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Critical Analysis

KO,PI-JUNG | ID : 15034267      

MA in INTERIOR AND ARTECHTURE DESIGN, Full-Time, Year 1

Module 7CTA1079 | Research and Enquiry: Assignment I | Critical Analysis

Park, Y. and Guerin, D. A. (2002). Meaning and Preference of Interior Color Palettes Among Four Cultures. Journal of Interior Design, 28(1), pp. 27-39.

In this article, the authors aim to establish and confirm the hypotheses which indicate different culture have different preference on colour. The authors have a deep investigate on the related researches of colour meaning and cross-cultural colour studies to support their hypotheses. I focus on discussing the colour meaning and cross-cultural colour studies because I am interested in how colour meaning be explained differently by disparate culture. The critical analysis combines two subsections of main research of colour meaning and cross-cultural colour studies. The first subsection argues that colour choice in interior design is usually affected by the individual and his/her interpretations of colour, i.e. what this particular colour means for his, in addition, another theory reveal that socio-culture context is also important in the formation of the meaning. Based on the arguments, the writers indicate the individual interprets the meaning of colour differently based on their own culture background. Followed by cross-cultural colour studies, the author stick to his opinion in colour meaning study and demonstrate it by referring several cross-cultural colour theories which I consider them as a useful resource to have insight in the cross-cultural colour study.

The writers open the colour meaning research context by indicating the term ”meaning” as a process to reveal how a person intermediates explanation and clarification of ideas. This explanation was conducted by the research of Osgood, Suci and Tannenbaum (1967), which indicate the process will be influenced by individual language and situational variables, in other words, compare with direct experience, individual’s interpretation and expression of an idea has more profound impact. However, it is clear that the statement is problematic because the variables are not defined and explained clearly by Osgood et al. Therefore, the authors explore a further theory which gives an explanation of the variables. The book name The psychology of color and design, written by Sharpe, Deborah, T.(1982), indicate that the differ formation of meaning consists of individuals’ sensibleness, education and culture. Based on Osgood et al’s and Sharpe’s statement, the writers infer that ” meaning is influenced by a variety of factor and..is one of the most significant pivotal variables in human behaviour”. Then the authors further explore the term “meaning” toward colour in space. A definition of colour meaning in the interior is explored by Butterfield (1990) which reflect the Osgood et al’s definition of meaning. Butterfield emphasis that interior colour meaning is a mediation process of the design environment, and the way how individual interprets interior colour meaning depends on a personal response to the colour and colour palette, therefore, a significant meaning for a single colour is supposed to be formed in individual’s mind. Furthermore, another statement of design environment meaning was formulated by an architect, Amos Rapoport, who suggest that socio-cultural context is also important in the formation of the meaning which consists of several approaching: psychological, semantic and linguistic. This means that cultural norms of the individual would bear a significant impact on how colour is both interpreted and perceived by those who view it. All the theories make the authors to reasonably deduce that different colour meaning is formed differently among different social and culture group, and followed by this proposition, the writers stress this opinion by demonstrating several cross-cultural colour studies and field studies.

 In cross-cultural colour studies subsection, the authors reveal the word “colour universals”, as a study term which introduced by Osgood. This study assert people in all culture have a similar preference for colour. However, it is not quite clear about the definition of colour universals because the theory is not been discussed in depth. The authors reveal that this concept support by Garth, who operate the field study and observe the participants from distinct racial group react differently toward six saturated colours, based on the study result, Garth infer that racial tradition and custom bring positive impact on colour favour in a race. On the other hand, an interesting part of Garth’s study test related to school age children, reveals children's preference for colour with the slow changes during the education period. A similar test following Garth’s experiment, conducted by Choungourian(1969), let 308 different ages the United States and Lebanese students from different educational levels, made the comparison of their favourite of eight of Ostwald’s colour. Though this test, Choungourian concluded that colour preference of student changed gradually from foundational education stage to later adulthood. The authors reveal that Garth’s study is completed supported by Choungourian’s finding. However, neither Choungourian or Garth’s conclusion give the deep investigation of the detail of how colour preferences of students be changed by education in what way. Educators, teaching materials and education environment as elements contribute to education, are all variables which potentially change the color preferences. Nevertheless, the form of changing colour preferences is unclear, the conclusion of Choungourian and Garth’s experience still promote to a primary research stream which asserts that culture is the main reason to influence the colour favour to individuals from distinct culture. Further exploration which conducted an Asian region colour field experiment by Saito (1994), found out that three culture group which consist of 474 participants from Toyko, Taipan and Tianjin, have their own colour preferences by choosing three favourite and three unpopular colours from that colour chart. From Garth to Saito experiment, these three study conclusions clearly show that cultural elements may be one of the significant factors that influence subjects in diverse culture colour favor among diverse culture, in the end of this subsection, the authors indicate that these studies result also confirm that the meaning of colour would be interpreted differently based on the subject’s culture, which supports the theories in subsection one.

