A Ball State University graduate student in the interior designprogram won the top prize of $1,000 in a recent national designcompetition put on by the Institute of Store Planners.
The task was to change the image of gourmet food stores.
Dale Potts' winning design was a 5,000 square-foot gourmet foodstore that focused on developing a floor plan with a cleaner, morecontemporary design than the traditional gourmet food store, hesaid.
"I feel interior design is more than just decorating; manypeople do not realize that a lot of the focus is on thearchitecture and floor planning aspects," Potts said.
Janet Fick, family and consumer science instructor,characterized Potts as an ideal student who goes above and beyondthe call of duty in every aspect of his design career.
"Dale raised the bar, and students now work harder to match hislevel of success," Fick said.
Potts, a Lafayette native, competed against more than 100participants. Potts designed the facade, fixtures and logo, whichhe named "Northwest Fresh."
"I wanted to change the image of gourmet food stores, which tendto be cluttered and not very professional-looking," Potts said.
Potts, 39, is a non-traditional graduate student. Beforeattending graduate school, Dale got his undergraduate degree inmusic education, for kindergarten through 12th graders. Potts saidrenovating old houses and working on space-management piqued hisdesign interests.
Not only was Potts' design non-contemporary, the tools he usedto plan and create the food store were also non-traditional. Whilemost contestants used boards to show judges their floor plans andlayouts, Potts used a computer-designing program calledInDesign.
Potts currently teaches Studio 2, which is an interior designcourse at Ball State. In the future, Potts said he hopes to workfor an architectural firm in Indianapolis.
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