ASID Charts Interior Design’s Path Beyond the Pandemic

The 2021 ASID Interior Design Resiliency Report is available at no charge on asid.org. Photo and graphics courtesy of ASID

The interior design industry’s realities, opportunities, and directions following global, pandemic-era disruption unfold in the 2021 ASID Interior Design Resiliency Report from the American Society of Interior Designers in partnership with Benjamin Moore.

Susan Chung, Ph.D., Vice President, Research and Knowledge, American Society of Interior Designers

“The continued impact of the pandemic on the interior design industry and our professional and personal life is undeniable,” said ASID Vice President, Research and Knowledge, Susan Chung, Ph.D.

At the pandemic’s beginning, ASID saw the importance of tracking interior design’s strength, significance, and resiliency and designed a multi-year research study.

The just-released 2021 report represents part two of a multi-phase research study that began in 2020.

The first phase of the study in 2020 focused on agility and adaptability in the face of disruption. The second phase in 2021 examines the industry and the profession’s strength during recovery.

This year’s report documents an easing of concerns within the interior design community for the impacts of COVID-19 on multiple areas of professional life. Compared to the 2020 findings, respondents reporting high concern for the pandemic’s effects on professional life decreased by 28%, with those reporting low concern reducing by 20%.

These lower levels of concern track with overall gains in self-rated well-being. The report indicates strides in personal resilience, with mental and social well-being increasing from 2020 to 2021.

Residential designers reported higher mental well-being, while personal resilience scores increased significantly. This year, these scores align with the U.S. population during “normal” times.

Normal times include burnout, with the interior design community being no exception. The report indicates 2021 levels of burnout are essentially unchanged from 2020. While 42% of respondents indicated no effort from employers to address burnout, AECOM’s Sarah Colandro shared her solution.

Ms. Colandro, NCIDQ, FASID, IIDA, a principal and Director of Interior Design at AECOM, connects her passion for the work with setting new boundaries. “I work plenty of weeknights,” she said, but from Friday at 5:00 p.m. through Sunday night is her weekend time off. “Setting new boundaries due to COVID in how I approach my work-life has been huge and working for a firm that supports a healthy lifestyle is amazing.”

Technological experimentation during the pandemic was eye-opening. From interest in 2020 to implementation in 2021, 61% implemented video conferencing, with 25% implementing virtual tours. Additionally, 50% of respondents believe that e-design services and 49% believe virtual vendor meetings will remain viable for more than three years.

Respondents believe that appointment-based visits will continue to increase by 26% in 2021. Responses favoring virtual client meetings and remote work remain strong despite drops by 2 points and 7 points respectively.

The report finds that about half of the interior design community worked from home for six months or less, with those working fully remote at 35%. The numbers who report returning to their pre-COVID workplaces in some capacity rose to 71%, up from 46% in 2020.

Margi Kaminski, NCIDQ, ASID, CLSSGB (Certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt), a principal and Co-Director of Health Interiors at CannonDesign, spotlights trust as driving the workplace return.

“Where you start to hit the crossroads of needing to go back and needing to be together is to establish trust,” she said. Ms. Kaminski believes returning to the office is essential as “we’re building new teams with new people who onboarded virtually.”

The report indicates strides in personal resilience, with mental and social well-being increasing from 2020 to 2021. Residential designers reported higher mental well-being than commercial designers.

Although the numbers of respondents experiencing changes to schematic design and space planning phases, plus FF&E, were generally smaller, they rank such changes as having permanence. Of these, more respondents experienced changes in FF&E during 2021 than the other two.

The finding connects with elevated levels of experience with changes in manufacturing, supply chain, and delivery and installation during 2021. These factors undoubtedly affected other industries. The report presents mitigating strategies specific to the interior design community.

“This is the moment where design professionals can put pressure on the market to source more things locally or within a smaller distance from where the project is,” said Corgan’s Vice President, Interiors Studio Leader, David Euscher, NCIDQ, ASID, IIDA, Assoc. AIA, WELL AP, LEED AP. Doing so could “add more richness to the variety of localized work we do across the country.”

The report indicates that respondents share a cluster of interests around products and materials beyond the pandemic. Forty-seven percent declared it “the most challenging design issue that needs to be resolved.”

Compared to 2020, respondents reporting high concern for the pandemic’s effects on professional life decreased by 28%.

“Right now, to make us successful with our clients, we have to work with trusted vendors we know will supply what they need to for our projects,” said Jo Rabaut, FASID, IIDA, Founding Principal and President, Rabaut Design Associates, Inc. She added that these relationships are “more important than ever.”

Leveraging those relationships could be vital in leading the marketplace toward a collective rethinking of holistic sustainability and regenerative design. Scott Brideau, CDT (Construction Documents Technology), LEED AP O+M, at Little Diversified Architectural Consulting, Inc., with the role of Workplace Studio Principal, outlined a direction.

“We have to make sure that we don’t lose focus on sustainable practice and really push towards regenerative design,” said Mr. Brideau. “It’s not just doing less harm but healing the damage that we’re doing. How do we change the industry to do that?”

As an initial step, he suggests an emphasis in design education about evidence-based design, sustainable design, and “moving into regeneration as the next level.” He also emphasizes client education regarding how projects “can better contribute to their surrounding communities on multiple levels.”

The report evidences a rise in perception of interior design despite the pandemic. It says 67% of respondents cite a positive direction in the perception of their profession, up from 58% in 2020.

Compared to 2020, respondents reporting high concern for the pandemic’s effects on professional life decreased by 28%.

Prominent in the profession’s future is making “good design accessible to all” and creating “equitable design solutions.” The report explores both imperatives.

The study’s findings come through online surveys from 390 respondents, plus responses from two ASID-led focus group discussions. ASID conducted in-depth interviews at three firms chosen for exemplary changes during the pandemic for insights into best practices and lessons learned. ASID conducted the study in partnership with Benjamin Moore.

Copies of the 2021 ASID Interior Design Resiliency Report are available at no charge on the organization’s website, asid.org.

Stephen Witte writes, speaks, and consults for the design industry. Contact him at stephenmwitte@gmail.com