“Tomatoes on a plate…” designing with a strong concept.
‘Tomatoes on a plate drizzled with olive oil…’ this is how one client described her vision for her home to me. Concept is not about identifying what the finished product is going to look like but what it’s going to feel like. ‘Tomatoes on a plate’ made me feel something: inviting, relaxed, classic, space for life’s mess, and enjoyment.
It can be daunting, for some, to describe the essence of their space with visuals that don’t immediately relate to their spaces. Quite often I receive client inspiration images that are of bathrooms if we are planning a bathroom renovation, kitchens for kitchens and so on but I find it much more personal when I receive images that evoke a feeling. Spaces should be crafted from feeling, that’s how they’ll last the test of time and keep you interested for years to come: they satisfy something inside you.
Some insight into what makes a good concept image:
oddly enough, you have a hard time describing what it is that you like about the image: “I love this, I don’t know why”
the image rolls around in your mind, holds your attention, you keep going back to it
you have an emotional response to the image
the image responds to a way of life not simply stuff and things
And, I’ll tell you a secret: it will be easier to communicate feelings through imagery than to spend hours and hours on Pinterest looking for that perfect bathroom that has all the ‘things’ you want. Let us, your designer, do the nitty-gritty reference image sourcing - that’s part of our job. By communicating what you want to experience in a space we eliminate the risk of copying someone’s bathroom and we create one that can only be yours.
I’ll often ask a client during the consultation to imagine themselves a year or so after the project is complete: ‘the project has turned out just as you imagined - better in fact - and you are thrilled. Now, tell me: what are you doing?’ Are you hosting a dinner party for close friends? Are you baking cookies with your young children? Are you simply relaxing, reading a book or overlooking your garden? What they imagine for themselves is telling: sometimes it’s not exactly what it is that they had previously pictured - sometimes it’s more - often it’s simpler, more personal and introspective. Whatever their picture is, this is the nugget that drives the creation of a personal design scheme. This is the concept.
Once you have that concept - that vision for where it is you are going - in your back pocket, it will serves you in spades. It is the touchstone for all decisions to come during the design phase and, even more critical, the implementation phase (more on this in a minute). Concept tells us what, as designers, to propose and it aids clients in understanding if a proposed element fits in their life’s vision. Product selection - hundreds of decisions based on thousands of options - will take years if it doesn’t operate around a strong conceptual core. The concept serves as a litmus test for all that you’ll encounter: does this dining chair work for us? It does if it responds to the concept, and, if it doesn’t, you move on. Without a concept guiding you you’ll make decisions based on availability, price tag and gut reactions as to whether you simply like it or not - which can be fine but this approach is for those with open-ended budgets and no timelines. That dining chair you liked six months ago… well, it doesn’t actually work for the room colours you ended up with or the look of the dining table… which results in you switching things out ad nauseum (= wasted time and money, aka: sources of frustration).
The front half of my process, the Design Phase, is the ‘safe space’; it’s a tight group of me, my team and the client and the creative process is well-protected. Once we enter Implementation, we open up the vision to all sorts of wonderful people who will realize the project. Contractors, trades, vendors - even the delivery guy (opinions can come from anyone!) will be involved and though this is an exciting time, if it’s not built on a strong conceptual foundation it can wobble and sometimes topple. Well-intended opinions can derail the integrity of the design and stressful timelines can result in short-cuts being taken. Without that touchstone of a concept and staying true to it (and you’ll stay true to something if you’ve worked hard for it), the vision can unravel with results that fall short of satisfying for everyone involved, most importantly the client. It is during this Implementation Phase that I, as the designer, consider myself the ambassador for the design: I’m present to ensure problems are solved and opportunities are considered all in respect to the design intent. This doesn’t mean ‘my way or the highway’, it means: let’s take that short cut as long as it gets us to where we want to go.
Begin with the end: think about the picture you have in your mind’s eye for what you would like to be doing and feeling once you have the space you’ve always wanted. Carve the design out of this vision. Create your destination and stay true to it and you’ll be able to enjoy those tomatoes on a plate drizzled in olive oil, kids running around, garden in bloom and smiling at life’s moments, moments you created.