Transcripts
1. Introduction: Hi, good morning
or good afternoon. My name is image in a
professional interior designer, specializing and
residential, as well as commercial and
high-end super yachts. Today I'm going to take you
through what is arguably the most important part
of the design process, and that is the initial
beginning steps. These are four steps which I'll take you through
in the next slide. And then we'll go on to
give you some examples of what a brief might be and the questions that you might ask. These will be questions
that you ask your clients. Or if you yourself
are the client, then these are questions
that you can ask yourself is really important to have
a process as a designer, because you'll be
naturally filled with a lot of creativity. So this process will a, give you the best way to lead yourself through the
information that you have, either of yourself
from the client. And to define that into a
clear and concise idea. This will help make
the process a lot easier and a lot simpler. When you start getting
a lot of ideas, you can go back to
these initial steps I've taken you through, which will lead you
to a design analysis and design brief. And you can think, does my
new idea or does what the new thing the client is saying
fit with this design brief. It helps give you
that clear focus. And in the end you'll have
a very cohesive design. And you don't follow
these processes. It's going to make it a lot more sporadic and perhaps what
you're thinking about. And also the final
design might not be that cohesive or not as
cohesive as it could be. I'm trying to make
your life easier. And hopefully with this process, you will find that if
you have any questions, I invite you to reach out to me and also I would love to
see what you come up with, so please share that with myself and also your
fellow classmates. A graded process that can really helpful to share ideas
and encourage you to do that with the class or those around you
because everyone has a different perspective
and that is the beauty of the
world of design work. The design brief and this process I'm going to
take you through helps you to identify reasoning
in what you're doing. So this can help
give you clarity. And also if your clients
would ask why you might be presenting a certain thing that they're not sure about. You can give them
this reasoning on why it's most suitable for them. This process is really
going to help you and please do reach out if
you have any questions. It's really important
to me as a designer that I can give back my learning from what I do on a day-to-day
basis and has helped me in every project to
bring it to success.
2. Overview of the Design Steps: These are the first
steps of any design coming up with a clear concept
and a design statement really is the foundation of
any project and getting it right as fundamental to the
success of your project. It also makes your
job a lot easier. It's more streamlined and
therefore less complicated. The steps are, as
you can see here, there are four key steps. Start by doing the brief. Then prepare a design analysis, develop your design statement, and finally, creating
a design concept. People really want to jump
straight to this Create part, but really a design
starts with the analysis. The analysis will go on to inform your creative decisions. It's important to have
a design statement and a concept that your
client signs off. So if your client says
this is not what we discussed or changes their mind, then you can show
that it is indeed what you discussed
and agreed upon. If there are any
drastic changes than it really is worth
going back to reviewing this design statement
and finding a new direction that you and your client
are on board with. Here you can see the four key learning outcomes that you're gonna
get from this class. They really highlight
the importance of what you're gonna
be doing today and how important both analysis and finding a clear statement
and concept is. These first steps
that you're taking a really are the
foundation of a project. The aim really is
to help clients decide what they want and also what they need is both
practical and aesthetic. In terms of space planning, this is incredibly important. If clients don't
know what they want in terms of style, if suffix, you can still sell a concept using a well-thought-out
space plan. Space planning describes
the process of determining the purpose,
functional requirements. The basic layer of specific
areas in a home or commercial building will then go on to do the concept and
the design statement. Make sure your client's
ideas of a certain style is the same as your
understanding, e.g. in the briefing stage, the clients may have said
they want a modern style. Modern has quite a broad range, and this is where
your concept boards will come in to make
sure that you've interpreted what
the clients want correctly and that you're
all on the same page. Here I've listed a little bit of a top tip on what you can do if your clients up
disagreeing with each other. It's really important
that you use statements like this and
set your boundaries. It will help you to be
perceived as very professional. And also it just helps
to be realistic about what you can and
aren't willing to do. Make sure that you also
talk to professionals and stick to informed reasoning. E.g. if a client says that
they want a steam room, you should try and
not to say no. But learn from a professional. Say that you're
gonna go and talk to professional and then come
back and talk to the clients. Having learned from this professional so that
you can give them an informed reasoning of what is possible and how much things
are going to cost as well. There really is no point
in promising the Earth, the client, if it's not
possible to deliver it, it might come at a higher cost, in which case you can say yes, but come with a caveat
that it could cost more and you might not know
these costs at this stage, which is actually quite
a good place to be. You want to take all the
information, digest it, and come back and
say to the clients, I'm not able to give you an
accurate price at the moment. I'm going to take away, study what you've told me and come up with a
couple of options.
