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This will be the community Blog for IDS 420 Summer 2016. Students will post their responses to weekly Journal Assignments here as well as view posts/comments from other participants.
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Tatum Rumsey | Nashville, TN | Feltus Hawkins Design | Week of May 25th
Week's Summary of Events:
This being my second week*, I continued my first week's responsibilities of sample ordering, material management
, phone monitoring, conducting business with our office's vendors, organizing binders for the clientele, and aiding my coworkers on three projects they started long before I arrived. In other words, I have just been starting small with the organizational grunt work. Started from the bottom. However, this past week I have graduated by adding more responsibility to my tasks. I have started to ask for price points on materials and I have been aiding the office with reviews of area requirements on CAD to make sure they met the standards. These set of standards are called FOX Standards and since the office is in charge of the design of all the Subarus in the U.S., it is important that their standards are met accordingly with no Subaru location overlooked. This stuff is tedious, but what else is new. It's been interesting finding out all the stuff that goes on hat no one would ever think about.
Week's Focus: Week Two:
Week two was focused on finding out Feltus Hawkin's project organization, information management, and coordination. From what I have seen and from what the designers told me - all three of these aspects are client-based. This meaning that though they do have project phases and they label these phases for the clients - they say that (like studio) the least amount of time is spent on the creative design and most of the time is spent on communicating and organizing the design. The phases they label on each design is typical and as follows: pre-design (AKA research), schematic design, design development, contract documents, construction documents, and installation. Though someone noted that from schematic design all the way to construction documents, its generally blurred together but they label it as different phases for the clients. When it comes to information management, there is a ton of collaboration between everyone in the office. They work on documents together on shared files, they have a lot of meetings, and they discuss the designs frequently letting each other know exactly what they have done or what they are thinking. For coordination, they say that is completely client-based. It is a service after all. They described their process as being "experienced-based" so they know the design process like the back of their hand. They know how soon to start and when to let it be finished for every phase based off past experiences. They also noted that coordination depends on whatever else they have going on in the office.
Getting to Know Someone New:
So no one wants their picture taken, its kind of awkward. However, I got to know one of my coworkers, Daniella, a lot better this week. I worked with her on a local project in Nashville for an apartment complex called 909 Flats. She has been teaching me the ways of the office and answering all of my dumb questions.
*I will be posting my first week's journal as soon as I can figure out how to copy and paste on this blog. Seriously this blog is really weird and awkward about attatching documents and copy and paste-ing, so if anyone cn help a girl out that would be much appreciated. There is also no spell check so please pardon the phonetic skills I never came to understand.
Week 1
For my first week of my internship, I got to know the firm and the people a little bit. There is another summer intern with me named Ali. The firm (Interior Design Associates, also known as IDA) is making some changes to their offices. So as of right now Ali and I do not have computers to do any work on. I started my first day off slow by straightening up the materials library a bit. This was good for me to be able to see where all the materials are located. I learned the mailing system, how they open the mail, save the shipping labels and write the project name it was shipped for, and pass out mail. I have been able to get to know some of the designer’s names this way. One day I pulled some crypton fabrics for a designer to look through and choose which ones she might use for a client. I also picked out grout colors multiple days on many tiles and mosaics for a couple projects who are using a large variety of each. Not everyone is in the office everyday. Its summer so a couple women have been on vacation, and someone is always traveling to meet a client. Therefore I got to work on someone’s computer correcting redlines on a furniture plan. After I would make a correction I would then highlight the redlines to mark that it has been changed.
Getting to know someone new:
I can't figure out how to attach a picture to this blog from my computer. However, I did get a picture of the other summer intern who I am working with. Her name is Ali. We have done all of the same tasks and help each other throughout the day. We hangout together and talk at our desks if we have any downtime and during lunch. She is from Missouri but goes to Mississippi State for school. She heard of IDA through a girl in the studio ahead of her who worked here for two summers. We are both in the same position, we started design school late. I will be a 5th year student but a 4th year ID student. Ali will be a 6th year student and a 4th year ID student.
