Tools you need as an interior designer
One of the first things that you will learn about me is that I love my tech!
I’m an early adopter. Any new app or tool that is released, I want it - now!
The barrier to entry for your interior design business is not particularly high - if you look at it in comparison to starting other businesses. I think you can start with just a good phone and a decent computer. In this blog post, I am going to discuss the equipment you need as an interior designer.
You will probably note that most of the equipment I am going to suggest in this blog post is relatively higher priced, though I will suggest some cheaper alternatives. By the way, there are no affiliate links in this blog post. All the equipment that I have is my own, purchased with my hard-earned funds.
Here is my list of tech you need to operate your interior design business.
Mobile Phone
📱 a mobile phone is essential. From photos to phone calls, buy the best you can afford. My choice is an iPhone, as I have a MacBook and iPad and it all works together seamlessly.
I currently have an iPhone Pro Max 15. It is the latest one at the time of writing and I am very happy with it. I upsized my phone to the Max as my eyesight is worsening and it is nicer to have a bigger screen. It has it in a titanium finish and it is beautiful, but I put a case on it so you can’t see it anyway.
I use it mostly to take photos. As a designer, I take at least 10 photos a day and I love photography so I try to make them good ones. However, your phone is not just a workhouse for photos but is your main communication channel. I have Slack and my email client Superhuman on my phone. I don’t use what’s app for clients and I suggest that you shouldn’t be using it at all for client communications.
You can use the phone for video, but I prefer using another camera…more on that later.
A new phone will have LiDAR. LIDAR, which stands for Light Detection and Ranging, is a remote sensing method used to examine the surface of the Earth. A LIDAR instrument principally consists of a laser, a scanner, and a specialized GPS receiver- all included in all iPhones made after 2020. This means that you can use LiDAR to measure up rooms using an app like Canvas, which I love and saves me so much time! I think it is pretty accurate, and as long as you are not using drawings for construction purposes, its accuracy is enough.
A Computer
🖥️ a computer. Mac or Windows, it doesn’t matter. buy one with the most processing power you can afford. Make your GPU fast if you render
Next up is a computer. Again, buy the best one that you can afford. There is nothing worse than buying a computer and it stalling and lagging every time you want to work on it. If you don’t render, or edit photos or videos, you can get away with a basic model. I like a Macbook Air if this is the case. The new airs have the M2 silicone chip which is pretty fast. If you want a bit more grunt, the base model MacBook Pro has the new M3 chip which processes faster.
If you do rendering, make sure that you have the budget to spend on a decent computer with a fast GPU/ graphics card. This will save you a lot of wasted time in the future. Time is money. You don’t want to spend minutes rebooting and starting again because of lost work.
A Mouse
🐁 A Mouse! a 3-wheel one. If you want to work efficiently, don’t get an Apple mouse. They are rubbish! One of the big problems with them is that they charge from the base, so if your mouse runs out of power, you have to stop using it. It also does not have a central wheel. I find this is so imprecise.
I love the Logitech MX master series. It is incredibly comfortable to use, has a third wheel and you can customize the buttons. What more can you ask? It is about the same price as an Apple Mouse too.
IPad and an Apple Pencil
✏️ An iPad and an Apple Pencil. My husband always jokes that I love it more than him. From keeping reference books on your Kindle to markup PDFs - an iPad makes my job so much easier. I love using the Morpholio trace and the Procreate app for drawing and have just started animating on it as well. You can also use it to edit videos.
🖊️ I recently got a Remarkable 2 ( an eInk tablet). It is light, compared to my notebooks. The screen is so nice to write on and the lack of connectivity means that I can get down to work without getting distracted by emails.I use a lot of notebooks and have realized that when I travel, I like to bring everything along. I am still testing it but I like it. However, If I had to choose between this and an iPad, I would go for the iPad every time.
Video camera
🎥 Video camera. If you have a late-model phone, you can take nice pics, but I’d upgrade the video. My favorite camera at the moment is the DJI Osmo Pocket 3. The quality of the video is amazing. You can use it as a camera for video calls as a webcam. Buy the Creator Combo to get a DJI mic- the sound is amazing!
If you would prefer a more conventional camera, I suggest the Sony ZV E10. This is a base model interchangeable lens camera and it is a workhorse. I think having the ability to switch lenses is great as you might be using the camera as a webcam one day, and then want to record video of one of your sites the next. I have a ton of cameras (I know) and I think it is a good investment and will last you for years until you want to level up your rig. However, unless you are selling your images/video this will be all that you need.
A Digital Tape Measure
📏 a digital tape measure. Anything that saves you time is worth it. Having a digital tape measure makes measuring up so much easier. Leica Disto brand is the best. The accuracy is exceptional and it makes buzzing around a site so easy. The base model is fine. You will probably not need anything more. Practice it with your analog tape measure so you are measuring accurately.
A Mic
🎤 A mic. Like an upgraded webcam, you should probably upgrade your mic so that your clients can hear you crystal clear. I like the Shure MV7 which is the USB C version of the legendary SM7b. Plug it straight into your computer and you are good to go. It is not cheap, so if you want something a bit cheaper, I would try out anything by Rode. The Rode NT-USB mic is of great quality for the price.
😀All of this stuff is not cheap but oh so worth the investment. I will at some point do some tech videos on YouTube so make sure you subscribe if you are interested in this kind of video.
Hi 👋🏽 I’m Joanne!
I’m an interior designer, content creator, educator, and business coach. After studying Economics and Education at uni, the design world beckoned, drawing me to Christie’s in London, where I completed post-grad studies in art & design, and then to Hong Kong, where I founded Eclectic Cool, a design firm and design store. Eclectic Cool represented international brands such as Gubi, &tradition, HAY, Armadillo Rugs & Dinosaur Designs to name a few. My work and store have been featured in Monocle, Conde Nast Traveller, Elle Decor, Expat Living, Cathay Pacific inflight magazines, South China Morning Post, and the ABC (Australia) network and more. I live between on the south coast of Australia and Hong Kong with my husband and cavoodle. I’m the mum of three adult children.
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