Your product library is collecting dust, but not much else.
For the more than 35 years, I’ve had the pleasure of working with architects, designers, and engineers. One thing that I’ve found fascinating is the pace at which they and their firms adopt technology (hint: they are not the early adopter type)! There is something about the careful, deliberate ways needed to be successful as a designer, that makes even the more forward thinking of them resistant to quick adoption of technology, even when its benefits are readily apparent.
One example of this is the architect’s love of bulky physical product material binders, which are only just now being phased out of many firms. Do you know of any other industry still reliant on dated/printed material in the digital age?
The mountain of green Sweet’s catalogues, a fixture in every office for as long as anyone can remember, has been universally ignored if not totally bad mouthed as unworkable. Shelves full of manufacturer catalogues and binders still exist in many offices today, though most design professionals eschew them, turning instead to the web for current information. The product catalog binder is simply a remnant of the past, and emblematic of the old ways of doing things. It is time to free up some of that valuable real estate — and wasted annual renewal payments — those catalogues are taking up!
With available digital tools, designers now have the capability to easily access product information in real time, to coordinate with their drawing process. These new tools allow for a unified fit between drawing and product specification, resulting in fewer errors and omissions, saving your firm time and money.
Sure, designers are trained to think and respond to their physical, built environment. Product and material selection is necessarily a tactile, physical process. So, the tip of the day is for you to keep that still-valuable physical sample library — clients respond better to those physical samples during your presentations — but adopt the digital tools that will clear your expensive offices of those unread, bulky catalogues.
Embrace the best of both the digital and physical worlds: jettison those old catalogues, and establish a smart digital product library keyed to your physical samples.
As we’ve discussed in past posts, the amount of product and material knowledge in your colleagues’ heads is incredibly valuable firm intellectual property. But, without a way to collectively harness that knowledge, the value of that disbursed and uncoordinated knowledge is limited. Harness it in a centrally accessible, online, searchable format, and the institutional knowledge gained with each new contact with your products multiplies into valuable time saving for everyone, and important cost savings to the firm.
Barry LePatner, Hon. AIA, has worked with Architects, Engineers and Designers to make their businesses smarter and more efficient for four decades. Barry is the Co-Founder and President of Arazoo.
Originally published at arazoo.tumblr.com.
