Chapter III. Questionnaire Collection

Chapter III.

This is the most important conversation before the concept. Every decision you make will depend on what you uncover at this stage.

And again, we both we never set out to create a standard questionnaire.

Any designer will tell you that psychology sits at the centre of a successful space. How your clients think, what they notice, how they make decisions is just as important as the materials you specify or how you arrange the furniture. You can feel it when this has been considered from the beginning. You can also feel it when it has not.

Over the last few years we started paying closer attention to this. Through conversations, behavioural research, forecasting reports and podcasts, we began to notice patterns in how people talk about their homes. What they say they want. What they actually respond to. The small throwaway comments that give away more than the formal brief. This completely changed how we listened and how we asked questions.

From there, once the client has signed, the questionnaire is designed to guide a first exploratory session. Not an interview, but a conversation that feels enjoyable for both sides. You move through how they live, their routines and rituals, what they are drawn to, visual direction and boards and then into room specific questions that refine the brief further.

When a client feels genuinely understood, they are more open to seeing something they might not have chosen themselves. You are more likely to create a strong first concept, with less resistance and more confidence in your suggestions.

Even in the first collection, we never wanted to create a “standard” questionnaire. But time has a way of revealing which questions really hold their weight. After using them on real projects, doing more research, and listening to how other designers were working with them, we could see where things needed to be stripped back, sharpened or completely rethought.

For this edition, we took the original layout, pulled it apart and started again. Every prompt has been edited, tested and, where it was not doing enough, removed. These questionnaires are designed to become something you return to across the project, not a form that disappears into a folder after the first meeting.

To sit alongside them, we have also re-recorded our video workshops. We know the design world can often feel like a closed book, so we wanted to show you exactly how to use these questions in practice. In the workshops we both talk through why each section is there, how to navigate the conversation, the kinds of answers to listen out for and what they might be telling you beneath the surface.

And on a final note. As with all our resources, the questionnaires themselves are fully customisable and adaptable, so you can make them a part of your own studio. You can use them as they are, customise the design, edit the questions to match your voice, or pull out sections to build on your existing process. There is also an interactive version, so you can either work directly on screen or print and annotate by hand, depending on how you like to prepare.

Behind our resources

Each template comes with notes, explanations, copy and guidance, and in the supporting video workshops we walk you through the structure, the language, customisations and the design so that every page makes sense. The design world can often feel like a closed book, and these resources are exactly what we wished existed but couldn't find.

What sits inside these templates goes far beyond layout. The content is built from research, real projects and conversations with designers, the kind of knowledge you cannot find anywhere else online.

There are no filler pages, no placeholder text, no vague headings. Everything is considered and everything has a reason to be there.

There is one design language running through the collection. A single, timeless, editorial style that you can adapt to your own colours, typefaces and projects. The writing, the grids, the visual hierarchy all feel closer to a publication than a standard template.

We use the same example client and project across all of our documents so an introduction, proposals, client-facing presentations, schedules and completion all sit within one story, making customising for your own studio seamless.

Every part of these documents comes from us: the structure, the writing, the layouts, the example client and project, the references, the video workshops. We know them down to the last, finest detail; each page has been developed and refined in our own studio. They are there to be used again and again in yours, across each new project.

< Studio Notes

Chapter III. Questionnaire Collection

Chapter III.

This is the most important conversation before the concept. Every decision you make will depend on what you uncover at this stage.

And again, we both we never set out to create a standard questionnaire.

Behind our resources

What sits inside these templates goes far beyond layout. The content is built from research, real projects and conversations with designers, the kind of knowledge you cannot find anywhere else online.

There are no filler pages, no placeholder text, no vague headings. Everything is considered and everything has a reason to be there.

There is one design language running through the collection. A single, timeless, editorial style that you can adapt to your own colours, typefaces and projects. The writing, the grids, the visual hierarchy all feel closer to a publication than a standard template.

We use the same example client and project across all of our documents so an introduction, proposals, client-facing presentations, schedules and completion all sit within one story, making customising for your own studio seamless.

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Chapter III. Questionnaire Collection

Chapter III.

This is the most important conversation before the concept. Every decision you make will depend on what you uncover at this stage.And again, we both we never set out to create a standard questionnaire.

Going against tradition

Traditional design questionnaires often focus on a list of preferences. Desired colours, desired styles, desired images saved on a Pinterest board.

Of course, these can be helpful as a loose reference, but most of the time we find that clients will gravitate to something trend led. They only ever show a hint of who someone is and, if you are not careful, can hand over the creative lead from the very beginning.

Someone can easily be drawn to traditional Italian patina and cold stainless steel at the same time. The Casa Ren questionnaire is designed to hold that complexity, rather than forcing everything into a single label.

Art and science

The focus here is on expectations, priorities, timelines, investment, how decisions will be made and who needs to be involved. Much of this is usually kept in a designer’s notepad or even just as a mental note. Here, it has a place, that you can keep referring back to.

When a client feels genuinely understood, they are more open to seeing something they might not have chosen themselves. You are more likely to create a strong first concept, with less resistance and more confidence in your suggestions.

Behind our resources

What sits inside these templates goes far beyond layout. The content is built from research, real projects and conversations with designers, the kind of knowledge you cannot find anywhere else online.

There are no filler pages, no placeholder text, no vague headings. Everything is considered and everything has a reason to be there.

There is one design language running through the collection. A single, timeless, editorial style that you can adapt to your own colours, typefaces and projects. The writing, the grids, the visual hierarchy all feel closer to a publication than a standard template.

We use the same example client and project across all of our documents so an introduction, proposals, client-facing presentations, schedules and completion all sit within one story, making customising for your own studio seamless.

Account

Welcome to Your Account

This is the most important conversation before the concept. Every decision you make will depend on what you uncover at this stage.

And again, we both we never set out to create a standard questionnaire.