 These researchs come to a valid conclusion. It is successful in explaining how colour meaning is formed and interpreted in individuals’ mind and demonstrate diverse culture people have different interpretation and preference of colour. The demonstration in the second subsection are well made as the author uses specific and reliable theories and experiments, however, most of the experiments only reveal the conclusion of colour preference changing, the authors do not dip into the whole experiment explore what factor exactly affect the colour interpretation of culture group. For example, the words like “custom” and “education”, it only be mentioned in general. I would suggest that this part should be investigated more in the future.  

 Word count:1043 

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Annotated Bibliography

KO,PI-JUNG | ID : 15034267      

MA in INTERIOR AND ARTECHTURE DESIGN, Full-Time, Year 1

Module 7CTA1079 | Research and Enquiry: Assignment I | Annotated Bibliography “Colour in Interior Design” 

  Martin, L., Nicholson, B. and Gabo, N. (1971). Circle; international survey of constructive art. 1st ed. New York: Praeger Publishers.

This article introduces a perspective of colour theories which oppose the monotony and monochrome principle in interior and architecture. Alberto Sartoris (1901-1998), an Italian architect, claims the colour is a vital complement to architecture and it needs to express its manner and follow the laws of constructive functionalism at the same time. Furthermore, she proposes two colour theories: Dynamic method and Neoplastic method. By the dynamic method, the designers choose the colour base on the form and purpose of the wall so it is possible to have several walls with diverse colour in the same room. On the contrast, Neoplastic method focus on the space theme there for it treats the same wall in different colours. Both of these methods offer the principle of choosing wall colour in a logical and well-defined purposeful way. Even though the theories have been proposed for half a century, the theories are still worth applying in practicle. In addition, this article helps me understand that the all the elements in space reflect contemporary life and concept , would constantly be redefined and explored with time.

 Tofle, R,B., Schwarz, B., Yoon,S., Royale.,A . (2004). Colour In Healthcare Environments - A Research Report. The Coalition for Health Environments Research, p43-59.

This thesis explores diverse analysis and guidelines of colour as a health care element apply in healthcare environments. This chapter consists of design guidelines provided by relevant experts such as Marberry & Zagon, (1995), Leibrock (2000) and Regnier (2002), and many more. The guidelines are also organised into a table to compare colours selected specifically to serve the function of each area and different symptoms of the patient. For example, colour can help patients regain health. Patient rooms in warm colours are used to build up from a“cold” illness like arthritis, and cool blue or violet tones are used to dissolve inflammation (Coates and Siepl-Coates, 1992). As many countries move towards to high aging society, there is a growing focus on medical care, I find this thesis a very significant reference as design  elderly care interior space.

  Reddy, S.M., Chakrabarti, D., Karmakar, S. (2012). Emotion and interior space design: An ergonomic perspective. Work, 41(1), pp. 1072-1078.

This is a useful article on the design strategy as it gives insight into why designers should create interior space base on colour theories. The author believes that “Colour Experience Pyramid” theory, which developed by environmental designer Frank H. Mahnke (1990), plays an important role in explaining how colour is experienced or how to be conscious of it. The theory reveals that an individual has their own consciousness of colour and feeling of same dosages of colours, people may feel physical discomfort even emotionally upset if the colour is used entirely on one’s random choice. Through this source, I have a deeper understand of the application of Colour Experience Pyramid theory to careful colour planning in interior design.

