Ria Ashcroft Hart Design

[riaashcrofthart]

At university today we had a fabulous presentation for the class by a representative of Formica. 

It is a material that I have never personally been fond of as I would always favour natural materials over manufactured, particularly when it cannot be recycled. 

However, it was fascinating to learn the history of the product, the initiatives to reduce the footprint of the creation of Formica and some of the essential qualities it can provide. Used in hospitals, washrooms, cladding, hallways and contract furniture, Formica can provide clean and clinical surfaces that can also perform well with high traffic volumes and acoustics. Thus, ensuring a long-term value of the product.

There are many deeply detailed finishes available in Formica from intrinsically detailed stone surfaces, metallics, woods and premium gloss.

Most interesting was the presentation on colour. It explained how differently we all perceive colour and therefore the importance of the colour sphere used by Formica for selecting colour finishes. It eliminates any mistakes made by people in the design process seeing colours differently to each other.

I found the process of how Formica is made interesting too and it is now a product I would consider specifying in designs of the future, when relevant to do so.

From this presentation I have learned a lot about how Formica is used in the industry and the importance of details such as colour. Moving forwards, I will think more on the colours of client boards to ensure that the client is perceiving the colour in the same or similar context to myself. For example, having an array of different samples for a paint colour from online images to paper swatches and painted wood samples. 

06/02/20

[riaashcrofthart]

Some of my sketches from the year, most are observational and in pencil. I’ve progressed to doing some in marker pens. Next year I hope to create a larger volume of sketches and paintings, as I enjoy painting as a medium for creating visuals too.

Learning to Learn

5/4/19

[riaashcrofthart]

Today I have recreated some of the work I had not posted from the first 3-5 weeks of Digital Practice. In these early sessions, we learned some basic tools with Photoshop to make the visuals required for interior design.

Key Tools

Layers - creating new ones for each added piece of detail & moving layers to bring back original drawing lines. 

Masks - using these to chop images and create different layers.

Paint tools - gradient, different brush strokes & bucket fill to colour in different areas.

Images - using the embedded or link selection to bring in saved images you can then distort, warp, rasterize, scale or use perspective to use these images to create flooring, walls, added furniture or people. 

Selection - Lasso, Magnetic and Rectangle tools, these are all used to select areas for paint or snipping off images imported.

I do often forget to add layers, this is something I will be working to improve. I also need to slow down and make sure that I keep clicking the left mouse button when tracing complicated shapes with the lasso tool, to ensure I obtain the shape needed quickly.

Learning to use photoshop has proved essential to be able to create interesting visuals for interior design. It can be easy to forget some steps with not having a licence to use this program at home, this is something I will be looking to rectify for next years study.

Digital Practice 

4.4.19

[riaashcrofthart]

Today in sketch up, we went back and practiced some of the structures we’ve been creating using the push and pull and follow me tools. This one took a little while to do, having to make sure the shape is perfectly clean by editing as a component before duplication. 

Digital Practice

25.5.19

[riaashcrofthart]

This week, we again used copy and multiply tools, to shape and create a spiral staircase. It's enjoyable to create further detailed products with precision. An invaluable tool for creating visuals for my work.

Digital Practice

18.3.19

#sketchup

[riaashcrofthart]

By creating groups and using the copy and move tool, this week I created a staircase. These tools are great at creating detailed products.

Digital Practice

4.3.19

#sketchup #staircase

[riaashcrofthart]

This week, we carried on developing our skills with Sketch Up. We used push and pull and the follow me tools to create more interesting shapes. I can see that this helps you to create work on sketch up, quite quickly once confident with the relevant tools.

Digital Practice

25.2.19

#sketchup

[riaashcrofthart]

Absolutely loved our first session on Sketch Up this afternoon. It seems to be a much smoother process than using AutoCAD and I'm looking forward to using this software to create visuals for my assignments.

Digital Practice

#sketchup #uni #interiordesign

18/02/19

[riaashcrofthart]

This morning started with a fascinating tour and talk at the Energy House at Salford University. It was very reassuring and comforting to learn about all the hard work being done to understand how best to conserve and reduce energy consumption in our homes. It really inspired me to ensure I always consider the thermal properties of materials used and how to conserve energy when designing interiors.

