Design vs Business

How can you balance the relationship between design and business?

A common problem that many designers face is the cost-benefit analysis of quality design vs project budget. This relationship is necessary in order to create an efficient way of doing business in the design field. How can you navigate this relationship successfully? These are 3 strategies that may come in handy during your design career…

Mission

1. Do your due diligence when creating or joining a design team. Finding work is already difficult enough, but working in an environment that alienates quality can become increasingly taxing.

Communicate

1. If you are not in a position to influence your current situation, the next route of action is to communicate with other departments within the business. Building relationships with your current practice may open the door to more discussion as it relates to design strategy and finances.

Value

1. The aesthetics of a design can often be influential in decision-making. However, adding the long-term monetary value to the equation can improve the chances of your design recommendations being seriously considered.

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What is the ABI

Anyone practicing or doing business in the field of architecture should know what this is!

The Architecture Billings Index (ABI) is a great tool for architects and their business. In short this tool allows decision makers to understand the market for non-residential projects. If you are looking to plan and understand the current building cycles, this tool should be in your decision making process. You can access historical data as well as current economic analysis.

The AIA makes this tool very easy to understand and implement into your business plans. AIA.org provides the ABI and many other tools to help you become more well-rounded in the architecture field.

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Where is the biggest construction project?

Where is the most activity in the construction world?

Right now the largest construction project in the world is the Al Maktoum International Airport, Dubai. This massive project is set to cover 21 square miles. Just for scale, the Vatican city is .17 square miles. This airport alone has the area to support a large city. On large projects like this, we all know that there will be a master plan followed by several design phases. Many designers enjoy creating on their own terms, but in a project like this, each designer has to be humble enough to realize that their impact may blend into the larger scheme.

Although large projects can be incredibly frustrating to work on, the beauty of the struggle forces everyone to have a bit of humility. When you're working on a large project and you feel little to no significance, understand that at the completion of the project can still be fulfilling. Many times as designers, we lose sight of the overall importance of what we are designing. At times, it can be hard to push through a job, especially when we don't see the purpose. If you can remember the purpose, designing will be much more bearable during the struggles.