  Wardono, P., Hibino, H., Koyama, S. (2010). Effects of Interior Colours, Lighting and Decors on Perceived Sociability, Emotion and Behavior Related to Social Dining. Work, vol. 38, pp. 362-372

This is an interesting study which explores an experimental design theory of how colour, lighting, and décors have effects on customers’ perceived sociability, emotion and behavioural intention on social dining occasions. This experimental method creates 8 different restaurant interior atmosphere with diverse colours, lighting, and décors based on one model of a restaurant to test customers’ perception and behavior. Furthermore, the colour schemes (monochromatic and complementary colour) in this method base on principles of Mussel colour harmony, which is an internationally accepted, leading colour system to create a visually balanced and aesthetic environment for customers. The result of the theory statistics show that customers in the restaurant with monochromatic colours, dim lighting, and plain décors compare with bright lighted restaurants have more pleasing emotion and relaxing chat. Even though this article aims to standardise quantitative approach on restaurant interior, it is still a useful reference and the design theory enables me to apply to the interior space which considers interaction as the main purpose.

 Klaren,U., Anter,K,F., Arnkil,H. (2011). Perceptual spatial analysis of colour and light. 1st ed. [pdf] Sweden: Konstfack - Univ. College of Arts, Crafts and Design. Available at https://www.konstfack.se/PageFiles/20012/PERCIFAL,%20eng.pdf  [Accessed 5 Dec. 2016]

This source presents an original methodology of recording and analysing the visual experience of architectural space. PERCIFAL, short for Perceptive Spatial Analysis of Colour and Light, is a method which was developed by an architecture professor, Anders Liljefors. The writer describes colour and light interact in a very rich and complex manner in our environment. Therefore, PERCIFAL methodology is aimed at developing a method of analysis that can capture the coherent spatial experience of colour and light. In this theory, eight defining visual concepts are used to define the colour and light in spatial experience: light level, light distribution, shadows, light patches, specular reflections, glare. Thought to understand these visual concepts, we have the comprehensive view of a visual system in space. PERCIFAL as a tool for understanding the role of colour and light visual components in the successful spatial design, it might be used in the practical interior space cases in the future.

  Behbahani,N,S., (2011). Theoretical Review on Colour in Interior Space: An Experimental Assessment of Iranian Houses. Master of Science In Architecture, Eastern Mediterranean University.

The writer of this thesis studied and investigated how colour as an element, which reflects memory, experience, and cultural background, brings a huge impact on regional interior context and function. A useful chapter of the thesis study that diverse cultures have a different interpretation of the symbolic meaning of colour, while reflecting the individual's living environment and cultural image. Furthermore, the writer not only explore colour effect itself, also bring a holistic investigation of surface colour on material, textures, pattern and furniture. In the last chapter, the analytical observation method is established by the author, and the research and experimental investigations are analysed regarding the major effect on colour in Iranian rural life. I found this thesis useful because it studies the relationship between colour symbolic meaning and cultural values, and the research approach can be applied to regional housing planning.

  Kwallek ,N., Soon,K.,Lewis,C,M., (2007). Work Week Productivity, Visual Complexity, and Individual Environmental Sensitivity in Three Offices of Different Colour Interiors. Journal of Colour Research & Application, 32(2), pp. 130-143.

This article explores an experimental research on the long-term effects of interior colour on workers productivity in the office environment. The reseachers aim to identify the impact of colour on multiple aspects of physiological and mental responses and propose the principle of decoreative colour in the work-oriented environment. In this experiment, the workers are assigned to three office space with white, predominately red, and predominately blue-green as main colour theme. Three spatial colour setting are established based on Mehta and Zhu (2009) colour arousal theory which pointed out that red enhances cognitive performance and blue was found to stimulate systematic thinking and being preferable in creativity tasks. However, the result of the experiment shows that influences of interior colours on worker productivity were dependent upon individuals’ stimulus screening ability and time of exposure to interior colours. Although the article does not provide sufficient evidence of the colour working environment on social cohesion and productivity, I still have deeper understanding that it is necessary to take into account individual differences in environmental sensitivity on colour.

  Chebat, J., Morrin, M. ( 2007). Colours and cultures: Exploring the effects of mall décor on consumer perceptions. Journal of Business Research, 60(3), pp. 189-196.

