Design Thought Leader

Getting projects built requires strong alliances between the client, engineers, and architect, as well as good collaboration with the city government. Architecture is not a solitary pursuit. I don’t think we’re especially fast or successful at getting things built, at least not by European standards. But we do manage to find clients who share our view of architecture. We have a longing to experiment with space, bring out the site’s potential, and speculate on possibilities for rethinking conventions. It seems risky at first; however, all our projects so far have proved very economically successful.

One strategy we discuss during the design process is the ambiguity of meaning. A project has more presence and impact if there’s some doubt about it, something quite bold yet difficult to describe and hard to grasp. We like to offer more than one potential reading per project, to allow for individual appropriation, but the relationship between nature and technology is always an underlying topic.

Jürgen Mayer H.
Founder of J. Mayer H. Architects

As a designer, one of the things that fascinates me about photography is camera language. In design, we talk a lot about creating visual grammar through choices of color, line, form and typography. These are the building blocks we use to create a grammatical system with which to construct visual communication.

In photography, the same concept is referred to as camera language (although in practice, the term is more frequently used when discussing cinematography and filmmaking). As in design, color, line and form are important elements that help define a visual grammar. But technical and mechanical forces are also at work: lighting and lens choices, film speed, paper choice, aperture settings, shutter speed and camera angles are all mechanical controls you can use to define a signature camera language. …

Through manipulation of equipment, color, lighting and composition, it’s amazing how a photographer can establish a distinct visual language and then, using different mechanicals, add what can best be described as visual linguistic dialects.

Callie Neylan
Senior Interactive Designer at NPR.org

Design to me is the embodiment of elegance, it’s trying to use just enough to do/communicate the most. …

It’s not less is more. It’s not simple as possible. It’s just what’s needed, no more, no less.

Noah Brier
Head of Strategic Planning, The Barbarian Group

Let it be local: Design is informed by what is intrinsically bound to a culture. We respond to that, respect it, and draw upon it.

Let it be sustainable: We design for the health of humanity. Sustainability is about creating a balance between what we build and what is naturally meant to be and ensuring a project’s longevity and financial integrity.

Let it be appropriate: The components of a design are made compelling by their ability to respond to a community’s needs both technically and emotionally.

Let it be collaborative: Successful projects come from the informational input from all parties involved through the dedication of passionate people.

Minnesota Chapter
Architecture for Humanity

I actually hate the word ‘feature.’ I’m always trying to develop benefits for people, not features. …

I believe people are willing to pay for value and I’ve seen that time and time again. It takes conviction. You better be sure you are offering something of value and sometimes it takes time and testing to understand where the value is in what you offer.

And you know it’s our responsibility to prove our value to our customer base, through service, through developing the product, through a whole bunch of different things—and every month we’re on the hook for that. But, as you know, as long as we deliver against that—and we have a long track record of doing that right now—people are willing to pay for the value.

Mike McDerment
Co-Founder and CEO of FreshBooks