Assignment 1 - Snooping around a bedroom...

The first design studies assignment we have been set is to analyse a fellow second year design student by looking at their room and possessions. We were told to read Sam Goslings book 'Snoop' to help us with this task, and although I have to say it was not my cup of tea, I still found it helpful in this assignment. 
I wasn't comfortable with the idea of this assignment at all. Looking at someone's room who you don't know and telling them, truthfully, what you think? Yikes. My immediate concern would be that I was faced with a partner who has a horribly messy and dirty room - no one wants to tell a stranger that they have a disgusting living space. However, I just tried to think about it in the way that everyone was in the same boat and probably having the same misgivings as me. 
The thought of someone scruitinising my bedroom worried me too. I love my bedroom and everything in it, so if someone was to say it wasn't nice I have to say I would feel pretty insulted! Again though, I just had to remember that no one is out to insult their partner - it's just a task to increase awareness of other tastes and influences.
I was partnered with jewellery student Christina Finlay, who thankfully has a nice room which I could easily talk about without offending - something I and I'm sure a lot of other students were worried about.

We were asked to categorise our findings into four groups - Taste, Influences, Possessions and Environment. I personally find that these groups all related to each other very closely and more or less blended into one another, yet here are my results.

Taste

Christina has a very white and clean looking room, with splashes of colour here and there. The  bed spread is white with a deep red throw and some colourful cushions, which suggest to me that she is a fan of the 'minimalistic' style of furnishing. Her wardrobe seems to have a colour scheme trend of crisp whites and blacks with some neutral florals here and there. The co-ordination shown here tells me that she is interested in fashion and clothing. Her toiletries and beauty products are mostly well known brands and what looks like her make up bag has the word 'lovely' printed on it, suggesting to me that she likes vintage styling and brand names.

Influences

The large three piece painting (or photograph, I couldn't quite make out which) on the wall next to the bed tells me that she is interested in art, which I suppose is pretty obvious since I know she is a Jewellery student, but we'll pretend I didn't know that. She owns quite a lot of famous brand toiletries and perfumes showing that she likes these designs and makes. From looking at her wardrobe I can imagine her shopping in well known high street shops and maybe online stores such as ASOS. I think she would be drawn to people of similar taste and interest to herself, simply because she seems to have a clear style that has not necessarily been dictated to her by her friends or family, but probably been influenced in some way by them.

Possessions

Christina is obviously someone who takes pride in her appearance due to her collection of beauty products and toiletries. The water bottle on the desk suggests that she probably goes to the gym or out running, and the pills next to it could maybe be vitamins or medication which she has left out so that she doesn't forget to take them. She has some jewellery on top of a desk size chest of drawers which I would suspect contains even more, stored away nicely to avoid mess. The cushions and throw on her bed look well placed  showing that when someone enters her room she wants them to appreciate the thought that has gone into making her bed. I expected to see a full length mirror somewhere as this seems like the perfect room to have one, or maybe I just can't see it.

Environment

It looks to me like Christina lives in a student flat (not halls) with one or more flatmates. I'm not entirely sure why I get that impression but I think that maybe because her room looks inviting and tidy. Despite the fact that I'm pretty certain she is a tidy person anyway,  there is more incentive to make sure the room is like that if others are going to see it often! I actually thought her wardrobe would be more organised than it seemed to be (although in comparison to mine it is) simply because of the neatness of her room. I am pretty certain that she will have some more books and maybe a tv or laptop hidden away somewhere, maybe in a cupboard or on shelves. However these things can clutter up a room, and I don't think she is a fan of clutter. I also thought there would be some more family photographs in nice frames, but that is my pre-judgment shining through as I'm aware that she is quite a family orientated person. I think she has tried (and succeeded) in making her room look quite sophisticated as opposed to the usual 'studenty' style of old vodka bottles lined up on the window sill and band posters all over the wall.