This is an article explore a field study of consumers of different cultures are significantly affected by two mall décor colour schemes. The field experience was operated in a shopping mall which was located in the province of Quebec, which allow the author to assess the impact of warm and cold colour décor on both French- and Anglo- Canadian subculture subjects. The participants were asked to answer the questionnaire after shopping in the warm colour hue and cool colour hue mall environment. The result of the field study indicates that the French-Canadian and Anglo- Canadian were positively impacted differently by the warm colour and cool colour décor scheme. In addition, I found the interesting section of this article is reviewing several colours theories about the differential effects of warm versus cool colours. A theory which was conducted by Bellizi and Hite’s (1992) reveal that customer have higher purchase intentions when the background colour of a retail display is blue rather than red. The field study and colour theories in this article are relevant to retail store design as it can help me understand the effects of theme colour shopping environment on shopper perceptions, which is to apply on practical regional store design concept.

  Park, Y. and Guerin, D. A. (2002). Meaning and Preference of Interior Color Palettes Among Four Cultures. Journal of Interior Design, 28(1), pp. 27-39.

This article introduces an approach to identify the meaning and preference of colour in four different cultures by utilising a specific integrated colour palette which developed by Guerin and Park (1995). The authors explore several colour studies to support that there is a difference of preference and meaning of colour among different cultures. For example, a review of thought by an architect, Amos Rapoport, mentions that the different interpretation of the meaning of colour based on the individuals’ culture background. The researchs help me to have a comprehensive view to understanding the relationship between colour and diverse cultures. Furthermore, the integrated colour palette which explores in this article is particular interest to me, integrated colour palette is an instrument which constitutes by colour including hue, value, and chroma variations. The proportion of the shape in the colour palette represent different components such as wall, ceiling, furnishing and accessories in an interior space which it really a useful reference to distributing colour scale for the designer. The integrated colour palette will be a great guide in applying the nice interior space.

 Odabasioglu, S. (2015). Effect of area on colour harmony in interior design. Doctor of Philosophy, Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design, Bilkent University, pp. 70-79.

This is a dissertation aim to examine the effect of area on colour harmony in interior spaces. A specific chapter in this thesis explores and investigates the number of colour harmony in interior spaces studies from an engineering perspective. One of a computer-based consultation system test is developed by Shen, Chen and Hsu in 1996. There are four colour methods, which are human-based evaluation method, CIELUV, CIELAB and hue-dominated method, support this system for evaluating colors harmony from an objective way. In the test, participants evaluated the six same module bedroom with different wall colour and they order the images from the most harmonious to the least harmonious in harmony grades. By similar order of harmony grades, the four methods results show that interiors with low saturation and high brightness are found to be more harmonious for people.

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biomimicry project

This is the beginning biomimicry project, reflect my sketch I realise the cool/warm contrast and the natural organic form are the most exciting element for me that I want to capture them in my sketch book. 

Colour and the natural organic form element inspire me to bring insert wings in the smell window display concept. This is just a quick design and I think it is interesting to keep develop this concept in the future.    

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Colour rhythm

Reed, R. 2010, “Colour+ design: transforming interior space”, Fairchild, New York, pp.58-73

This is the book I mentioned in my prior blog and it is really useful, I even found a chapter that might have the connection with my another blog which talk about colour’s movement in Nendo’s project.

This is a chapter start on an eye-catching photos and picture layout which make me want to read into it. The chapter discusses and introduces the methodology in creating rhythmic order to space by colour. The rhythm of colour in interior space guides human to communicate the activity for a particular space, assists wayfinding in a space and adds priority or focus. Colour as a significant element attributed to the rhythmic interior, provide an opportunity to move the viewers through space, therefore lead them along the path and intended sequence. Furthermore, the methodology of achieving colour rhythm is explained in detail which indicates rhythm primarily evolves through a strong contrast of high and low saturation colour and space would be outlined through the contrasting colour. 

The chapter introduces that the dramatic space can be presented by five types of colour rhythm.  Five types of colour rhythm are alternation, continuity, progression, repetition, and progression which are just shown in the above photo.  This is so useful reference to me and these rhythmic colour principle definitely apply to practical work. Reflect Nendo’s case, we can understand he was using progression method with the different hue of blue and square to present a dynamic space. 