Learning to Learn

#salforduni #energyhouse #co2emissions #2050target #howtodesignthefuture #sustainabilty #fightingclimatechange

[riaashcrofthart]

Today we practiced creating and changing shapes on CAD. In addition we learnt how to add on titles and measurements correctly, the same way we have learnt to demonstrate information with hand drawn plans and evelations. I really appreciate the process of learning how to hand draw plans, orthographics and isometrics before learning how to recreate them digitally. It has lead to a deeper understanding of drawing for Interior Design.

Digitalpractice 

11/02/19

#interiordesign #student #salford #autocad

[riaashcrofthart]

Earlier today, we had a presentation on reflective writing, above are images of the exercises included. From this session, I have learned how to take a deeper and more detailed approach to reflective writing and I will now this approach in my blog posts and academic work.  

Learning to Learn.

11/02/2019

[riaashcrofthart]

This morning we had a site visit to GK Gallery in Salford. It's a beautiful space that the owners have proudly created as a family. They have great links within the community showcasing work from many local sources.

We recorded all the materials found and note to self, becareful with reusable coffee cups for spilling. I will have to type up the notes made on 17 different materials found to create the interior.

Learning to Learn

4/2/19

[riaashcrofthart]

This morning we benefited from a great presentation on.... presentation's.

Above are some key notes taken and an exercise on ranking the attributes of a good presentation.

In pairs we gave a 1 minute presentation on Yellow being the best colour. It was a fun and insightful exercise.

Learning to Learn.

28/01/19

[riaashcrofthart]

Today we practiced our observational drawing skills. Here is a sketch of an internal staircase in the New Adelphi. After a few months now of drawing I feel much more confident with freehand sketches and my persective, it still isn’t perfect but there is a fast improvement. The New Adelphi is an interesting building to study, the architecture provides lots of interesting angles to try and draw/

Establishing Professional Practice

12/12/2018

[fight4future]

✊ Today is an Internet-wide day of action for net neutrality ✊

There’s been a major development over the past 24 hours: another member of Congress just came out in support of the House Congressional Review Act resolution to overturn FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s net neutrality repeal.

This is a big deal and could help push other lawmakers do the same, but we have to act fast because the deadline is just over a week away.

Today is a massive day of action to show lawmakers that people still care about net neutrality so we’re asking everyone to click here and tell Congress not to let their chance to save net neutrality slip away.

We’ve been fighting for months without seeing any movement in Congress, watching the clock ticking down to the deadline. But Rep Joe Morelle (NY-25) his support for the Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution could change that.

If we act fast, we can leverage this new momentum to unleash a small landslide of other representatives coming out for net neutrality before the December 10th deadline, which will make a huge difference in the battles ahead.

Today we’re asking the entire Internet to sign this open letter to Congress telling them to do the right thing and support net neutrality before it’s too late.

Your voice matters. As part of today’s Internet-wide day of action, thousands of others are speaking out, along with celebrities, musicians, and websites like Tumblr, Postmates and Etsy.

You can join them and show your support for net neutrality by submitting an ‘I support net neutrality’ photo. We will be flooding lawmakers’ social media feeds with pictures, so if they decide to vote against the open Internet we will make them look us in the eye as they do it.

Click here to sign our open letter and then submit your ‘I support net neutrality’ photo into our gallery:

We can’t let this deadline come and go without making Congress remember that the whole Internet is watching. We’re still fighting for net neutrality. And we won’t forget if they betray us.

Tell everyone you know to take action at DeadlineForNetNeutrality.com and spread the word any way you can. Click here to find ideas on how you can use your slice of the Internet – whether that’s your Tumblr blog, a website you run, or any of your social media accounts – to help get the word out. We’re counting on you!

[riaashcrofthart]

Creating a plan of an object with elevations in AutoCAD. These skills will come in handy when needing to create digital interiors, to be able to recreated the same object with equal distances is good for creating staircases, columns etc.

Digital Practice

3/12/18

[riaashcrofthart]

In today’s class we practiced observational drawing, trying to improve on perspective. I found this session frustrating as the drawing skills I had when previously studying Art have drastically changed. It was a reminder that drawing skills, must be utilized often to not only improve but maintain them.  Moving forwards I will make a more conscious effort to draw as part of my daily routines.  

Learning to Learn

3/12/18