Welcome to the Identité Collective, an industry and lifestyle blog built for beautiful living by the creative team at IDCO Studio, led by Anastasia Casey.
Earlier this week, we walked you through our process for a quick studio clean-out. We shared simple tips to declutter your physical workspace, but the organization doesn’t stop there. As we all prepare for a busy year ahead, there’s never been a better time to revamp your workflow with the best client process documents in place, starting with your client design questionnaire.
As any seasoned professional will tell you, great design begins with getting to know your client inside and out. You’ll need a thorough understanding of their lifestyle, personality, interests, and of course, how they intend to use the space. A well-written design questionnaire will minimize back-and-forth edits, saving you hours in the long run. Today, we’re discussing which questions to include broken down into five key categories.
Once the contracts have been signed, it’s time to assign your clients some homework. We recommend using a detailed design questionnaire to help give you a holistic picture of your clients’ wants, needs, and expectations for the project.
Question Categories
LIFESTYLE
These questions will provide you with information on who lives within the space and how they use it. You’ll want to know about the family members and if they have children or pets to consider. Make sure to ask about their hobbies and interests, where they like to travel, and how they spend their weekends. You might find it helpful to know about their favorite brands, including where they shop, to get an understanding of their overall style.
OVERALL DESIGN
Next, focus on questions that allow you to hone in on specific style categories. How would they identify their interior design style in three words? If you’re working with a couple, do they align or differ in their design tastes. Do they have any specific color and pattern preferences? Some clients might have a hard time putting their style to words, so this is where having your client create an inspirational Pinterest board comes into play.
FURNISHING + DECOR DETAILS
Now it’s time to cover your client’s favorites in textures, fabrics, rugs, art, upholstery, and more. This section of questions will let you know details, like if the client has a particular artist they adore, or if they’re a big vintage rug enthusiast. Be sure to ask if they have any heirloom or meaningful pieces they’re hoping to incorporate into the space.
If you’re working on a construction project, you’ll definitely want to include questions around material selections. Touch on their preferences around lighting fixtures, countertops, hardware, and more. It’s also really helpful to know how they want the materials to hold up over time. For example, if the clients have young children, maybe stain-resistance countertops are a non-negotiable.
DESIGN EXPECTATIONS
Completing a successful project all comes down to expectations. Use your design questionnaire to identify what their hopes and dreams are for the space and the overall process of working together. You’ll also want to know detailed information on their ideal timelines, budgets, and priorities before diving in.
We’ve covered an overview of what to include, but we know finding time to put pen to paper is challenging. As one of the latest additions to the IDCO Shop, we created our Client Design Questionnaire for universal use with your unique clients in mind. This 80-question Google Form allows you to collect thorough, thoughtful insights from your interior design clients, simply by clicking “send.” The questionnaire cover all the categories we discussed above to ensures you and your clients stay on the same page from the get-go. No coding, no embedding—simply done-for-you magic.
Our hope this help you better understand every facet of your client’s lifestyle for a truly seamless experience.
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