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Interior Design 1 Part 5 Assignment: Design Proposal – Digital Presentation

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Part 5 Feedback Reflection

Overall the feedback for this part was good but my tutor stated I should ‘play with form a little longer before heading in a set direction’. I fully appreciate this comment, I got committed with my pavilion design too early, I then felt too involved to change or experiment further. Although I did make some changes to the pavilion I can now see that I should have played around with different ideas before getting committed to one.

I was pleased my tutor thought I made appropriate observations and analysed information well, as I spent a lot of time on the site of my pavilion to make these observations and undertook research from a number of sources. My tutor however encouraged me to experiment and not be scared to challenge when I had commented “..to create anything too contemporary in design or materials I think would contrast too highly with the village vernacular and be disapproved of by the villagers and Parish Council”. I thought playing is safe in this instance was the right thing to do – but I must ensure I push myself out of the safety zone in the future.

During this part I created a number of models which my tutor was positive about. Model making has been very time consuming but I have found it very beneficial, particularly helpful for problem solving or being able to highlight issues.

My tutor asked if I had tried moving the spiral staircase for it to begin above the slide, making concentric circles with the stair and the slide. I had not tried this but only wish I had – that would have look wonderful!

The tutor also asked if I had thought about 3D modelling for my pavilion design, I did think about this and realise it would have been particularly useful for my technical drawings. 3D modelling is however not a skill I have attempted as yet and I had taken a lot of time on this part of the course that I did not feel I had the time to attempt it.

It was suggested that I stand back from my work, choose key images and give them room to breathe. I have to admit that when I am collating and presenting work, I can get worried about leaving work out, be that written work or images. I am very aware that I do this and would love to have the skill to edit and distil effectively – something I will aim for in my assessment portfolio.

Part 5 Assignment – Reflection

Undertaking the design process, as suggested by the course material; historical research, visiting and understanding the site and precedent research has been a very informative and insightful way to initiate and build on ideas.

I’ve found it a very enjoyable process, in particular as it pertains to the area I live in. To have a greater understanding of the area’s history is interesting to me and gave me a bases for the pavilions design. Marrying this with the here and now, social and geographical aspects of the site and the brief was vital in the decision process. The precedent studies I undertook did not so much inform my decisions but helped bolster them by providing beautiful and exciting examples of what could be created, encouraging my ideas. This also furthered my knowledge of design by discovering buildings and objects I was previously unaware of.

The processes I went through provided me with solid ideas of the materials to use, those which related both to the past but which worked with the current natural and manmade landscape of the site.

All of these methods were hugely valuable, without going through these I may have been floundering around with ideas and its likely I would have created a pavilion with little meaning to its location and its occupants. 

The process taught me that I am able to analyse and think creatively. I am able to build on an idea and communicate it in a number of ways, continually reassessing and improving.

The conclusions that I draw from this process is that I have developed my skills from the start of the course and continue to develop. It is good to take time to reflect, as mentioned many times before I can get frustrated that I am not developing quick enough, taking time to stop and appreciate how much I have developed and learned so far is important to encourage me to continue.

At this point I am not sure what I would do differently as I have tried a number of different communication and design methods that my current skills allow. In future I would incorporate all of the process taken due to the value I feel they had in the design process. I feel I worked in in line with and am meeting all the assessment criteria.

Reflecting on the course as a whole I feel I’ve learned many new skills and widened my knowledge, on areas I was expecting and some I was not. The course has had a greater architectural bases than I was expecting and this has been a good thing. I have always had an interest and love of architecture but knew very little about it. I realise I am only scratching the surface but widening my knowledge and interest is a satisfying thing and making me see interior design as a bigger picture than I perhaps viewed it before. I am also gaining skills in design software, this is a slow process as I knew it would be but I am getting there, bit by bit and feel very pleased that I am managing to use the software, if still quite crudely.

Interior Design 1 Part 4 Assignment: Visualisation

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Assignment 4 Feedback reflection

I was so pleased that my tutor commented on my improved drawing skills as this was an area I myself felt I had improved in, particularly the bedroom sketches I had undertaken.

My tutor had previously asked me to reference others work more often, which he noted I had done – but which I must keep up.

The comments about my cube studies were better than I expected, I initially struggled with this exercise but I persevered and spend a lot of time to aim for better results. Again, my tutor gave particularly positive feedback about my collages, in particular the digital collage, this was very reassuring and encouraging.

