Journey of my Retail Project
On the first year of my degree I was assigned to design a retail project, which is so far the biggest project, I have done since I stepped into an interior designer's world. The project is based on a brand that we have to choose on our own. We had to prepare an A3 development pack, which includes more Than forty-five pages along with a concept model, two A2 size Presentation boards, a sample board and an architecture model, with our own design inserted in it. Due to this project I have learned many things about design. This project is the hardest and most challenging project which I have done till now.
When the brief of the project was handed over to me I was very scared. Somehow I lost my confidence for doing the project for a minute. Later on I realized that I was scared because I did not quite understand the brief. After reading the brief several times I eventually got an idea about what I had to do, thus, building up my confidence.
To begin my project I had to research and choose a well-known brand. Initially, I Selected two brands but later realized that the brand did not have a showroom so went on to look for other alternatives. Finally, I decided to choose Dior brand for my project. I chose Dior because they have a long rich history behind their brand, which really amazed me.
For my development pack I included as much as information that I could get from several reliable resources. After collecting information about the brand I started doing the work roughly. The reason why I did rough was because I wanted to make sure whether the processing of my work is on the right track or not. Following a review with the lecturer I knew that I was on the right track so I was more confident about my work.
As soon as I was done with my research I started to think about a concept for my project. I struggled a bit to find a concept because the brand I chose was very luxurious and high-class. After doing some more research on brand history I got inspired by their first collection, which represented feminism. I thought of bringing Back 'feminism' as my concept for the store.
As I started developing my concept I thought it would be unique to integrate my own culture into the concept. So I took the shape of a traditional toddy (raa’ bandhi) as my main inspiration. As I was connecting both Ideas, it was not working so much. So decided to change and decided on the shape of an Hourglass.
When I started with all the technical drawings I had a lot of difficulty when it came to finalizing a floor plan with my design and scaling the furniture’s were the hardest so It took a lot of time to get done with the technical drawings. After finishing technical drawings I was finally able to work on my architectural model.
For the material board, I decided to paint the board with white paint and which took a few days to dry off. Meanwhile, I was tried my best to cover all the requirements, which was on the brief and complete the model as well.
On the day of submission, I was in a panic state and was very demotivated as well. So many negative thoughts were surrounding me but I didn’t give up and started to Finish my works that were not properly completed but Most of it was completed. I tried to submit my work on the time but I couldn’t. I was very Disappointed with myself because I knew I had the ability to do this but failed to use it effectively this time.
When I received my Feedback I was quite surprised. I thought I would fail because all my work was a late submission but luckily I got a pass. Although it did not go as planned, I learned how to deal with such a huge project. It also taught me the value of time which, I was taking for granted. If I had planned a schedule and divided my works accordingly I would have been able to submit it on time.
To conclude, I would say this experience was very challenging. This was my very First project. I was very hesitant to do it from the beginning. But this also gave me confidence to do another project. Now I know what I need to improve and use time wisely. I was literally fighting with time so it was a struggle. I learned a lot about design research and time management. For the next project I would be well Prepared. As design student this whole experience was very thrilling yet Exciting. The fact that there is lot of other stuff rather then the theory was a very challenging, as this was very new to me. I hope I would be able to get another retail project and do it much better then this.