Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Pee Week


Professional:Portfolio:Process:
"Interior designers are educated to become creative professionals who analyze problems from many different perspectives" (Veitch, 7) Taking from Ronald Veitch, designers are not only limited to designing a space well, but in addition, we must be able to explain our designs to others whether they are in our field of professionalism or not. The presentation board that we are putting together in Suzanne's class is a good example of this, as well as a good way of making a formal presentation very professional. Whether it is a digital or physical presentation, certain "rules" remain in effect such as datum, grid, order, and craft to make it look professional. In the professional world, a very common and successful way of representing yourself through your work is by putting together a portfolio. "The audience may be a client, a committee, or merely someone browsing for an idea. Whether produced to assist the client's imagination or to obtain a commission, either privately or through a competition...it should communicate as clearly and accurately as possible..." (Ching, 322) A portfolio is a representation of an artist or a designers best work, and it shows how he/she has progressed and how their work has became stronger. Both my digital and physical portfolio's include my best work, but they also include my process work. That to me is very important when presenting work to clients or employers b/c process is what shows them where you started and where you ended up. It also shows them that you are both experienced and willing to do the project right by taking time to carefully plan out every step. "Writing the design program is clarifying, to the satisfaction of both the client and the designer, exactly what is needed and wanted in the space under construction...it is a lengthy investigative process, sometimes taking up to one-third of the project's total time." (Veitch, 92) Stoel instructed us to include both a bond and vellum copy of all of our work in our portfolio's. "rough draft," or bond copy is the beginning phase. In this copy, the assignment is started and it serves as a reference for the final copy, but it doesn't include the aspects that make it final. The "final draft" or vellum copy is the completed copy with all details such as the borders, name of assignment, north arrows, scale, etc.
Periphery:Perspective:
The job of a designer is to take a project/problem and complete it or solve it. With this, I feel that designers should be limited to nothing. The periphery or boundaries are in a sense not present. Of course somethings are not going to work in every design, but the idea is to think outside of the box. Our minds should be more complexed and detailed than our clients. Whether we are given a lead as to what they want or whether we have to start from scratch, the end result should be extreme but functional, and aesthetically pleasing. If our clients have and idea, we should make it a reality. "If nothing is so powerful as an idea whose time has come, nothing is so enevervating as an idea that's been sitting around for years like money not earning any interest. That is precisely the concept of moving from the design of things to the design of the circumstances in which things are used." (Caplan, 152) Also as a designer, our skills should be advanced and practiced enough to where we are not just single-minded about designs. We should obtain different perspectives of design. "The challange in mastering perspective is resolving the conflict between our knowledge of the thing itself...how we perceive its optical reality - as seen through a single eye of the spectator. (Ching, 201) With that being said, we should view the world of design through atleast 2 perspectives: our as the designers, and others as our clients, employers, co-workers, or people in general.

Tying it together:

As designers, we must be professionals in which we always have our work ready to be viewed by generating a portfolio, know and understand the process of design and be able to carry it out, be open to try new things and see design from not just our perspective, but others, and lastly be able to think outside of the periphery of normality.


Caplan, Ralph. By Design. 1982. St. Martin's Press.
Singapore.

Ching, Francis D.K. Design Drawing. 1998. John Wiley and Sons.
New York, NY.
Veitch, Ronald M. Professional Practice. 1931. Peguis Publishers Limited.
Winnipeg, MB.