Case Studies
In this section I will show the research I have done on other interior design creators that have inspired my interior design career.
Mr Kate
Mr. Kate
Mr. Kate is a brand created and run by Kate Albrecht and her husband Joey Zehr. It started as a lifestyle / DIY blog back in 2009 but soon moved platform to YouTube. They have been working tirelessly for the past 14/15 years to gain their place as the No’1 Interior design channel on the platform and have amassed a whopping 4 million subscribers, 500 million+ views, and over 5 billion minutes of content consumed.
They started up in LA and built their audience on DIY and home design content ranging from fashion to knick-knacks to furniture and more. They started getting millions of views as they launched a series called Mr. Kates OMG We Bought A House in 2014 and Mr. Kates OMG We’re Coming Over in 2016 when they were designing spaces for digitally famous people as well as giveaway winners.
Recently they moved to Hawaii in 2021 and launched their new series Mr. Kates OMG we bought a house 2 and have been taking us through the process of designing and decorating their new slice of paradise as well as having launched a new homeware line which is being sold in stores across America and online.
I think some of the challenges they have faced over their years are that they had to get to know their audience, mainly made up of young people, students, and young families that don’t own their own homes or have no sense of style. They needed to create videos that catered to renter-friendly DIY and that explored all aesthetic styles. Also being a couple working together as entrepreneurs and how to navigate a work-life balance. “Most entrepreneurs will say that the biggest thing is when to stop working, because if you're not working, then no one else is.”
Reflect upon doing the case study
Experience
I spent the evening looking into the No.1 Interior design channel on YouTube that I have watched since about 2016. I learned that they had been doing their thing for about twice as long as I had been watching them. I did find the research difficult to begin with as most of the things I know about them I have learned over the years from watching their content and it isn’t really written down anywhere, luckily for me, they did an interview last year where a lot of my questions were answered for me. And since they are very diligent in putting their series’ into playlists on their channel it was super easy to find the dates that specific channel milestones were reached.
Reflection
Looking into Mr. Kate as my first case study has been incredibly interesting and I really enjoyed learning more about something I considered myself very knowledgeable on. They are one of my key inspirations as a designer and I am so grateful that they decided that they wanted to share their talents with the world. I think I spent way too long trying to word things correctly instead of adding more substance to my case study. I wanted it to sound academic but I don’t think it worked very well and I could have spent that time doing more research and finding out niche things about them as separate people and not just as the collective.
Action
For my next case study, I will be spending less time worrying about how my writing will come across and spend more time doing the actual activity so that I can learn more about my industry. I will also be using some of their advice that I learned and use it to my advantage when I come to start my own business like figuring out how to create a work-life balance as well as working hard enough that my business becomes profitable as it will be mine alone. I will be looking into other interior designers/creators and try to use what I have learned here to develop my writing skills by getting clear, concise information across to the reader as well as use their mistakes as learning opportunities for myself when it comes time for me to delve into the real world as a self-employed person.
The Sorry Girls
The Sorry Girls
Starting with just two Canadian College students, a camera and a dream, Kelsey MacDermaid and Becky Wright started their youtube journey in 2010 with their first video DIY NEON HI-LITER HALLOWEEN COSTUME and have since accumulated over 2 million subscribers. They now have a full scale digital media brand that employs 11 people with different job roles (12 if we include Danny the office pup), This includes Rochelle Gracey and Rachael Nyhuus who are new to the channel and host their own respective series on the channel called How To Go Do and Project Profit.
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They gained a lot of regular viewers when they got their own studio which happened to be a massive loft and they created a series called Loft Vibes where they would be designing and updating the loft to fit their needs as their team grew over the years. In 2020 they said goodbye to their loft studio and hello to their new warehouse studio, since the audience loved Loft Vibes so much though they kept the series name and made a whole new set of videos designing their new space.
Some challenges they have faced over the years is balancing their values as a company with the type of content they make. They focus heavily on sustainability but they used to have a series catered to small budget DIY's called Dollar Store DIY's but it isn't sustainable to buy things brand new and destroy them to create something new and since these pieces are so cheap they would often be made from non sustainable materials so they replaced the series with Thrift Flips & Upcycles.
As of may 2023 The Sorry Girls released their own ultimate room makeover course which costs $116 and has over nine chapters filled with condensed knowledge they have accumulated from over 10 years of designing spaces as well as neat tips and tricks and how to share your space on social media to promote yourself.
