Completely Personal Homes
EXPERIENTIAL DESIGN
EXPERIENTIAL DEFINED
Experiential design is all about creating spaces that deeply connect us with positive emotions – comfort, elation, inspiration, joy.
The designer must discover the patterns, usually subconscious, that underly the client’s reactions to and affinity for positive and negative feelings. These patterns cover the gamut from sense of personal space, affinity for order vs ambiguity, simple vs complex, geometric vs sinuous, structured vs relaxed, visual texture and color depth and hue.
This approach places the designer more in the role of a movie director who is carefully curating and balance all the elements to create emotional engagement with the audience.
In all the years building, remodeling and designing I have enjoyed presenting my work to others in photos, and more recently videos. It’s exciting that I can now share the actual impact of an experiential finished product - the joy of the client!
Take a look at this video and see the successful impact for yourself. Enjoy.
DESIGN
Although it is directed more toward social gathering areas, like kitchens and family rooms, the DESIGN PYRAMID graphic illustrates the various levels of a successful design.
Personal Delight: Walking into a room or larger space that makes you feel so good, so magical you don’t want to leave is something we have all experienced. The captivation we feel is difficult to put into words because we’re unable separate the space around us from the way we are feeling. It’s a “You had to be there” kind of moment.
It’s very difficult to give a rational explanation of an emotional connection. A tip-off is when our client says, “I don’t know what it is but…” This signals a response to the whole vs the parts and tone and body language always convey the level of emotional response. Just like the applause meters in old game shows.
Social Connection: We have all been in good-looking spaces that just weren’t inviting. Creating spaces that encourage social interaction involves a high level of skill in the use of lighting, seamless transitions, and planning different levels of social intimacy. A simplistic example in a kitchen area is arranging seating to form conversation triangles and protecting sight lines to keep the food preparer feeling part of what is going on.
Visual Attraction: We all want to end up with great-looking spaces. While choices often revolve around issues of style and décor, they still must incorporate the basics of pairing color, texture, and finish with aspects of form, scale and proportion. These are the fundamentals of good interior design.
Function & Flow: Whatever the activity, efficiency and ease of movement form the foundation of good space planning.
"If you are like most people, you consider your tastes to be wide-ranging and somewhat disparate and unconnected.
The really good news for you and your designer is that beneath the surface are consistent and well-defined patterns of preference that shed light on why you like the things we do."
