Through the Client's Eyes

After observations of several transactions between client and firm, I broke down the production of a space into three distinctly visible stages--all which I believe are equally and vitally important for the successful creation of a space:

1. the vision of the client for his/her project
2. the successful conveyance of the vision to the firm or project architect (proposals and meetings)
3. the execution of the actual project by the firm

 The optimal situation, in terms of these three stages, would be one where the client has a lucid and practical vision, the client is able to perfectly articulate the vision to the firm, and the firm can comprehend and accurately reproduce the client's vision. Everyone's happy and efficient.

In a more realistic situation, it is more likely that clients have very abstract or overly ambitious visions, they are unable to clearly convey the vision that they themselves cannot really ground, and the firm consequently  has to spend excessive time with follow ups with the client in order to clarify the hazy picture they originally received or sometimes just misinterprets their visions entirely from the start. On top of this, there are several professionals working on this project--designers, architects who majored in engineering, architects who majored in the arts, etc-- and that means several different backgrounds, areas of expertise, and perspectives all trying to collaborate and build one vision. The firm may end up having to struggle, squirm, and guess through the entire process in hopes of producing what the client possibly wanted.

Thus, from the very onset of the project, a profound detailing of the project from the client could serve to be very beneficial and efficient. The presence of someone trained in deciphering a client's intentions through psychological means or just empirical knowledge could profoundly aid in the process of excavating the client's true wishes. That's what psychologists are for, aren't they? Discovering the buried thoughts and wishes deep inside of us?

To be fair, in some scenarios, leaving the architects and designers with the reigns on the project could also have benefits...for people with little idea of what they want or those who possess an unlimited budget and want the most modern, trending design, allowing architects complete freedom with the project after designating a purpose could in fact be the best option. But usually, people are not so flexible and are not so wealthy...

To conclude, the purpose of a project ideally needs to be clearly established for a successful and harmonious project. And with that, until next time!

ROY G BIV

For the next few posts, let's discuss the main factors that create the experiences we derive from our environments. The first factor that will be considered in depth is color. Picking fresh fruit at Safeway, choosing between the silver and black shoes for prom, and even ramming down the brake at the sign of red..all emphasize the importance of color in everyday life. So what is the importance of color on design, and how do the colors of design impact us exactly?

This week, I have been busily compiling research on the psychology of..colors. While doing this, it was important to make sure that all the research I chose to add to my personal archives had an experiment attached to confirm its validity. Even if it didn't have one, though, I didn't rush to scrap it because they were useful for building the final consensus. To begin, I will divulge what I found on the basic colors of our rainbow (note: varying lightness and saturation could change the impact of certain colors..hence the several different effects listed under each color, both positive and negative) Different sources claimed slightly-nuanced things, but the general consensus was:

Red
seems to be the most popularly-researched...Possibly because psychologically, we have been trained to be aware of red which signals danger, or physically, red has the longest wavelength, or logically, it is the first color of our rainbow? The realistic answer is that it is probably an amalgamation of these and more. Red is linked to heightened adrenaline, attentiveness, appetite, and stress. Additionally, it is sometimes linked to passion, love, energy, and aggression. In the architectural context, red rooms also seem to hinder performance. This is probably because red triggers arousal and skilled performance level drops with heightened arousal. 

Orange
is commonly linked to warmth, comfort, and fun. However, orange is also linked to many negative connotations and was often reputed as the least favorite color for women (Amen!). Some of the negative associations are tacky, frivolous, inexpensive, irritating, and immature. 

Yellow
often has happy connotations. Positively, it stimulates the brain and makes people feel warmth, cheerfulness, optimism, friendliness, and creativity. Negatively, however, it may induce emotional fragility, irrationality, and fear (more likely in the case of a dull yellow). 

Green
is the color of nature and money. It conveys health, nature, calm, and restoration. On the other hand, it connotes boredom, stagnation, envy, and weakness. 

Blue
is not too often found in nature, besides the sea and a certain kind of berry. This may be why it is an appetite-suppressant. It connotes happy, calm, relaxed, and logical thinking. Negatively, it also connotes sadness, passiveness, and coldness. 

Purple
is a fickle color and has dynamic effects on its users. It conveys luxury, quality, truth and spiritual contentment, but used in the wrong way, it conveys suppression, introversion, or artificiality.

Obviously, appealing color has a subjective component, but understanding the innate psychological response of most people to certain colors provides at least some kind of foundation for understanding color in the designing process. In the studies I used, the researchers were careful to preserve the distinction between color preference that was culturally acquired and color preference that was innately present.

With colors, I can infinitely research every different shade and tint of color, but I believe it is more efficient to explore relationships between color and the method for creating harmonious color combinations. Who knows, some colors that are unpleasant alone (I hate orange) could be very beautiful, paired with a complementary color and design (a grey room with a pop of orange is acceptable). I will thus explore this science of mixing and matching colors in my next post! See you then!

Chipping Away at the Ice

Monday
The ice-cubes in my emptied Starbucks cup melt as I stand perplexed in the lanes of Barnes and Noble. I am in search of relevant architecture literature, particularly something on the process of architectural creation or something that links design to psychology. Unfortunately, B&N apparently stands for Broad and Narrow...the literature is either too broad, discussing the entire history of building design, or too narrow, discussing the ideals of "blobitecture." Thus, I deem my trip to Broad and Narrow:

FRUITLESS. 

[I remain hopeful, though, because I can always resort to surfing Amazon!]

Tuesday
I took my third visit to WORKSBUREAU! I can feel the ice breaking as I acclimate to the firm environment and the firm gets used to my presence. For the majority of the day, I took the opportunity of an independent station to conduct further internet research. I built a JStor account and searched its reliable archives to find an article Servicescapes: The Impact of Physical Surroundings on Customers and Employees from the Journal of Marketing by Mary Jo Bitner.  This article details a study on the  influence of design on consumers and employees. It states that the environmental dimensions or ambient conditions, temperature, air quality, noise, music, odor, and other miscellaneous factors, are all factors that influence consumers and employees.  Following the recommendation of my guidance counselor, Ms. McConaghy, I also ventured onto the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) website which showcases current talks, all around the world, given by renowned speakers with innovative ideas. I browsed through this vast archive and gleaned several resources aligned with the direction of my research, such as a talk delivered by Edi Rama, the mayor of Tiranna, who painted the city in bright colors to lessen crime rates. These studies imply that color, environment, and design do impact humans, which is  a great start in validating my question. Internet research is heading in a positive direction!

Before my shift was over, I also got my first Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign introductory course. After it was over, I realized how I had been living in such primitive confines with comfortable, yet lacking Microsoft Word! I am excited to be accruing new skills so I will be able to better prepare for the final product in May! Until next time~