The 6 Phases of the Interior Design process

1. Strategic Planning

The initial stage of the design process is to understand the client's requirements and to plan how the rest of the design process should be carried out effectively. 

For effective planning:

• Arrange a meeting with the client and understand all of the client's requirements, ideas, likes and dislikes, lifestyle, etc..., and create a design brief, listing all the needed information gathered during the client meeting.

• Get a clear understanding of the client's budget.

• Visit the site and take accurate site measurements, take photos of the site, and identify complications that need to be resolved before the installation. Take notes and pictures of any unique design aspects of the site. These might be useful later during the design development phase.

• Evaluate the work that needs to be done for the successful completion of the project, and prepare a timeframe for each design phase.

2. Concept Development

The concept development phase can be broken down into two steps: 

1) Ideation 

2) Creating a Concept Statement

The ideation stage involves brainstorming design ideas by sketching, bubble diagrams, and writing notes. 

The concept statement expresses what the design concept is all about. This statement should describe the essence of the design proposal and explain the concept clearly.

Concept Development also involves preparing moodboards, creating color palettes, hand sketching, and doing lots of research. A neatly compiled set of these documents form the initial design proposal. 

Based on the client's response to the design concept, the designer will move on to the next stage of the process. In some cases, the client will request changes in the proposed idea, which will have to be adjusted before the next stage of the process.

3. Design Development

Design Development involves creating floor plans, and furniture layouts, selecting materials, creating more thorough moodboards, refined color palettes, and more in-depth research. 

3D models along with the initial layouts,materialboards, and colorboards, are compiled into a presentation so that ideas could be conveyed to the clients. 

Initially, there could be a variety of feasible design options. Upon having meetings with the clients, the various options could be narrowed down. This way the clients feel more involved in the process, while also getting a bigger say in what the final outcome may be. At this stage, only an estimate of the cost of the project can be calculated.

4. Construction Drawings and Documentation

A final set of construction drawings are produced including:

• Floor plans 
• Elevation and section drawings
• Furniture layouts
• Electrical layouts
• Reflected ceiling plans 
• Specification drawings

The final set of design documentation includes all the construction drawings,3D renders, timeframe, and a bill of quantities. 

5. Execution

Once the final design is approved, the construction phase is ready to begin. At this stage, a detailed schedule of work has to be made, and a Gantt chart may be created stating the proper order and timeframe for each stage of construction and installation. 

All materials, furniture, and accessories have to be purchased. The designer may have to visit the contractors' workshops to check on the progress of the designs, if, and when needed. Regular site visits have to be made once the installation phase begins, to monitor and resolve any issues that may arise.

6. Evaluation

Once the installation is complete, the site has to be inspected for any errors during installation, and then corrected. A project evaluation should be carried out to measure the success of the project. Finally, the site could be handed over to the client by filling out a handing-over document.