Sometimes, the process of design can be overwhelming and confusing. Hopefully these definitions of frequently used terms (by designers) will help calm your senses.
Artist Enhancement: Adding painted brushstrokes on a giclee print – to make it appear more original.
Flokati: A natural sheep’s wool blanket or rug.
Giclee: Reproducing fine art or photographs by using a high-quality inkjet printer to make individual prints
IMAP/MAP: Internet Minimum (allowed) Advertised Pricing. Trade protected pricing which is controlled by the manufacturer – meaning that the price a consumer is allowed to purchase at from online retailers must not fall below a manufacturers minimum allowed advertised price.
Passive Design: This is the time spent percolating on a design idea, or just passively thinking about a design or project It’s time spent while driving or laying awake - sometimes it’s found in unexpected places like a restaurant you may be dining at, or a TV show you’re watching. Passive Design is a hugely creative time and where solutions are discovered below the surface but rarely done in front of a computer. Every project has an amount of passive design - moreover, every project needs a certain amount of passive design - but that number of hours is unpredictable and almost never billable.
Procurement: The act of purchasing via purchase orders from within industry sources, tracking, receiving & handling of items and managing issues such as damage due to shipping or product defects.
Schedule - Construction or Material: An excel spreadsheet of sorts – columns & rows of information including information such as: installation location, manufacturer, make, model numbers, finishes, dimensions, and much, much more. Often organized by room or by product category, such as fixtures or installation material so that vendors and tradespeople can easily follow the design.
Sources: The term ‘sources’ encompasses a lot – whether it’s a vendor, manufacturer, tradesperson, showroom, online or Trade-exclusive store, etc. – it’s anywhere we might gather information or product for your project.
Sourcing: The exercise of searching for the perfect material or item for a project – done via showrooms, product reps, stores & online.
Specifying: To narrow down the final products, and collect all relevant information to create a construction or material schedule.
Staging: Setting up the final finishing touches in a space. Often by using a mixture of client-owned items, pre-approved designer items and a curated selection of retail purchased items.
Tatze (to tatze, tatzing, tatzed): Keeping yourself occupied with small tasks, errands or your to-do list. Similar to fussing with something, but more productive ;)
To-the-Trade Resources: These are typically resources that a designer has wholesale access to, that the public does not. Some trade resources are
Value Engineering: This is the practice of re-arranging items due to costs - to work within a budget better. Often involving scaling back costs in some areas to expand in others.
Webrooming: The act of researching online and then purchasing in-store.
Zhuzh: (click the word to hear the Dictionary.com definition) The art of decorating and fancifying a space to make it feel special.
Not seeing something here that you need clarity on?? Let me know…