Week 1 Focus:
Week one focuses on getting to know the background of the firm. IDA is a sole proprietorship. The founder of the company, Bonnie, started the firm in 1981 and it has been going on ever since. The firm is registered with multiple states including: Florida, Oklahoma, Minnesota and Texas. And there are staff who are licensed with Florida, Tennessee, California, Georgia, Maryland, Illinois. Oklahoma, Texas, New York and New Jersey.
There are currently 27 people who work in the office. This is a diagram representing the positions in the firm.
Founding Principal
President/Principal
Senior Vice President/Principal (#1) Senior Vice President/Principal (#2)
Business Manager/Principal
Director of Design Director of Purchasing
Office Manager
9 Interior Designer 4 Autocad Architects/Interiors
2 Junior Designers
3 Permanent Interns
2 Summer Interns
Week 1
I am working for SESCO which is a lighting company. For my first month I will be located in Knoxville and at the end of June I will relocate to their Atlanta office and also travel to their Orlando office.
(Description from www.sescolighting.com)
SESCO Lighting, Inc. is the largest and most successful lighting manufacturers' representative company in the United States. We have been promoting and selling lighting products on behalf of manufacturers at the wholesale - not retail - level since 1967.
SESCO's clientele includes:
Representing more than 75 lighting manufacturers from around the world, SESCO is a world-leader in the commercial and industrial sale of lighting and lighting controls. Contact us today for help meeting your commercial and industrial lighting needs.
My first week I shadowed the office manager and two of the outside lighting reps. One rep is an architect and the other is a lighting designer. I have assisted in current projects that they are working on in the Knoxville area and surrounding cities. I am working with engineers, architects, and interior designers daily on lighting for current projects in constructions and new proposed projects. I have been working on finish schedules, creating a custom lighting pendant for a hotel, getting quotes from manufactures, and networking with clients.
Erin McLevey • Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. • Week 1
WEEKS SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES:
This was my first week at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. On Monday, I arrived at the office in the Chelsea district of Manhattan, where I met 48 other interns who were also here for their first day. We had orientation for the morning portion of the day, where we were served breakfast and played icebreaker games to get to know one another. In addition to this, we learned about the history of the company and Martha Stewart herself. After lunch, we were given tours of the office, where we got to see the different studios, the executive area, the craft area, the test kitchens and so much more. After the tours we were introduced to our supervisors, who took us to our individual desks, which they had decorated. My supervisor’s are Cathryn DelaRosa and Kevin Sharkey. Cathryn is Kevin Sharkey’s assistant. Kevin is the Senior Vice President and Executive Editorial Director, Decorating, and Executive Creative Director, Merchandising for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. and basically Martha’s right hand man.
Kevin was in Monaco and Milan this week with Martha, so I was primarily working with Cathryn for the week. Cathryn and I discussed goals for the internship and areas of interest. She gave me explanations of key projects that I will be working on throughout the summer.
The first project that I had to complete was an archiving project of all Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. magazines for our department. This means that I was organizing magazines and creating an inventory of what we had and what we did not. I organized the magazines chronologically, first by month and date, as well as by issue and country.
Magazines that I was categorizing were:
All of these editions dating back to various times (example, USA Living Winter 1990)
After organizing and categorizing these magazines I created labels for each binder that held a certain section/segment of time. This project took me until Thursday morning.
In addition to this project I was able to sit in on the PetSmart Halloween photo-shoot, where they were shooting for the October magazine. There were a ton of small breed dogs at this shoot, running around in costumes.
Overall, my first week was very exciting. Completing the archiving project in a timely manner means that now I am able to move on to other exciting things, like assisting with photo-shoots as well as other editorial and design assignments. Interning for a company like Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. is great because I am able to work in a creative environment, as well as experience a lot of perks such as sampling muffins from the test kitchen and experience national free donut day at an enthusiastic company. I am looking forward to seeing what the next few months bring.
