How a Global Design Team Found Its Rhythm with Rayon | Rayon x Jarret Yoshida — Transcript

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1. 0:00I'm Jared Yoshida and I have an interior
2. 0:02design firm and we're based in New York
3. 0:04and Honolulu. We have clients also in
4. 0:07other cities across the world. We're
5. 0:09very fortunate. We've been doing sort
6. 0:12[music] of I guess the idea of remote
7. 0:15work between Hawaii and New York thing
8. 0:17for the last 20 years. So the technology
9. 0:20the past five to 10 has really started
10. 0:24to catch up to the way that I've worked
11. 0:27and it has made my life so easy. It's
12. 0:30made my team's life less complicated.
13. 0:33Feeling grateful every day that tech is
14. 0:37[music] finally where we want to be. 95%
15. 0:40of our work tends to be residential.
16. 0:42Well, 5% tends to be offices and our
17. 0:46residential clients are either in
18. 0:49apartments or in freestanding homes
19. 0:53across the United States. Most of our
20. 0:56work tends to be in apartments, which
21. 0:58comes with a particularly challenging
22. 1:00set of demands from building architects
23. 1:05and supers and insurance companies. and
24. 1:09Riion has been really helpful in helping
25. 1:12us stay organized and responsive to what
26. 1:15their needs are as well as our clients.
27. 1:18I think the challenge we had before
28. 1:20using Rion is having a software platform
29. 1:24that was helpful when we have a team
30. 1:27that's spread all over the world and
31. 1:30often we're not working the same time.
32. 1:33It may be asynchronous, right? or
33. 1:35someone will do something at 9:00 a.m.
34. 1:38New York time and then 9:00 p.m. New
35. 1:40York time because of where they are in
36. 1:41the time zone. or even if it's working
37. 1:44at the same time, having two people be
38. 1:47able to do that in a one office has been
39. 1:51transforming in terms of our
40. 1:54productivity, in terms of not making
41. 1:57mistakes and saying, "Oh, I modified
42. 2:00file A instead of file A3." Which is a
43. 2:04perennial issue for anyone working in an
44. 2:07architecture or interior design.
45. 2:10It's one that Ran has really smoothed
46. 2:12out for us so we can focus on making
47. 2:15things beautiful now instead of did we
48. 2:18work on the right file or and it happens
49. 2:21even if you're really organized it
50. 2:23really does happen and someone opens the
51. 2:26wrong file accidentally right just human
52. 2:29error it'll happen so Rayon has
53. 2:32transformed that for us and we're really
54. 2:35really happy we used to have all these
55. 2:37different email threads heads or we
56. 2:40would go ahead and say, "Ooh, wait,
57. 2:43which drawing is the latest version?" As
58. 2:45we're saying, right, that back and forth
59. 2:48and the mistakes just really slowed us
60. 2:52down and so we're just moving so much
61. 2:55more quickly. It's been fantastic.
62. 2:58What's happened is that with everything
63. 3:00now in one place and with clear
64. 3:03delineation of what's the most current,
65. 3:05what's not, we're drawing, we're
66. 3:08updating, and we're sharing plans in
67. 3:10real time. [music] And so when we can
68. 3:13add comments right on the file and edit
69. 3:16it together, right, someone in New York,
70. 3:19someone in Mexico, someone in Brazil,
71. 3:22it's just such a huge timesaver. that if
72. 3:26we have a tight deadline [music] that's
73. 3:28been exposed on us, right, as happens
74. 3:31with every firm, three people can gang
75. 3:34up, divide it, fix it, check each
76. 3:38other's work instantaneously.
77. 3:40I mean, honestly, the way that we can
78. 3:42style plans here just makes everything
79. 3:46so much more visual, more engaging. also
80. 3:50[music] that between that and the
81. 3:54ability again to work at the same time,
82. 3:57it's changed our lives and has changed
83. 3:59it for the better. We were using
84. 4:02AutoCAD and you know very old school and
85. 4:06AutoCAD is great right in for some
86. 4:10things for what it was but it's legacy
87. 4:14software now. AutoCAD does not feel or
88. 4:18act like the way offices need to, right?
