Also pondering on this theme was ASID president Bruce J. Brigham. His President’s Letter in the July/August 2009 issue of ASID ICON sums up everything about awards, and says it better than we could. So why reinvent the wheel?

(We have reproduced it here since it is not available online.)

Awards: Beyond the Beauty Contest

This is our second annual design awards issue of ASID ICON, so I thought it might be an appropriate time to discuss the subject of giving out awards.

In his book, The Power of Design, Richard Farson contends that awards are self-serving and don’t really advance practice. I, for one, believe ASID should give out awards, because celebrating extraordinary design work is what ASID should be all about. As a professional Society, we work to accomplish so much every day for the profession and for our members: advocacy, continuing education, networking and more. But what we sometimes forget to do is celebrate pure design.I am all for this kind of celebration. But how can we move an awards program away from being a simple beauty contest and turn it into something more meaningful? To address Farson’s objection, how can an award begin to advance the interior design profession?

The answer lies within the very essence of what we do and why it is meaningful: Great interior design changes people’s lives.

The way a resort hotel makes you unwind and feel carefree…the way a well-designed hospital interior lifts you up and makes you feel better…the way a perfectly suited home design allows you to effortlessly enjoy your life for years to come…the way a renovated office space increases work pleasure and productivity, and reduces sick days, too. These are some oft he intangible wasy interior design improves multiple aspects of our lives and instigates meaningful change.

Let’s give awards for these effective designs. Let’s celebrate the powerful ways we use design to create an effect, and more than that, the way we use design as a means to enhance people’s quality of life.

I believe design award entries today should be submitted jointly by the designer and the client. Both should share in the opportunity to explain their particular use of strategic interior design. And then, when a clear program of the effective use of design to accomplish a goal has been met and exceeded (in a beautiful way!), when the team of designer and client can point to the quality effects of that design that have had an impact on people’s lives—well, that is worthy of an award.

Pretty doesn’t solve problems. It doesn’t reduce the length of a hospital stay or motivate workers to achieve greater productivity/ It doesn’t sell more jeans to distracted kids or produce the perfect living space. We are about more than merely “pretty.” Beautiful and elegant design is just one’s ticket in the door. Interior design, on a really professional level, is so much more than that.

But if we can begin to measure the wonderous effects that interior design produces all around us—to literally change the way we live, work, shop, play and heal—we will really be celebrating our profession, and not just recognizing projects with the largest budgets and highest profiles.

Bruce J. Brigham, FASID, ISP, IES

Thank you, Bruce— and ASID!