WEEKS FOCUS:
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. (MSLO) is a diversified media and merchandising company. The company reaches around 100 million consumers across all forms of media every month. MSLO is a publically traded company on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: MSO). The company designs products in a range of lifestyle categories available through various retailers such as, The Home Depot, Macy’s, JCPenny, Staples, PetSmart, Micheals, as well as Jo-Ann Fabric & Craft Stores. The MSLO family of brands also includes Chef Emeril Lagasse’s media and merchandising properties.
Organizational Structure:
… The list goes on forever (check out the magazine for the list!)
MEETING SOMEONE NEW:
Cathryn DelaRosa has been with the company since October, and she is one of my supervisors. She assists Kevin Sharkey with everything he does. She organizes his calendar, makes his travel arrangements, sets up meetings, and so much more. She also assists with the Partner’s Pick featured in the Home & Garden section of the Living magazine every month. She helps to coordinate and organize the partners and help with picking what the featured items are each month. Because of this she has her name in the magazine every month, which is very cool.
It has been a busy first week with NOI-Knoxville. Monday was spent familiarizing myself with the layout of the office, particularly the resource room. Tuesday and Wednesday, I went to the main office in Nashville to undergo training in the software the company uses in order to create the drawings necessary for each project. I was given projects of my own to work on at this point. Thursday I returned to Knoxville to continue working on my new projects, and was handed another new one as well. Friday, I met with my branch manager/sales person, Amy, to discuss what I had done so far. She gave me a fourth project to work on during our meeting as well.
This week I have become more acquainted with Amy Taylor, my branch manager and sales person in Knoxville. She is in charge of running the Knoxville branch of NOI, as well as handling sales to new clients and setting up new accounts, as well as maintaining relationships with existing clients. This week, Amy and I discovered that we both enjoy going antiquing.
NOI, short for Nashville Office Interiors, is a sole proprietorship. Hershel Peppers took sole control of the company in 1988. The company now has over 50 employees in 3 cities: Nashville, Chattanooga, and Knoxville. Originally, NOI was known as Nashville Stationery, and provided office and printing supplies. Gradually, the company began to transition to offering furnishings, changing the name to Nashville Office Interiors in 1981.
Today, the company has a fairly simple composition. Just below the administration, composed of members of the Peppers family, falls the sales people, design director, and financial department. While the design director and designers are technically separated, they perform essentially the same tasks. The primary difference is that the design director, located in Nashville, deals with projects from the Chattanooga and Knoxville offices, as well as the work being done in Nashville. Finally, comes the secretarial staff. These individuals double check purchase orders to ensure accurate pricing, as well as actually placing the orders themselves. These individuals are crucial in ensuring the accuracy of a project, as they are the final people to look over order acknowledgements before finalizing an order for a project.
Administration
Sales People Design Director Financial
Designers
Secretarial
After years of practice, NOI is highly attuned to meeting each client’s individual needs in the best way possible. Every effort is made to ensure 100% satisfaction with the final result of working with NOI.
Week’s Summary:
This week we did a little rearranging in the office. I spent a little bit of the day helping move and organize things. I have my own computer now, which makes it easier for me to access everything and do more work. There are some upcoming presentations on a couple projects and I had to do a lot of ordering samples from venders. I typically send emails to the venders asking to ship presentation size samples of fabric, tile, carpet etc. at no charge. Sometimes our clients like to purchase a large presentation board of materials that will be in their space and hang it in the room. I watched and helped other girls put this together nicely. I made a notebook binder of physical samples that will go out to the client and contractor so we will all be on the same page as to what materials are going where.
