Does a building or a space sell better when it is designed by a “renowned” architect or designer? Very often, when a given brand wishes to increase its sales or draw attention to itself, it hires a well known designer in the belief that just the use of his or her name will arouse the curiosity of the visitor and this will translate into bigger sales.
This tactic can work in the beginning due to the media effect that it conveys but what is truly important is the business concept. More and more, the final result should be the conclusion of multiple variables that a single person can hardly solve. The result depends on team work. If we always work the same way and with the same people the outcome can hardly be surprising.
The interrelation between disciplines such as humanism, psychology or neurology can help us understand many things and give more clues to the design. It is not anymore about using the expression, do you like it? It is about questioning content and not form. Getting close to the type of client to whom the offer is targeted is not just a commercial vision it is one of coherence among all the aspects of the business, from the personnel selection, the assortment and the formal result.
All in all, it is about remembering the design at the end of the preliminary reflection process. For good design to “happen” it is no longer possible to work alone. You must know how to manage it and look for the best possible professional for each case. It is about working with everybody, in networks and connected, in tune with the client.
A good formal solution is good in itself not because of its author’s name. It is best if no one remembers who designed it but that it adapts to the model of the business. This job is complex because it requires that all the professional work at the same level without main characters. Genius comes more from the collective intelligence, from different and creative ways of working than from just one person.
The outcome comes from a different attitude at the moment of dealing with the projects. It is necessary that the architects and designers get used to be called at the end of this process and not at the beginning. They are a means and not an end in themselves. They must know how to adapt and mutate in accordance with the assignment.
© Lluís Sáiz, architect and partner of GRUPIDEA