89. 4:22And when you work in design, you need to
90. 4:24acknowledge how people live. You need to
91. 4:26embrace in fact what people are doing
92. 4:29with their homes, not say to people,
93. 4:31hey, you should live like this. Rayon
94. 4:34embodies that idea. People want to work
95. 4:38remotely. People want to work on files
96. 4:40at the same time. Our projects have two
97. 4:44managers often, so we have overlap,
98. 4:47right? So someone gets sick, someone
99. 4:50else doesn't know what's happening. All
100. 4:53of that really makes so much more
101. 4:56valuable as a tool for us. Plus, it is a
102. 4:59more beautiful client presentation tool
103. 5:02for us as well. If segueing to that
104. 5:04being one of our favorite features, if
105. 5:06you will, it is obviously cloud-based
106. 5:10workspaces are where we all want to be,
107. 5:13right? But just as importantly is the
108. 5:17interface now. It's so much easier to
109. 5:20manipulate things for clients that they
110. 5:22can understand it. So sometimes when
111. 5:24they're having a question in real time
112. 5:27like I will be here one of my associates
113. 5:31will be let's say in Mexico City she is
114. 5:34updating things for our clients in
115. 5:36Hawaii and we're able to see and get
116. 5:40everything together in a way that
117. 5:42frankly the legacy software packages
118. 5:45could not do. They were not as quick.
119. 5:48The visual format was also not as easy
120. 5:52to understand for our clients. So, Rayon
121. 5:56has really helped with pushing deadlines
122. 5:59more [music] quickly with making sure
123. 6:01that clients can see the responsiveness
124. 6:04which they love doing. Architecture and
125. 6:06interior design is not a cheap date. So
126. 6:10when clients can see work hard at being
127. 6:13developed quickly, [music] it gives you
128. 6:15the value of what they're paying for
129. 6:18which does make bill paying I think a
130. 6:20little more
131. 6:21easy certainly less painful. [music] We
132. 6:24can make layout changes in the middle of
133. 6:27a meeting and we can style an updated
134. 6:30plan right there on the spot and add
135. 6:34comments for contractors. Sometimes just
136. 6:37a lastm minute edit really in minutes
137. 6:40and it feels more effortless for our
138. 6:42drafts people and for our clients. That
139. 6:45kind of speed, that kind of visual
140. 6:48clarity just wasn't possible for us.
141. 6:52Rayon has helped our actions to move
142. 6:56more quickly, to be more understandable,
143. 6:59[music]
144. 7:00and it's been a really fantastic tool
145. 7:03for the whole team. Our favorite
146. 7:05projects tend to be with clients who are
147. 7:08able to trust us with the design
148. 7:11process. And I really want to be clear,
149. 7:13obviously, [music] I want clients to
150. 7:15have opinions. I want to share feedback.
151. 7:18At a certain point, it is really helpful
152. 7:21for clients to be able to say, "Okay,
153. 7:24I'm not a designer. I work in finance. I
154. 7:27work in law. I need to trust who I'm
155. 7:30working with." And I've noticed that has
156. 7:32been very true particularly when my
157. 7:35first few clients, one of them ran W and
158. 7:38Women's World Daily, which are huge
159. 7:40fashion magazines. Another one was the
160. 7:42head of PR at Vogue. The clients who
161. 7:44understand [music]
162. 7:45how creative people work and know not to
163. 7:48second guess is always leading to a
164. 7:52project that is going to be more
165. 7:53beautiful that will take less billable
166. 7:55time. Now to be clear, it is hard to do
167. 7:59that for my own house. I had to
168. 8:02surrender to my team. I said the same
169. 8:04things that many of my clients do. So
170. 8:06this is said without judgment. This was
171. 8:08me, but my own house, right? 150 years
172. 8:10old, brownstone. It was bad. It had been
173. 8:13abandoned. It had been a drug den
174. 8:15before. It was really horrible. Yeah. It
175. 8:17It needed help, right? And so here's me
176. 8:20to my team. Oh, Christina,
177. 8:22do you think that's going to work out?
178. 8:25Oh, that color seems so assertive. I
179. 8:28don't know if I'm going to like that
180. 8:29color. And they have to sit me down and
181. 8:32be like, Jared, are you being for real
182. 8:34right now? You're doing exactly what you
183. 8:37see our clients do and you know does not
184. 8:39lead to a good design result. I'm like,
185. 8:42are you sure? And then I'm like, what
186. 8:44are what do you mean? Am I sure? I've
187. 8:45been doing this for 25 years. I am doing
188. 8:47exactly what our clients do. And that
189. 8:50reminder from them was so helpful,
190. 8:53right? And we work with a team where I'm
191. 8:55try to and I hope I have accomplished an
192. 8:58environment where critique is open. It's
193. 9:01honest. They do it in front of clients
194. 9:02and they'll say, "Char, I think that
195. 9:04this might work better." I'm like, "Oh
196. 9:05my god, you're right." Or, "Ooh, maybe
197. 9:07not because of blah blah blah." Right?
