Project 7: West office Design by; Marion G.

West Office Exhibition Design: Observation


The visit to West Office was an informative event where I learn what renders good design for exhibits building. The main focus for their design work evolved around making exhibits for museums and corporations. Our tour guide explained that their work is specialized and when they hire new employees are taught on the job. Most of their staff is trained in 3-D designs, graphics, and multi-media. This office completes its designs for exhibits in as short as six months and up to fifteen years. Unlike most design offices that use preliminary sketch modeling their hands on modeling techniques are extensive and intricately detailed. Some of the models on display where approximately five feet by five feet. The guide explained that their work is client intensive which means they work closely with their clients, and all work is done to their specifications.

One of the first phases in making contracts for clients is budgeting and work schedules for completing. The next phase is researching all possible exhibit styles, space management, and creating mood boards. West office design does a fair amount of hand drawing because it’s faster and saves time. The final phase of this process is the concept design phase, and this consists of creating a book on the exhibit. The book indicates what the exhibit is about with pictures describing its theme. Prototyping is done in the office, and design programs such as vector works is used to convert sketches. We were informed that most clients like physical model when starting their exhibits because it gives them an idea of what the end project will look like.

In concluding my observation on the west office field trip I wanted to say that it was informative on how to work with others to complete one project. Designers must work efficiently. Their design processes is similar to our own. We will need to work together using everything learned at west office and all of our course work. Some of the similarities used at west office and our own design work include mood boards, prototyping, sketching, and analyzing different exhibits.