At Emily Carr University, everyone has their own studio space in order to work and interact with their classmates. Although it is a place of work and study for students, everyone tends to design their space with tools and accessories. Violet and I teamed up for our service project and decided to help our classmates (most of them are new in Vancouver) set up their studio space. In order to show our service as Studio Stylist, we made an advertising video of our process and how we can help those students who don’t know how to begin or cannot come up with ideas to design their space.
First, we conduct interviews with anyone who wishes to use us as their Studio Stylist. We ask them about their preferences and how they usually get creative:
- What is your favorite color?
- What does your room look like?
- How do you usually document ideas?
- What tools will you use when you work?
- Describe your creative process. Do you have a specific habit to get ready to work?
- Describe your happy place.
I interviewed Violet designed her space based on this information. She told me that she likes colorful things and she usually likes to have white and blue elements in her space because it calms her down. Her room also has blue elements and she has this ritual to clean her room before starting to work. She likes to use stickers and a magnetic board to document her ideas and put them on the board so that she can see them while she works. She likes to make hand-crafted designs so there’s always a ruler, cutter, and scissors on her desk. She also has a plant and pencil holder on her desk. She likes her space to be more functional than decorative.
Art Shop 
Staples
Later, I combined all this information to set up a shopping list and sketch how I should place everything in her space. I went to Staples to get the essential things she needs like a cork board, pens, pencils, cutter, ruler…
After that, I went to an art shop to get more artistic objects such as a cutter board and sketch pad. I also bought her a small plant for her desk and two extra pots to use as a pencil holder and a place to put the pins and clippers. For the decorative part, I bought a ceramic coaster which is blue and white.
Plant and the pots 
Cutter board
I placed all these objects on her studio desk and put these cork tiles on the front wall so she can stick her ideas on it and see them all the time.
I hope with this service we can help our classmates to personalize their space based on their preferences and needs.
Reflection:
As a new grad student, this project helped me interact with my classmates on a deeper level and this interaction increased my confidence and energy. Interviewing, thinking, designing, and shopping for someone else, created a clear and flexible understanding of service design for me.
The Shopping part specifically was also an opportunity for me to get to know my surroundings as an immigrant. In addition, the innate tangible quality of this service which is based on human interaction with the spatial environment was refreshing and educational.
I believe this service could expand and work as an actual consultant or design agency. We can help others on digital platforms (zoom, skype, WhatsApp…) or in person.