Design Experience

Thursday, 22 November 2012

Pecha Kucha

Pecha Kucha is a presentation form which consists of 20 images. The presenter has 20 seconds to talk about each image. Therefore, this presentation format is also called 20x20. This form of presentation was invented for designers and especially architects since it is well-known that architects supposedly talk too much. Therefore, Pecha Kucha limits the talk.

My Pecha Kucha presentation consists of either images that are very interesting to me or images that show optional directions into different design areas. During the summer, I have done a lot of research about different design areas since I am aiming to do a top-up year. I have looked at different design areas such as product design, fashion design, architecture and interior design. Product design is an area that I am really interested in as well as architecture/spatial design. So therefore, I have decided to apply for the course BA Architecture: Spaces and Objects at Central St. Martins. I have read through the structure of the course and it seems very interesting to me. I would have the chance to work on spaces as well as objects. Therefore, it is would be the perfect choice for me.

I am also aiming to gain a work experience in the winter holidays, ideally in the field of architecture. This would be a great support if I did get on the course at Central St. Martins. I would like to have some experience before I bridge over into the BA. Due to the fact that it is going to be the final year in BA, it will be as tough accordingly and therefore, I would like to be more prepared. I have decided to use every holiday for some work experience to make the most of it.

However, beside my interest in architecture, I also want to carry on with what I have done over the two years in my course which is graphic and spatial design. I am trying to gain a work experience in a museum or any other exhibition since this is what I have done in one of my projects in my course. I would also like to attend a visual merchandising course. I have heard a lot of this kind of course from my class fellows and it sounds very addressing to me.

The images in my Pecha Kucha are mainly of spatial design. Some of them, I have already used as inspiration for my first project in the 2^nd year. During the project, I have realised that I like working with Black & White and that this kind of work of artist’s approaches me. At this stage, I don’t want to decide whether this is the style that I would like to work in future because I think I need more experience. Therefore, I reserved it and am open to other styles. At the end, I will have developed my own style which might be in black and white or even a mixture of two or more styles. The more experience I gain, the easier my decision is going to be and the faster will I know what I would like to do. Therefore, right now I am focusing on gaining as much work experience as possible.

D Club & Cafe, Russia

Yayoi Kusama

Window display, Forever 21

Mike Ballard

Mike Balard

Heatherwick Studio's, V&A

Yuya Ushida

Zaha Hadid

Studio Makking & Bey, Milan

Mr. Important Design

M&M's, London Shop

Student work (architecture), Germany

Saturday, 6 October 2012

Work Experience (Part3)

Fundraising

(Staff members baked cakes and sold them)

Cancer Research Brooch

My work experience was a very useful experience for me. I have been working full-time, from morning til afternoon, and got into the working atmosphere. It was a bit difficult at the beginning as the people were new to me as well as the place, but it obviously needed some time to adjust. The staff was very nice and friendly, which, I believe, is the main reasons, why I have enjoyed my work experience so much.

The work experience helped me improving some important skills such as working independently as well as on own initiative. I had to take responsibility for my work done and therefore made sure that everything I did, was correct (double-checked). I had to deal with customers which helped me improving my confidence. Some customers even started long conversations with me, asking me what I was currently studying and if I was enjoying it. And the next time they came into the shop, they started talking to me again so that I got to know some regular customers.

With time, I was more and more introduced into the whole system of the shop. First, I was trained on the til, then I was explained the pricing procedure. Due to the fact that the items sold in the shop were donations from people, they had to be priced. For this, there was a proper pricing list with all the different brands and according to the brands and quality, the items were priced. The quality and standard of the items in our shop, were quite high, which is the reason for the good sale.

I was also explained and showed how to count the cash and how to do the bills at the end of the day. During this, I was also told that every Cancer Research UK shop had a particular target that it had to meet within a week. The shop in which I was working, was actually doing quite well.

I am very happy that I have done my work experience in this charity shop because beside gaining experience, I have done something for a good cause. I have always been active regarding charities, now I have worked for one and it's been great. So therefore, I decided to carry on working as a volunteer in the shop.

Wednesday, 3 October 2012

V&A exhibitions

Ballgowns

Currently, there are some interesting exhibitions in the V&A museum, one of it, the Ballgowns exhibition. Actually, I'm not really into fashion design, however, after having a look around, I thought that there were some really nice ballgowns. I also realised that I should not only focus and look at what I am familiar with, means e.g architecture or graphic/spatial design but also at other areas of design. I decided to visit more fashion design exhibitions because they can be good inspiration. While going around in the exhibition I noticed that there are so many things I can look at such as all the different fabrics, the detailed work on the ballgowns such as embroidery or even the way the mannequins and accessorize were displayed. At the end of the day, I was glad that I went to see the exhibition as it became an advantage.

Art & Architecture

This exhibition was all about architecture. I decided to see this exhibition because I'm very interested in architecture. The models were amazing as they were made in such details and in such a neat way. I thought it would be a good idea to look at them to see how good models should look like. For my next project, we will be doing a lot of model-making. So, I believe it was worth looking at all the work.