Although I had very positive feedback about my bedroom perspective my tutor was a little more negative about the ellipses on my lampshade – which when reviewing I can see why – some more practice required in this area!

I sensed a little disappointment with my actual assignment piece, which I think is fair as I struggled to get a strong sense of what I was aiming to achieve. He suggested I experiment a little more with media, explore and find what works best, also to annotate the preparatory work which I displayed as part of the assessment, also to think about the structure in the real world. All feedback which I think is fair and I will aim to improve on/include in future work.

Assignment 4

Assignment 4 Reflection

This has been an enjoyable and enriching part of the course as I can see progression in my work, particularly my drawing abilities.

Having not drawn for years my initial attempts felt childlike and with little skill. Although I have a long way to go the practice I have been doing, along with research into techniques I believe has benefited me and I can see improvements. 

During these exercises however there were times when I got frustrated with my attempts, particularly during the texture exercises. In the midst of my frustrations I wondered why I need to sketch with any ability when we have computer packages which can do so much of the work for us? I read that Le Corbusier “used sketches to record things he felt a camera could not, such as concepts, underlying structure or feelings experienced in a space” (Spankie, 2009:51). Reading this at the at the time I was struggling helped to spur me on and appreciate that sketching is more than trying to create a picture.

When I did manage to create a texture or sketch which bore some resemblance to that I endeavoured to portray I felt very satisfied which further helped to motivate me with my drawing.

Learning one- and two-point perspective felt like a real skill to have and is hugely beneficial in achieving realistic drawings. It made me think that perhaps one day I can whip out a sketch book and undertake a quick and accurate sketch for a client, which can help to shape the beginnings of an interior and assist with clients perceptions – not something that is so easy to do so quickly with a computer – and a task which can easily and quickly demonstrate a level of skill to a client.

Using a variety of media has been valuable. It has provided me with an opportunity to understand different mediums and get to know which I work best with and can provide the look I aim to achieve.

I spent time looking at sketches of Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Norman Foster and Zaha Hadid which made me see real benefits of sketching as it allows the designer to provide their thought processes, through diagrams, sketches and text – and which can also be very beautiful.  Zaha Hadid’s are so full of movement with some sketches only showing squiggles and fluid lines – I expect to express the fluidity she intends for an interior. I have taken a lot of pleasure in discovering Frank Lloyd Wright’s sketches, many of which are themselves works of art, with their delicate colours interpreting a real beauty in the architecture and its surroundings, often depicting the atmosphere created by cascading water. I found that Frank Lloyd Wright’s work reminds me of the art work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh an artist and designer I have admired since I was young.

When looking at the works of interior designers I noted that designers Harding and Read have no high-tech computer aided designs on their website only images of their interiors along with pretty watercolours interpreting their designs. These watercolours are simple but affective, these along with the sketches of the other designers I looked into convinced me that sketching and rendering by hand is an invaluable and hugely satisfying skill to have.

Interior Design 1 Part 3 Assignment Feedback reflection

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My tutor opened my feedback commenting on my enthusiasm, which was very pleasing, as I had very much enjoyed undertaking the work for Part 3 and was pleased with the work I had managed to produce. It was also reassuring that my tutor was empathetic with my frustrations at ‘clunking’ my way through the assignment using Vectorworks, something which I am still trying to get to grips with and which I am struggling to find the time to practice as much as I would like to, along with fitting in the course work and trying to learn photoshop. It’s all good and I love it all, I just wish I had more time – but I must remind myself not to expect to run before I can walk!

On the whole the feedback regarding my dimension drawings was good with some pointers regarding light fittings and wall thicknesses, which I have to admit I did not think about including, as the task was focusing on furniture – I will be sure to consider this next time and take time to read over the information regarding dimensions my tutor sent me.

Once again my tutor has suggested I evidence the views of other practitioners and designers who interest me. I am aiming to do this and have been reading about the works of Le Corbusier and beginning to read more about Frank Lloyd Wright whose work, that of which I know of, I admire. I will of course keep trying to gather detail and knowledge about other designers as I continue to learn and look into others work.

