger’s social comparison theory, this drive is part of our basic desire to understand ourselves and our place in the world. But dwelling too much on these judgments has a cost.
The IIDA recently published its inaugural issue of The IIDA Index, an indicator of economic health for the commercial design industry. This document can be seen as the IIDA’s more specific industry overview of commercial interiors, compared to more academic billings indexes regularly published by ASID and AIA.
“Until now,” said Sascha Wagner, President and CEO of Huntsman Architectural Group, “we have only had access to generalized reporting for the construction industry at large, but not specific to our core sector of commercial interior design. The availability of empirical data that’s directly representative of our marketplace will help inform future business decisions.”
Using information aggregated by Designer Pages– the interior design web developers responsible for the NeoCon website, among others, and known for creating new digital platforms like a proprietary product management suite allowing the A&D community to collaborate on design projects virtually – the IIDA Index uses project inception data on 10,965 new projects started by XL, large and small-sized interior design firms across the U.S.
The idea is to equally weigh this data by firm size and location for relevance across the country and present it as a unified comparison. I can’t help but try to put myself in the shoes of a small interior design firm owner in, say Chicago or Minneapolis, to see how this document would inform business decisions regarding their pursuing under-served market sectors or other strategic planning opportunities.
Would it move the needle one way or another in terms of an important business decision? Probably not this single document – but it could certainly contribute to an informed outside perspective over time. To me, at first glance, the Index seems most relevant to design firms that have multiple offices across the U.S. and are actively seeking expansion. That is a fairly small group, even in these economic times.
Granted, the twelve-page document that is the Index is only one of several ways design firm owners can access this information. Subscribing to the IIDA Index service, which is intended to be affordable for any firm, regardless of size, includes access to an online interface that is exclusive to firms that participate in sharing their new project data and can be customized to each user. I have not seen that interface, but I would assume it could be very helpful for individuals who are more business-operations inclined.
Don’t get me wrong; the IIDA Index contains extremely valuable information, and could indeed get the ball rolling on a number of internal growth initiatives for some design firms. But just as this information was not aggregated in a vacuum, I would like to see the exposition of this information given in a more relevant or anecdotal setting.
Design is a conversation, not a group of statements that exist independent of one another. I would love to see the Index somehow integrated into the many local forums attended by IIDA members and other industry professionals. In many IIDA forums I have attended recently, the power of design has been discussed much more often than the business of design.
The inclusion of perspective is key to understanding this data. Just as interior design and construction fees are separated from architectural base building and construction fees, one needs to understand why that happens with respect to the many variables – like the condition of the labor market, material supply chain, and now, upcoming tariff implications, just to name a few.
It is natural in this industry to want to drill down to the essence of the message – “just give it to me straight” – but without compassion, an understanding that we are all in this together, and that together we are responsible to elevate the industry, we are back to comparing one another’s shoes at the cocktail party.
Is the IIDA Index a great start? Yes, absolutely. It’s wonderful for owners of interior design firms to have a benchmark in which to compare their firm activity to activity in their region. And I see the potential for future relevance, especially when the market tightens eventually, to be huge. With that said, from my perspective in the industry, I happen to currently work with a wide range of design firms and facility groups, only a small amount of which are focused solely on interior design. Almost everyone I work with does a blend of architecture and interiors.
This is a collaborative profession, and talking about sensitive topics like money, profitability and hiring and firing people do not lend themselves to more social settings. I am not sure if the IIDA sees this Index as part of their role in helping design firms identify new business opportunities, but with their commitment to commercial interior design and all of its facets, I would like to see them continue to work further in developing designers to be entrepreneurs and independent thinkers.
Peter Carey is President and owner of Streamline Material Resourcing, a NYC-based consultancy that works with design firms and large end users on managing their materials libraries and project specifications.
