Van Alen Institute

The Van Alen Institute ran a survey to get feedback on improving design competitions. It is interesting to see that 4 out of the 10 propositions for improvement have to do with public interest design and the value of design.

1. Show the value of good design. Designers  want more compensation for the time and resources put into a competition entry. Van Alen calls for recognition of the labor and money spent annually on design competitions, as a means of monitoring “how much value design creates.” The institute recommends the mandatory disclosure of time and associated costs of every competition entry.

5. Go beyond beautiful objects. Cultural institutions considering or organizing competitions should do so with the intent of addressing “a pressing cultural, ecological, or social issue.” 

8. Make it public. The statement that “[e]veryone knows that public engagement, when structured well, helps produce better design” may be bold, yet it is illogical to produce proposals without consultation with the people who will ultimately interact with them.

9. Give young designers what they want. Student and and emerging designers are more likely to desire interdisciplinary collaboration, public engagement, and design for “underserved communities”, survey results found.

See the rest at ArchDaily.