by Ryan | Aug 31, 2016 | Branding, Design News, Designing Public Areas, Exhibit Design, Graphic Design
The Grand Valley University Foundation (GVUF) is the umbrella organization and recognition society for all who give to the University through annual giving, capital campaigns, special giving or planned giving. And while the steady growth of the University is apparent, the Shaping Our Future Campaign was a landmark.
At the annual Enrichment Dinner in 2011, the foundation announced that not only did it meet the stretch goal of $75 million for the Shaping Our Future campaign, it exceeded it. Thanks to more than 17,000 donors, the foundation raised $96.4 million.*
The challenge of creating a “donor wall” with 17,000 names to acknowledge all the givers developed into an opportunity. The goal was to acknowledge the donors but also inspire students and alumni in the story of philanthropy of Grand Valley State University.
The GVUF committee wanted to create an interactive display using touch screen technology and video to invite technologically-inclined students to engage with the exhibit. r.o.i Design, who also designed the L. William Seidman exhibit at the L. William Seidman School of Business, was asked to design and manage the execution of the donor exhibit.
The foundation developed all lists, all copy and compiled photos, giving r.o.i. Design the assignment to design and develop the graphics, the exhibit and hire the team who could complete the work. Along the way, it was determined that in addition to the Shaping Our Future donors, all donors in recent history should also have a way to be acknowledged in the touch screen experience.
The exhibit was installed at the Student Services Center in Allendale in July 2016. We acknowledge the efforts and contributions of CK Productions for compiling the video, Underbite Games for the touch screen app, Superior Wood Products for the exhibit casework and Custer Tech for the AV equipment.
For more about the GVUF click here.
* The results of the Shaping Our Future campaign, Mary Idema Pew Library Learning and Information Commons and the L. William Seidman Center, were both dedicated with much celebration by the Grand Valley community and the foundation in the Fall of 2013.
by Ryan | Aug 31, 2016 | Design News, Designing Public Areas, Interior Design, Restaurant Design, Retail Design
GVSU’s original “cafeteria” was built more than 40 years ago and is still the largest food service facility on campus. It feeds a lot of people but needed to respond to the changing campus and its customers. More seating capacity at Fresh Food Co. and upgraded finishes meant planning for a 2016 summer remodel.
r.o.i. Design, who also designed the GVSU Laker Store in 2014 and its adjacent food court, was engaged by the University through Preferred Construction to create the design.
Einstein Bros. Bagels was moved out to a different location giving the Commons a fourth dining room.
The design team, which included Campus Dining, GVSU Facilities, Preferred Construction and r.o.i. Design, looked at the trends in college dining and the recent building projects on campus along with their customer’s preferences to create a design criteria that could be executed within the budget and timeline.
“GVSU has more than 25,000 students and commensurate staff, so a lot of food service customers who have a variety of preferences. In order to create options in dining, it was agreed that the four rooms would each have a unique feeling so guests could have different experiences within the same facility. We agreed to organize the room designs around four ideas, one per room: water, earth, fire and wind,” says Mary Witte, President of r.o.i. Design. “The dining rooms already had some features that lent themselves to these notions, so we were able to build on what was already there and create something intentional and fun.”
Each room received new flooring, new lighting, new millwork features, new paint accents and new furnishings that aligned with the “theme” of the room.
“Community Tables” were added to allow for larger groups to gather. Custom lighting enhanced the distinct look of each room.
The food line was enhanced with new equipment to allow Campus Dining the option to offer more variety in their menu.
r.o.i. Design’s initial observations of customer’s response to the remodel has been very satisfying and we are proud that our design contributions met the goals of the Fresh Food Co. at The Commons at GVSU.
by Ryan | Oct 5, 2015 | Design News, Interior Design, Lighting Design
The LED lamp is fairly new to the market and consumers. Saving energy was part of their creation and one of the reasons we specify them. Initially we looked at lumen output as compared to an incandescent or fluorescent lamp. For example, a 100W incandescent, a 23W fluorescent and an 18W LED all are about 1600 lumens.
Lumens are still important to calculate, but now, as specifiers, we are looking at color not in temperature, like Kelvin, but CRI: Color Rendering Index. LED blands out colors. We want a high quality of 82 CRI at minimum. The majority of CRI is R1—R8 pastel colors. LED’s with a high R9 (red content) show better color quality. This is especially important in retail, healthcare (visibility of blood veins), grocery and art displays.