On the other hand, the music can also attribute to creative   

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Diagrams lesson

Julien on today’s lesson invited Silvio to introduce 'Diagrams' as a useful tool for the designers to structure the thought into design.

The designer usually comes up with inspiration and concept suddenly, and the diagrams can help us to arrange and think carefully about the concept. Silvio said that diagrams focus on general information and encourage the designers to explore the alternative.  

I tried to analyse one of the former journal article which is related to the consumer experience. Because I want to find out what element that affect the experience of the customers can be determined by the designer. However, I don’t think the outcome(the photo beneath) is nice because it seems like the classified paper rather than the diagram. 

Silvio shared his thinking about consumer experience with me by a simple diagram however it is so easy to understand. Silvio according to my idea to explain consumer emotion in his own way. A person in a box which represent interior space, and there are lots of spots in the space and the person receive spots (black arrow) then the spots stimulate the person to have the reaction (green arrow) toward space. The spots in the diagram represent the elements (question mark) which can determine by designers to affect person’s experience. This simple diagram compare with mine ’ diagram ’ is exactly present the concept and it is easy to read.          

Though this diagram I realise that a nice diagram should not full of words otherwise it just the article. and the diagram is not only helping a person arrange the idea but also make other people understand the person’s concept.  I think making a nice diagram need practice because it related to logic and context, I believe it will be extremely useful to apply on practical work. I have to do more practice on it.   

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Colour and branding

During the researching about retail store design, the obvious and strong connection between colour and retail store can be seen. 

In the book  Colour+ design: transforming interior space , which I borrowed from library reveal colour is one of the most powerful elements to express personality , create visual apple and generate interest in consumer products. A nonprofit organization, named Colour Marketing Group is mentioned in the book, identifies global colour trends in the marketplace. The organization also indicate that colour has the potential to increase brand’s retail sales and even become the main reason of consumers buy the product.

Because young people have shown an increased need for individualism, people want to be special and unique.This phenomenon have changed many companys to create an array of colour choices for the products. The colour concept on produce also project on the retail store design, because  retail store is a space where is designed to present the product, all the elements including colour in retail store, help the company to convey the image to the consumers.

I think it is an interesting research direction and worth look deep into the effect of colour toward retail store design.   

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Reflection on my research direction

After the tutorial meeting in the afternoon, I went back to review all my bibliography and think about my research direction. I found out customer emotion is a comprehensive study which consists of anthropology, psychology, management, design and even individual experience, furthermore, most of the articles I had found were from the journal of business or management. In some of the articles, design elements do relate to the customer emotion, however, the connection between design and customer emotion still fragile and ambiguous. 

Therefore, I decided to change my research direction. Even though “giving up what I had done” is so painful. But the most important thing right now is learning something that is truly helpful to me. I still regarded the process of studying customer emotion as a practicing step and had a peek on   customer study.

I post all the finished bibliography, I think probably someday it might be useful to me. 

Petermans, A., Janssen, W. & van Cleempoel, K.2013, ‘A holistic framework for conceptualizing customer experiences in retail environments’,International Journal of Design, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 1-18.

This article reveals an overview of diverse literature which looks deep into the topic of the relationship between store atmosphere and the commercial environment, and according to this literature, The author constructs a visual manner called the “Experience Web”. Base on the “Experience Web”, the authors take an ethnographic interview as a research method which incorporates interior architects’ and retail designers’ viewpoints on customer experience in retail environments. Due to the interview data, customers’ emotion is considered as the most significant words concerning experience. “Theme and consistency” and “Experience realms” are revealed as two primary elements contribute to the retail environments that trigger emotion. I find this article a useful resource for my study as it provides holistic experience elements in retail environments which help me have insight into customers’ emotion from different aspects.  

Sharma, A., Stafford, T. 2000, ‘The Effect of Retail Atmospherics on Customers’ Perceptions of Salespeople and Customer Persuasion: An Empirical Investigation’, Journal of Business Research 49(2):183-191 

The authors examine two retail environments conditions based on Bakers’ research, which indicates a nicer store ambiance lead to an increasing customer‘s credibility on retail salespersons and merchandise. For example, customers show more perceptions of reliability on “prestige store ambiance” than “discount store ambience”. In this article, decorated fixtures, classic colours and decorative ceiling contribute to the high-quality store ambience elements that increasing customers buying attention and trustworthy feeling. Through this article, I realize that customer‘s confidence need to be taken seriously when designers plan for the atmospheric store. 

