IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 42

800 million
monthly users

perspective

iida.org/perspective

in another curveball, giving users the power to let their
Stories live on in a special slot on their profile page.

Snap Decisions
The force behind commercial spaces for brands like
SeatGeek, Contently, and Fashionista, Dani Arps uses
Instagram to give her followers a look inside her thought
process and inspiration.
"Sometimes a photo is visual enough, and I don't need
to tell a complete story about it," says Arps, who heads up
an eponymous design firm in New York. "But if there's
something unique that I want to call
out, or an element or design detail
that I'm especially proud of, I'll be
sure to note it in the caption."
With a constant feed of
photos-34.7 billion and counting
since Instagram's launch-along
with a deluge of videos, it can be
hard to stop the scroll. And in an
era when anyone with a smartphone
fancies themselves a photographer,
shelling out for professional
photography can help designers
stand out from the pack.
The Homepolish Instagram
feed, for example, features photos
varied in style but always from its
designers and shot by a pro.
"We're really conscious about photography
and styling," Halldorson says. "We make
sure our commercial spaces are shot so the
viewer can envision the showroom or office as
though they just stepped out of it. We'll leave
a book on a desk, some kind of cue, so you can
visualize yourself there."
Yet many marketers contend
Instagrammers are over the hyperproduced,
perfectly curated feeds. That's prompting some to invest in
live Stories, broadcasting in the moment.
No matter the format or frequency, designers need to
keep it real. As in design, authenticity rules on Instagram.
"If they look inwards and understand what they're trying
to accomplish as a designer, their voice can be an echo of
that," says Wendy Hicken, CEO of Interior Design Master
Class, a business coaching firm for interior designers in
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.
SHH Architecture & Interior Design opts for a mix

500 million
daily active users

Photos by: (previous spread) Henrik Sorensen/Getty Images; (left) @shharchitects/Instagram; @homepolish/Instagram

Loaded with stunning shots of achingly gorgeous spaces,
Instagram is a match for interior designers. Since its debut
in late 2010, the photo-focused social media site has played
host to a constant stream of #designporn, racking up
thousands upon thousands of likes. But smart commercial
designers know that's not the point. Instead, they're tapping
into a select group of Instagram's 800 million monthly users
to build a community-transforming how they market
their services, build a brand, position themselves as thought
leaders, and attract clients.
"We really do think of Instagram as a modern portfolio
for designers," says Brittany Halldorson,
director of customer acquisitions at
Homepolish, New York, New York, USA.
Don't let the "home" in Homepolish fool
you. The company reps designers working
on an array of commercial clients, including
MNDFL, Stone Fox Bride, and Blue Apron.
With a whopping 1.7 million Instagram
followers, Homepolish uses the platform to
highlight that stable of designers and their
work. "Clients can more easily
research and find designers online,
and Instagram is a way for us to
showcase our talent and also verify
it," she says.
Homepolish also helps
its designers build their own
Instagram presence, hosting
workshops and training sessions
on best practices, and regularly
sending out notes on market
trends and
engagement
insights.
One of those
trends is the
meteoric rise of
Instagram Stories, the 24-hours-and-it-isgone content that appears above the feed.
After its debut in August 2016, it was
initially dismissed as a Snapchat copycat
feature. But as of November 2017, it was
boasting 300 million active daily users. As
with many of the 25 million businesses on
Instagram, most commercial designers
still are in the experimental phase with
the feature. And Instagram recently threw

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018