Getting to Know Someone New:
This week since we made changes and moved some desks around I got to know this girl named Anna better because she now sits with me and the other summer intern Ali. She has been working at IDA for about 6 months. She in considered an intern as well but will eventually be a junior designer and I learn a lot from her. I ask her a lot of questions about how to get things done, correctly send emails etc. Anna is really funny, Ali and I like that she is sitting with us now. She just recently got married and her one-month anniversary (she didn’t celebrate it she just mentioned it) was last week. They went on a cruise for their honeymoon to the Bahamas. The man she married was her high school sweetheart but they were broken up throughout college while she dated other people. (Funny story-After not seeing each other for a couple of years, Anna's now husband was walking down the street and ran into Anna, while she was breaking up with her boyfriend at the time. Must have been meant to be!)
Weeks Focus:
About 98% of IDA's current projects are out of state. Therefore the designers are traveling quite a bit to the clients. I have already been able to work on the process of communicating the design to our clients. To start off, the designers will have a meeting with new clients to discuss what it is they want and the changes they need to make. Throughout the process the designers stay very organized so that they can present the client with clear information. IDA has a main server connected to all the computers with all the projects' information on there so that everyone can have access to them. The designers make the plans for the clients including floor plans, furniture plans, RCPs etc. When these are finalized they will start the decorating process. To keep organized with all the materials we get large plastic bins to hold them in. In the bins are folders labeled for each room and the coordinating materials will be placed nicely in there. Since furniture and lighting will not fit in the bins, we make a PowerPoint as well as binders with photos of what we are using in the space. I worked all day on one of these. I had to create a PowerPoint and have each room on a slide with what was going in there. I then made just a furniture PowerPoint where each individual piece had its own page and material on it. From there I had to find online each piece of furniture, print it out and organize a binder. All of this is done so that it can be nicely presented to the clients. IDA in fact does do contracts. It helps with the scheduling as well. This week I actually had to fix a contract for a designer. She had printed it out, scratched out and wrote sentences that needed to be added. I then went on the server to access the file and made all the changes that were asked of me to. Having these contracts helps smooth everything over and ensures everyone is on the same page during the process with no confusion.
Tatum Rumsey | Nashville, TN | Feltus Hawkins Design | Week of June 1st
Week's Summary of Events:
This past week I spent continuing my tasks of updating contractor commercial contact information for all of the different companies we order from on a regular basis. I also had a new experience asking for a formal price quote on some outdoor, luxury furniture for the 909 Flats that I was apart of picking out. There were a lot of elements to take into consideration when asking for a price point: shipping would occur four days after the order was placed because the company assembles the furniture before they ship it, then it would take ten to fifteen business days to ship. I also had to compare the asking price to the MSRP (manufacture's suggested retail price). I also two more assignments to re-lay-out the brochure that hold all the furniture, millwork, and finishes information that Feltus Hawkins designs for Subaru. The other objective was for me to type out a maintenance manual for Subaru and all of the finishes used - both interior and exterior.
Week's Focus: Week Three:
Feltus Hawkins was founded/is run by highly accredited designer Marjori Feltus and architect David Hawkins. They have more than enough certification that is generously displayed throughout the first floor of the office. They are licensed business owners with a long history of owning their own businesses. Half of the staff is licensed and they are in charge of the other half.
Interior design involves many other professions such as the architect, the general contractor, the contractor, the contractor commercial rep, the customer, and others depending on the scope.
There are about ten designers in the office and only about five of them are licensed. The rest plan on getting licensed and advised me to wait to get licensed after about ten years of practice. They said that they are not actively involved in any professional organizations and don't plan to be.
Mainly the licensed and older designers are involved in life-long learning and don't particularly care for it. They didn't talk much about what it involved, it seemed like more of an obligation than a hobby. Sounded kind of lame.
An incident occurred this past week where some drawings got mixed up with another project's drawings (from what I understood). So, two sets of drawings were sent to the wrong place on the deadline. The only solution was to immediately send the drawings to their correct place. It didn't seem to be a huge deal so that was good.
Feltus Hawkins put's a strong emphasis on good practice and interior design as a service. Since they work with the Subaru franchise, they have to respect the guidelines they came to agree upon with Subaru. For example, when grating any graphic for any part of a project working with Subaru, the only images that can be used are Subaru approved images. There are many constraints that Feltus Hawkins coordinates around to be ethical about their designs with their customers.
