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Category Archives: Specifiers and Designers
Painting for clients with young children around
You can never predict what you may encounter when you enter a customer's home. Not all clients will hire a professional painter for an empty house – some may just want to change up the interior design of a room or two.
You'll mostly likely encounter children or pets as a professional painter, so here are some tips on best practices.
Keeping young children away may also mean they won't mess with wet paint.Young children or pets
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Team of university researchers find colour affects our ethical judgement of brands
As any interior designer will know, colour psychology is a major part of the industry and has helped countless designers pick the perfect colour palette for a space. Picking a hue that is especially suited to the use of a room is a seamless blend of form and function, using colour theory and practical design ideas together to offer clients the best possible solution.
Now, a team of researchers from the University of Oregon (UO) and University of Cincinnati (UC) have found that when brands use the colours blue and green, consumers see them as more ethical. In a series of studies and focus groups, the researchers found that seeing these two shades makes consumers imagine that the imaginary, fictitious brand was making ethical, moral decisions in their business practises simply because they associate these blue-green tones with being kind to the planet.
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Harvard research proves ‘green’ offices with low VOC have higher productivity
As an interior designer, being contracted to decorate commercial office spaces is often considered 'the ideal gig'. Why? Because it gives you a chance to showcase your brand, talent and personal style to mass audiences. The likelihood of word-of-mouth marketing is also high because businesses can recommend your services to other companies. Not to mention, it looks great in your portfolio!
However, there are certainly ways of being even more impressive with your layout by taking tips from recent clinical research on productive design. For instance, a study by Human Spaces found that biophillic design (the use of organic elements such as plants and plenty of natural light) can boost employee creativity by 15 per cent and productivity levels by 6 per cent.
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Healthy room, healthy life: Designing a room based on health research
As clients are increasingly becoming health conscious, interior designers can take on board some tips from health research as they are planning out a space. Jotting down some of these notes in the margins of your sketchpad can help as you are conceptualising where to put that sofa, or what colour to paint the walls.
Here we look at a range of health and interior design research, and narrow down how you can use this wealth of knowledge in your daily tasks as a designer.
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3 ways to impress clients with your design portfolio
The fact of the matter is, first impressions count.
During your career as a designer or specifier, you will be tasked with showing your portfolio of sketches, mood boards, look-books and images of rooms you have decorated to potential clients. The time they spend flicking through your portfolio is usually when they develop an impression of your work and style, so it's important to wow them.
Here are three tips for presenting a quality, professional portfolio.
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Did you know clinical research can help you decorate offices?
Interior design is an art form, requiring creativity and instinct. Every now and then, though, research is published that can give the job even more merit – especially when this research is about improving the mental health and overall wellbeing of clients who spend time in the spaces you design.
If you're currently working on designing or decorating a commercial office space, check out this research by Human Spaces and the University of Melbourne.
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Having designer’s block? Check these out for inspiration
Any novelist, poet or author will be the first to tell you that writer's block is a frustrating experience. But, as most designers and specifiers will know, feeling lost without inspiration is just as bad – designer's block isn't a walk in the park.
If you're currently stuck in this mood, don't you worry, as the Resene Total Colour Awards gallery can spruce things up.
For colour inspiration:
For industrial design inspiration:
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How to create wall collages with prints, photographs and art
A great way to personalise a wall is by adding your own collages, curating a range of prints, photographs or artwork to show off your personality and interests in an artistic manner.
Those of you who love a vintage look can hang these collages in chunky gilt frames in a salon style by placing the prints, posters, photographs or postcards at odd angles, much like a scrapbook. On the other hand, homes with more of a contemporary design can benefit from collages carefully measured and hung in sleek straight lines.
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Brushstroke of midnight: Bedroom decorating ideas inspired by fairy tales
"If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales," said Albert Einstein.
Considered one of the smartest human beings to ever walk the planet, Einstein's wise words shed light on the beauty and power of fairy tales.
Your paintbrush can swish like a magic wand as you transform your bedroom into a fairy tale inspired wonderland. They say in many of these mystical stories that dreams can come true, and a sweet way to bring such joy to your home is by making the room where you sleep and dream a relaxing space.
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Around the world in 5 wall murals
Grab your passport, it's time to jet off around the world simply by taking a tour of your own home!
These five Resene Environmental Graphics wall murals can instantly transport to you lands far away, so think of your house as a setting in French author Jules Verne's famous novel Around the World in Eighty Days and explore the globe.
1) France
Delight in the evening glow of the Eiffel Tower thanks to the Paris lights mural, captured by esteemed artist and photographer James Blakeway. Breathtaking pink and purple skies stretch behind the lights of the Parisian skyline, adding a French kiss to your walls.
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