198. 9:08But this conversation is very open. And
199. 9:12so having clients that can be open to
200. 9:15new ideas, having clients that are open
201. 9:17to critique, and then ultimately having
202. 9:20clients that can surrender in the same
203. 9:22way that if I have to hire someone to
204. 9:26help me redo my contract for clients at
205. 9:29a certain point, I have to say, "Hey, I
206. 9:33am not a lawyer." when I have my
207. 9:36bookkeepers tell me these are the best
208. 9:38practices for how to manage my finances
209. 9:43I can ask questions and at a certain
210. 9:45point right I need to listen and and
211. 9:48defer and say hey I hired you because
212. 9:50you know what you're doing so you know
213. 9:52design is something where people think
214. 9:55is subjective and it is to a certain
215. 9:58point and then at that point it is
216. 10:00helpful to be the kind of client in any
217. 10:04situation ation whether it's design,
218. 10:06bookkeeping, law, what have you, science
219. 10:08and say all right I refer to you I
220. 10:11definitely would say that about the
221. 10:12client experience like the clients you
222. 10:15can do that have the best result in
223. 10:18terms of emotional investment money time
224. 10:25aesthetic so that would be a little bit
225. 10:27about us I guess and I think the other
226. 10:29thing is
227. 10:31because I'm fortunate to live all over
228. 10:34right? Visited my team and also lived in
229. 10:38Asia, Hawaii, all over North America. I
230. 10:42don't have a particular aesthetic. Uh my
231. 10:46first job was at the Smithsonian.
232. 10:47[music] So I I learned there to really
233. 10:49value most design aesthetics,
234. 10:53if not all, except for maybe Memphis
235. 10:55coming out of Italy in the 80s. I No,
236. 10:58that's unreal. But other than that,
237. 11:00being able to value a lot of different
238. 11:03aesthetics means that I can understand
239. 11:05our clients, what they want, our team
240. 11:08and their own individual aesthetic
241. 11:10preferences, how to align them, and then
242. 11:12also how to guide them down the right
243. 11:14channel in terms of creating something
244. 11:17that will not only look good now, but
245. 11:19will look good 25 years from now. And I
246. 11:22I do know that having done this now for
247. 11:2525 years, I am older in the field, which
248. 11:28is alarming cuz it feels like I started
249. 11:30just yesterday. My work from 2000 is
250. 11:34actually on my website now. And none of
251. 11:36my clients are ever able to guess which
252. 11:39one it is ever. And that happens when
253. 11:43you think about various design
254. 11:46aesthetics and you mix them together and
255. 11:49you try to come up with something that's
256. 11:50personal for the client, not something
257. 11:52that's a cliche page out of a catalog,
258. 11:56no matter how trendy that is. And yeah,
259. 11:59I know our clients value that from us as
260. 12:02well. Surrendering the design of a home
261. 12:04where you spend most of your time or at
262. 12:06least you wish you spent most of your
263. 12:08time, right?
264. 12:10It's really challenging because you're
265. 12:13caught up in all these fantasies, all
266. 12:15the whatifs, and we're there to call
267. 12:18through the whatifs, see what's actually
268. 12:21valuable, and then make it happen within
269. 12:23that budget. And it's tricky. The funny
270. 12:27thing is, and and I'm not just saying
271. 12:28this, I could retire, but when things
272. 12:31like rayon happen that make the tiny
273. 12:35things that are so irritating, the sand
274. 12:38in my shoe go away, it makes me want to
275. 12:42continue working, right? It's like if
276. 12:44you have a long hike, I'll do the hike,
277. 12:46but if you told me I have to do the hike
278. 12:48with sand in my shoe, I'd be like, "No,
279. 12:50thank you." Right? And rayon is the kind
280. 12:52of thing that not only is a better shoe,
281. 12:55it gets rid of the sand as well. It just
282. 12:58it transforms the experience for
283. 13:00everyone in our office. And yeah, it
284. 13:04really does make me think, huh, I can
285. 13:07focus now on being more of a designer
286. 13:09and less on pretending that I work in
287. 13:11it. No interest.