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Making My Story Come to Life My job as a designer is to make the story come alive. My name is Alison Looney. In May, I will graduate magna cum laude with a degree in Interior Design from Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. During my time at AppState, I have had many opportunities to expand my knowledge in the discipline of interior design as well as reach many academic and professional accomplishments. Academically during my sophomore year, I was selected to be a teaching assistant for a Studio I class. I was charged with helping the students learn more about design elements, understanding three-dimensional space, presentation techniques and trouble shooting and teaching mini sessions of SketchUp. That same year, I placed as the national runner up in the lower division of the “Design Your Future .design Portfolio Competition” hosted by the Interior Design Education Council. Junior year, I received a competitive tuition scholarship from the WITHIT (Women in the Home Industry Today) organization. Continuing that year, I was chosen through a competitive process to be a part of a special AppState class experience, IDEXlab (Integrative Design Experience Laboratory). During my semester as an IDEXer, I was able to design a mobile retreat for an entrepreneur company, design a playground for a local elementary school and design a solution for an at home learning experience for elementary aged students during COVID. Professionally during my sophomore year, I was one of twelve students selected through an interview process to participate in the weeklong internship program with CBI (Carolina Business Interiors). I learned about how furniture dealers work, how they collaborate with architectural and design firms and walked onto several construction sites including the new Bank of America building in Charlotte, NC. For my senior capstone, I worked as a junior designer
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with Feltus Hawkins Design in Nashville, TN. They are a commercial design firm that specialize in hospitality and high-end residential. My internship lasted eight weeks where I worked on projects that included a bid for a retreat, a bed and breakfast, a high-end 5.5-million-dollar home remodel and a major airport. I also was able to interact with other professionals such as material and furniture representatives, installers and construction teams. The AppState curriculum of the discipline is very competitive and focused on expanding the knowledge of the students participating in the interior design program. Throughout the many courses I have taken, I have obtained knowledge and skills that make me qualified to receive my master’s in production design from SCAD. For my undergraduate degree, conceptual design is one of the most important parts to our design process. Research and ideation are at the core of this piece of design. Understanding materials and lighting and how they shape, feel, adapt, perform and understanding how they work is also a skill that I have learned. During IDEX, I was able to be a part of physical builds so I could understand the connection between threedimensional computer modeling and three-dimensional physical space. I am proficient in Sketchup, AutoCAD, Revit, Enscape and the Adobe Suite. Finally, during my three-week study abroad trip to Italy, one of my classes was about sketching. We walked and sketched, did tenminute, 30 minute and even hour sketches to understand space, depth and perception which helped me to become better during my conceptual design phase and the overall design of a project. All of these facets of design will enhance my success in the production design program at SCAD. My personal and professional goals align together. At the end of the day, I want to be happy with what I do. I want to go to work and feel like I am not “working” which is why I am so interested in production design. Allowing people to escape their mundane lives and travel to
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other worlds, timelines and alternate realities is where my passion lies. Movies and film have been what I turn to when I am sad, stressed, excited, etc. A master’s in production design from SCAD would allow me to bridge the gap between interior design and my dream to be a set designer. There have been many times where people have questioned what I want to ultimately do and have made me doubt myself, but why should I give up on a dream where so many others have found so much success. Whether it be with film, television or theater, I want to make stories come alive and the impossible a reality.