How To: Design Concept
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As an interior designer, a lot of my friends and family ask me for advice on their homes. While I love weighing in, many of the thought processes of design and the design thinking process can be very applicable to the rest of our lives.
Part of the intention of this blog is to curate my knowledge bank of ideas and expertise. My dream is for more people to be in spaces they love that serve them well - life is too damn short for anything else. My design philosophy is grounded in supporting our wellbeing, crafting spaces and art that evoke meaning, regardless if it’s a wedding invitation or a 150,000 square foot workplace. The same principles are at play, and those are the building blocks I’d like to create a foundation of understanding with you.
Design is wide and all encompassing. Each post in the “How To” series will progressively elaborate on different aspects of creating a cohesive, intentional design, until we can reach a point where I feel we’ve established the basics and it’s up to you to put into practice. You’ll find many of the ideas and skills can reach seemingly unrelated threads of our lives, whether it’s setting up a travel itinerary or creating a meal plan. My belief is that our daily actions and processes are all interconnected - focusing on one aspect will feed into the growth of other areas, if you choose to let it.
This first post hones in on the idea of a design concept. Just like you wouldn’t create a spreadsheet with information entered willy nilly, or write a novel without an outline, a design needs organization and structure to come to life successfully. Another way to think of a design concept is like setting an intention. It can touch on the hopeful outcomes, or goals, but it shouldn’t be a comprehensive list. The concept should be succinct and precise. Sketches, images, and phrases can help illustrate too, or even show what the concept is not. Both tactics can start to describe the concept in a visual manner.
A concept can include an emotion, like brooding, or an image, such as a beautiful mountain peak. True design concepts can be debated or dissected, and stand strong. It acts as the guiding wind for our wispy sailboat, navigating tumultuous seas. The best, most memorable concepts evoke a feeling. There is nothing as human as our emotions; tying a feeling into our concept creates a strong muscle memory of what we want to capture.
For example, a kitchen renovation project may have the goals of bringing the family together and providing a central gathering space for the home. The concept might include feelings of warmth, openness, and comfort. For you that might mean enlarging the windows for sunlight to pour in and using wood flooring with honey tones. Either way, the concept begins to lend itself towards the materiality, function, and organization of the design.
In most projects I work on, one concept commands the entire design project. But, in unique circumstances, the concept can be fluid and adapt slightly from space to space to better suit the context or function. Often, I will create several concepts in a bout of brainstorming, and continue to iterate and dig deeper on each idea. At times, you may have to create scenarios where you can test several concepts and prove which one is the strongest. When you’ve reached utmost simplicity and clarity, the concept is strong enough to take forward.
Once you’ve decided on your concept, then we leap towards our next topic: collecting inspiration and research. ‘Till next time.
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