Hear first hand from interior design student Felicity what distance learning is really like

Good morning folks! I hope you are all well. I feel like I’ve been pulled away from blogging the last week or so because of a side project, so I’d like to post something today which I’m extremely happy to show you all.

I’ve had the pleasure of following bubbly and energetic student, Felicity Dainton from Wiltshire, through her Professional Interior Design Diploma studio course at the National Design Academy (NDA) in Nottingham. It was great to see first hand how she went from strength to strength and thoroughly enjoyed every task, every day.

The studio course is made up of one week at the NDA learning about colour theory, technical drawing, rendering, how to set up a business and lots more. Then the students have four weeks at home to complete their assignments and have a final week back in the studio to go over the course again and brush up on the skills learned.

Hear Felicity’s experience for yourself and how she progressed throughout the weeks. I’d also like to say thank you Felicity for letting me join her through this journey!

If you fancy flexing your creative talents, want to build on a hobby or make the first steps to changing careers like Felicity, you can visit the National Design Academy website www.nda.ac.uk, contact them by phone on 0115 91234 12 or visit their Facebook and Twitter page.

This course is also available to international students and can be done solely at home instead of in the studio, just contact them to find out more!

Take the leap of design! It could be the best thing you ever do!

Award winning Interior Designer Kimberly Moore shares her top Exhibition Design tips!

As well as helping others develop their skills as an interior design tutor at the National Design Academy, Kimberly Moore has designed for some of the country’s biggest names including Lloyds TSB and Marks & Spencer. 

Her brand Bold Britannia, recently attracted the eye of label Powerhouse Fitness, who wanted Kim’s expert eye and opinion on how create the perfect exhibition stand for popular Body Power Expo event, at Birmingham’s NEC.

Find out what techniques Kim used to meet the needs of her client and create a super hot stand!

Blog diary: I’ll be a soft furnishings ninja in no time!

I’m getting rather into a few small hobbies at the moment with the aim to widen my intelligence spectrum, this includes; attempting to cook, making vintage cake stands and other general crafty things. One huge desire which I’ve always had, is to be able to sew, not only that but to make cushions, curtains and clothes.

Today I made the first steps to becoming a nibbled fingered sewing machine, with colleague Tracey, who once ran her own soft furnishings business, kindly giving up her lunch hour to give me my first lesson.

Now I’m a visual learner so having her there to show me what to do was fab! First I tackled the “slip” stitch, which was a little tricky to begin with, Tracey said I was being over critical, “calm yourself down, it’s only your first stitch!”. Noted.

I then moved on to the “ladder” stitch which was a little easier and my favorite. According to Tracey, it’s also her favorite stitch even though, ” it sounds a little sad having a favorite stitch, but we can now both talk about loving the “ladder” stitch and being sad together”. Im feel like I’m finally apart of the curtain gang!

I think this hobby will turn out to be a great success and I’m super excited to find out what I’ll be learning next – watch this space!

Freelance textile designer Laura Olivia is making waves with her striking prints!

Laura Olivia, never dreamt that one day she’d be supplying her designs to manufacturers all over the world, as well as being selected by Jethro Macey for this years New Designers “One Year On” event in London.

Her colourful designs started off as watercolours, sketches and photographic images inspired by nature. Laura combines digital technology and embroidery to create bright, colourful designs, perfect to lift any mood. In an interview with The Design Hub, Laura talks about her journey from being a textile design student to now owning her own brand and how other people can go about starting their own business.

Sourcing materials for a client brief exercise

As part of the NDA Diploma in Professional Interior Design studio course, students must understand how to effectively carry out a client brief analysis and create a design which meets their need and lifestyle.

These students chose their desired client brief and had the challenge of sourcing appropriate fabrics and materials to use for their sample boards which they will present to the client.

The National Design Academy have a huge collection of wallpapers, fabrics, accessories and carpet samples from various designers, which give the students a large range of choice. However this can make chosing one print very difficult!

The students also had a chance to see how a design practise can be set out and organised, as well as the various ways samples and work can be displayed. James Pilling, Manager of NDA Private Clients Interior Design Service, has a magnetic wall where sketches, images or sources of inspiration can be pinned up for clients to see or as references.

Adult Learners Week open day goes down a treat!

To celebrate Adult Learners Week, the National Design Academy, who specialise in Interior Design distance learning courses, held a special open day on Saturday which went down a real treat with visitors and received a huge amount of positive feedback.

The team were thrilled with how many people came along to find out more about our range of courses and how distance learning works. The atmosphere was buzzing and people were really keen to know more about what they would be studying, how the courses are delivered and what students have achieved since studying.

Spreading the social media word

After a rather glum morning at the hospital, this afternoon I delivered a short talk to some Interior Design Diploma students at the National Design Academy in Nottingham about the huge benefit social media and blogging can do for a business or personal profile as a designer – I just loved every minute of it!

To give them a little boost in the right direction, I decided to print off a list of PR tips, people and trends to follow on Twitter and an article I wrote yesterday about this subject. Online paper Social Business Consulting, had timed their feature of my post perfectly

Discover the huge benefits of blogging and social media to your business

Since starting The Design Hub in January I’ve been introduced to a whole new world of social media from sharing forums and Twitter streams to Facebook business pages and Linkedin profiles. I’ve realised that I’m not at as techi savvy as I thought I was. The first few weeks on Twitter I was completely baffled with trends, lists, hash keys and just general letters stuffed in random places!

So I thought It might be a good idea to get a feel for how others used blogging and social media. I began to read other peoples blogs to see how they set out their pages and posts, also what extra tools they used to make the blog more interactive and user friendly such as; top posts, latest posts, popular search terms, RSS, archives and links. This research gave me so many fantastic  ideas about what I wanted to include on my blog I couldn’t wait to get started!

Be quick and apply for 1000 euros a month Interior Scholarship

If you have a hunger and passion for interior design or architecture, you could be rewarded with 1000 euros a month scholarship from AIT-Scholorship of the Sto-Foundation. Their aim is to support talented students and allow them to dedicate 100% to their studies as well as professional and personal development.

All students in the discipline of Interior Architecture or comparable studies such as Interior Design, who are registered with a European University and are at least in their 5th semester can apply.

But you’ve got to be quick, the application deadline is 1st May 2011 and the scholarship will run from May 2011-April 2012!

If you think your talents can cut the butter, visit www.ait-architektursalon.de/stipendium or email stipendium@ait-architektursalon.de

Isle of Wight designer brings interior design services bang up to date with 21st Centry living

The usual practices of being a freelance Interior Designer such as; meeting clients, understanding their lifestyle, presenting sample boards, working out a design scheme and project managing, can be a little difficult to say the least, if your client lives in Durham and you’re based in the Isle of Wight.

Well, Interior Designer Jo Acheson wasn’t fazed by this hurdle and set up a clever design service which meets her clients every need without having to leave the island!

The design bug first hit Jo when she re-decorated her first home, she then started a Professional Interior Design Diploma course at The National Design Academy in 2004. After the success of her interior design business based on the island, Jo aimed for new heights and is now re-designing homes all over the country.

We don’t want to give any more away, so to find out how Jo challenges the traditional practices of  interior design and brings it bang up to date with twenty-first century living – carry on reading and get stuck in!