"Exploring Technology in Garden Design: Debunking Misconceptions and Embracing Innovation".
AI-generated render, playing on the themes of nature and garden as a sanctuary. What an excellent way of creating inspiration, producing something beautiful within nature that serves a purpose for both nature and humans.
"Reconsidering the Role of Technology in Garden Design: A Perspective on the Benefits and Limitations of Hand-Drawn vs. 3D-Rendered Designs"
Having recently read a few social media posts about individual garden designers' and landscape gardeners’ approaches to their drawings and designs, I wanted to address a few points these designers touched on. Multiple themes have been addressed recently, including how hand-drawn designs provide a more realistic showcase than a 3D-rendered one when proposing client submissions. How scale and spatial awareness are distorted in computer-generated 3d renders, and how clients aren’t as excited by a computer render as a hand-drawn one. As you can see, it’s all quite one-sided (reminds me of the arguments put forward when traditional artists first encountered photography – although many of them used camera obscurers to project an image onto a canvas and use it to create their outlines for the drawing).
As a side note, I have the utmost respect for anyone working as a garden designer; after all, they are my peers, a source of inspiration and a community that I am proud to be a part of. This is not a dig at anyone for their point of view; it is merely my reaction through self-assessment and awareness of our current process. We are always trying to adapt and improve our service. It is essential to provide as much information and detail as possible for our clients to understand who we are and what we are about. In addition, we want to help provide value for anyone seeking a garden designer, whether Umber or not.
My origins are not garden design; they are documentary photography and filmmaking. As you can tell from the avenue I took, drawing isn’t my strong point (although this is certainly not the case for everyone who specialises in these disciplines). However, my strengths are seeing things clearly and the beauty of a place. My interest has always been in nature, the natural world and wildlife, and its intrinsic value that can’t always be quantified, explained or sometimes even shown. I was incredibly drawn to our relationships with nature physically and philosophically; in my experience, I could always see and feel a certain way when looking at any scene or landscape. This doesn’t have to be confined to the landscape but even within someone’s outdoor sanctuary. My other interests are how to combine and explore multi-disciplinaries to produce a unique experience for the viewer or, in this context, a client.
To start with, I want to talk about our process, and although we have a design process page that gives an overview of how we work, I want to present a more in-depth, objective perspective of my approach to creating designs. As a process at Umber Design, we approach a garden design flexibly, providing the ability to pivot and adapt where needed. We use many sources of inspiration besides our natural creative flow and style. As a brief overview, we use AI, social media, traditional Art, walking in nature, photography and much more for idea creation in the early stages. We believe it’s about volume and getting a feel for what will work best at any particular property and locality in these early stages. An organic resolution can only be achieved by an eye-on-heavy approach. The more you can research and collate, the more you will subconsciously use the method of elimination and start pinpointing exactly where you need and want to go. It will already be narrowed down to a brief as the clients will have their requirements.
One of our most recent ways of research is AI-generated imagery using prompts and commands. Interestingly, what we are finding with AI is the somewhat fictional and almost sci-fi-looking results when using it as a research and idea generator. These AI results present visuals that almost feel otherworldly sometimes, allowing us as designers to see something we may not have seen without. There are no bad ideas.
In some cases, if the client hasn’t got a brief and is interested in letting us be creative, we take cues from the property, the locality, the existing garden and how the house's interior is laid out and designed. In addition, not forgetting the clients’ budget. We find the cost of a garden build can often shock people, but doing it properly requires the utmost craftsmanship, visual integrity and experience. The budget quite often comes along with a brief. Sometimes, we are provided with a brief without a budget. It all depends on the individual.
Once we have enough material to help form our approach to a specific project and with the topographical survey back from the surveyors, we start pulling layout ideas together, drawing on all of the material and inspiration, combined with the client’s brief, to help direct and lead us to an answer to your garden design and landscaping requirements.
This is where we will use pen, paper, and the computer to play, adapt, and evolve our ideas. We believe in all approaches and feel sometimes the world is only seen as an OR world, not an AND world. Revisiting the first paragraph in this text, I don’t believe there is a better or worse way to approach your work and process; certainly not having the attitude that one is better than the other in managing a client’s expectations. For starters, expectations should be managed throughout the process through clear communication with the client. Not only that, being able to draw doesn’t determine whether you are creative or artistic. If you can’t draw to a presentational standard, your drawings won’t resemble the garden and the designers’ ideas.