Getting to Know Someone New:
I gave up on the pictures because its uncomfortable. This week I got to know the receptionist who also plays a role in designing for multiple projects at a time. His name is Chaz. He went to school here in Nashville and has worked at Feltus Hawkins for three years now. He also bartends part time and has helped me get to know the city. He is cool.
Erin McLevey • Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. • New York, NY • Week 2
WEEKS SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES:
This was my second week at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. During this week, I continued tasks from last week, as well as started new ones. On Monday, June 8th, Kevin Sharkey returned from Monaco and Milan, so I was able to finally meet him. However, our ‘meeting’ was more of a simple introduction because for the remainder of the day (and most of the week) he spent his time attending/having meetings.
Similar to last week’s project of archiving old magazines, I created a similar excel document, listing which of Martha Stewart’s books we had/needed to order more of. Kevin uses these as references in meetings for current articles from time to time, as well as gives them away to clients who come into the office (hence why we needed to order more). Here are some of the book categories in which I was documenting:
In addition organizational projects, I was reaching out to employees via email who had submitted their dogs to our database for photo shoot opportunities. There is a shoot next Friday for which two-three dogs are needed. I have been organizing when the dogs need to come in etc.
I was also able to attend a photo shoot for the September cover of the Living magazine. This was a re-shoot because some of the items in the shot needed to be shuffled around. I was able to keep a beautiful bouquet of flowers from this shoot to keep on my desk (I would post a picture but I am unable to post pictures/share information that has not been released yet). Later the same day, I attended another photo shoot for a segment of the magazine called “Good Things” for the October magazine.
I did a lot more tasks for the remainder of the week, which were associated to the things mentioned above. In addition, this week from the test kitchen, I tried chocolate cake with some sort of vanilla butter cream frosting.
WEEKS FOCUS:
Because Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. is such a huge company, there are a lot of different departments that have different processes for what they need to accomplish. For each magazine edition, and article, different steps need to be taken to get things done.
You need to have a production schedule that organizes all of the people and tasks that are involved. They also have a deadline schedule (different deadlines for each department to meet, as well as a more definite company deadline). Additionally, listed in a production schedule would be a design schedule, editorial responsibilities, printing deadline, as well as a distribution date. This process has many steps, and this makes it easy to see why magazine issues are started months before they are printed.
Also, for each issue, there needs to be a content plan. This lists what’s going in the magazine from cover to cover. In addition to this, a detailed plan for each page and story is created. This can list the content, what type of article is it, and also who will be writing it.
Time for proofreading and editing is also allotted. Sometimes a story is pretty close to how it is published, but every word is touched and read by someone, and most of the time, stories are completely edited and re-edited before the story is complete and submitted for print.
The design aspect of the process is very important to the people at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. Every page in the magazine, every article on the website, every video made etc., is highly designed and made to look a specific way. Each department has the exact idea of how they want things to look, and they execute this in a timely manor to fit with the deadline at hand.
MEETING SOMEONE NEW:
This week the interns attended a speaker series. The speaker this week was Melissa Goldstein, the Beauty and Lifestyle Director of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. Melissa has spent the last 19 years as the beauty editor. Before working here, she worked at Town & Country magazine for 8 years, Shape, and Better Homes and Better Gardens. For Martha Stewart she works with both Living and Wedding magazines. Melissa, who is originally from Canada, went to Syracuse University, and after graduating college she knew nothing about makeup. Initially she started working in public relations, and then moved to journalism. She is constantly meeting with beauty experts (she mentioned Bobby Brown) who have become some of her close friends. Melissa is always attending press events and meeting with designers. She is always at presentations of new products (she mentioned Chanel).
Key questions she always gets:
Tatum Rumsey | Nashville, TN | Feltus Hawkins Design | Week of June 8th
This week I typed up an updated materials maintenance packet for Subaru. I also began other projects including the Subaru Image Program Packet, a material tri-fold for the John C. Tune Airport, material boards for the 909 Flats, and other organizational projects for keeping the office clear of old materials.
