Creating a Design Vocabulary

The Shaw Tower design language evolved from a broad concept to a selection of forms, materials, colours, and details. Thanks to a brilliant couple of lead designers on this project the concept informing our direction was very strong from the begining yet each of us were able to explore new facets of that idea. When a certain design or detail resonated with the team it became part of the design language. It's what we in the industry call "process" and it's probably the most exciting part of design for me - translating a concept and a program into a 'design vocabulary'.
In this illustration a recurring element, the staff break-out area, had many interpretations before the final solution.

Design to Reality

As part of the greater design, these elevator lobbies were treated as colour-saturated expressions of the concept. Each floor had a different colour story and its own variation on the carpet design serving also as way-finding. The custom wool carpets were close to my heart. I actually specified the colour design for each 2" x 2" square.

Concept Sections Through Shaw Tower

The base building design of Shaw Tower is an expression of natural, regional materials. Shaw's presence on the main floor is prominent and had to complement its surroundings. We combined warped and organic forms with coloured light and translucency as a soft foil to the architect's wood and stone. LED lights glow and shift from the glass "lantern" meeting room over-looking the main entry way. An organic light form unfurls through the elevator lobby. The affect is an allusion to what awaits you around the corner.

Totally oscillating

As my father's daughter I just had to get into power tools. One of my projects was this oscillating shelf unit that is fit together with interlocking finger joints. I don't know what was harder - wrapping my head around joinery pattern or painting it once it was finished! In the end it became the proud show place for my collection of snowglobes from around the world.

Fancy Hats

Once in a while I get in the mood to sew little sculptures and call them hats. These are just a few. Each one has seen the light of day if only once and then I'm on to the next project.

Helmet Hoods

There's a crazy influx of two-wheeled things in this city and I mean that in the best way. There are more bicycles, scooters, mopeds, motorcycles and segways than there are children (though not as many as there are little dogs). I ride a scooter and therefore wear a helmet and through that invented Helmet Hoods (TM). They're totally cute and completely useful for helmet-head avoidance. This too has its own website!
www.helmethoods.net

the Paper Dolls

I've been exercising my graphic muscles on all my band's visual stuff. We are an all-girl, all-ukulele, three-part vocal harmony trio called the Paper Dolls. I love us and we have fans from 2 to 92, Fresno to who knows where. See our website at
www.thepaperdollsband.com
Website credits:
Graphics by myself (collages by the Paper Dolls)
Webmastery by Johanna Schwartz

Stationary in the city

These little guys were an off-shoot of my love for drawing. Each is a scene of a less than remarkable vignette in the city, but a very real little portrait of my daily surroundings. There's a view from Maxfield's on Dolores at 17th, on the right is a street on Potrero Hill with a soccer ball rolling past at 20mph. Also in the collection are scenes from the Duboce over pass under construction and rooftops and power lines as veiwed from my back stairs. One of the best things about being a designer, I always thought, was that I got paid to draw and colour, but now it's really rare to actually put pen to paper. Pity, isn't it?