Kent, T., 2007,’Creative space: design and the retail environment’, International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Vol. 35 Iss 9 pp. 734 - 745

This article discusses why discusses personal creativity play an important role in the retail environment which meet commercial and social needs. The author emphasis creative work always reflect individual concept about his centrality to culture. Through the creativity, the cultural elements are further projected in the retail environment which wraps human contact and personal communication in an aesthetically pleasing and social environment, therefore the retail environment affords opportunities to drawing on positive emotion to the consumer. This article is of particular interest to me, even though the strong relationship between culture and consumers’ emotion has not been described in detail, It seems likely, then, this is the concept that I can keep the look into in the future. 

Joseph, J. & Books24x7, I. 2010, ‘The Experience Effect: Engage Your Customers with a Consistent and Memorable Brand Experience’ 1st end, AMACOM, New York.

This book brings a holistic point of view on customer emotion and its engagement with the value of the brand. Joseph points out that the emotion would be strongly aroused when the retailers fulfill what consumers’ needs, wants and desires, and this emotional connection is how the product become a brand. The book also investigates on the retail environment as a brand value carrier do be a part of the brand experience leverages an emotional connection with consumers so that the brand is reinforced every time. 

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Searching arrangements

On Julian and Sally’s lesson, each student had to submit the final project draft. As” Fusion of tradition and contemporary in shopping experience ”as mine project draft title, I would like to present a contemporary retail park design which fuses traditional Taiwan culture image.  

My original inspiration was inspired by the second blog which discusses about André fu, whose projects exhibit a distinctive style of fusing the cultures of Westen and Eastern.

 I read a dissertation Emotion Expression of Material Quality in Interior Decoration Design ( HeYan,2012 ) indicated ” With the rapid development of society, people incrementally demand spiritual development apart from the satisfaction for functions, which is reflected in the attention paid on interior cultural emotions ”   Culture reflected a region of experience and lifestyle, and the image of culture would provoke an emotional resonance to local consumers. Meanwhile, an exotic ambiance also brings memorable shopping experience to foreigners.  Through 

Julian discuss my concept with me and point out there is a  necessary to understand deeper on “Customer emotion ”and “Culture”.Therefore, I made a mind map to think about retail store design from a holistic way and think about the relationship between emotion and commercial space.   help me focusing on my searching ideas 

https://www.lsnglobal.com/briefing/article/20465/nailing-the-future

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Colour as a movement in space

Nendo is one of my favourite Japanese designer and his concept of design always inspired me. He brings surprise and fun to the audiences with simple but delicate conception , he believes every design piece has its own meaning and people would invigorate to think about the conception of design.  

In his project “ Space Dipped Shirts ” in 2014, Nendo created a display space reveal an image of process and movement. The key point of movement feeling came from the changing of geomatic cube and colours. I am very interested in this idea and start to think about” movement” in space. 

In this project, the colour played the most important role as “dimensions teller” by changing its chroma, the colour not only elaborate length and width but also the time in space. This inspired me to think about dynamic space, what elements can attitude to  dynamic space? Can space express the concept of time? This is an abstract concept to investigate in the future. Moreover , I would like to understand more about the relationship between space and colour. I have never studied deeply into colour however the colour is the root and foundation of design , it reflects physiological and psychological feeling directly to the human. This project will be a start to do research on colours.      

Picture from: http://www.nendo.jp/en/works/space-dipped-shirts-2/http://www.designboom.com/tag/nendo/

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11/24 Design Talk -Tanya Fairhurst an interior designer from I-AM

‘The brand is still king, There have been slight brand backlashes in recent years, but they have been rather minor ripples on a very deep sea. And the brands are continuing to deluge us with their values, which it seems we are quite happy to soak up or let them just wash over us.’ Johnny Tucker, 2003

Though I-AM design I saw how a new brand is created and existing ones breathed new life by a complete set of planning and design process. Actually the design company, when I was stay, has a similar division of work to  I-AM design, however, I-AM design has the ore detailed division of design process.

