Four Ways Technology Is Boosting Interior Design Internally and Externally
Discover how interior designers are using tech to turn dreams into reality.
Standard interior design practices are fading as the industry is leveraging modernization and moving forward with the rapidly evolving times, says Farris Wu, CEO of DecorMatters.
Traditional practices of face-to-face meetings, pen-to-paper drawings, or even storing resourceful information in physical libraries are quickly dissipating.
In replacement, the industry is treated to the luxury of virtual library resources, powerful 3D rendering, and the ability to utilize the worldwide adaption of video conference apps like zoom.
Unlike many other creative industries that resist adapting to the mass changes we see worldwide, the interior design industry is celebrating by reaping and leveraging the benefits of this fast-paced improvement and finding themselves thriving within it.
Here are a few ways the tech boom has given a leg-up to the interior design industry.
Virtual Staging For Real-Estate Sellers/Investors
Most could agree that selling their house is more stressful than the adjustment of bringing home a newborn baby.
And 36% of people have admitted to crying more during this stage of their life. Maybe the increased crying stems from the significant loss of funds in their bank account every minute the house sits on the market.
But to make matters a little easier, one can look to virtual staging to add presentations to their home in replacement of the $2,400 average monthly fees for physical home staging.
A survey conducted by the International Association of Home Staging Professionals showed that those on the market with full staging sold three to 30 times faster than the nonstaged competition. The same study saw staging adding value to a home by up to 20%.
This technology eliminates the need to physically move and layout furniture in and out of the home up for sale. Essentially, users are placing rendered objects into a room virtually to create a mockup and visualization of the interior space as it should be lived in, making it attractive to the buyer.
Virtual staging does not necessarily use artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), or virtual reality (VR). Virtual interior design is done through a computer or device using 3D or 2D renderings of furniture and rooms. AI elements can be added to recommend products and designs to someone opting for virtual staging, and VR can potentially be used to view the room after a virtual staging is complete. We could also use AR tools to measure the room’s dimensions.
The Work From Home Environment Brought To You By AR
With the adaption to the 2022 hybrid work environment, many office workers had to become their interior designers, scrap the old office chair they brought in from the garage in 2020, and shift their thinking toward a long-term, more adaptable work-from-home space.
Many people opted to go all out from day one on the re-creation of their designated work area. But many were not interior designers by trade and struggled to create a space that felt right for them.
A complete overhaul of your space can feel like a romantic endeavor, but quickly the reality can become a stressful and costly experience if you’re not a designer by choice.
Phone applications that use AR technology provide the general workforce accessibility to create gorgeous and productive spaces from home without the costs of an interior designer, which can range between $100 to $200 per hour, with a typical total spend of $5,200 in fees.
This doesn’t include furniture, textiles, or paint. Yet alone the labor work involved in moving, building, or painting.
Similar to virtual staging, AR interior design applications give customers real-time realities of how a specific wall color, statement piece, or even tiled flooring may look in your home before buying, moving, and placing.
This also has one key major benefit. The newly ‘self-proclaimed designer’ can avoid the hassle, stress, and financial burden of buying specific pieces to see how they fit in the environment and not worry about returning them if they don’t fit the space.
With 71% of customers agreeing that they are more likely to buy a product when they can see and visualize it in AR, this technology provided those needing a tranquil work environment to make sound design and purchasing decisions.
E-Commerce Platforms Are Celebrating The Boom Too
The interior design industry isn’t the only one thriving from this tech boost: E-commerce platforms selling interior decor, furniture, or textiles also benefit from in-app purchasing.
After customers utilize the AR functionality to visualize just how they’d like to design their space, they can make purchases almost instantly through e-commerce platforms selling the furniture they’ve visualized.
E-commerce businesses can work alongside interior design professionals who are focused on developing visualization apps to sell their products. This allows online stores to provide their customers with the ability to utilize the AR functionality to design their space before making purchases.
See More: The Importance of Identity for E-Commerce Brands
AI for Interior Designers
AI cannot replace Interior Designers as a whole as the process is of the utmost personal and creative, so human connection and interaction is a must. However, AI can serve as an almighty helping hand to interior designers.
The advancements of AI is helping to aid design teams by reducing overall lead times on projects and helping expand creative discovery by memorizing insights from thousands, if not millions, of previous project data using specified computer vision.
This aids designers in easily finding how they can integrate specific colors, patterns, styles, or textiles into projects, dramatically reducing time, resources, and manual labor throughout projects while also providing a perfect visualization of the client’s needs based on the information put into its system.
The interior design industry is getting a much-needed makeover towards a more accessible and smarter future where everyone can enjoy the beautiful process of creating the perfect working or living space.
How do you think emerging tech has impacted interior designers? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. We’d love to hear from you!
Image Source: Shutterstock
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