We are told LED’s will last 25 years! But during this time the lumens diminish and so does the color rendering. Your closet full of nice, white dress shirts were once bright white but as time goes on they will look dinged. An LED should have a minimum of 50,000 hours of life. Better thermal management results in a longer life. Look for LED’s with L70 or better light output and 82 CRI minimum.
Look at lighting as a true value to your environment. r.o.i. = more than saving energy.
Information from the Crites, Tidey and Associates Lighting Forum XVI on September 15th and 16th.
by Ryan | Aug 5, 2015 | Design News
Getting Stuff at the Best Price and On Time.
Hotels, senior care facilities and multi-family developments all need “stuff”, but not all the time. Do properties have on-staff administrators that that can handle the periodic upgrade or remodeling purchasing, or do they look to outside sources to help them temporarily? It depends on how they want to spend their money.
- Inside administrators know the property and its processes and procedures, but they may not have a database of competitive suppliers at their fingertips to make sure they are getting competitive pricing. Those talented day to day staff administrators may not have experience in logistics and project management which may result on costly learning curves. The most common mistakes properties make in procurement include:
- Incomplete design when procurement starts
- Unconfirmed product budgeting
- Incomplete or unrealistic planning of receipt, staging and delivery.
- Outside procurement professionals know the industry and while they don’t have experience with all the particulars of a property at start, should be fast learners. They can set up the team based on the particular project needs and include a member of the current property team so site considerations are prioritized. Procurement companies have a network of companies and manufacturers to draw from to get competitive pricing. Typically they have warehousing and trucking capabilities. Some of them have designers, artists, installers and a variety of other skills that can be purchased a la carte. When hiring outside procurement professionals may not be the best solution for a property:
- Unmanaged expectation of cost of services and weak contractual agreements. (Procurement services are 5% to 7% of a total budget based on the variety of SKU’s. Storage, delivery and installation is additional to procurement.)
- Unqualified design selections. (Design and selections have to be made and approved prior to procurement)
- Tension on teams where on site contractors and owners aren’t able to share information in real time to procurement professionals due to lack of trust or financial changes that challenge the job.
So what is the best solution for a property? Exploring the options and getting information specific to a project is the only way to know how best to proceed.
- If there is a $1M procurement project for a property that has 200 beds, and a fully completed and approved design, it is likely that a currently employed administrator will spend 18 months focused, partially or entirely, on the one time procurement project. Their efficiency will be compromised and their stress increased. And it is likely that other staff will be asked to participate because of it, which means you have more dedicated staff salaries diverted from their key job of keeping customers happy and the property running. In addition to salary costs, you still have the cost of storage and material handling, which means hiring a moving company. (Hopefully they have experience in staging at this scale.) Most properties never totally realize their costs when they manage projects internally.
- If there is a $1M procurement project for a property that has 200 beds , less than 300 SKUs and your designers has given you written specifications on all products including finishes, you will pay around $50,000 for outside procurement services, and you will have at least one staff administrator dedicating 20% of their time to the project. There is still the receiving, storage and delivery costs. But costs are known and there is a greater opportunity for accountability to budget.
Download our FFE & Product Fulfillment brochure.
r.o.i. Design is a design and procurement company. We welcome your call when we can learn about what you need and if we can help you make your project purchases stay in budget and show up on time.
by Ryan | Aug 5, 2015 | Design News
We take budget, brand and beauty seriously.
We cut our teeth on hospitality and food service design in the 1980’s. We cultivated our palette on resorts, country clubs and senior care facilities through the 1990’s.
Today we delight in working with owners who want their spaces to be more than pretty. Whether it is an office, a hotel, a senior care facility, a retail store, a public or shared space, customers know that we take their budget and their brand into consideration and deliver a great looking design.
But they also may want to impact the well being, behavior and productivity of the people working, shopping or visiting the space. That could be the real “ROI” for them.
Our small team has worked together for more than 20 years and together we have completed over 500 projects, procured more than $20M in product, and managed an assortment of teams that included architects, contractors, sub-contractors, owners, investors, developers and users.
r.o.i. Design provides a return on your design investment and creates lasting customer experiences.
We are a creative team who leads the process of collaborative planning and design.
Our methods and problem solving skills produce outcomes that are based on budget, brand and beauty.
