For a design firm—or any business, really—success hinges on countless factors, from smart hiring to solid business management. Unfortunately there’s no easily replicable blueprint that guarantees business glory, but several strategies can help designers build an infrastructure suited to their size and ambitions. We turned to the experts to find out what those are.
Every design professional we interviewed agreed: Firms thrive when roles and responsibilities are clearly defined. “The key to running a successful studio is having well-documented procedures and making sure that everybody knows what their job is,” advises Seth Kaplowitz, a legal and strategic consultant for designers. Finding that ideal structure begins with an honest assessment that starts with asking the hard questions: Have you made the right hires? Do your existing roles and systems support growth? As for what to do once you’ve answered those questions, we asked AD100 designers about their thriving businesses, their org chart challenges and the lessons they’ve learned on the road to success. Below, they share their advice for building the business you want from the business you have.
Consider the Strength in Staying Small
A fundamental decision for any studio is whether to stay small or continue expanding. One rule of thumb applies to firms of any size: keep growth in proportion. David Kaihoi, principal of Redd Kaihoi, a New York-based studio, notes that he and his partner, Miles Redd, have consciously remained lean since launching 27 years ago. Their six-person team, he says, “feels like the sweet spot.” In the past, when they added staff, they spent more time managing and less time on the creative work. “You lose a sense of the intimacy of the projects—the client communications, the contractor conversations, the vendor details,” he explains. “Our model is really more focused on those design details that we love to do.”
Organize Departments for Enhanced Efficiency
Large firms managing a complex ecosystem of projects and collaborations benefit from creating an org chart with dedicated departments. San Francisco-based designer Ken Fulk notes that his bicoastal firm, now around 100 employees, has evolved over time, adding departments for purchasing and logistics, accounting, and project management, alongside specialized teams for art, floral, and events. “We started as a very flat organization,” he says. “And frankly, we remain relatively minimal in our hierarchy today.”
Nicole Hollis, the San Francisco-based interior designer who runs her eponymous firm, has similarly built a structure that balances efficiency with opportunities for employee development across her 100-plus-person team. According to Hollis’s CEO Lewis Heathcote, the organization is arranged by specialty—from interior architecture to procurement—with each team following a classic pyramid structure. “Everyone sees opportunities for learning, support, growth, and the ability to take on more responsibility,” he says. One significant adjustment, Heathcote adds, was separating the procurement team early on and distinguishing the interior architecture department from furniture, fixtures, and equipment (FF&E) to keep projects on schedule. “This ensures that we focus on all construction-related work before our furnishing team gets involved,” he explains.
Prioritize Project Management
It’s not just adding personnel that can be advantageous to a firm; which roles you choose to add is vital. Time and again, positions focused on project management prove to have the greatest impact. The title may vary, but appointing a resourceful person—or team—to oversee operations can make or break a studio’s functionality. Amy Kehoe, cofounder of the Los Angeles studio Nickey Kehoe, says bringing on a studio director to handle workflow, staffing, processes, and communications has been a game changer for her seven-person organization. The addition, she adds, has "contributed to the firm’s overall growth and culture, keeping the studio organized, aligned, and moving forward.”
On a larger scale, Fulk placed three veteran designers in his 100-person firm in senior-level operations roles, which freed him up to concentrate on the big-picture vision. “Creating the role of design director has streamlined how we function and allows us to effectively tackle multiple projects at once,” he says.
Match the Right Person to the Right Role
Architect Elizabeth Roberts, who opened her solo practice in 1998, has found that fitting individuals to the right positions strengthens her 28-person studio in Gowanus, Brooklyn. “The very best thing is for people to have titles that match both their skill sets and their interests,” she says.
Kaplowitz agrees. “The most expensive thing is the onboarding and offboarding of human capital,” he says. “We’re not huge fans of coming in and just getting rid of people. We want to understand what they’re doing before making wholesale revisions. Maybe they should simply be sitting, metaphorically, at a different desk.”
As a firm grows, however, Roberts notes that even with the best intentions, its evolution doesn’t always align with employees’ job descriptions. As she grew her firm in the mid 2000s, she says, “some of our leaders and support staff were no longer perfectly matched to the larger group. Lesson learned is that there are incredibly talented and smart people out there in the world—however timing is a real issue.”
Don’t Overcrowd the Top Tier
While hiring people with management experience is crucial, maintaining a healthy mix of junior-, mid-, and senior-level talent is equally important. Heathcote, Nicole Hollis’s CEO, warns of the early pitfalls of “hiring very senior people and thinking they would enhance our culture and capability.” He points out, “We have benefited from talented people who have come in at the project manager and director level.”
Balance Clarity with Creativity
Clarity around roles and responsibilities keeps firms running smoothly—especially with larger operations. Still, all agree that a collaborative attitude remains essential. “In the beginning, everyone did everything. Now, however, roles are precisely defined and we work as a well oiled machine,” says Fulk. “That said, we are not precious people and everyone is prepared to pitch in and do what’s needed at any time.”
This collaborative approach resonates for Kehoe, too. “Our roles and titles are clearly defined, but we approach them with flexibility depending on the project,” she says. “This allows us to draw on each team member’s individual strengths and apply their skills where they’re most impactful throughout different phases of a project.”
Kaihoi also finds that flexibility and creativity go hand in hand. “The nice thing about the small firm is that we all have a sense of what everyone else is doing. So functionally there’s a clear path, but creatively it’s a very open studio.”
Match Your Staff’s Size to the Moment
Kaplowitz observes that firms are often “wrong sized.” To address this, he advises clients to look at hard data such as employee tenure and utilization rates to see if they’re currently overstaffed or if it’s time to expand. “If clients are complaining that they’re not being seen or heard, or the work not getting done on time, that’s probably a sign that maybe you need to up your staffing a little bit.”
Know When to Hire, Know When to Outsource
Growth isn’t just about timing—it’s also about making smart staffing decisions. A strategic hire, Kaplowitz adds, can be financially prudent. For interior design firms, bringing on a licensed architect can make a firm more competitive. “Doing more ‘Capital A’ architecture work allows you to access different billing structures,” he explains. “You can mark up furnishings, but also bill a percentage over construction.”
That being said, there are times when outsourcing makes more sense. Kehoe observes that for her firm, “collaboration with trusted consultants has become an essential part of how we work. Rather than hiring for every role internally, we build teams based on each project’s unique scope, bringing in consultants as needed—having trusted architects and specialists is key.” As with all business decisions, the decision to hire or outsource depends on a firm’s individual needs—and evaluating those with a clear eye is the root of all good org charts.
