AI for Interior
Designers™
Designers™
Field Day Week 9The Tool Map
Visual Connector
Every tool we covered.
Where it plugs in, and why.
Hover a tool to light up the stages it serves. Click any node to see when you reach for it, why it beats the alternative, and a real artifact from my own studio that came out of it.
Agent owns
Agent drafts
Human led
Destination app
The Map
Tools feed stages. Stages feed apps.
Left is what you open. Center is where you are in the job. Right is where the repetitive version of that work eventually lives.
What you open
Claude
Voice, writing, agentic sourcing, artifacts
Perplexity
Fast sourced research with citations
Gemini
Images, renders, Sheets and Slides
NotebookLM
Your documents into decks and briefs
Canva
Brand kit and client-facing polish
Call recorder
Transcript from every conversation
Where you are in the job
Stage 01
Lead and intake
Human led
Stage 02
Discovery and onboarding
Agent drafts
Stage 03
Concept and direction
Human led
Stage 04
Sourcing and spec
Agent owns
Stage 05
Presentation
Agent drafts
Stage 06
Backend operations
Agent owns
Stage 07
Marketing and visibility
Agent drafts
Stage 08
Admin and financial
Human led
Where it ends up living
App
Concept Director
Accurate concepts off a real site photo
App
Scene Director
Staging trained on your own style
App
Sourcing Brief Builder
Brief in, comparison table out
Live
FF and E Master Library
One product record, mapped to accounting
App
Backend Pipeline
One input, every document
App
SEO and Marketing Studio
Findable when AI answers in place
Select a node
Start anywhere on the map
Hover to trace a tool through the pipeline. Click to read when you reach for it, why it earns the slot, and what it produced in my own design studio.
If You Already Pay For Something Else
The alternatives, honestly
I teach a specific stack because I use it daily and because it consolidates. That does not make everything else wrong. Here is the wider field so you can map what you already own onto the pipeline instead of buying again.
Category
Large language models
What I teach
Claude
- ChatGPTBroadest ecosystem, strong agent mode
- GeminiBest if you live in Google Workspace
- Microsoft CopilotBest if you live in Office
- PerplexityResearch first, writing second
- GrokFast, looser guardrails
Category
Note takers and transcription
What I use
Notes by Gemini and Zoom AI Companion
- Otter.aiThe long-standing default
- Fireflies.aiStrong CRM hand-offs
- FathomGenerous free tier
- GranolaWorks from your own typed notes
- Read.aiMeeting analytics on top
- Phone voice memoStill the best on a job site
Category
Generative images
What I teach
Gemini, Nano Banana
- MidjourneyMost beautiful, least controllable
- ChatGPT imagesGood at following instructions
- Adobe FireflyCommercial licensing clarity
- IdeogramBest when text must be legible
- FluxOpen, highly tunable
- LeonardoStyle presets and consistency tools
Category
Generative video
Where it fits
Stage 7, marketing only
- Google VeoStrongest Workspace integration
- SoraInside the ChatGPT ecosystem
- RunwayReal editing controls
- Luma Dream MachineFast image to motion
- KlingLong clips, strong motion
- Canva videoEasiest if you already brand there
Category
Documents into decks
What I teach
NotebookLM
- GammaFastest good-looking deck
- Beautiful.aiLocked layouts, hard to break
- Canva MagicStays inside your brand kit
- Copilot in PowerPointIf the client wants a PPTX
- TomeNarrative-led decks
Category
Research and sourcing
What I teach
Perplexity and Claude research
- ChatGPT deep researchLong multi-source reports
- Gemini Deep ResearchExports straight to Docs
- ConsensusEvidence-graded, if you need proof
- Plain vendor sitesStill the only true price source
Category
Automation and agents
What I teach
Claude agentic browser and custom apps
- ZapierEasiest connector library
- MakeMore logic, steeper curve
- n8nSelf-hosted, no per-task cost
- ChatGPT agent modeSimilar browsing behavior
- Google AI StudioWhere the mini apps get built
Category
Brand and client-facing design
What I teach
Canva
- Adobe ExpressIf you already own Creative Cloud
- FigmaOverkill unless you build web
- Claude artifactsLive pages instead of PDFs
Say this out loud when you show the alternatives slide: the tool is not the strategy. Every class this quarter is taught tool-agnostic on purpose, because whatever is best today will not be best in six months. What does not change is the pipeline, the brief, and the checkpoint.