3. The Brief: Let's delve into the first step. The brief. The first meeting could be
over the phone, in which case, make sure you Google that
address afterwards and use Google Maps and any other
information from estate agents, such as floor plans
and property photos. This could be as simple as the last time the
property was sold, but make sure you find
out from the clients when they moved in
so that you can get a bit more information on how much house has changed
since they moved in. As you go in person, remember to take
things like a camera, a tape measure, notepad, pen, and a set of questions
that you're going to ask should have these set of questions for
over the phone as well. Such as what style
they're looking for. Very important to help
you build a picture. I know if you're the right
person for these clients, get a rough idea
of their budget as well and the scope of
work that is required. Any sort of timeline expectations
also really helpful. What is the
importance of briefs? Like this little picture here? It can show you that it holds everything up and it holds
everything in place. So go on and find out
what is possible. And if there are any
limitations in the project, this might be
structural limitations or planning permission. Discover what the client
thinks they want as well. This is very different
to what you think they want and what they
actually want. They may need some guidance. And that's actually a
really good reason they've hired a interior
designer is because they want that guidance and help them understand what
they really want. Because they'll have
a lot of ideas. Find out what the
client's lifestyle is, their current lifestyle, and if it's different to what the envisaged
in the future, their current lifestyle might
not be working for them, such as, do they need a dedicated
space to a home office? Find out what they dream they're going to get
from this new house. Is their way of living
going to change? The likelihood is they want
this new way of living, this new house to
enhance their life and help them have a better
flow around their home. In yourself, you
can start to build a client profile as well. And what you think about
them as what they like, what they are is most
important to them. All of this helps to avoid
costly mistakes going off on tangents or having
any misunderstandings. Overall, this will really
make your life easier. Top tip is to be
really systematic. You can use a questionnaire. There are some
examples that you can find on the Internet
to look up questions. Think about what you
want to ask them. Also, what do they ask of you? Can you use these questions in future when you're
talking to another client? Because someone's
identified this as an important question. Make sure to listen as well. This is really,
really important. They are hiring you and they want to know
that you're professional. But mainly they want
to be listened to. They just need to know that
you have the credentials for the project and they
want to feel understood. Unless they asked you
don't need to tell them your life's journey and all your hobbies and
everything that you love, you will that listen to them, give them a level
of understanding? But mainly just make
sure you're listening and really deeply
listen as well. Because then maybe hidden messages and what
they're saying. And pay attention to
their tone as well. How much, how excited they
get about certain things, and are they less fast
about other things? Find out what the biggest
priorities are to them. Because it may be, you can't fulfill every single thing
that they are after. So find out what
those main priorities are and focus on them first. This slide shows a couple
of more things that you can delve into about finding
out what your client needs. These are the
requirements than not, then once they are there
requirements and the needs, understand how they're
going to be using this space and their routines. Make sure to read between
all of these lines as we discussed in
the last slide. And also find about
their hobbies, as this could tell you more about the way they like to live. Do they like to read? So they want a nice
calming space. Maybe perhaps a reading
knock somewhere. Libraries, how many
books do they have? But perhaps actually they're very outdoorsy people
then very adventurous. They might want a slightly
more invigorating interior, might be able to be
a little bit more bold with colors
in certain places. Also. Think practically about this. If they're really
outdoorsy people, would a mushroom be useful
somewhere that they can store all their things or
they can come back from walking the dog.
