project: shopping - research and analysis

How to design?

Design is a step by step process which consists of several key stages from start to finish. Basically, when I’m dealing with an interior design project, there are four main stages beginning with gathering and analyzing information. It is essential to know what have been given to you, and what it is expected to achieve. The second stage involves the brief and proposal which determine the main direction of the project based on the requirement. Stage three is when concept and creativity is worked up in drawings and details. At this point of a design project, the thinking and creating process is basic done. And during the fourth stage, the ideas are transformed into model with perfect details and ready for presenting.

However, it is only a main guide of design process. A designer can not stop thinking and testing from the beginning to the end. In stage one to three, our brain gives ideas, while in the operating stage, our hand and eye still provide some unexpected surprises. Overall, a good interior design project always spends more time and experience in thinking and researching rather than operating.

As the most basic and essential stage in a interior design project, it’s important to gather relevant information about the project as much as possible. Take this store- design project for example, we should analysis the site condition, surrounding environment, target customers as well as their shopping behavior, and etc. the more you take in consideration, the better the design is.

Sketch, as a powerful and effective way to present a design, is favored by designer in designing stage. Besides manual drawings, more and more designers nowadays prefer to use drawing and modeling software such as Sketch Up and 3Ds Max to quickly show their design.