The Words We Use

Communication is what it's all about. If you can't communicate your ideas in a meaningful way, then those ideas can get lost. When we present our designs, our ideas, to a client, the words we use ought to paint a picture.

I'll start you off with a few that I use, and a few used by friends. Some are statements; others are just phrases. Please chime in with your own using the comment link below.

"When you walk out onto your patio, you should feel as if you are entering another room."
"A walk around the garden is a voyage of discovery."
"A view from every window."
"All other things being equal, an ugly landscape costs just as much to install as an attractive one." (the late Harry Schuster)

Please share some of your favorites!

Curriculum Survey

As any education junkie like myself knows, there is a skill to attending conferences. That would be a good topic for a future post.

Over the last few months, I've attended quite a few of them. One of my missions was to do some informal research. It is pretty clear that high quality design programs are hard to find. That is why we created the AALD.

Interestingly, a topic that many suggested is closely related to design, but is more business related. It may be summed up in the term "Practice Management." This can mean any of the following: Managing the paper trail; getting noticed and getting business; establishing and cultivating credibility; understanding insurance needs; design fees; managing clients; contracts, and more.

Please help us narrow this down and let your voice be heard. The survey is only 13 questions and will go fast. Thanks!

Click here!

Reflections on ANLA Management Clinic

I just returned from the ANLA's Management Clinic in Louisville, KY. It's been at least 10 years since I last attended this terrific green industry conference. If you have not ever been, you're missing out. I hope to make this an annual event from now on.

It's been held at the Galt House in Louisville for thirty-some years now. Attendance this year was somewhere around 1200. I met folks from Texas, California, Washington (DC and state), Florida, New York, Texas, New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia, Kansas, Iowa and Illinois. And quite a few from Ontario.

The keynote speaker most were interested in was William McDonough. Though I'm not yet a "true believer," his presentation was compelling and well-constructed. I really enjoyed the keynote the following day by Dan Heath, co-author of a new book called "Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die." As a designer and small business owner, I really find the concept interesting. I've started the book and look forward to making my way through it.

Quotes from the Clinic (some paraphrased):

"When get up in the morning and do something with intent, you are designing." (William McDonough)

"Leadership is doing the right things. Management is doing those things in the most efficient way ." This is not unlike "Leaders manage people. Managers manage tasks." I prefer "Managers have subordinates. Leaders have followers." In any case, the concept is important.

"We are all waves in the same ocean–different, but the same."

And a couple from Mid Am

"We are all teachers...all the time. We are constantly teaching everyone around us who we are and what we believe life is all about." (Dr. John Powers)

"We can either learn from someone or judge them but we cannot do both. One eliminates the possibility of the other." (Dr. John Powers)

Where Do You Start?

A student in a recent course asked a really good question. To
paraphrase, "When you begin a new design, where do you start?"

For me, and I think for many experienced designers, it's not a linear
thing. A lot of ideas, impulses and strategies occur simultaneously.
But what if they don't? Where, then, do you begin? And how do you teach
someone else where he/she should begin?

Next time you hit a dead end, try this. Find all the lines inherent
in the architecture: doors, windows, corners. Extend them with thin
lines into the landscape creating a Mondrianesque grid. Now see if
you can work within that framework. If you have important views from/
through the house, the place for a focal point will be shouting at you.

Any lines you place on the ground plane that relate to the grid will
automatically relate to the architecture. Then work from there.

Okay, it's pretty basic, but it's a start. Compare it to learning to
write. Remember the outline with Roman numeral I at the top? The grid
strategy is taking the design process down to its very basics. It's
not the end though. If you don't develop that outline into a cohesive
piece, with introduction, three examples and a conclusion, you most
certainly won't get that "A."

So, where do I start? It depends on how quickly something comes to
me. However, the end result can be deconstructed to find Roman
numeral I. That is, even if it doesn't start with an outline
or a grid, the end result still contains the structure I would have
had it begun that way. Make sense?

I welcome your comments.

Follow The Money

Friends and associates have urged me to Blog more often. That's probably a good idea. I'll continue to post copies of our e-newsletter, but will try to post other items of interest (?) too.

I'll start here with what I think is one of the biggest challenges in the Green Industry. It's getting reliable information. Information is easy to get. Knowing whether you can trust it is tricky though.

Here's what I mean. I'm not going to pick on any specific manufacturer, but you know who they are. Let's say you want information about the best way to design/install/specify paving. Who provides that information? Usually, the most readily available source is a manufacturer who sells a specific product. Is the information he/she provides reliable? Maybe. Maybe not. You can rest assured, though, that whatever they tell you will show their product in a good light. In fact, they may even present their product as the ONLY option.

So let's go one more step down the chain: The installer. After all, these are the guys who work with the products, deal with the suppliers and have firsthand knowledge of the product. They should know, right? Well, they SHOULD know. The question I have is, do they get incentives from the manufacturer to use their product over another? It's a good bet they do. Also, maybe they choose one product over another, not because it's better, but because their margins are better on it.

As a designer, and my client's advocate, my interest is not in my contractor's profit, though I do want him to make money. My interest is in making sure my project is as good as it can be and that my client is getting the best he/she can get.

I used paving as an example, but the same is true with other landscape elements like irrigation, lighting and even plants.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that suppliers, manufacturers and contractors as a whole are unreliable and intending to deceive. I'm also not saying that just because someone has a bias toward one product doesn't truly believe it to be the best option. I'm only saying that, as a designer, it's important to follow the money. It's always wise to verify with a neutral source, if you can find one.

Trust everyone, but cut the cards. (Finley Peter Dunne)