Lost in Translation

There’s an old joke about lawyers being the only people who, with straight face, call a 700 page document a brief. Look at a brief for a new healthcare building and you may get the same impression of project managers. As we work with client teams to introduce the idea of design statements we're finding some people have to unlearn 20 years experience of technical writing to start to describe the fundamental human needs that their project must support and nurture. Users get it very quickly, and designers can pick up from their intent. Our hopes and desires don’t translate well through technical mediums, so write it in human.