Thursday, 3 April 2008
As in any profession or industry Designers and Commercial Design
Companies come in all manner of types, sizes and experience. From
an individual designer working on his own to a major design
organisation and all the many shapes and sizes between, the
selection of which one to use must start with the nature of the
project that the client wishes to use a designer on. Every
project is unique in it's own right and needs to be matched to a
designer that is going to give you the best results.
An experienced commercial designer is a very flexible and adaptable
individual that has been trained in a very special way. Although
we all see the designers work as visual result from a project
brief there is a train of thought that has allowed this to
happen. A designer is trained to think and to resolve problems
first and their level of experience will allow them to conclude
this in a visual way to produce a successful interpretation of
the project brief.
Most projects fall generally into Five main design groups
which are then have sub categories, this could be expanded, but
as a simple list these are:
- Commercial Design - Retail Design, Office Design, Corporate
Design. - Leisure Design - Hotel Design, Restaurant Design, Bar &
Club Design. - Residential Design - Home Design, Building Refurbishment,
Property Development. - Exhibition Design - Space Only Stand Design, Shell Scheme
Design, Road Shows. - Graphic Design - Corporate Identity, Logo Design, Branding,
Design for Print.
You will know doubt be looking very closely at the designers
portfolio of work to find the connection with your own project
brief, however, you are advised to look outside your direct field
of business and experience in what the designer has undertaken
for others. If for instance you require your finance office to be
designed, don't just look for Designers that have done lots of
Finance Offices, you could be missing out. There could be a
Designer that is just right for the project with lots of
experience and talent in other business areas, but has not done a
Finance Office - yet! When it comes down to it, a good Office and
Workplace Designer can design to anything, it matters very little
if it is a Control Room for a Waste Disposal Plant or a Office
Suite for a Fashion Company, the principles of good Design and
Space Planning sweep across the whole commercial sector.
Lighting plays an important part of creating the right
environment in any spa interior, your designer should be able to
demonstrate to you that they have experience in lighting design
and lighting control - the best interior in the world will not
look anything unless it is lit correctly. It is extra important
for spas as the whole spa experience for the customer can be
destroyed if atmosphere is not conducive to the treatment being
given. In addition to creating the working lighting for a spa,
there is also the area of lighting for colour therapy which form
part of the health spar treatment and experience. Your design
needs to know the fundamentals of colour therapy and provide a
programmable system as a room or stand along installation.
