Aspiring Designers

I often receive questions from aspiring design students asking for advice. Many seem overwhelmed by school projects (which I remember all to well).

My advice is this, Take chances with your school projects. Now is the time to step outside of the expected box. It’s all in the PRESENTATION!

I remember my junior year project like it was yesterday. The assignment was to design a day care center. We spent months researching codes, saftey requirements, structural issues, programs etc. When presentation day rolled around many projects looked bland and expected. It was easy to fall into the hum drum of logisitcs, and therefore create an uninspired design.

A project should visually present itself as something unique, your interpretation of the information gathered. While it is our job to implement the important issues of design (a designer’s goal is to create safe, functional environments for the public) you should also excersice your creativity to make them unique to each client.

My college friends still laugh about my day care center presentation. I was adamant to break out of the mold and offer something different. Some said my presentation looked like a night club for toddlers. While my professors thought it was “a bit too out there”, it was this project that caught the eye of my first boss and landed me my first job. In a sea of sameness, you have to set yourself apart to be recognized. Find the energy to go the extra creative mile.

Here are a few examples of various presentations from last year

The homeowners wanted a casual elegant room. The presentation reflects that with a soft palette of greens and tans.

This is not my day care project from College, but it is a night club I designed called BarCode. The owner wanted an upscale sophisticated modern look. The presentation demonstrates that with moody lighting, black and white artwork and a sleek red sofa with metal martini tables in front

Homeowners often have a hard time seeing past the room’s current condition. With all of the pink carpet and white paint, the presentation was critical in showing the room’s potential. (see below)

Carol W. from NH asked

Is Western Interiors Magazine available on the East Coast? I am pretty sure Western Interiors is a national publication. It should be available at most news stands or larger book stores like Barnes and Noble. Below is the magazine’s website. You can also see pictures and read the article here (but I enjoy reading books and magazines when you can hold the book in your hand and smell the ink and paper - it reminds me of my elementary school library)

www.westernid.com

Happy New Year!

Thank you for all of the Christmas and New Years’ emails - I found some time to relax over the weekend and read all of them. It’s nice to hear from you and I am starting to recognize some of your names. It’s nice to know you keep checking back.

I am back in the studio for a day and will fly out tomorrow for my appearances in Salt Lake City.

Western Interiors hosted a holiday party at their headquarters and I found out that the February/March issue will feature my weekend place in Santa Monica. I wrote a while back about the photo shoot (you may have to check the archive folder to the right to read about it) In fact, I’m pretty excited that it made the cover as well! The issue should start showing up on newstands Jan 10th. Below is a picture from the Western Interiors Holiday party. L to R Adam Fortner Art Associate Editor, Laura Mauk Senior Editor, me, Amanda Dameron Associate Editor.

My shirt is a good example of why I should not wear pinstripes when on camera. It looks like it’s vibrating - makes me a bit dizzy just looking at it