HOW I USE NOTION EFFECTIVELY & SIMPLY AS AN INTERIOR DESIGNER
Notion is an app for managing and maximising information of any kind
The beauty of Notion is that it allows you to build an app that is customised to you.
TL/DR
If you are a reader of this blog, you will know that I spend quite a bit of time designing websites for interior designers on Squarespace. Web designers have fully embraced Notion in their workflow and some have actually segued from being web designers to becoming Notion experts.
Web designers and interior designers have a lot in common and I have been surprised at the relatively slow take-up of Notion in the interior design space other than a way of planning social media. This is the first part of a series of blog posts on Notion and how it can be used in an interior design practice in a number of ways.
SO WHAT IS NOTION AND WHAT CAN YOU USE IT FOR?
As William Nutt, a notion expert says: “ Notion is an app for managing and maximising information of any kind”.
The beauty of Notion is that it allows you to build an app that is customised to you.
Like my philosophy for website design, I am a builder and not just a user. I think you get better results for your business if you take the time to customise your platform yourself. You can reach your customers easily and speak directly to them.
What gives Notion the edge over other apps?
The apps that you are used to using are fixed structures and used for specific purposes, there is limited flexibility to customise for your unique needs and they operate in isolation.
WHAT APPS CAN NOTION REPLACE?
Project management, Notion can replace Asana, Monday or Trello
Note taking : Evernote or One Note or paper
Task management: Todoist or Reminders
File storage: Google drive or Dropbox
If you are an advanced user, you may be able to replace accounting systems, and more complex CMS systems.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF USING NOTION?
It helps you become more organised, makes information accessible and is scalable. You can add on functionality infinitely without having to change apps.
THE ULTIMATE FLEXIBLE APP
One of the beauties of Notion is that it can be whatever you want it to be.
One thing you must understand is that all apps from your email to your calendar to your time tracker are fixed structures that allow you to access specific information in a certain way. We have all worked with apps where after a while, we wish it had some specific functionalities.
For them to work with each other we either have to sync the information, using a tool like Zapier to integrate or some apps will have agreed with each other to work together.
WHAT ARE THE DRAWBACKS?
There is a learning curve, however, I suggest instead of implementing a wide range of functionality at once, ie building a huge dashboard with a lot of pages etc, you allow your system to grow organically as long as you understand the basic foundations, the information that you input will always be there, ready for you to manipulate, change and adapt. There is no wrong way to build a system in Notion, but it is important to keep in mind best practices.
HOW SHOULD YOU APPROACH NOTION?
To be an effective user of Notion, you need to have the right mindset:
Be a builder not a user
Acquire technical & tactical skills over time
Allow your workspace to continually evolve, you never complete a workspace
AS AN INTERIOR DESIGNER, HOW DO I USE NOTION?
as a type of Wiki- a place to store information and to be able to easily access it, sops, brand information, even manuals can get stored here
for communication- I link to pages in Notion that clients or staff may use which are embedded with video
for exploration- to save pages and information that I may not want to use right now, but could be useful in the future
for planning- I plan out my social media, website and research
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
MY APPROACH TO NOTION?
I have a very flexible approach to Notion. When I first started out, I downloaded templates some of which were free and some paid, did a few courses and copied some dashboards and watched YouTube videos. I learned a lot and after a year or so, I am still learning. All of these approaches are valid and can work, but I think to get the full functionality out of Notion you have to take a more active approach. As I said before: Think building, not using.
I HAVE A FEW GOLDEN RULES
Start simple - I like to start with top page- and think of that page like a wiki page or the Home page of a website.
You need to know the following:
what a page is and how to make one, how to enter things into a page and how to connect it to other pages
what a database is and how to make one and how to connect it to a page.
3. Make as few databases as possible instead, learn how to tag your information
HAVE I GIVEN UP USING APPS?
In the interests of full disclosure. I haven’t. I still use Asana for teamwork, Google Drive and Dropbox for storing files, Programa for Scheduling and Slack for team and client communication. However, I fully expect that in a few years, this will have changed. As I develop my business and Notion gains more and more functionality (it will!!!) I am sure that there will be alternatives to all these apps. One of the most recent apps that Notion has bought is Cron- a beautiful and useful calendar app. Expect it to be fully integrated into Notion soon. This will be a game changer.
I have just started a series of videos about how I use Notion in my interior design business. The first one is live here. In this video, I show you how I structured and created a Home page for an interior designer. It may not look pretty but let me tell you it works!
In the video, I go through how to create a page, headings, move items into columns, use colours and callouts, install widgets.
In the next video I am going to talk about how to set up a database for interior designers for contacts. Want to know how I use Coolors ? Check out the video here.
Check out our courses on branding and websites specifically for interior designers just like you who want to start and scale up their interior design businesses.
