Your Skills are Transferable.

The best work happens when you use what you already know to bring a new perspective to other design practices.

Greater Accra Regional Hospital at Ridge. This project was completed while I was at Perkins&Will. Photo by Mike Herboth, 2017.

One of my favorite things to remind young designers is that skills are transferable. Graphic designers are trained to think in layers, color, contrast, and clarity — and those same instincts translate beautifully to interiors.

When I started working on immersive environments, it took me a minute to think in 3-D. I did not know CAD, Revit, or Sketch-Up (still don’t!). However, the tools I already knew — Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign — became my superpowers. I could take the architects line drawings and render elevations directly in Illustrator or Photoshop. Then I could take these images and weave them into an amazing storytelling deck in Indesign for the client to understand the concept and solutions.

Now there are all kinds of AI tools to help us render, illustrate, and mock-up ideas for our clients (even ChatGPT). Here are my go-to programs and how I use them for interior projects.