Applied Design work at local museum
Pierpont Students Visit Omni Architects
Pierpont interior design students tour, experience Omni facility
TIMESWV March 28, 2017
FAIRMONT — Omni Associates invited Pierpont Community & Technical College interior design students to the newly renovated Omni Associates building.
Draftsperson and designer Kayla Turner is a Pierpont graduate with an interior design specialty and certification in drafting. Interior design specialist Shayla Stemple graduated from West Virginia University and helped to start the interior design department.
“You kind of have to make design jobs in our area,” Stemple began. “So I walked in and told (Onmi) they could benefit from having interior designers in the firm.”
Now, Stemple said clients come in specifically for the interior design department.
“We’re getting to that point where we’ve become established enough in our interiors department that we want to bring people on,” she said.
Because she is only four years removed from school herself, she said she hopes she is someone the students can relate to.
“This is a good stepping stone for them and us to start working together and for them to use us as mentors,” Stemple said.
The design students and Pierpont associate professor Rachel Plybon Beach met with Turner and Stemple to walk through the building and see the library. The interior design library consisted of fabric samples, books, binders, past projects, current projects and floor samples lining the walls around the room. Stemple and Turner talked to them about the professionals they work with, projects they do and responsibilities they have.
Beach said the students have already benefitted from Omni’s interior design department.
“I’m very happy they got to experience an actual materials library … and being able to listen to the designers and what they do day-to-day,” Beach said. “My hope is — we’ve been working on developing this relationship — I’d like to see a rotation of my students in here.”
“What I want them to get out of today … is to see just a day as a designer at a firm,” Stemple said.
“And to be aware of what materials are used for certain aspects … and what function they all serve,” Turner added.
Beach said she would like to see her students going to Omni for practicum and to get experience in the workplace. Stemple also said she is looking into interior design internships.
“I definitely feel more confident that there are a lot of professional jobs (in Fairmont),” Pierpont student Jennifer Shelford said about her experience at Omni.
“And it opens your mind a lot more to what there could be,” Pierpont student Kaitlyn Robinson added.
Concerning interior design at a firm, Pierpont student Carolynne Leasure Pitts said, “I think it’s a great option for you depending on what kind of day-to-day activities you like.”
Email Leah Nestor at lnestor@timeswv.com
How to build out a more compelling design portfolio – from 99designs
As 99designs works to connect more clients to specific designers that match their needs, the need for a compelling portfolio on the site has increased substantially. Consideration for consistency, mockup style and color are just a few of the things to keep an eye on.
In this article, we will cover eight ways to better showcase your designs. While we’ll focus specifically on your 99designs profile, these tips are easily applicable to any portfolio you create.
1. Consistent sizing of designs
Profile: artsigma
The aspect of artsigma’s portfolio that is most breath-taking is the fact that his presentations are so consistent, which is large part due to the consistent sizing of each logo. This high attention to detail and consistency grabs the viewer’s attention and lets them know that artsigma is serious about what he does.
2. Group designs of similar sensibility
Profile: Llwellyn
Part of what works so well about Llwellyn’s profile is that all of the designs have a similar aesthetic of feeling distressed, reworked, intense, and serious. The grouping of these similarly felt designs culminates into a full and powerful presentation.
3. Get your mockups together
Profile: Martin Lupus
Similar to artsigma’s consistency in logo sizing, Martin Lupus has incredible consistency in his use of mockups. They all use similar lighting, drop shadows, and sensibility. This brings a level of professionally and intention to the work which clients will respond to.
4. Nothing but the work
Profile: MircoAndricDesign™
Whereas some portfolios contain many iterations and mockups of a design, MircoAndricDesign brings the viewer right into his work by acknowledging thumbnails as “windows” into his 3 dimensional worlds. In certain realms of design, such as 3d, this is a great choice for presentation, especially in the 99designs portfolio format.
5. Showcase your range
Profile: Illustreishon
If you are a designer like Illustreishon who that spans many sensabilities of design it is important to show that in your portfolio. Illustreishon spans serious, friendly, athletic, sexy, and dramatic while staying locked within his unique style.
6. Keep it simple and organized
Profile: Smashingbug
Designers working in Power Point have an added difficulty in that a single design is actually many designs in one project. For that reason sometimes it is best to keep things organized and simple. Smashingbug for example simple places all of the slides together on a white background.
7. Choosing designs of a concise color pallette
Profile: Widakk
Another success in consistency is Widakk, who has a very specific taste in color – a taste which comes through strong in their design choices within their portfolio. This color selection presents Widakk as a designer with a strong sense of self.
Conclusion
Different types of portfolios demand different types of presentations. A good starting point is to think about what format your design work is in, how that is presented well by other designers, then to think about your unique traits and styles and how to express that in a concise way. Hopefully the result will be compelling and attractive to clients!
