The project
In this section I will cover the trouble I had trying to decide on a project that would work for this unit and also explaining the project once I had figured out what to do.
Disney attraction
Had a meeting with Claire and Katherine to discuss the project and my current idea for it. I was thinking about creating a new Disney attraction at one of the parks based on the hit movie Brave which is based in scotland. I thought this would be a great idea because I’m Scottish and it would be easy to do the required research but also because I really love Brave and with the knowledge from the movie I think I could pull off a great themed area.
Silverburn
I was tasked with trying to get in touch with someone from disney to get information regarding the copyright, however in my opinion this seems like it would be months and months of hassle and I wouldn’t get anywhere with it so I decided it wasn’t worth it for a hypothetical project. I shifted ideas to a silverburn project where I create the same space 3 ways to represent my personality as my personality doesn’t show much in my current portfolio. I will converse with Claire and Katherine about this idea next week when I am back in
Frustration
Having caught up with Claire and Katherine, they don’t seem convinced that I could create 3 complete designs since I am already behind and they’re worried that I won’t have enough time for even one especially if I have to learn a new 3d modeling program to do it. I understand that but I have found myself very confused with this whole project now as they have insisted that it doesn’t matter what the design looks like as that’s not the part they’re interested in. What is it that they are interested in then? They didn’t really elaborate and now I’m worried that I'm too far behind to catch up already. Not only am I confused about what they are looking for but how am I supposed to reflect on this? Am I to be self critical because that is incredibly difficult to do. With design it’s hard to find things about a design that you don’t like when you created it yourself. This is something I am going to have to ponder on.
New idea
I had a chat with Claire and Katherine this morning to discuss where I am at and we broke it down together. We decided that I had been way to focussed on what everyone else is doing that I was comparing my project to theirs which is a completely different field from everyone else and that it isn’t fair to me that I think I should be doing what they are doing.
We discussed the Silverburn Idea again and they seemed more keen on it this time, explaining that what they are really interested in is the research and development of the project itself so they liked the idea of me researching the history of Leven and the Silverburn building as it is very old. Claire briefly mentioned that she thought having a live client would have been much better for this project as it would give me a brief and a timeframe to work towards instead of having to do everything theoretically. I remembered that I had a meeting with John Houston my assigned graphic designer and that he had previously mentioned that he had a beautiful old house but his stairwell needs a little bit of a design touch so I let Claire and Katherine know that this could be a potential project with a live client and that I would speak to him later to ask if he would like my help with the space.
Securing a live project
I spoke with John later that day and he said he would be happy for me to come over and see what I could do with the space. He said he would speak to his husband and get back to me when they would be free.
The visit
I went to visit John and Wayne at their home on Friday the 9th of February at 16:30.
They were both absolutely lovely but John wasn't lying when he said the stairs needed some help. They had both done so much work on the house and it showed. they had even done work to the stars like sanding and coating the steps and paint stripping their beautiful and original cast iron spandrels but due to their conflicting opinions for the space they had never done anything with the walls apart from revealing some very old wallpaper that couldn't be salvaged because it was all torn and discoloured from time.
John
John wants to brighten the space as much as possible but still have an old feel, think a busy but light wallpaper on the walls and a bright ceiling. He would also like to add a new runner into the space next to the stairs to replace the old Ikea one they have currently
Wayne
Wayne wants to keep the space as historically relevant as possible circa 1887 so he would prefer the space to wall to remain dark and moody and add in light in other ways to the space like a new light fitting and some sconces.
Both
The both want to add more light into the space as it is very dark. They would also like to replace some of the wood in the space the match the original honey coloured wood on some of the trim around a door. Using that same honey wood they want to add in some wall panelling next to the stairs. They would like for the glass in the vestibule to be changed back to an original etched or stained glass as currently its glass from around the 1930's. Lastly they have both considered getting an electrician in to add some lighting going up the stairs in the form of sconces but haven't been able to settle on a design.
The site
What I am working with ...
As you can see the wallpaper is very much in disarray, but if you look closely you can see a very detailed and ornamental bottom section, then there is a decorative border paper and lastly a finely detailed warm toned paper on top which I failed to get a close up image of that showed the details as the room was so dark and my phone kept casting shadows onto and the detail would be lost but the pattern was tiny flowers and leaves delicately weaving together. On the stair tread there is an unfortunate light line in the middle where previous owners have painted and stained to their hearts content. The vestibule is empty and the trims for the windows do not match at all, lastly you can see the sad little skylight in the roof, they said they were going to replace it when they had to replace to roof years ago but since it was original to the home they decided to keep it. I simply does not let enough light into the space so something about it must change.
Meeting with K & C
I had another meeting with Katherine and Claire and we discussed how I would be using this first client to fit with the project brief. I explained the current state of the space and how I plan on, as an interior designer, changing the space to fit with both of the clients wants and needs in mind. I want to create 3 designs for them, one based on Waynes idea, one for Johns idea and lastly one that I feel blends their ideas and feels more inline with the design they currently have in the rest of their home. Katherine and Claire wanted to know how I would do this project to HND graded unit standard and how I would elevate it and challenge myself for degree level.
I explained that previously I crutched my designs on developing 3D models of the spaces and put a lot of time into designing custom furniture pieces for the spaces however this year I do not have the same access to 3D modeling software and I do feel like my drawing skills have been lacking so I decided I wanted to take this opportunigty to develop my drawing skills as this is what I will be offering my clients in the future. Since there is almost no room for furniture in the space I will add my custom element to the space in the form of a specially designed wallpaper. This will be a challenge as I have never designed a wallpaper before and I will need to research the processes included in designing a wallpaper. These are skills I don't currently have but doing this project should allow me to add them into my skillset that I can maybe use in the future for my business.
Reflection
Experience
I spent a good half of the year going back and forth with project ideas that were too ambitious for the time frame but also didn't really align with what the class is supposed to be about. I eventually settles on a live project with my graphic designer after being urged to get a client for the the class. I quickly went to the site thereafter to make up for some lost time.
Refection
To reflect upon this experience I would say that I should not have dwelled on the project for as long as I did as I wasted so much of my time trying to do things right that I ended up not doing anything at all and falling behind. I also have very ambitious ideas and I think I needed help reigning them in as I didn't know how to do it myself. I also ended up comparing my project to everyone else's which made it even harder to start because I felt as though it wasn't going to be enough to pass.
Action
If I were to do this class again I would spend less time worrying about what everyone else is doing and put my all into what I know best. I could have probably ran with any of my ideas and sold Katherine and Claire on them over the course of our meetings. I would also try to get ahead in the work as best as I could as it is so easy to fall behind as so much harder to catch up which I found with this project when I couldn't finish it properly for my deadline.