IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 14

We need offices that work harder,
support solo work as well as collaboration,
and offer opportunities for respite
and interaction.
3. Be agile

In the service of designing agile spaces, it’s imperative
that designers and manufacturers be agile, too. Shrinking
budgets, shrinking firms, increasingly high (and often
highly unrealistic) client expectations, and complex project
briefs demand that we multitask. Being agile can boost
job security in a volatile economy, too. The first to get laid
off in the recession were those who proved one-dimensional.
Employees need a broad enough purview that they can
capably accomplish whatever task may be thrown at them,
while still having a concrete specialty that makes them
unique—and thus indispensible—if firms need to downsize.
Practitioners have to become generalists and specialists—
and so do design practices. A firm’s services must be
comprehensive in order to attract as many clients and project
types as possible, yet specific enough that they become
the go-to choice—which often means tailoring expertise
to meet a project’s unique demands. Firms have to be large
enough to offer a robust scope of services, yet small enough
to offer personalized service, be quick on their feet, and
not be financially overextended. They need to have breadth
and depth.
All of which has effected how studios are structuring
themselves. Some are now opening smaller satellites that
aren’t necessarily full-blown offices. This allows the firm
a certain omnipresence while minimizing overhead and
commitment to untested markets. And more practices are
engaging consultants—whether in-house temps, specialists
“borrowed” from sister offices, or outside experts. Firms
seem eager to capitalize on the burgeoning community
of free agents, assembling teams of highly skilled temps
or permalancers to accommodate flexing workloads. This
concept not only makes economic sense, but it also mitigates
the risks involved in hiring full-time staffers and lets firms
tailor teams to specific projects. Employees benefit from this
model, too, enjoying the security that comes with a long-term
relationship while experiencing different projects, work
styles, corporate cultures, and the like.

14

Some attendees predicted an industry-wide shift to the
kind of consultant-based model favored by the entertainment
field. But others cautioned that a freelance-based structure
could prove detrimental to the health of the industry—and
even hamper creativity. Professional development, succession
planning, and firm longevity could be compromised.
Expertise and knowledge is learned on the job, passed down
from boss to underling, over an extended period of time.
Will we be as invested in employees, and in nurturing their
development, if we know that they are not invested in us
for the long haul—an issue applicable not only to freelancers
but to notoriously fickle Millennial staffers as well?
4. take Back design

The nature of volatility demands that we be agile as
individuals, as organizations, and especially as a profession.
Economic pressures force us to expand the role of our
practices, while clients expect our services to be all
encompassing. And to an ever increasing degree they are:
Designers are overseeing project management, staffing their
firms with certified change managers, building graphics
departments, bringing furniture dealers into the design team,
and helping clients conduct real-estate searches. They act
as psychologists, mediators, futurists, branding consultants,
and much more. Broadening the scope of a practice can help
accelerate project schedules, streamline the design process,
and engender a more holistic approach.
But designers are also being threatened by professionals
in related fields who have gotten savvier about encroaching
on their territory. Designers are losing jobs not just
to competitive firms but also to competitors in adjacent
industries who’ve been able to communicate their merit more
effectively and in tantalizingly concrete terms—even exact
dollar amounts, as in the case of real-estate agents. There are
three potential ways to remedy this…



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013

IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013
IIDA Post-It initiative
Contents
Contributors
From IIDA
Behind the Issue
IIDA News
Design Dialogue
The Showroom of the Future
Working It
Hire Resolution
Get Your Game On
Design Decoded
Behind the Design
Viewpoints
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Cover2
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - IIDA Post-It initiative
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 2
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Contents
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 4
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 5
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Contributors
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 7
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - From IIDA
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 9
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Behind the Issue
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 11
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - IIDA News
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 13
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 14
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 15
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 16
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 17
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Design Dialogue
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 19
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 20
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 21
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 22
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 23
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - The Showroom of the Future
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 25
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 26
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 27
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Working It
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 29
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 30
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 31
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 32
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 33
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 34
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 35
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 36
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 37
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 38
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 39
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Hire Resolution
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 41
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 42
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 43
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 44
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 45
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Get Your Game On
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 47
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 48
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 49
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 50
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 51
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Design Decoded
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 53
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 54
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Behind the Design
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Viewpoints
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Cover3
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Cover4
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