This dissertation was one of my biggest struggles that I have faced throughout University. I was diagnosed with Dyslexia in secondary school and this was re-assessed in 2019 and Cardiff Metropolitan University provided me with access to mind-mapping, recording and text reader software which has changed my learning approach. This dissertation has now become one of my biggest achievements and I am so proud that I was able to write a thesis that I was strongly inspired by.
Throughout university I have always been fully engaged and worked hard. By using feedback particularly, comments provided during tutorial sessions, I have developed and improved the quality of my work. My supervisor suggested changes to my thesis title as the old title lacked peer review resources to support my arguments. Even though this panicked me, on reflection once I had decided on the new title, I immediately felt more engaged as there was lots of peer-reviewed literature.
No student could have imagined that university learning would be online, that we would have video calls with our tutors or that we would rely so heavily on emails. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, I have struggled and found it extremely challenging to learn as my preferred learning style is face-to-face. To help all students, my supervisor records all sessions which I can then replay so that I understand what I need to do to produce my thesis.
When I started to write my dissertation, I could not find any peer-reviewed literature that supported my original title ‘The future of Interior Design: exploring the tensions between client and designers’. However, following feedback from my supervisor that the word ‘tensions’ suggested a negative tone, I replaced it with ‘relationships’ as I could then research both the positive and negative aspects. Despite this change, there was a lack of peer-reviewed literature that could support this title and I felt that I could not produce a good piece of academic writing.
As the deadline for the dissertation grew closer, I had to decide whether to persevere with my updated title or realise that there were insufficient resources to support my title. Following a discussion with my supervisor, he suggested that maybe I should choose a new title. I took his advice, gathered my thoughts and after reflecting on my time in university and what projects I really enjoyed, I narrowed down the projects to just one. I took the key aspects that really inspired me, and this led me to completely change my title to become ‘The future of Interior Design: The role of colour in sustainable spaces’. Researching the keywords of this title highlighted a large volume of peer-reviewed literature that I could use.
My new title was greatly influenced by my second-year module called ‘Interior Styling’ where my group project was based on ‘Empower Up! I found this fascinating as the purpose was to produce a colourful interior set where all the props had to be created to be sustainable and we reused upcycled. We had another challenge as there was no budget to purchase any materials to design the set. I was truly inspired by this module from beginning to end. I strongly feel that this experience has really helped me to be motivated and fully committed to writing my dissertation based on this new title.
Changing my title at the end of term one was the right thing to do as I was able to find lots more peer-reviewed literature that could support my title. Looking back at my October 2020 draft submission, I now realise that I did not have strong evidence that supported the ‘tensions between clients and designers’; it was more about myself interpreting the different ways there could be tensions.
My keyword search on colour and sustainability returned a huge variety of research information. Also, when choosing my three case studies I was surprised by the number of designers who focussed on colour and sustainability. I was even more interested in how they approached their micro-housing designs especially how they have incorporated colour into their sustainable spaces. I felt more engaged, intrigued and excited by this new title.
The COVID-19 restrictions meant that I was unable to get first-hand experience of my case study designs and so I emailed the 3 designers with standard questions to enable me to collect primary data. Unfortunately, they did not respond and although I was disappointed it made me more determined to research every article written about them to understand their motivation and how they approached their designs.
I knew that writing my dissertation would be a long and detailed process and that I would have challenges but the resources that my supervisor John Littlewood put on Moodle provided me with essential guidance to meet the required standard. I found this extremely useful particularly as how to cite and reference correctly as this has always been a challenge for me and one that I worked hard to improve. A technique that I also followed was to create a version, reflect on it and create a new updated version. Having multiple versions was important and helped me as I was able to review my earlier thinking.
Writing my dissertation has given me a much deeper understanding about the role of colour in sustainable spaces and how both can be incorporated into micro-housing. I am now very clear about the interior design style that I want to follow and how I want to become more passionate and creative with my designs and encourage people to experiment with colour and consider designs that are sustainable.
My dissertation journey has been eventful, but the change of title was the inspiration I needed to focus on my new exciting title. The importance that colour has on our health and wellbeing and also the importance sustainability on the environment has changed my interior design approach and I would definitely want to incorporate them in any future designs with a focus on micro-housing if I can.
Rebecca Chick 