Tanya Fairhurst introduces I-AM as a design company which seeks to deliver 360° brand experience and delight customers. Based on the project of JAN Restaurant here are five stage from bringing the concept into existence.

STAGE 1. RESEARCH AND DEFINITION: this is the most important stage to define the proposition of brand. The concept group does research to gather image, brand style, analysis customers and post all the information on the wall and arrange information into the core of brand. The result of main core supported the concept and direction in the next step wouldn’t get lost.

STAGE 2. INITIAL CONCEPTS AND PLANNING PRINCIPLE: at this stage, the graphic designer started to do on the pattern including visual concepts such as style graphic and picture. 

STAGE 3. FULL CONCEPT DESIGN: based on stage 2, graphic designer extend the concept to the details of the logo, glyphs, posters and so on. Sketch and 3D model were presented by interior designers.

STAGE 4: DESIGN DEVELOPMENT: Presented a completed project.All the elements, materials, and details would be confirmed at this stage.

STAGE 5: IMPLEMENTED: The project moved on to the operation stage. Specific personnel would check the quality at the spot regularly to make sure the working quality and process.    

The result was wonderful and successful. Tanya, in the end, expected students to be brave to try, especially on materials because everything base on feeling and touching and interest as much as possible.Keep ourselves in passion even the projects are board.

I would like to type my note out to make a record about understand how a mature design agency and brand experience consultancy system work. I worked in a design firm before but the operation system was not as complete as  I-AM design, Furthermore, this is a valuable opportunity to have an insight in an international design firm, therefore it is worth to write down what I have learned from design talk.

Website of I-AM Design: http://i-amonline.com/

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quote in  “Retail desire”

Tucker, J. 2004, Retail desire: design, display and visual merchandising, RotoVision, Great Britain;Mies, Switzerland;.

Another excellent retail design book I find in the library, and there are some quotes I consider as inspiration elements. Sometimes the words bring more concept than the pictures.

Interesting quotes from Retail Desire:

“Visual merchandising is at the heart of retail design- the fine art of persuasion.”

“We are collectors and art directors...our objective isn’t commercial , but cultural”- Renny Ramakers on the design role of Droog with Mandarina Duck, Paris 

“Using a mannequin is about creating a fun environment, expressing the attitude of a department store or shop” Ralph Pucci on mannequins

An induction in this book . (come back to read deeply!)

Visual merchandising and display have essentially grown up in a haphazard way, from market stalls to multinational, multisite retailing. As it has turned into a hugely competitive, multibillion-dollar industry, retailers have begun to demand proof of the role visual merchandising, display, and design have to play and how to maximize their benefits. 

Tried-and-tested methods, good business practices and, latterly, formal educational courses have developed, and even scientific research(rather than statistics)is being used to give the industry an edge.

ID agasin, retail design and research specialist, has developed techniques to see exactly how shoppers shop., using video and eye-tracking devices to see what shoppers are looking at. From its data, it has discovered shopping is shopping the world over; it’s a very homogeneous exercise.”Shopper behavior varies very little, not only within Europe and the US but across the Far East and Middle East, Apart from some small cultural influences, essential shopper behavior remains exactly the same,” says founder of ID Magasin, Siemon Scamell-Katz. Knowledge of the way shoppers behave is also augmented by a long history of simple trial and error, which has led to a casebook being created of what works and what doesn't. Back this up with footfall and sales figures and you have another approach to visual merchandising; Arcadia’s Miss Selfridge fashion chain is based in the UK and has eighty outlets outside Britain, including Singapore, Saudi Arabia and Iceland. It deals in hundreds of thousands of garments and, “the most important thing is that it’s very commercial,’ says creative manager, Matt Moss,”We only work with bestsellers and brand new pieces, nothing else, and we change it all every two weeks.

“We work to three thresholds. The first is the window, where you have to have that ‘WOW’ factor, the second is just inside the doors and then you have the back wall which is very important to help draw people all the way through the store.” As well as varying levels of displayed around the store in key places so that when a customer has gone to one, they look up and are drawn to another- the “pinball effect” of pushing people around a store. 

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Is this restaurant really be Minimalist style?

