Interior Design
Live Course Instructions
All ID courses are starting the week of 15th October 2023 All calendars are subject to change
Teachers Details
Interior Design Course USA Eve 1 & 2 course:
Adeena Kohn
Fundamentals of Construction Instructor, Eve 2 course
Email: adeena.designalive@gmail.com
Rochel Lea Groundland
Design Theory Instructor, all Eve courses
Interior Design course USA morning and PM course/Israel evening:
Equipment Needed
Before your training session you will need the following equipment:
- Supplies list
- High-speed internet connection (Suggested minimum speed: 5mb)
- Headset with microphone: It is advisable to use a plug-in headset and microphone as the inbuilt Mike pick up background noise.
- Webcam (An internal webcam is suitable. If your computer does not have a webcam inbuilt, you can purchase one online.)
- An external device to backup your work.
- Access to a scanner or digital camera for the first few weeks is helpful.
- Please ensure you are using Google chrome and not Microsoft edge browser.
How to Join Class
You will find your courses on your dashboard.
Click on ‘class’ button to join your class.
You will have to set your timezone
10 mins before your class join button will be orange and you can join.
Software Details
AutoCad and Revit Download Instructions:
Before you download:
- You will need to make an account with Autodesk.com
- You will need a student letter to download the software, please use this form to generate a student letter.
- Check your computer has the correct specs needed. An i5 processor minimum is needed as well as a graphics card. For more specific specs check here.
- Do not download the 30-day trial as you will have to uninstall the trial once your 30 days expire and reinstall the student version as per these instructions.
- MAC users:
- Use Chrome to download AutoCad NOT Safari.
- While AutoCad is available in both PC and Mac platforms since the interface on a Mac is different and the locations for the icons are located in different places, we don’t recommend learning on a Mac as the teacher uses a PC. We do give some cheat sheets to help you but it will take extra time until you are familiar with the differences. (Once you know AutoCad, you’ll be able to use your MAC)
- Revit is not available in MAC version so if you are a MAC user, you can try to install a virtual PC environment and see if you can install Revit there. Your computer technician may have to help you with this.
Instructions to download:
- AutoCad can be downloaded via this link. The product looks like this
- Please choose 2024 from the versions available to download under the AutoCad drop down options
- Revit can be downloaded via this link. For Revit Self-Paced, please download version Revit 2024
- The school location is in the UK
- The name of the school is Design Alive Manchester UK (or Design Alive) is listed under University/ Post Secondary school (institution type)
- You MUST choose the correct institution type or you won’t find Design Alive on the list and we do not know how you can correct it if you choose the wrong institution type
- Please use UK for school address (as opposed to USA) UK address 97 Singleton Road Salford M7 4LX UK, (if UK address doesn’t work) US address for Design Alive: 18 Village in the Woods Southern Pines, North Carolina 28387
- Course expiry is 1 year from the date you download.
- The area of expertise is architecture.
- Only select the current month of start date and NOT a future month or you will get an error message We’re experiencing some problems accessing your Autodesk account. Please try again later.
Common Autodesk software download Issues
- Autocad shuts down and a tab pops up saying that the product license is no longer available. This is likely due to a filter such as Techloq, especially if installed after Autocad was installed). Please contact Techloq to allow all Autodesk software fully.
- If you are experiencing general problems with Autodesk, please go to Autodesk support for more help. They don”t know about any potential filter issues
- For help to renew your subscription, please view this.
- A known error caused by Techloq filter is that when Autodesk ask you to select a school from a dropdown list, no schools show up, please contact your filter if this is the case.
- If you do not have a filter and Design Alive does not appear, you can try selecting any school and on a subsequent page it may allow you to add design alive and upload proof.
- If once you have downloaded AutoCad and it’s asking you for a serial number it is likely your filter is blocking the program recognising you have a student version. You will need to be in touch with your filter company to add Autodesk to the approved lists. Techloq and NativUSA have known issues and removing the filter whilst installing the program is advisable.
- If you are experiencing other error messages then you may want to try to download through the virtual agent https://ava.autodesk.com/ who will give you an alternative link to download the software.
- Autodesk does not have any phone support at all and their chat support is not always very helpful. If you experience issues with your download, we suggest you first contact Design Alive as we are VERY familiar with alot of known errors and should be able to assist you, please complete the form below and include a screenshot of your error and we will do our best to help you.
- Some AutoCad error messages and solutions are provided here.
Course Instructions
Course Structure
- Design Elements & Principles, Sketching and Perspective drawings
- Design History, Color Theory.
- Measuring, Space Planning and Construction Basics, Building codes
- Kitchen and Bathroom Design
- Lighting and Electrical, Materials and Finishes
- Technical Design Communication & Professional Practices
Projects covered throughout the course include
- Bedroom design
- Cafe Design
- Kitchen Design
- Office Design
- Complete residential remodelling
General Info
- Each class is approximately 2-2.5 hrs
- Please log in on time
- Classes require student participation with webcams on at all times.
