Top 10 Lessons from Basecamp: #3 – #1
– By Dave Cooperstein, senior creative designer
If you’ve been following my Top 10 Lessons from SketchUp 3D Basecamp posts so far, and you made it through Lesson #4, then you must be ready for my
Top 3 Lessons from Basecamp:
#3 – Sharing your knowledge makes the world a better place.
This is why Basecamp is such a great event. Because it brings together 600 people, from all over the world, who will take that knowledge back with them, and teach 600 more people. This is why PGAV Destinations has invested in the Alberti Program at Washington University in St. Louis. And this is why SketchUp announced a new product at Basecamp, my.SketchUp, to spread the power of 3D modeling to the other 99% of the world that hasn’t had access to SketchUp, until now.
#2 – No one “owns” a design idea… it’s a collaborative process.
As Josh Cohen, of Fat Pencil Studio, reminded us: Continuous improvement is part of the design process. Even if the ideas are bad, they will eventually yield a better design, as long as they are heard and considered. It’s the process of design that we learn in school, and that we practice every day, that makes places, buildings and experiences. Which leads me directly to…
#1 – Your clients are part of your design team.
We always talk about “the team” at PGAV Destinations, and that team always includes our clients. We aren’t working “for” them, we’re working “with” them. Our clients are our greatest assets. They have the organizational knowledge, and the expertise, that is going to drive the project in the direction that they want to go. Listen to them, as much as (or more than) you talk to them. Involve them in the design process, in a real-time, meaningful way. That could mean you’re drawing and modeling right in front of them, with instant input and feedback. Helping clients see their ideas as they talk about them is an extraordinary ability, and one which you should use at will. Going back to the office and thinking, and talking, and designing is always going to be part of the process. But it can’t be the ONLY part of the process.
Bonus Lesson – Great opportunities yield great lessons.
To Trimble SketchUp, for hosting 3D Basecamp, thank you for the opportunity. And to everyone who attended 3D Basecamp, thank you for the lessons. See you in 2018…
