Week 3: Gaining Responsibility
Sunday, June 23, 2013 at 4:10PM This Week’s Activities:
Packages I received Thursday with Residence Hall samples. This week was jam packed for Lauderdale Design Group. Now that my company email address is up and running and all the product samples have been ordered for the Residence Hall material boards, I have a lot of emails to read and respond to in the mornings when I come into the office. This has become a daily task for me. I also receive up to 15 packages a day with those materials. When they come in I try to un-package and store them quickly so the office is not cluttered. I keep a running list of what I have ordered, what reps have sent the items, and what has arrived. I also sometimes have messages that I need to return via phone. Cathy, our office manager, and I have started to share the task of answering the phones.
Advertisement I designed for UT 2013-2014 PlannerAlong with handling all the materials for the Residence Hall, I also have the running task of downloading furniture symbol libraries for easy access during design phases involving autocad. So far, I have downloaded the FSL for Knoll, Steelcase, Coalesse, and Herman Miller. One of my favorite tasks I got to do this week involved designing a LDG advertisement to go into the 2013-2014 UT Academic Planner in Indesign. We have a 1/16 page ad that with be in the planner and will hopefully bring Lauderdale Design Group more business. We were honored to be given the opportunity to be in the planner and love that our company has a made an impact on the UT campus. The ad I designed features one of our new photographs shot of our office.
This week we met with many different product reps. We met with Jill Hafeli of the Klem group. She sells a multitude of different hospitality brands. I love viewing her products and Dani was excited to get some hospitality resources because LDG is leaning toward a lot more of that business. We also met with Mary Holt, a fabric rep, as well as Mitzi Rouse, a carpet rep. These meetings are always informative for me to attend. I learn about new products daily.
Draft of potential finish schedule for Salon project.Dani and Deborah decided that it was time for me to start working on the Salon project. Dani briefed me on the space, the different materials they had thought about using, and what their concept was. Then she let me do a draft using a blank floor plan and prisma color pencils to show where the different materials should go. I came up with several different schemes before presenting them to Deborah and Dani. From there I made the changes they gave me and came up with a final finish schedule draft. Next week I will enter everything into autocad and create the final finish schedule and key. I also did some other things for the Salon project like ordering samples, color matching wall covering, and finding different floor options.
On site photo shoot at Synergy.Deborah and I were on site at Synergy, one of LDG’s most recent projects, all day Thursday. We had a shoot with the lovely photographer, Denise Retallack, who also shot our office. Deborah and I spent a lot of the day staging different areas of Synergy and directing Denise. I also ran errands to get lunch as well as some items to stage the kitchen with. Overall, I think we had a really successful shoot and look forward to seeing the photos next week.
This Week’s Focus:
This week the focus is on legal recognition for the profession; professional design organizations, licensing, registration, continuing education, community service, and professional ethics. Dani was nice enough to go over these things with me.
Downloading Steelcase furniture symbol library. Lauderdale Design group values many professional organizations in town. LDG’s most valued are AIA (American Institute of Architects) and USGBC (United States Green Building Council) because they meet and connect with designers through these organizations the most and are actively involved with both. Lauderdale Design Group’s business model is through the acquisition of work from architects. AIA is the best source for LDG to do this. Lauderdale coordinates with many allied professions such as architecture, engineering, furniture dealerships, and the construction industry. As registered Interior Designers, the staff of LDG must actively pursue knowledge and advancement in the industry. To do that, the designers attend CEU (Continuing Education Unit) courses and green building courses to keep their licenses as NCIDQ and LEED certified professionals. And the designers are NCIDQ and LEED AP ID+C certified.
Lauderdale Design Group loves being involved in community service. Their biggest endeavor is to support Knoxville’s design and art scene. LDG hosts First Fridays at their office and is involved with Knoxville’s Pechakucha. They also planned 2012’s USGBC Green Light Awards Banquet which recognized sustainable work and practitioners in Knoxville.
An example of conflicts that occur during a project is scope! Lauderdale Design Group often gets asked to perform work that is not in their scope (their original contract agreement). They are willing to do the work, but only if the client agrees to this as an additional service. For LDG, professional ethics ensures that the environment created for a client is one that is made through honest endeavor and intent from the designer. For instance, LDG does not sell furniture because they want their client to know they have an unbiased approach to what they specify.
This Week’s Introduction:
Deborah Presson, Design DirectorThis week I am introducing the Lauderdale Design Group Design Director and my supervisor, Deborah Presson. Deborah graduated from UT in 2001. She had done her school internship with Gresham Smith and Partners and secured a permanent job working for their Nashville office after graduation. She worked there for 3 years before moving to their Charlotte office and continuing working with them for 2 years before being recruited by Gensler. She took their offer and went on to work for Gensler for the next 6.5 years. Her husband decided to take his dream job here in Knoxville so she started her job search. She met Joy at Neocon and was offered a job when she made the move to Knoxville. Deb has been working for Lauderdale for 2 years. She has a 4 year old son named Bryson. Luckily she has family in town who helps take care of him when he is not in daycare 2 days a week, or she is not at home. Deborah works Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday so she loves to spend her free time painting, boating, playing with Bryson, swimming, hanging out with friends, jogging, and biking. just built a house featured in creative homes, biking. Deb and her husband just completed building their home in October and have been featured in Creative Homes. Deborah is such an inspiration to work with and I look forward to continuing to gain knowledge through her.
Reader Comments (2)
Lauderdale Design Group is so fortunate to have the young up and coming Samantha Rae Stein as their intern this summer. Hopefully Samantha is able to help maintian the very high standards that LDG has set for itself.
What a great opportunity to design the ad for LDG! What you are bringing up in your post is the importance of marketing a business and bringing in potential work at the same time of completing projects. There is a huge amount of activity that occurs on many fronts to keep a business running and successful. The image size of the ad is small and needs to be saved as a thumbnail to be able to open up a larger version of the image.
One of the most important areas that interns learn is the product side of design. In the classroom, there seems to be little time to develop the detailed understanding about specific products and various applications. Understanding the generic knowledge of material categories is just the beginning. The immersion of what you are currently involved is fantastic! The photo shoot is another wonderful opportunity. I visited Synergy for the first time the week before -- great space!
You've given a thorough examination on the importance of, and interaction with, licensed and certified professionals practicing in the world of the built environment. You've reported the importance of the AIA, but did not mention the role of ASID and IIDA. Does LDG not participate in the organizations established to promote the interior design profession? If not, I would like to know what stand they are taking as interior design professionals and the support these organizations may or may not be offering.
Great introduction of Deborah! You've done a very good job of writing and editing -- just check the very end of the post where a little attention to editing is needed. Great work, and look forward to what you will be introduced to this week!