Reflect upon doing the case study
Experience
I have been watching The Sorry Girls for years and I thought they would make a great case study for this project because they have inspired so much of my style as a designer especially when it comes to sustainability and DIY. I sat looking for the information that I knew about the team already from watching their content but I didn't want to waste a bunch of time scrubbing their videos for minute pieces of info they have dropped here and there in conversation so i just used what I could find from their website and instagram.
Reflection
After spending some time on their website i was considering applying for their course as I know I have gaps in my knowledge and skillset as I am an inexperienced interior designer but it was very expensive and after looking at their chapters I decided I knew 90% of what they were teaching from just watching their channel for so long and decided against but but it did get me thinking about looking for other courses to fill my skill gaps. I also learned that their income streams are very varied and I think this is vital for me as someone who wants to be successful I want to make money is as many ways as possible.
Action
Based on what I learned about their income streams I going to do further research into how the turn my different skills into their own source of income. I am also going to research into different courses I could take to fill my skill gaps or add new skills that would make me more profitable as an interior designer.
Julie Jones™ Designs
Julie Jones
Not much is known about Julie Jones as she is fairly new to using social media for her career but from what i can find she started her career by getting a CIDA certified bachelors in interior design and fine arts from two different colleges in California in 2008. She got her first gig deigning residential spaces and new construction but specialising in kitchens and bathrooms. She met her husband in college and later had four kids while also focusing on expanding her career which she now has over 15 years experience in.
In 2021 she downloaded TikTok and started sharing her paintings with the world but her content evolved into interior design comedy videos and after people started asking serious design questions she made actual interior design content. at this point she made the decision to take her business soley online and take on virtual clients and share her design processes on these clients homes on TikTok for everyone to interact with.
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Her TikTok account has over 500 thousand followers and her videos reach up to 4 million views and over 9 million likes accross her whole channel. Recently She updated her website with a Style quiz to help her audience define their design style. Her website as a whole shows that she has a wide range of services that she offers and within those she has different price points and she also offers classes and workshops for aspiring interior designers too.
My results after taking the design quiz!
Reflect upon doing the case study
Experience
Tonight I researched into someone who I've only recently come to know about due to my constant procrastination on TikTok but as a professional space planner and interior designer her content hooked me right from the beginning and in such a short time I learned so much from her. I will say it was very difficult to find information about her as she is pretty new to the social media space but she also has hundreds of TikToks so it would take me a long time to find my what I needed from just them.
Reflection
Her website was so helpful to me as I had no idea that space planning and interior design could be charged and categorised as different services as well as adding in person full redesign services and course & workshops. She's really helped me see how I can charge for multiple levels of budgets and also how to have something for all kinds of clients.
Action
With this knowledge I am going to split up my services on my own business site to attract as many customers as possible as having different services at different price points will allow consumers to choose what fits their budget and needs as apposed to only having a few services that don't offer enough for the price.
References
Anon (n.d.) Julie JonesTM designs, Julie JonesTM Designs. Available at: https://www.juliejonesdesigns.com/ (Accessed: 12 February 2024).
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Anon (n.d.) Make your day, TikTok. Available at: https://www.tiktok.com/@juliejonesdesigns?lang=en (Accessed: 12 February 2024).
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Anon (n.d.) The sorry girls, The Sorry Girls. Available at: https://www.thesorrygirls.com/ (Accessed: 13 November 2023).
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Designs, J.J. (n.d.) Julie Jones designs, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/@juliejonesdesigns (Accessed: 12 February 2024).
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Girls, T.S. (2023) 'Drumroll please ...' [Instagram]. 16 May. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/thesorrygirls/p/CsTrS88NFRr/ (Accessed: 13 November 2023)
Girls, T.S. (n.d.) TheSorryGirls, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/@TheSorryGirls/featured (Accessed: 13 November 2023).
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Marshall, L. (2022). Mr. Kate’s Joey And Kate On Inspiration, Spring Collections, And More - Exclusive Interview. [online] The List. Available at: https://www.thelist.com/822629/mr-kates-joey-and-kate-on-inspiration-spring-collections-and-more-exclusive-interview/ (Accessed: 19 September 2023).
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Kate, M. (n.d.). Because Why Not? Available at: https://shop.mrkate.com/pages/about-us (Accessed: 19 September 2023).
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Kate, M. (n.d.). Mr. Kate, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDVPcEbVLQgLZX0Rt6jo34A (Accessed: 19 September 2023)
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