Interior Design 1 Part 2 Assignment Feedback Reflection

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My tutors’ feedback for assignment 2 was positive whilst providing guidance and advice into areas I need to consider and/or improve on. One recommendation was to articulate and inform my personal views and opinions into the spaces I investigate, and include a personal visual identity in presentations – both things I can find a little tricky at times. I can be overly cautious of writing my opinions where they are available for others to see and criticize. I’m worried others will see me as foolish, think my views wrong and essentially feedback with things I might not want to hear about my work or views. I realise this is something I need to get over if I’m to articulate my opinions and present work to clients. This Interior Design course is forcing me to do this however. During the last part of the course students were asked to display work for feedback on the student forum, which I did, not something I would have done if not asked. I did however find the feedback was kind while being constructive and useful.     While I am still learning however, I worry that my opinions are not informed enough – regardless I generally always have an opinion and will aim to voice this in the future by considering, reflecting on and including more of my personal views in assignment pieces and exercises. I’ll also aim to make the time to go back and rework some of this latest assignment to include more my own views. A personal visual identity in presentations – again not something I am overly comfortable with, but will do. I had however not considered it as something that was required but now I have been informed otherwise I will include in future work. Another component of my work which I had overseen and not considered the importance of is providing wide shots to place images in context. Now that this has been mentioned I can of course see how helpful this is to viewers. This will be easy for me to rectify in future exercises. I described the changing light within the Nottingham Contemporary galleries and reflected this in the rework of my model. I however did not consider taking the model outside in the sun to photograph as suggested by my tutor – something which I have now done and added to my blog. I am really pleased I’ve been informed of this and have undertaken this exercise as I can clearly see the improvident in the effect of these shadows and appreciate the clean crisp lines which my tutor explained would be provided by the natural sunlight. My tutor once again suggested I try overlays when sketching to provide contrast and convey information, this is something I did attempt during part 2 but not sure I managed it too well. I will keep practicing with this. Another area I need to give more attention too is presenting my visual information on a whole. Now that I have been asked to give this more thought I feel a bit daft that this is not something I have been doing in the first place! I do sometimes feel constrained by WordPress and what it allows me to do, or what I know what to do with it but I realise I could do more with the presentation before submitting to WordPress. I’m still a little constrained by Powerpoint but no excuse for not at least using Powerpoint to display work with more aesthetic and designed qualities. I still have some work to submit for my Part 3 which I will submit with more consideration to this. Something I am aware I have not been doing enough of is research into other practitioners and designers, which my tutor has suggested. I know this is something I ought to be doing. I guess I have been focusing my available time on completing the course work thus failing to give the appropriate time to the other work which should be undertaken hand in hand with the course – after completing this reflection I will spend time considering at least one designer, for now, that I can spend time researching. Once again the feedback from my tutor has been really helpful for me to realise where I have been falling down, or just not giving enough thought to  – and to continue to help me thing wider.

Interior Design 1 Part 2 Assignment – Digital Presentation of Research

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Slide 1
Slide 2
Slide 3
Slide 4
Slide 5

Reflection

My process for completing assignment two was initially to read the assignment outline, then read and read again to be sure I fully understood what I was to do. For some clarity I contacted my tutor about work which could be included.

Secondly, I undertook research into visual presentations and how best to present the message I wished to convey to my audience. My audience I considered to be my tutor, students and those who are interested in the history of Nottingham and or it’s Lace Market district and those interested in the design decisions behind the Nottingham Contemporary.

Further to this I wanted to display a variety of the work I had completed/gathered, whilst ensuring it related to relevant information and provide a narrative.

Lastly, I considered my design which I wanted to link to the building. This took some working until I finally decided on my final piece. This is based on colours of the Contemporary’s exterior, the angled walls which I have referred to throughout my work on the Contemporary and I framed most of the images – like pictures in an art gallery.

I enjoyed the process, particularly as I was learning yet another skill – effective ways to present. Without feedback I am not yet sure I achieved this yet but it was helpful to consider it and play with different ideas. I feel I’m a little limited as currently I only have PowerPoint available, I expect it’s possible to create better quality presentations with a more sophisticated design package? I have however signed up for an adobe creative cloud course in July at which point I will purchase the software too.

The process has been valuable in furthering my knowledge and skills in; visual presentation, design styles and decision making – considering the most valuable and relevant visual and written information to provide.

One thing I’ve found disappointing about the process is that there is no assessment criteria to check against, even though the assessment guidance tells students this is what we should do before submitting work to tutors? It worries me there will be key criteria which I have not quite hit the mark on.

I am pleased with the outcome but also feel it is a little basic and that it’s possible to achieve something much slicker and more minimal. This will probably take better software and more experience and confidence in design and presentation skills. When I was researching presentations, I enjoyed and admired those I viewed which were very minimal yet conveyed their message well. I did not feel confident enough to leave too much information or images out, in order that I display a variety of work.