Today we learn about  Minimalism theory in Kerry’s lesson and it inspired me to think about the connection between minimalism and retails store.

Minimal works always based on the grid and geometric shaps , and were reduced to the smallest number of colors, lines, and materials. The idea of minimalism often rejected expression and narrative which is opposed to retail stores, always pursue fancy, eye-catching atmosphere .It is an interesting concept about a Minimal atmosphere in the retail stores.

 This is a project of a part of a business restaurant which located in India designed by Collaborative Architecture . Through this project, we do see a Minimal atmosphere with using cubic shaps , the minimalist number of colors and decorations in the space. However, I was wondering, is this store can really be defined as minimalist interior?

How the Minimalism be defined in the interior?

What’s the meaning of  Minimalism to the space design?

When did the Minimalism start to impact on space design ? What’s the history and revolution?

I think all these questions are worth to study depth and the outcome might be useful to my project. 

Reference: http://retaildesignblog.net/2013/01/16/mezban-restaurant-by-collaborative-architecture-calicut-india/

[kopijungmadesign-blog]

combination ethnic spirit and contemporary experience in restaurant-Asian spirit?

Last week I read an article which introduces an architecture named André Fu who brought up in Hong Kong and educated in Europe.

His projects exhibit a distinctive style of fusing the cultures of Westen and Eastern.  A strong cultural image and modernistic shapes are apparent in his work. ‘I regard myself as an approach-driven architect and I believe my role is to interpret my clients’ vision into a spatial narrative.’ says Fu.

Through his projects, We can see an Asian spirit and contemporary atmosphere which bring out new Asian sensitivities to me.  

One of his project -A bamboo restaurant in China (2016)  

Picture reference: Designboom

The atmosphere of this restaurant supported by the image of bamboo frames of traditional fishing huts. the wall also decorated with classical Chinese cabinets,  on the other hand, the colour of beige, marble and smoked oak intended to bring a contemporary, industrial and relaxed feel to customers.    

This projects also influenced by local fishing villages, the traditional image, and decoration in the restaurant emphasised the connection between culture and space. 

André Fu’s  trademark style inspired me to start to reflect my own culture and traditional image in Taiwan. Meanwhile,  through studying his ideas and vision about new Asian sensitivities and the way he displays light and space in conjunction with the use of tactile and lush materials may be usual to my final project. 

  Reference : http://www.designboom.com/design/andre-fu-yu-cun-haitang-china-10-15-2016/

http://afso.net/

[kopijungmadesign-blog]

synthetic materials: Prada Foam

Schittich, C. & Institut fur Internationale Architektur-Dokumentation 2008, Interior surfaces and materials: aesthetics, technology, implementation, Birkhauser, Basel.

I found a book named “Interior Surfaces and Materials: Aesthetics Technology Implementation” yesterday in the library and I found this book is so amazing and it presents excellent projects examples and the work process,  furthermore, the processing and interior layout are also introduced in the book which is very valuable to me.

The book indicates the material greatly influences the visual appearance of interior design. With the development and new discovery of new materials, there will be more possibilities for the designer to present more kinds of forms and spatial concepts of the project.

The interior projects can be either successful or failed by the choice of the particular material, therefore it is important for me to understand the characteristics of different materials.

 The induction of this book demonstrates an exclusive project of Prada outlets in New York and Los Angeles which created by the architects Rem Koolhaas. For these two projects, Koolhaas and his team sought and contributed to the experimental work of a poisonous-green Polyurethane foamed creation which was later named ”Prada Foam”. The team used this material to line the complete interior of the Los Angeles flagship store which successfully achieved a special and exclusive atmosphere. 

”Prada Foam” really impressed me and this sample does show me the use of fantastic materials enable designers to create remarkable space. 

The picture shows how Prada flagship store in Los Angeles and the detail of Prada Foam look like.

This is also another project in this book named “Fashion Store in Berlin”I am quite interested in. Through this case  I understand a new material named glass-fibre reinforced plastic“GRP”.  Glass-fibre reinforced plastic consists of reinforcing fibre (glass-fibre mats) embedded in a matrix system (e.g.polyester-resin or epoxy resin). GRP is low self-weight and quite flexible. The wall in the shop are constructed by “GRP”  which I think is so fascinating!!!!!