- Lessons generally build on the material and content of the previous lesson so it is important to attend each session.
- You will have a Construction class alongside a Design Theory class each week.
- A few weeks into the course the smaller Homeworks will be replaced by larger continuous project work where you will be expected to complete various stages of the project each week in the build-up to a final presentation according to the deadlines as per your calendar.
- The teachers will devote some of the class time to review your project progress and give critique to enable you to correct and improve your work.
- This course involves considerable out of class input so please ensure you have allowed adequate time in your schedule for this course. If you require advice about this please email the office.
- In case of any planned absence please inform your teacher prior to the class that you will not be attending.
- If you have missed a class, you are required to catch up via the recording before the next class.
- The course is fast-paced so if you feel you are falling behind please liaise with your teachers as soon as possible so they can help you get back on track.
Homework Assignments
- There are assignments given after each class. These assignments will be posted on moodle. Assignments need to be uploaded to Moodle.
- Unless otherwise stated the homework assignment is due for the next class. It is in the student’s best interest to complete and upload the homework assignment before the next class and to review the material taught in the past class.
- You may email your teacher with short questions between sessions if you absolutely cannot wait until the next class to receive an answer. The teacher will either respond via email or address the question in the next class if she feels it can wait. We set up a google group so students can assist with questions.
- If you have not managed to do your homework it is still worthwhile attending the next class so as not to fall further behind.
- Your grades and comments can be viewed on moodle by checking the grade option in the left side menu under my profile unless the teacher prefers to email your feedback.
Filter/Whitelist Info
Design Alive recommends the following filters as students have been very happy with these filter companies and the support they provide.
- Techloq
- Gentech
- Nativ USA
- Netfree filter has also be approved for Design Alive but please note that having a filter which blocks skin content may be frustrating at some point
Before you begin the course please ensure that all the following sites below are unblocked: You can copy the list and send it to your filtering company.
- designaliveschool.webex.com
- webex.com
- designalive.com
- school.designalive.com
- for cisco webex- exclude multiple EXE
- You will need the cisco webex app working.
- autodesk.com (for Autocad students)
For more information regarding filter issues and troubleshooting please use this link
Tutor Assistance
Design Alive offers tutor assistance if you need extra help and support with the AutoCad and Revit program. On the top of each course page there is this link to book a tutor.
Once you have been linked up with one tutor, you should please remain with that tutor so she can keep track of the hours used.
Tutoring is not unlimited, we offer a maximum of 5 hours and thereafter you can carry on privately. If you need additional tutoring outside Design Alive then the charge is $30-40 per hr paid directly to the tutor.
Please Note: If you book a tutoring slot and you do not show up, you lose 1 hr of your free tutoring allowance.
AUTOCAD TUTORS:
- Yitty Gluck: yg419319@gmail.com – (UK based/Isrl)
- Miri Lichtman: mirilichtman@gmail.com (USA based)
- Chavie Kain – chavikain7@gmail.com (USA Based)
- Soroh Reitze Lieberman – sorohreitze@gmail.com (Isrl based)
REVIT TUTORS:
- Esther Steinfeld: esthersteinfeld4@gmail.com (USA)
Computer Specs
Here is the link to the AutoCad and Revit specs from the Autodesk website.
Design Alive does not offer assistance with buying a computer suitable for the course, but below are suggested computer specs and details of a computer technician who can help you. Please be aware that you will need a high-end computer for (Revit) rendering.
Please refer to these computer specs that are appropriate for all of our courses ranging from Interior to the very robust 3D modeling applications (Autocad & Revit)
- An i7 or i9 CPU
- At least 16GB of RAM & 256GB of storage
- A 64-bit operating system
- A dedicated (internal) graphics card (ex. NVIDIA) – not integrated!
- Besides being more expensive, we do not recommend Apple especially because our instructors use a PC (and Revit is not supported on Macs.)
- While a 17 inch laptop is easier to see what you are designing, it would be too heavy to carry when visiting clients. Instead; we suggest a standard 15.6 inch screen and when working from home, you can opt for a secondary & larger 27” monitor (about $200).
- An (external) SSD drive to safely hold your projects and ensure that your computer does not get overloaded
Design Alive has partnered with B&H for all computer and technical requirements and queries. They are a well-known and established company and are up-to-date with current specs and performance. Our contact is Baruch Berman and he can be contacted at Boruchb@bhphoto.com. Mention Design Alive when you speak to him.
PLEASE NOTE: Do not call the company directly but email Baruch for a call back:
Here is a link to the type of computers he currently recommends although feel free to do your own research for comparison. (If this link becomes invalid then please let us know) It’s also worth checking the Dell outlet for deals.