Verbs and nouns
I have seen and heard much discussion lately about design awards in the A/E/C industry. Marketing folks are budgeting for next year and trying to decide which awards to pursue in 2007 so they can include the costs of developing and submitting packages in their budgets.
Planning and budgeting are always worthy endeavors and, to be sure, advance data gathering is always a wise undertaking. And you certainly can't pursue a design award without completing all of those activities.
But don't you have to start with an understanding of what "design" truly is? And at this point I have to ask the question: Is "design" a verb or a noun?
The case for a noun -- In a lot of firms, people think that "design" is simply the final drawing of what something will look like when it is built; or that "design" is the set of construction plans and specifications that allows the contractor to build the structure -- like the set of instructions that comes with a erector set (anyone remember those?). In other words, design is what you deliver at the end of that phase of the project so you can move on to the construction phase. Design is the drawing you can look at and take a red pencil to, if needed.
The case for a verb -- In some firms, people understand that "design" is the process by which you achieve those final plans, specifications and renderings. This process begins with your first knowledge of the upcoming project and runs through all client and internal team meetings before the RFP appears; it moves on through all discussions with the client about what they need and why, what they want and why, what they intend to do in the space, who the actual users will be (and what they actually need and want), how the success of the project will be measured, budgets, schedules and a wide range of other issues that have to be identified and settled through an ongoing process of communication.
For me, "design" is what you do (verb), and drawings are the physical item you deliver (noun) after you and the client, together, have finished the "design" process. I say "you and the client, together," because the client has to be an important working member of the design team from start to finish in order for the project to succeed. It is about the way roles are assigned and how team members interact with each other; it is about how ideas are considered and evaluated, and how those found worth are incorporated into the process and the product.
Competition programs understand this. That's why they make you submit more than just a picture of the final building and floorplans. They make you discuss your process. They ask for letters from the client attesting to the success of the project from their perspective.
Design is not the place you get to at the end. It's the process by which you get there.
