Getting down and dirty with your Event Design

Image from Martha Stewart Weddings

Last week we looked at the steps to take when creating the design for events and we talked about creating a ‘collection‘ in the same way as a fashion designer does. One of the most asked questions when we talk to students about design is what the latest trends are, especially at the start of the year when everyone is looking at putting together their main style for the year. Trends can be very hard to predict and although we have our trusted sources such as Pantone, the fashion world, the red carpet and interior design magazines it is more about what your client wants that what is in vogue at any given point in time.

One of the best trends from 2011 was that of the Royal Wedding. From the moment Kate Middleton stepped out in her wedding dress the new big trend became vintage, Grace Kelly style. This has been a great one to play with as it is classical, delicate, whimsical and many other adjectives can be used to describe it.

So what is the next step when putting together a design for an event? Well the first thing I always do is to Create an Inspiration Board. It is quite common for me create both an online and offline version. I find the online is great as I can carry it around with me wherever I am and the offline version I love as I can touch it and get a real feel for the event. There are many different online tools you can use to create an Inspiration Board but I use Smilebox as it allows me much more flexibility, and for a very small fee is each year I can print or save my designs without any advertising or watermarking.

Next you need to Reinvent. It is very hard to constantly come up with a style or design that has never been done before, either by you or someone else. The best way to keep your designs looking fresh is to give a few of the elements within your design a news twist. Use them in a different way, combine them with something you wouldn’t normally and generally play around with them.

Finally Bring It Altogether. This is the best bit. Let’s look at an example. It is very hard to find a completely new way of creating a table design as you will always use the same elements:

• Table Cloth
• Table Accessories
• The Centrepiece

What you can do though is mix up the way you set them up and place them. If you always use table mirrors to place your centrepiece on perhaps give them a new lease of life by encircling them with T-lights to give them a different feel. Perhaps combine different styles of linen within your design so it gives variety to the texture?

There are many ways you can make a design unique by using the same elements over and over again. It is how you make that plain vase look different each time it features in a design that is what makes the design original.

If you have any ideas on how to make your design unique we would love you to share them here for all our readers to see.