After the design work is completed, the furniture installed, and the happy homeowners settled, publishing a project in AD can help attract the kind of attention that leads to new work. However, for many designers, the pitching and publication process often feels shrouded in secrecy. When is the right time to pitch? What assets do editors need to review? Is the project a better fit for print or digital—and why?
AD’s West Coast Editor Mayer Rus, Senior Design Editor Bebe Howorth, and Global Visuals Director Michael Shome, along with photographer and frequent AD collaborator Stephen Kent Johnson, shared their industry truths for the panel discussion Inside the AD Edit: How Great Projects Get Published at the AD PRO Design Dialogues summit on September 16.
Watch the full video here; we’ve also gathered key takeaways from the talk below.
Channel your inner art director and editor
“When designers share their work, I look for photos that tell a story and give a glimpse of the personality of those who live there,” said Shome.
A project photo should be “the best version of your work, not necessarily the exact way the clients live in it,” revealed Kent Johnson, who has shot projects from Hong Kong to Hawaii for AD. A professional interior stylist helps achieve the look, bringing in props, extra furniture, and accessories that keep the images engaging. A good photographer knows that an image set must include vertical and horizontal versions of every room, wide and detail shots, and homeowner portraits.
Don’t skimp on the photographer
“Building a relationship with a photographer is essential,” said Rus, explaining that it helps maintain a consistent aesthetic across your platforms. “The best marketing you will ever do and the best money you will ever spend is getting your work photographed for web or socials, whether or not a magazine wants to publish it.”
Print versus digital? Consider the timeline
Rus made efforts to dispell any notion that AD’s digital home tours were less worthy. The old hierarchies, he explained, are long gone. “Increasingly, many designers are interested in digital because those stories get turned around much faster and up on our website and socials,” he said. After all, “I’m not 100% convinced that most readers make a distinction between a print or digital project.”
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