20/20 Vision

“Events that incorporate particular cutting edge vision to their design process create a valid impression that ultimately stays with the guests, and leaves long-lasting relationships with their product & experiences,”

Design is learning to tell the story..

Great design starts with values, and core principles. What is the experience you want your end user to have ?  Are you trying to achieve efficiency of space or economy of motion?  Is the goal to save time or increase the number of clicks on a particular page?  The clearer you are in answering these questions, the clearer you’ll be in articulating the overall journey, or experience, you’d like a potential reader, listener or user to have of your design or vision.

Identify the moment

The challenge here is to try to find a moment where the failure hit a nerve on a personal level.  To do this, identify a moment or experience in which the value you want your design to demonstrate (i.e. efficiency) was absent, and the impact that absence had on you.  For example, if the experience you want people to have is about spatial layout, think about a time when you were jammed against a wall and couldn’t escape, or a time you created a space that had that same effect on someone.

After you’ve clearly identified a moment of vulnerability, outline how you responded.  What did you do? Did you have any conversations about this design failing? Again, be specific about these conversations and actions. For example, after seeing a cabinet that was placed improperly, did you research and discover any trends in cabinet design?  Did you share your experiences with your team?  These moments and conversations will provide context for your listeners about both your solution and the design process.  Many designers gloss over important details out of fear of bogging the audience down, but a detailed description of your response will actually draw people in by making the design understandable.

Why event design matters

“Events are very powerful, they can inspire people to take action, share knowledge, collaborate with one another, or even buy a product or service.”

Create the context for both the design vulnerability and your outlined response. Take your client on a walk through of the vision as if they are your audience. This doesn’t need to be a complex breakdown of the idea or plan, describe how the solution speaks to the initial idea and realizes the design value or vision behind the project.

The final part of a good design story is to end with a compelling call to action. Your call to action should articulate what’s possible in this new, well-designed world or idea. If you’ve already implemented your design solution, tell people what happened afterwards.  Did the industry embrace your ideas?  Did anyone offer praise or feedback?  What became possible for users and designers in this new world?  Did your solution provide secondary benefits that you didn’t initially anticipate?