One of the beautiful things about progress and technological advancements is that it provides more options for designers and creatives to create their work. Everyone is their own Niche, and being able to use whatever medium they need to express their ideas is a beautiful thing. However, the power of hand drawing is unmistakable and can never be replaced directly; it is just added to with technology. Drawing can provide a fluidity between artists and canvas.
Adapting your working process (which we believe should always be the case) by adopting new technologies like AI and computer-generated images opens up an entirely new world and provides your clients with different experiences. 3D renders can provide incredibly accurate texture and model details. For example, a clay paver path set to herringbone. Or even the look of a tree being used ornamentally. The tree can be scaled to show its eventual mature height and spread and provide an idea of what it may do for screening purposes from overlooking neighbours.
Another benefit of computer-generated designs is the ability to create VR, AR and video presentation walkthroughs. These are great ways for clients to ‘walk’ through the layout and get a feel for every aspect of the proposal before commencing with the build. A walk-through is a fantastic way for the designer to present a vast look into the proposal quickly; this is an imperative part for our clients. Although a sensible investment, a Garden is a complex and big undertaking. A complete garden design and build will most likely be the most expensive singular project you will do on your house, so making sure it’s exactly what your clients want while adding value to your property and standing the test of time is top of the list is a priority for us as designers. The return on Investment can be an increase in property value of 20%. Compared to the average amount spent on a garden, 10-15% of the property’s value shows the importance of a well-designed garden and the long-term return on investment.
To draw back to a previous point glossed over is managing customer expectations so that they understand that while every effort is taken to create garden visuals as close to real life as they can be, there are always differences regardless of the medium and discipline in which the designer uses to formulate their proposals and submissions. Colours, scale, textures, surrounding environment, and planting (tree/shrub heights, spreads, and shape) won’t be precisely how they seem in real life to a 3d render, drawn or computerised. At Umber Design, managing client expectations is essential to the garden design process. We understand that clients have their vision and ideas about what they want their garden to look like, and it is our job to translate those ideas into a cohesive design. However, we also believe that creativity is crucial in producing a unique and fulfilling garden design. We strive to balance our creativity with our client's requirements and expectations by communicating with them throughout the process, ensuring that we meet their needs while maintaining our creative integrity. By collaborating with and working closely with our clients, we can produce a design that satisfies their expectations while incorporating innovative and imaginative elements.
One exciting thing we are exploring now is the surrounding environment element. What your neighbour’s house looks like, the existing landscape, etc., are all part of the details that are just as important as the specified slabs. Being able to present the Neighbour's house in rendering software can help show what will be seen from their windows, and in the context of a countryside project, understanding the locations of specific markers and views in the landscape can help dictate how the new garden will blend with these critical features that probably made you choose the house in the first place.
In addition to these elements, understanding the sun's position and how it works throughout the day and the year is critical to producing a harmonious design that integrates with the passage of time and weather cycles. All of which can be easily manipulated in software to understand how these elements interact fully.
Something that I have not delved into personally is the use of AI and software to understand the average amount of rainfall that lands over a specific property to either factor for flooding in a garden, to include the right plants and trees to help with reducing the amount of watering and even for rainwater harvesting calculations. In addition, software and technology can help understand the build-up of a garden’s soil and subsoils to help with specifications for the project. All of these help create a snapshot of a garden's makeup, creating a fingerprint identity for the garden, which can then be individually tailored when designing consciously.
In summary, we want other designers and potential clients looking for garden designers to understand the importance of newer technologies arriving on the scene. At Umber Design, we like to explore these features as we work while understanding each field's implications and limitations and fully appreciating their value. As mentioned above, we believe in an AND world, not an OR world. We will continue to use anything from graphite pencil markings to AI as an idea generator and from 2D layout drawings to populated 3d computer-generated renders when submitting proposals to clients. Hopefully, that casts a light on how we use technology and processes within the garden design umbrella and further allows you to see that while we enjoy the process, our commitment is always the clients, clients' brief and budget in creating a garden that integrates with your lifestyle paired with the skill and craftsmanship we provide. In turn helping clients have an enjoyable experience while being left with a garden that can endure the test of time.