Jessica Bonness, NCIDQ
Assistant Professor, Interior Design
Hello and welcome to my website.
I'm Jessica Bonness, an Assistant Professor of Interior Design at Marymount University in Arlington, VA, and I am passionate about helping students and emerging professionals succeed in their academic and professional careers.
Scroll down for some resources that will make your journey a little easier and (hopefully) a little more interesting.
You can email me at jbonness@marymount.edu
Skills & Tools
100 Architectural Sketches
Some interesting visual communication examples, with informative annotations (which, if you're my student, you know I love annotations). via Arch Daily
16 Tips to Improve Your Model-Making Skills
via Arch Daily
Glossary of Terms
This is a list of several common ID terms -- from "ANSI" to "white noise" -- taken from QPractice (a study site for the NCIDQ exam).
Graph Paper
Download and print graph paper at a variety of scales for free.
Entourage
NONSCANDINAVIA lets you download a variety of .png files featuring diverse people for use in your renderings.
Scale Ruler
Download, print, and use a scale ruler for free.
Sketching & Rendering
Check out my Pinterest board with sub-sections about sketching, drawing, watercolor, marker, Photoshop, and other topics.
Research & Programming
Best of Year 2021 Interior Design
Many recent award-winning projects from a variety of different residential and commercial typologies.
Evidence Based Design Journal
"EBD is a new resource for architects, designers, planners, project managers and their clients—in fact, anyone who wants to learn more about the ways in which people interact with the built environment."
Criteria Matrix (printable)
Use this matrix in your programming process. One has pre-filled headings, the other is blank if you'd like to determine your own criteria. You will need to add a legend for your adjacencies.
Data Visualization
Information is Beautiful: Founded by David McCandless, author of two bestselling infographics books.
Gensler's Research Institute
"The Gensler Research Institute explores the intersection of design, business, and behavior in pursuit of solutions that improve the built environment and enhance the human experience."
Concept & Creativity
12 Museums you can explore online for free
Round-up via Travel & Leisure magazine
Analogues: a tool for concept ideas
From Edward Ogosta Architecture: "Inspired by Richard Serra's Verb List, each Analogue is a pairing of two words from two categorical lists. Each list consists of descriptive variants of a single fundamental idea—such as space, time, nature, architecture, or furniture."
Check this out!
Bruce Mau's Incomplete Manifesto for Growth
Every student should read this to help shape their own creative process.
Just read it.
Color Palette Generator
Upload an inspirational photo and generate a color palette that you can use for FF&E specification and/or to create a palette in Adobe Creative Suite.
Intypes
"The Intypes (Interior Archetypes) Research and Teaching Project at Cornell creates a typology of contemporary interior design practices that are derived from reiterative historical designs that span time and style and cross cultural boundaries."
You Are Fluent In This Language // Christoph Niemann
A TEDTalk about creativity and universality from an acclaimed illustrator.
Codes & Standards
ADA Standards 2010
Contains explanations, diagrams, and examples.
2018 IBC
Basic access to the most recent edition of the International Building Code.
NFPA 101 Life Safety Code
It takes some time, but you can create an account and view the entire NFPA 101 Life Safety code for free.
Anthropometric Data Tables
A series of tables of body measurements for adults and children, from the CDC.
Calculating Occupant Load
This is a pretty comprehensive explainer if you are struggling with occupant load calculations. Via ArchiCorner (a YouTube tutorial).
Sustainability Concepts & Standards
LEED v4.1 Standards
Current LEED 4.1 Standards
WELL V2 Standards
Current WELL V2 Standards
Fitwel
"The Fitwel Standard provides tailored scorecards for existing and new buildings and sites to optimize the unique opportunities for every project—whether it’s a single floor build-out or a large-scale development."
Living Building Challenge
"LBC 4.0 focuses on the relationship between impact and effort. While LBC 4.0 continues the standard’s mission of visionary, but attainable building goals, it also recognizes that not all projects face the same challenges or share in the same opportunities."
IGCC
"The 2018 International Green Construction Code (IgCC) provides the design and construction industry with the single, most effective way to deliver sustainable, resilient, high-performance buildings."
14 Patterns of Biophilic Design
via Terrapin Bright Green
Design Equity
Architecture by the People for the People
"Designer Alastair Parvin presents a simple but provocative idea: what if, instead of architects creating buildings for those who can afford to commission them, regular citizens could design and build their own houses?"
Black Interior Designers Network
"Designers of color can benefit from increased visibility and interaction within the interior design industry."
Dissent By Design Manifesto
"https://www.dissentbydesign.net/resources" (Royce Epstein, Dissent by Design)
Decolonising Design // Anoushka Khandwala
"In everyday design work, to “shatter the familiar” might start by rethinking the needs of the audience you’re designing for..."
Equity Design Collaborative
"The Equity Design Collaborative was formed in 2017 by organizations and individuals from across the U.S. practicing what we would later call Equity Design. This community emerged out of a collective urgency to leverage design to subvert exploitative power dynamics."
"Good Design is a Human Right"
Essay by Christian Narkiewicz-Laine
"Interior Design is a Human Right, Not a Luxury" // Kia Weatherspoon
This article is a powerful reminder to thoughtfully consider who we design for.
"Justice by Design" - TedTalk
Antionette Carroll, Founder, President and CEO of Creative Reaction Lab, explains inequities that exist in society and asks how designers can address them.
Media
Book Reviews // Core 77
Current reviews of books about all things design-related.
Netflix: Abstract - The Art of Design (Trailer)
Excellent series with a variety of different types of designers showcasing their work, process, lives, and stories. Requires a Netflix subscription to view the show.
Podcast: 99% Invisible
Design-adjacent stories. You'll find at least one that you love and at least 10 that inspire you.
Podcast: Design Matters with Debbie Millman
"The world's first podcast about design and an inquiry into the broader world of creative culture through wide-ranging conversations with designers, writers, artists, curators, musicians, and other luminaries of contemporary thought."
Podcast: A Well Designed Business
LuAnn Nigara discusses the ID business.
About Me.
I'm Jessica Bonness, an Assistant Professor of Interior Design at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia. I teach introductory courses in interior design and user-centered design, design studios, professional practice and business procedures, and I manage internships for students across all of the design and art disciplines. I teach both undergraduate (BA) and graduate (MA) students, and I work closely with interdisciplinary colleagues with the goal of creating robust and well-rounded designers.
My research focuses on Human Behavior and using Human-Centered Design processes to refine problem-solving and improve outcomes in a variety of design applications, and I am interested in innovative classroom approaches that allow students to test their skills in active design projects. Equity, Inclusion, Diversity, and Belonging are a critical component of my teaching and values, and I do my
best every day to center and celebrate ALL students' lived experiences in their work.
I am an NCIDQ certified interior designer, a member of ASID, IIDA, IDEC, and NEWH, and am a WELL AP and LEED GA. Before becoming a full-time educator I worked in my own practice, JGB Interiors, while teaching interior design at several schools in the Washington D.C. area.
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