Here is the link: https://99designs.com/designer-blog/2016/01/08/how-to-build-out-a-more-compelling-design-portfolio/
https://99designs.com/designer-blog/category/design-tutorials/
Preserving Your Heirloom Textiles
By: Professor Beth Newcome, Ph. D.
Applied Design Program Director, School of Human Services of Pierpont Comm & Tech College
According to Webster’s dictionary an heirloom is a valuable object that is owned by a family for many years and passed from one generation to another. Early English law defined such valuables as part of an estate which could not be disposed of, but were willed to the heirs. Today we continue this tradition and place high value on items that have been bequeathed to us. Items in the top 10 list of most valued heirlooms, includes many personal items, and high on that list are quilts.
The Top 10 Heirlooms That Family’s Value 
#10 Musical Instruments
#9 Clocks and Timepieces
#8 Recipes
#7 Photographs
#6 Letters and Diaries
#5 Weapons/Guns
#4 Quilts
#3 Furniture/Household Items
#2 Stories
#1 Jewelry
Quilts are well known treasures among families, often considered an American folk art form. Quilting today remains a hugely popular pastime. Wonderful heirloom quilts that used to be common flea market fair are now gracing the walls of art galleries across the country. That crazy quilt your grandmother used to drape across the back of her sofa is a treasure with its vivid velvety and decorative stitches and is the stuff of family memories.
The heirloom items that come in direct contact with the body carry a special place in our memories. It creates an almost intimate connection with another person. If that person is dear to you, the object has enormous value apart from its monetary worth. So it would then follow that jewelry, apparel and other personal textile items are of great value, as we often feel closer to those who wore, touched and cared for them.
Do I have Heirloom textiles worth saving? Many people keep wedding dresses, christening garments and other household items for sentimental reasons. Often people invest in or collect fine old pieces that increase in value over the years. Family textile heirlooms represent a family over a period of time. This means that individual family members are caretakers of the textiles, preserving them for the enjoyment of future generations. The care and giving of heirlooms thus becomes symbolic of the love and continuity of the family. Textiles tell a story.
Tips for your presentations
to read the entire blog post: http://bookboon.com/blog
New Style written about by Instructor Rachel Beach, Program Coordinator for Interior Design
LINK to post – “S” is for Steampunk
Banner to S Factor Design Blog
It makes sense to me that we have now come to the time where our decor style options include an industrial dominate influence. History teaches us that when there is innovation there will be tentacles to influence in the arts.
In the Gothic Era (10th c. – 15th c.) we see the fireplace established creating the mantel and hearth. A new addition to focus on in architecture and design of buildings. In The Renaissance Era (14th c. – 17th c.) there was the invention of the print making process, bringing us books full of ideas and pictures and stories to cultivate our creativity.
And so it continues to add depth to our resources of influence to arts and decor by seeing the motifs, materials and finishes of the Industrial Age (18th c. – 20th c.) or better know as The Industrial Revolution come to light in the 21st century as an option in interior design styles.
This new interior design style is becoming polished and appealing! Young and upcoming designers are labeling variations of this look as “Steampunk.” This is fitting knowing that the invention of the steam engine was at the beginning of the industrial revolution.
If this appeals to you as a theme of decor for your space consider the inventions of this time period in industry. The Railroads, Machines and their gears, steel, iron, copper, stone & brickyards and aged woods are silhouettes, materials and finishes to consider for your design selections.
The color schemes would draw on neutrals with accents of “heat.” The colors of the materials and heat generated from production and manufacturing. Greys with accents of yellows, blues, reds and greens of the Victorian Era. Remember the importance of glass manufacturing (colored glass) and copper or iron pipes to use in your materials and finishes.
I see this style gaining strength in influence and application. This would be a great decor to consider for new projects!
Get “Steampunked!”
Time to try an On-Line College Course!
This April in Blogging U.: The Return of Writing 101!
This April, we’ll be offering Writing 101: Building a Blogging Habit. Writing 101 is a write-every-day challenge designed to help you create a writing habit and push you as a writer, while publishing posts that mesh with your blog’s focus.
What is Writing 101?
Writing 101 is a four-week course that runs from Monday, April 6, to Friday, May 1, 2015. Each weekday, you’ll get an assignment that includes a writing prompt and an optional “twist”; prompts are your topic inspiration for the day, while twists push you to experiment with writing techniques and tools.
Who else is really building their writing habit?… I wake up multiple times each night to check the time and see if it’s time to get up and write because I’m so excited. I’ve never felt this way before! I think I’m in lurve.
Molly, Knocked Up Knocked Over
You can mix assignments however you like: Respond to…
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2015 Academic Student Achievement Awards
North Central West Virginia Design Program 