Interior design is known as the 'art or process of creating and designing interior decorations for the interior of a room or entire building.' Various people enter the interior design industry to flex their design prowess. The versatility of decorating an entire room or building is something that these professionals handle on a daily basis, and with delight, at that. Though, there's a forgotten part of the interior design process that many people don't realize at first glance.
Project management encompasses the process and the actual activity of organizing, planning, motivating and controlling the resources, procedures and protocols in a project. Ultimately, project management helps professionals (involved in a single project) achieve the project's specific goals, whether based in scientific or everyday issues.
When it comes to design, project management is an important part of the process. In fact, clients of design firms not only anticipate their artistic prowess, but they also expect their design firm of choice to exercise excellent management skills. Having great project management skills is what separates great design firms from those who are merely good.
Interior design, although an artistic field, is actually a field needing organization to truly work well. The nature of interior arts requires some type of organization and planning, otherwise interior design professionals wouldn't be able to coordinate and execute their projects with finesse.
Design professionals know project management is important, too. They know it's importance because the 'complicated fabrication process (of the craft) requires constant communication and accountability for the actions happening during the interior design process.' Interior designers themselves can't always depend on producing their project in person, so they need to organize communication systems that will allow them to manage their projects.
Project management generally involves the management of all aspects of a creative or business-related project. Design often involve both aspects of a creative field and a business endeavor. Project management typically involves managing:
Resources - equipment, material, people
Time - dependencies, task durations, critical deadlines
Money - profits, contingencies, costs
Scope - project goals, project requirements, project size
Practically all design projects involve those aforementioned elements of project management. Therefore, it's important for a design firm to be well versed in managing their projects for clients.
If you're unsure about whether your interior design firm can successfully manage your project, there's nothing wrong with talking to them about it. One of the biggest aspects of management is communication, so you owe it to yourself to work with your firm and produce the best project possible.