If they have a dog. I've loved houses where
people have a dog and then there's a dedicated
space that they can clean the dog and mark
them down if it's been a dirty day and it
makes their life easier if everything for
the dog is in one place, think about all these things and find out more about
their lifestyle. But please remember not
to make assumptions. Someone who might be
outdoorsy might not be necessarily bold with color, and someone who's indoors, he might be vice versa. E.g. people who are
quite outdoorsy actually might like lot
green in their home. I think, of natural colors. And this is a great
opportunity to take inspiration from the
landscape around them. Here is an example
that you might find in a client's home where
there's a lot of stuff. They were, as we discussed, they might be outdoorsy, they might like adventure. So they've got to have
a lot of things that might need organising
a lot better. So you've identified
something in their home that could
be done a lot better. Um, there's a bunch over
here for them to sit down, perhaps more storage underneath, perhaps the bench to the side. Bringing these cabinets
to be deeper in some way. They might not be that tall, so you might want to step. But then again, if
they've got children, you don't want to be danger
from them going up this step, you can consider different
options such as draws. This is just an off
the shelf example of something that you could get, but you could also get
something bespoke. Think about the
dimensions as well when you're doing off the shelf, perhaps this space here could have been
used a bit better. Or perhaps you do get something
off the shelf and then there's something round to fill this space that's something
had come to much later. The brief stage, you're gonna discuss that more
organization of the client's things
and something to fit their lifestyle is a very important factor
to this project. So e.g. with this client, what we put in the brief
was that reorganizing the client's life as
it had evolved and grown as a family was
really important. The brief said something
along the lines of to create a new family home that
brings organization and E. So their daily life
as well as feeling homely and family orientated. Now as opposed to requirements, find out what your client wants, What do they desire? Have a look at their current
style and also ask them, is this what they like? What do they specifically
like about it? And vice versa? What
do they not like? What would they want to change? You can discuss any images
the client may have found, such as things from magazines. Pinterest is a great
example of places. People may have found images or photos of anything else
where they have been. Also show them your
existing portfolio. There might be something
in particular they like or they're looking
for something different. If they haven't found
in images already, something that you might see
if they're open to doing. Something you could
look at or go away from what they've said. And that's where you'll begin
to start to come up with your concept later on. Then also discuss,
although there's any existing furniture or deck
or that they want to keep, you might find that
this can't necessarily work and be incorporated in the design you
overall envisaged. And in which cases it is something that
you're going to need to discuss with them
as you start to develop this concept and
the look that they want. Because for them as well, you need to explain to them
or have a frank discussion with them on whether they
envisage this piece fitting in, in the new style that
they are going for. Or perhaps there's a room
that you could make, e.g. slightly more classic
if they've got some antique pieces of furniture or you can blend
antique with modern. This is something you need
to think carefully about and also have that
discussion with the clients. Then look at the existing
structure of the house as well. What level of renovation
do they want? What's feasible? And you'll need to go away from this and do some research. Furthermore, to see what
any planning permissions, regulations, any shared spaces
with neighbors, you need to have a
look at all of this and look at what can be done. Also, what level of renovation
to the clients want, do any plumbing or electrical
needs to be redone? What level are you
need to go to? It's also your chance
to look at some of the characteristics
of the house. Are there some
beautiful moldings? Are there some beautiful beams? Anything heritage within
the house that'll be a lovely feature to keep to the clients
want to keep them. It's a chance to be inspired by the period of the house
as well, George and e.g. there's a beautiful
period and can really be used to inspire the rest of
the house and the design. Can you combine George
on with modern, if that's what they want. These things to go away
with and be creative about. The clients might not
have an answer either. And that's great because
you can then go away, make your design,
and then propose to them why I think this
is such a great idea. Here, I've just pulled
out a couple of examples on different projects, not necessarily ones I've done. But here you can see that this timber feature
all around the room is a really key and
prominent feature to end character in the house. Now if the client
was to want to keep these dots influence what's happening in the
rest of the kitchen. You've got quiet. These neutral white colors have quite a newt floor
neutral chairs. And that's informed
this project to give it this warmth from the word and highlight that feature