Week's Focus: Week Four:
1.) The company markets their service in every way they can, including: trade shows, conventions, PR Firm assistance, CRM, email, social media, word of mouth/networking events, and memberships to various organizations.
2.) Feltus Hawkins targets multiple markets such as hospitality, retail, commercial, healthcare, and rarely residential. They say they try to stay away from residential.
3.) fhdesign.com
4.) Strategies that the company uses includes long term planning done by marketers. They make both short term and 5 to 10 year long term goals. They share these goals with all the designers at the production meetings they have every two weeks.
5.) The accounting is handled by Stacy which is done in-house. Basically, say for a furniture order, there is a security agreement sent off to the client, the client sends it back with a deposit, Stacy starts a document for it in quickbooks, there is 50% paid by the client, then 80% and then 100% after the install, the designer emails Stacy for 80% and there is then the schedule for installment, there are invoices from vendors, this is all being entered into quickbooks and worx, then there is an installation invoice, freight, then the client pays full.
Getting to Know Someone New:
Lately I have gotten to know one of the junior architects, Jessa, a bit better. I found out that she has a large lab dog mix who is very territorial and doesn't like new people. Dog-sitting was a little rough, but it turned out alright.
Erin McLevey • Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. • New York, NY • Week 3
WEEKS SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES:
This week was a very busy week. I started out having to organize and calculate invoices for Kevin. There was a company cinco de mayo event that I was calculating costs and payments for. Next, I was assigned a social media project. I was instructed to brainstorm/create Pinterest boards that would align with Kevin’s interests, as well as promote Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc.
The remainder of the week was spent on American Made Nominations. American Made supports makers of products using only American made items. Entrepreneurs, artisans, and small-businesses can nominate themselves or be nominated. The honorees of American Made are selected by Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. editors. There is also an audience choice winner. Categories for the competition are:
The nominees are recognized for their innovativeness, creativity, workmanship, appearance, and overall embodiment of American Made theme. For a large portion of the week, I was researching companies, as well as researching recommendations our team had received. I came up with a large list of companies and created a sheet for each one, listing the founders, date and location created, number of employees, product lines, and a few pictures that best describe the company.
After Kevin got the chance to look through this list, he eliminated some and chose his favorites. From here I had to refine my organization and keep researching aspects of the companies. I had to create a large presentation board (over 7 feet tall) that showcased all of the companies our team selected.
The nominees are still coming in and being recommended so this is a long-term project that will continue for the next few weeks.
http://www.marthastewart.com/1004449/about-american-made
(If you know anyone you want to nominate, let me know.)
WEEKS FOCUS:
This week a scheduling conflict came up that I had to deal with. We had scheduled a photo shoot for this Friday, June 19, however there was an issue with the photographers and availability of the studio. I had to reach out to people I had contacted previously to let them know the dates had moved around, and the new shoot would be in early July.
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. is such a large company that it has a long history of working with various professionals. From business people, architects, designers, to culinary and photography people. From talking to various designers, it is my understanding that Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. does not require designers to be licensed. This is probably the case because the designers that work here are not working directly with clients to build/create architecture. However, with this being said, I am sure that every design team is require to maintain and update the most current knowledge from the field and different software (photoshop etc.)
The company does have different organizations within the company, such as a softball team that one of my supervisors plays on! They also have a lot of going-green initiatives, such as recycling, turning off lights when done, as well as turning of computers at the end of the day.
MEETING SOMEONE NEW:
This week, our speaker series was featuring Todd Carr, a senior garden editor here at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. He is a certified master gardener, garden designer, visual merchandiser, and artist. Todd has been working in the horticulture business and educating on the east coast for over a decade. During his meeting, he demonstrated how to create a desktop garden. He explained what types of containers, plants soils and ground covers, would work best for your lighting situation. He also explained where to get the materials/how to care for them. Todd has only been with the company for a short bit.
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