The Purpose of Design Matters

THE PURPOSE OF DESIGN MATTERS

I am in the middle of the long process of designing the web site for Design Matters. It is important to consider the purpose of the site so that the visitor can within minutes determine if a working relationship is possible. Some sites are for marketing to new potential customers, some are a portfolio of projects, and some are strictly for general information about the firm and job opportunities. I found the quote below in an Architectural Record article about web site design. It reminded me about an article I wrote years ago for the Pleasanton News about the impact of design on human behavior. I love that Hillier Architects decided to use their web site to communicate the ability of design to change lives. This is also the purpose of Design Matters.

“Hillier’s story was that they had all these great experts working for the firm. We opted to open the site with pictures of people, and tell their story with surprising questions like ‘How can architecture help cure cancer?’ We then gave short explanations of why Hillier’s cancer-research buildings provided architectural solutions that led to more productive research.