of the property. However, if the client
had been waiting to whitewash this and didn't want
to keep them as a feature, then the influence of the
scheme will be a lot different. You wouldn't want to
have everything else. So weiter neutral
because this would just look like a bit
of a whitespace. It might be what the
client would want, but in my experience, that might be fairly unlikely. So you'll want to look at having some more colors in the kitchen, something a bit
more feature full, gonna bring character to this
room, going to bring a war. As we discussed
with clients wanted to keep certain
pieces of furniture. You're going to want to
identify what era that's from. This chair, e.g. is
the Rococo period. You've got a Gothic chair here. This is a Chinese chair. You've got something for the Queen Anne style furniture and more French style
furniture here. So have a look at what the client has because
you're going to want to incorporate that style
elsewhere in the project. Certainly if they have some antique pieces they want to keep, I want to get some more. You're going to want to
match the style period, especially if the rest of the project is going
to be that style, but also if the rest of
the project is going to be more modern and contemporary, the pieces that you do have, you're going to want to be
cohesive from the same era and also identifying
error it's from, they'll have certain
features of these, which is probably something
the client wants. They purchased
this piece before. Cohesive, different
features that you have in the furniture is something that they're
going to want to see. Here is an example of a questionnaire
where you would take the brief from this
cumbersome put on questions, as you can see, the budget or big part. So there is a diagram
here that shows you the realistic expectations
that you want to get the client's
going to achieve. If they want a good design
and they want it fast, it is going to cost
them more if it's good, but it's cheaper than you need to be a little bit more
flexible with timescales. If it's fast and cheap, it might not be the best result. And you need to be open
about this to start off with not in a negative
manner obviously, but it's just being realistic. They want something that
is good, fast and cheap. It's just a bit of a
unicorn statistically, it's really, really
difficult to achieve. And you should try
and avoid this.
4. Design Analysis: The second step, moving on
to the design analysis. Why is the design analysis so important while it
provides that structure, that organization that you need, it deals also with
facts and assumptions, which can also lead to costly mistakes and
misunderstandings. This really helps to
be client-focused. Design analysis gives the
client walks they want not what you as the designer
think they should want. This is really important and can be difficult thing to do
when you're starting out. In practice, it is really
important and you will get that thrill from finding what
the client really wants. It should be a design
focused, brief, the requirements of the
brief or prioritize and this reduce the risks of wandering
off the beaten track. The design analysis should
be designed focused, the requirements of the
brief or to be prioritized, and it reduced the
risk of going off on tangents or off a
clear direction. That are for quick
questions to consider. And these are what exists, what is desired, or
what is possible, and equally, what
is not possible. You need to think about what is aesthetic and also
what is practical. Now that you've got
the client brief, you want to combine
it with research. This will lead onto
your design analysis. Research is really
important to help you connect with the client
on a deeper level. And it also helps to find
out any practicalities. It helps to give you a practical
and creative direction. Again, it's what
we talked about, what is possible and
what is practical. So you want to make sure
that you're organizing your data in a really clear way that's easy for you to use. Also, if you've got
any unsure areas, anything that you
need to clarify, you need to make sure that you do this with the client and never assume you should ask leading questions
to make sure that you understand the clients
as holy as you can. Identify these key
areas to research. So these could be practical things such as planning, permission
and structure. Then you also need to
think beyond the obvious. So thinking laterally, can you also be influenced
by the area around? This is also an
area for research. I've got a few pages following
that could look at a few of these ideas and get you to
start thinking on your own. In terms of your research, you should try and
find primary research. Goes to the place. Look at the building,
experienced the surroundings. Make observations of
the certain periods, styles, colors of
your surroundings, any feelings that you
can gain from it, start making some sketches if things don't come
to mind as well. This is really important. Your research should
be two things. It should be practical. And on the flip side, it should be abstract. Practical is anything like
building regulations. Then abstract is the
spirit of the place, any existing things about
the local environment. And then also things
such as the climate, the orientation, any views
you really want to highlight, remember the
positions of the Sun. All things to consider. Here we have some examples, is just short because the
possibilities are endless and it's going to depend on what you've gained
from the client brief. You want to break things