With continuing learning, skills and knowledge I hope one day to achieve the look and quality of some of the presentations I viewed – and create something minimal while effective.

I expect to incorporate this process in continuing practice in may ways; creating mood boards, presenting design ideas to clients and creating a portfolio of work.

Reviewed work after feedback from my tutor – with more of my own opinions

Assessment 1

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Assignment 1 Reflection

I was extremely pleased that my tutor found my work ‘exploratory, loose (I think) and questioning. This positive opening feedback was very welcome having undertaking, what was for me, out of the ordinary exercises and studying at a level which is a new and uncertain thing for me.

At the same time the tutor informed me of the things I ought to be doing at this level; such as colour coding, annotating images, using human profile figures to provide scale in models, all of which I can now see would benefit and enhance my work.

My tutor provided me with some research around a question I raised – ‘why did so many take to the right’. A question I asked myself about the direction people took through a gallery. I left this question open without trying to find an answer – something which I have been informed I should do. I read the research and again realised how much my learning can be improved by undertaking such a task. It allowed me to explore the question further and provided reason’s, in this case why people behave in a certain way and which provided me with a possible answer to the behaviour I witnessed.

For exercise 1:5 I was to visualise the space and experience through one sketch. I chose to complete this in monochrome, which my tutor felt was a poor choice, loosing some of the richness and visual contrast which had been provided in other examples. I think I may have felt this was the right thing to do because the examples shown in the course work are in monochrome. I probably thought monochrome would be a little more sophisticated and I was possibly a little concerned that adding colour would have created something a little too childlike. The feedback allowed me to see that I should not think in these ways, to push myself, not to worry and to experiment.

Although some feedback around my assessment piece was positive I am disappointed in myself that I did not continue with the first attempt at this piece or at least continue with a dual aspect piece which I originally intended. The tutor was dissatisfied that I did not continue with adding angles in this piece, angles which I had referred to throughout the exercises. My first attempt for this assessment piece was a tall diagonal wall like structure with a dangling ball of ‘fuzz’ to represent an audio hum. The ball had shapes and different materials sticking out from the fuzz to represent the different sounds which interjected through the hum. I however could not get the wall to stand tall enough at an angle to also hold the ball. Further to this I was unsure if the ball of sound was convincing enough, thus I ended up with the box of sound waves and representation of irregular noises. Having now had the feedback about this piece I feel I copped out and should have stuck to including angles as I had intended, in some form or other. I have no doubt this feedback will make me more persistent in future activities – to continue to portray the visual elements which affected me the most.

My tutor commented that I could be more balanced with observations concerning physical elements, materials and spatial layout in terms of function and how these contribute to the feelings you experience. Begin to draw in the views of others from research to develop your thinking. The last comment again is about looking for research and information around the subject, which I aim to do. I however felt I had observed the elements he mentioned so will ask my tutor to expand on this for me, so I can understand where my observations have lacked and what text he can recommend for me to research further.

The tutor commented that a gallery is perhaps not the richest of interior spaces architecturally, given that its design is as a bare canvas for other work. I fully appreciate this and initially did not think I would choose the gallery to complete this exercise but once I was there I was taken in by it’s height, space and those angles! Having a glimpse at further exercises I can see that this space may not provide me with such a productive subject?

Overall I was pleased with the feedback I received which was both positive and instructive. I am glad of the instruction and guidance received to help direct and push me on.

Work after feedback from my tutor


As mentioned above I felt frustrated with myself that I did not produce a model with angles, reflecting how I felt about the power of the angles in the Nottingham Contemporary. Therefore I decided to create another piece and, as suggested, add a human profile for scale.

This piece has many angles. I have tried with this piece to portray the varying shapes of the galleries in the Nottingham Contemporary and the angled walls ability to pull you in. Although there were no steps in the gallery I added these symbolically to represent the changing heights in the gallery but also that you are being lead/pulled into spaces, the way steps lead you to another level. I also aimed to illustrate the changing quality of light in the galleries by have some parts of the model open, others covered and gaps where it is possible to see in and out, as I was able to see in and out of the gallery window or through some of the gallery doors.

The folded paper represents the hum which could be heard in gallery 1 – and the greater tension I felt when I spent time in this gallery.

Photographs taken in the sunlight