IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 49

"One day I might be going out to Staten Island to visit
a new athletic center, and the next day to Astor Place
to check on the new pedestrian plaza," Ellison says.
Her reports are shared with the public as well as distributed
internally to the city's roughly 1,200 employees. As she's on the
client side, her role differs somewhat from Sisson's or Heintz's.
Ellison doesn't interact with design teams until projects are under
construction, and her mission is solely to report, not to influence.
After a year of writing about the city's projects she's developing
a more comprehensive editorial strategy, and hopes to expand
the scope of her work to include things like formal interviews
with designers. Ellison likens her role to that of a translator, helping designers communicate with non-designers, and emphasizes
that her journalistic training is just as important as her knowledge of the industry. When designers and architects write,
she says, they tend to use the same language over and over again,
often using large words to say something simple, which isn't
necessarily effective.
"You don't have to say 'it's a window to the community'-
it's just a window," Ellison says. "There are ways it really benefits you to have a writer on staff, someone who can help
communicate what you want to say without falling back on
total stereotypes."
For her part, Ellison reinforces the idea that clients value hearing
about a firm's approach, and that talking about what doesn't
work is as effective as talking about what does. Far from being
harmful to a firm's reputation, Ellison says an insider's look at
how a firm works only strengthens their position in the industry.

"The most successful storytelling reveals the process,"
Ellison says. "How you screw up, how you succeed,
why you use certain tools or colors, etc. When you reveal
your process you're revealing yourself as an authority."

PERSPECTIVE

49



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014

Contents
Contributors
From IIDA
Behind the Issue
Viewpoints
Pop Goes the Marketplace
Beyond Programming
Startup Design
RFP: Decoded
The Power of Narrative
Inspiration
Colophon
Design Buzz
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - Cover1
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - Cover2
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 1
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 2
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - Contents
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 4
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - Contributors
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - From IIDA
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 7
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - Behind the Issue
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - Viewpoints
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - Pop Goes the Marketplace
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 11
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 12
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 13
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 14
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 15
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 16
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 17
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - Beyond Programming
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 19
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 20
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 21
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 22
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 23
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 24
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 25
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 26
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 27
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - Startup Design
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 29
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 30
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 31
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 32
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 33
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 34
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 35
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 36
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 37
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - RFP: Decoded
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 39
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 40
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 41
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 42
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 43
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - The Power of Narrative
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 45
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 46
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 47
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 48
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 49
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 50
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 51
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - Inspiration
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - Colophon
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 54
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - 55
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - Design Buzz
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - Cover3
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2014 - Cover4
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