How Photorealistic Renderings Can Help Sell Your Designs With Mina Duque
Welcome to another edition of Dakota Design Company’s Guest Expert Interview series. We’re thrilled to share expertise from business owners and leaders that run the gamut of the interior design industry – from interior photographers to marketers, financial advisors, branding experts, and beyond.
Each of our expert guests was selected because they can share unique insights and perspectives on a range of topics that will help any interior designer take their business to the next level. These experts are Dakota Design Company insiders, and many of them have worked directly with us and our clients in the past. We hope you enjoy this series and that it brings new insights, tips, and tricks to add to your interior design toolbox!
The goal of an interior designer is to translate a client’s vision for a space into reality. This vision can range from a vague idea to a fully developed concept, though it often falls somewhere in between.
Before you can move forward with a design, you need to understand the client’s needs, interpret them into a design they love, and then get their approval. One impactful way to bring a client’s vision to life is with photorealistic renderings.
Renderings Bring Your Vision To Life
Renderings provide a preview of the final design, allowing clients to feel confident in their interior designer’s ability to bring their vision to life. They also serve as an approved blueprint for the interior designer to follow during the implementation process. Once the client has seen and approved their design on paper, they will feel more confident that the final result will accurately reflect their vision.
To gain more insight into the benefit of renderings, we spoke with Mina Duque, founder and principal designer at Interiors Tulum and Head of Client Success at Duke Renders. In her role at Duke Renders, she is dedicated to helping fellow interior designers bring their visions to life through state-of-the-art 3D visualization solutions. Her mission is to ensure interior designers can accurately showcase their ideas, eliminating the frustration of clients' inability to visualize their completed projects.
Mina shares five reasons interior designers should include renderings as part of their interior design process and how they help the design. Higher conversion rates and fewer revisions? Sign me up!
Five Benefits of Including Renderings In Your Interior Design Presentations
Renderings Bridge the Visualization Gap. Renderings transform abstract ideas and pages of documents into realistic visuals, helping clients fully grasp the design. Clients often hire interior designers because they can’t envision the possibilities for their space or see how it will look when it’s both functional and beautiful. Including a 3D rendering allows interior design clients to clearly see the finished space, bridging the gap between concept and reality.
Renderings Enhance Client Trust. Renderings allow interior designers to push boundaries and get clients on board with innovative ideas. They are also helpful during challenging parts of an interior design project because the client is sure of the outcome, removing the guesswork of what the final product will look like and understanding how ALL the elements of a design work together to create ONE finished space. This often leads to fewer revisions and a smoother process.
Renderings Increase Design Approval Rates. By presenting realistic renderings designers are able to evoke emotional investment from clients, leading to quicker design approvals and faster project timelines. Clients are more likely to embrace the design and move forward with confidence.
Renderings Can Enhance Client Budgets. Often, once an interior design client sees a rendering of their space, they sign off right away because they HAVE to have it. Budget becomes less of an issue once they fall in love with the design.
Renderings Can Be Used As Portfolio Pieces. Renderings serve as an excellent representation of an interior designer’s style and aesthetic, and can be useful for marketing materials. In cases where projects take a long time to complete or the interior designer isn’t able to capture professional photographs, renderings can showcase the designer’s style and vision.
What Interior Designers Can Expect When Outsourcing Their Photorealistic Renderings
Expertise and Quality. Interior designers who outsource rendering development get access to specialized skills and cutting-edge software that create stunning results. Professionals who specialize in creating renderings are continuously evolving and refining, ensuring the most up-to-date visuals for clients that are likely better than anything you could try to do on your own.
Efficiency. Because renderings are a rendering company’s main focus, you’ll receive faster project completion by experienced professionals, allowing you to focus on what you love that makes you money and brings you joy: designing.
Workload Balance. Outsourcing rendering creation takes a major piece of work off your and your team's plate, allowing you to focus on other projects or business development.
A Return on Investment. Whether it’s time savings because someone else is creating the rendering, higher approval rates, or fewer revisions and objections from clients, the return on investment in outsourcing your renderings can be high.
What If You’re Not Quite Ready To Invest In Photorealistic Renderings
I get it, outsourcing for renderings can seem like a daunting and expensive endeavor. If you’re not ready to make that investment, you can always offer it to your clients as an add-on. It could be that the client wasn’t aware you provided this service, so they didn’t ask. Or they might not even know the value of renderings, and once you educate them you position yourself as the subject matter expert to whom they can reach out at a later date or recommend to their colleagues.
Another thing is to know your client. Not all interior design jobs require the cost and level of detail that professional renderings provide. If you are targeting luxury interior design clients, these are the ones who are willing and able to invest in this level of quality and service. And, if it’s a large project, the renderings can often become showpieces that live long after the project is completed.
To learn more about Mina Duque, and to see some of her incredible renderings, visit dukerenders.com/call.
