Lunar Adventures: exploring a little bit of everything

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On interior design and web design

A mere couple of months ago, one of my cubicle neighbors here at work was pretty excited about getting some new curtains.  Not “new curtains” as in, a new hairdo, but as in, new curtains.  To hang over windows in the place of residence.  That this could elicit genuine excitement blew my mind, and made me wonder what long-term exposure to cubicle-wall felt must do your brain.

Obviously, however, I was just confused.  Because I have very suddenly seen the light: interior decorating is fun.

I was considering the purchase of some new furniture, so like any blue-blooded American that loves his Swedish particleboard, I wandered over to IKEA’s website.  I intended to browse the options they had for bed frames for a few minutes.  I ended up spending hours on the site, studying design themes and contemplating the intricacies of light in more detail than I had since my OpenGL graphic rendering class in college.

Over the course of a few hours, I went from your typical boy who considers good decorating merely remembering to put the dishes in the dishwasher instead of on the floor next to the TV to being a man who sees the value of matching furniture and proper light flow through a room.  I got so excited about decorating that I started considering what steps one might have to take to become an interior designer.  (In all fairness, I also wanted to become a detective after watching Law and Order, a fighter pilor after watching Top Gun, and a phantasm hunter after watching Ghostbusters — but that’s not the point.)

Interior design is probably a bit of an expensive hobby, but the principles between interior design and web design are similar.  And web design is something quite a bit more feasible to me.  In fact, IKEA’s site is an example of good design — heck, it’s so good it made me want to be an interior designer.

It’s well organized and easy to find what kind of item you’re looking for without feeling overwhelmed.  The site is simple but effective — not overblown with oversized graphics.  And my personal favorite feature — “Select your style.”  Each room of the house has a small mini-site, where they show a picture of a room designed with a certain theme in mind.  Click on the picture, and it loads up the items they used to create the room.

I’m probably not switching careers any time soon, but let me know if you want an amateur interior designer to redo your house!  I’ll work with any budget!

Wed April 19th, 2006 3:57 pm

Filed under Life, Web, Web Design