down into columns. You want to think
about the facts, then identify areas
for research. You're going to have
something about the analysis you've
gained from this, any insights that
you've gleaned from these research and the fact that you gained
from the clients. You've also got the
practical considerations and then anything that comes to mind immediately in terms of
creative suggestions, come back to this as well. And this is where thinking laterally really
comes into play. So then something else
you might want to think about in a project. And when you're going
around looking at the existing pieces and
what the client is like as a whole is artwork is a really big feature in
a lot of people's lives. So this e.g. was an artwork that we
agree they wanted to keep. You've got these very, very vibrant and fluorescent
colors here. So we chose a white wall just so we could
balance the project. Then also, we knew that if the client wanted to change
the artwork later on, we wouldn't have, say
a pink wall and then clashing with like a
orange artwork, e.g. the client, the art, what was really important them. So we included in the
brief that the rooms would allow to be a canvas per se for the artworks to allow them to display that art
collection and give them flips ability to change
that artwork over time. Then we also wanted to include something
else in the room. The client was quite
fun, quite vibrant. They liked feature artworks as well as future
pieces of furniture. So e.g. we found this
beautiful chair, which just picked up some of
the colors and the artwork and that allowed us
to work with this. We also did some
framing as well. So just as very neutral plant clients weren't
great with plants. So again, that was
something else we identified and this is
actually a beautiful fake. I really encourage finding some selective designers that you can work with in
terms of florists. And that just beautifully
frames yard work. And then we went for just a
glass console underneath. So we're not distracted from this clearly focal
point for the client. So yes, just to note, again, that the furniture was not something that we decided
at the brief stage. This was something
that came later on, but it was influenced
by the brief. And that's why the brief is so important just to
highlight that to you. So in our brief, we noted that
the rooms will add to act as a canvas for the artwork.
5. Design Statement and Concept: Now for the third step,
the design statement. Now at this point,
you're not going to have everything clear and
set out in your mind, but you will be beginning to
get a sense of direction. This is key, and
as you lead into your design statement,
you're gonna be refined. This sense of direction. Your design analysis is going to lead to a
design statement, and then it will lead
onto the fourth stage, which is a concept. This works by extracting the key ideas from
your design analysis. And then that will enable us
to say what the design will set out to achieve and how
it's going to be achieved. Simply, it's all the reasoning behind the choices that
we're going to make. And finally, the design concept. I design concept is an
overrepresentation of colors, patterns and textures or form, and the mood of a space. Here we have some examples of some mood boards that
people have done. As you can see, they mostly have a
lot of textures. They're giving you the colors, perhaps the space to feel more energetic
or more harmonious. Are you going for more
of a darker palette or a more neutral,
lighter palette? You can also include
some key words. These don't have to be things
like the actual style, such as modern classic
that you've got here. But these could be
perhaps keywords that you've identified, such as relaxing, peaceful. I'd encourage you not to
use words because these do tend to have different
meanings to different people. Images can be a
lot more powerful. And as the saying goes, one image is worth 1,000 words. Try not to focus too much
on furniture at this stage, you can use a few, but you're not trying
to depict what exactly the furniture
is going to have. It's more about picking
a piece of furniture. Perhaps an iconic piece represents the style and the direction that
you're going for. Also, you want to
look at the shapes. Are they more angular or
are they more curvaceous? You going for a softer look? All key things to consider. Is it more masculine
or more feminine? You're trying to convey that
feel and trying to look at those key words
you picked up from the design analysis
that will enable you to define what feeling you want
to evoke from your concept.
6. Thank you: So I want to give you a huge thank you for listening
and learning with me. If you've got any questions, please encourage you
to comment equally. Any feedback It's great
to hear from you. I really encourage
you to go back to the page where we discuss
what the objectives were for this class and make sure that you feel like
you've covered all of those, then it's time to move
on to your own projects. This can be an actual project that you have for the client or encourage you to come up
with a theoretical one, perhaps a Roman,
your own home or one of your friends you
want to test with. It's really important
that you can use all your knowledge in a new and practical way
in terms of taking oil, learning and doing
it in an exercise. I'd love to see your work. So if you could share
perhaps your moodboards, your design statements, any of these I'd
absolutely love to see. I hope you enjoy the class
and if there's any questions, please drop me a message.
Imi Newey, Interior Designer
