What mindset should I use to approach 2026?

Dear Sean,

This past year has been, in a word, tumultuous. As 2026 approaches, it feels like we might be entering a new normal. With that in mind, I would love to know your thoughts on what the new year might bring for designers, and what we can do to be better as business owners.

Resolution Ready

Dear Resolution Ready,

There is no shortage of advice on what to do to get ready for 2026—everything from taking a proper rest to working on your finances and owning the idiosyncrasy of design, which I wrote about in my last column. Please take it all in.

My specific thought on 2026 is that designers will finally be forced to choose between being remarkable or simply marginally better than the rest. Being remarkable has nothing to do with being a better human, or being better than a machine. It means being masterful—as a designer and as a business—at telling the story that needs to be told.

There is risk and tension in every story—the aim is to actually hold both with intention, and be purposeful in their resolution. Ironically, it means that you should find a way to be more vulnerable, not less. I will forever be mystified by the idea that so many designers take risks they should never take, and do not take them when they obviously should.

I have asked many, many designers how often they just get it wrong; where the client hates what they are presented and rejects all or most of their vision. The answer is never or incredibly rarely. Yet when I ask what is risked on this ability to communicate design, invariably the answer is almost nothing. For instance, if you are paid hourly to design, and the design is awesome, you actually make less than if you have to fix it. Your risk is not being wrong—it is actually being right, as in you will make less if you do not have to do more work. Crazy.

Even more profound is so many designers’ cash flow. Instead of being paid before doing the work, most are paid after. Why? It would seem that allowing clients to constantly be in the position of judge and jury of the quality of the work is a recipe for unnecessary anxiety and tension. No client should have this power. And yet, they often seem to.

So what do I think about 2026? The power of a designer’s voice has to be sacrosanct—the path from potential clients to actual clients, idea to design, design to production, and production to installation is the story to be told as only you and your firm can tell it. (Revisit the analogy of the Slinky, where ever stronger metal ribs provide ever more flexibility—the same should be true of the way you tell the story of your business so that it aligns with your story as a designer.)

Imagine what it was like to be a photographer 20 years ago. Photographers saw digital coming and had to figure out how they were going to not only stay relevant but reinvent what value meant to those receiving their work. No designer ever thought that world was coming for them. Yet, here we are. AI, distribution logistics and the ability to execute design grow infinitely easier daily. There will always be value in the physical manifestation of design, but I would not want to stake my career on it. As any designer who has hired a photographer to shoot their work knows, value has been redefined to focus on intention first, execution second. The value is seeing what you cannot even though you are the one who created it in the first place.

In 2026, figuring out how to have your business be the narrator of your story as a designer will matter most of all. Risk alignment, improved cash flow, understanding margins are all fancy ways of saying you have to go first. Your client is always wrong, because how could they know what you know? You need to create the joy that matters most to everyone involved. It’s your story to tell, so tell it. Change is hard because it takes courage to undo what you might value but not deeply desire. And, make no mistake, manifesting the power of your desire is what will change your world and ours. Wishing you good luck and an awesome new year.

Sean Low is the go-to business coach for interior designers. His clients have included Nate Berkus, Sawyer Berson, Vicente Wolf, Barry Dixon, Kevin Isbell and McGrath II. Low earned his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and as founder-president of The Business of Being Creative, he has long consulted for design businesses. In his Business Advice column for BOH, he answers designers’ most pressing questions. Have a dilemma? Send us an email—and don’t worry, we can keep your details anonymous.

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