With a bachelor’s degree in interior design, Nicole Hall went straight into the dealer world after graduation and now works as a team leader at Waldner’s Business Environments, a Steelcase dealer in New York City.
“One of the greatest things about furniture and its design is that you can get a full experience brought about by visual stimulation, feeling the various materials and virtually inhabiting certain pieces,” Nicole said. “This interaction ‘molds’ the piece of furniture to your individual personality.”
Nicole also enjoys graphic design and has dabbled a bit with logos and branding. Her design talents helped her to earn third place in the rendering category in the 2015 Best of CET Designer Awards.
“I really wanted to submit a rendering that was eye-catching,” Nicole said. “I achieved that by using a variety of different materials, textures and bursts of vibrant colors. I always try to throw in a splash of color anywhere I can. Clients seem to shy away from color, but I want them to understand that color can enhance a space if done properly.”
Nicole has been an avid CET Designer user for the past two years. She uses the program to complete her projects from start to finish – including initial concept drawings all the way through final specification and installation.
“The diverse range of tools in CET Designer helps me to complete any request that may come my way,” Nicole said. “It’s so easy to create drawings and photorealistic renderings, and to add all of the details that really can help a designer to portray a vision to a client.”
Nicole especially likes the rendering capabilities. The Edit Graphics tool lets her customize products. She also appreciates the integration with other programs, such as SketchUp, which helps to enhance her renderings.
“I’ve used a wide variety of programs through the years, but this program definitely takes the cake!” Nicole said. “Going from an AutoCAD-based design approach to CET Designer has been life-altering. I don’t know if I would ever be able to transition back!”
Nicole’s best CET Designer tip: “If you’re having trouble showing frosted frameless glass, you can edit the glass and ‘paint’ it a white/blue color. Then, in Photo Lab, you can ‘ghost’ that item. After the rendering generates, you can change the opacity as needed!”