If Only

5 January, 2010

With financial constraints and overbearing clients, designers rarely get the chance to let their creativity run completely wild. Most will reminisce of student days, where imagination ruled and anything seemed possible.Perhaps that’s why designers love working on our If Only feature in which, every month on this magazine’s final page, we present an idea by an architect, interior designer or product designer which can be as wacky or a way-out as the imagination allows, and we’ve seen some great ideas.

So how would a group of undergraduate students deal with the same brief?

In August last year, SaraWilkins, director and head of interior design at architecture practice KSS and part-time tutor at South East Essex College, suggested that the If Only feature would make a great live project for her students (KSS designed the college in 2004, which led toWilkins becoming a part-time tutor).

‘Each year I set two projects for the students based on real projects we have undertaken, where I play the client (set the brief and attend the final presentations) as well as providing advice and feedback during the design stages. One of the projects will be a joint interior and graphics project, which allows the students to work together for the first time, as we do in the “real world”, and gain an understanding of each other’s different skills in a team environment,’ explains Wilkins.

KSS supplied our If Only inMarch last year, and Wilkins ‘thought it would be an excellent project to set the students, and one in which the interior and graphics students could participate’.

The results surpassed our expectations. As imaginative as they are well presented, the ideas range from creatively off-the-wall to brilliantly practical. But how do you judge a competition with no rules?Well, it wasn’t easy, and there was plenty of disagreement in the FX team.

While some of us were wowed by the more imaginative and way-out entries, others were more enamored by the practical, market-oriented ideas.

I went along to the college where I met Dave Taylor and Paul Bailey, course leaders on the BA interior design and graphic design courses respectively; both were really enthusiastic about the project. Each student took a turn at presenting their ideas and I took the graphics of each project back to London where the whole FX team held its own ‘crit’.

In the end, choosing just one winner was impossible. The FX team – comprising Theresa (editor),Wes (graphic designer) and myself – were unanimous that two should appear in the If Only back-page slot this month and next.

Interior design student Laura Johnson asked, ‘if only a trip to the beach could be safer, easier and more comfortable’. Laura’s Beach Booth, which you can see on p114 of this issue, brought together everything you need for a day at the beach, from spray-on sun cream to dissolvable socks which leave your toes sand-free. She designed stylish, unobtrusive pods made to look like large pebbles where visitors to the beach can get away from the sun and sand, have a shower and reapply that all important sun cream.

ChrisWoodley from the graphic design course wowed us with her witty and brilliantly presented projectWorkingWhile we Sleep (which will be our If Only next month). Chris thought it would be great if we could ‘reclaim overtime’ by working while we sleep. She designed pods which link the user mentally to their work computer, allowing all those routine jobs to be done by the subconscious in the otherwise unproductive hours of sleep. The level of detail was amazing – Chris even drew the If Only logo and a tiny version of the FX logo.

Here, three members of the FX team, editor Theresa Dowling, assistant editor JamieMitchell and art editor Wesley Mitchell, choose their favourites from the runners-up and tell you why they liked them.