A third grade teacher asked her class to draw a picture of something they loved. Most students began to draw their parents, pets or maybe a favorite toy. Except for Mary. The teacher, puzzled by what she saw on her paper, asked Mary what she was drawing. Mary answered, "I'm drawing God." "But Mary," the teacher replied, "We don't know what God looks like." And Mary said, "You will when I'm finished."

This ability to give form to the unseen, to shape the imagined: that is the power of design.

Evoking Emotion
Design, brilliant or ordinary, awful or merely annoying, evokes emotion in us. Why? It's the principles -- scale and proportion, color, texture and their appropriateness to each other -- that are all contributing factors. It's the delight when something works well and the frustration when it's poorly designed. It's also the context in which we view an object; perhaps this is the single most important factor contributing to the power of design.

Think of the swastika. Widely used since ancient times as a decorative ornament, today it represents the worst form of human behavior imaginable. The scale and proportion and the arrangement of its parts have remained the same, yet we despise it. It's this connection between design, emotion and behavior which gives design its power.

Responsive Design
All designers have the power to improve the human condition and the ability to significantly change a person's mood and his/her feelings about themself. Designers must, however, understand what it is that pleases people. Unfortunately, many designers don't even realize that they need to know about people's perceptions of the environment. Worse, they may think they know better.

All designers are tempted to "make a statement" and many examples of "statements" that work do exist. Unfortunately, too many don't, and this is our collective crime. When designers become arrogant or unresponsive, we hurt not only the particular recipient of our insolent behavior, but we damage for all of us the opportunity to become known, finally and at last, as the principal deliverers of design.

In order to truly understand the reasoning behind human preferences, it is essential to understand human psychology. Other than the biological need for air, food and water, mankind's most pressing concern is security, the need to be safe. It is easy to see how wide open spaces, while offering full visibility, cause discomfort in that they are not protective. Deep, dark spaces, on the other hand, afford privacy but deny the opportunity to view and assess the outside world. Windowless rooms pose the same problem. Spacious-ness and partial enclosure appear to be the most satisfying.

It's been only recently accepted that the environment could positively or negatively influence the body's ability to heal. Hospitals and clinics were white, hard-surfaced and sterile. Period. Health care professionals, however, are beginning to understand the healing power of design and are demanding colors which comfort, architectural cues which aid wayfinding, plants and sunlight to relieve anxiety.

Few places exist in which the power of design can be more keenly felt than in the workplace. It is, after all, where we spend the majority of our time. Yet some of our solutions have hardly been inspired.

Office design has advanced to a level where measurable gains are being realized in worker productivity and satisfaction. Manufacturers are coming up with imaginative and flexible workstations that meet the needs of the way we work today. Spaces filled with light, imagination and appropriate attention paid to the needs of the people who work there. Individually responsive work stations are becoming the benchmark.

Design Is Paramount
Today's successful designers recognized early on the important role an organization's facility could have on its bottom line and realigned their firm's design services as a result. When the power of design translates into a line item in a financial statement, the power and influence of the design provider becomes paramount.

The power of design in the home is paramount, illustrated by an experience that influenced me so strongly that I will never feel the same again about my profession.

Seven years ago I became involved with an organization called Samaritan Inns. This group has responded to a great need in our society: homelessness. Before 1972 there wasn't really any homelessness in this country. Tonight, however, and most every night, more than 600,000 people will sleep on the streets.

Samaritan Inns set about to change all that. Since 1986 they have provided safe housing, counseling, friendship and a nurturing environment to more than 1,000 formerly homeless, formerly drug and alcohol addicted men and women. Their success rate is enormous, many, many times the national average. More than 90 percent of those who have participated in the full program have stayed clean, sober and employed. How has Samaritan Inns done this?

In many, many ways, but one of the most important was their unbending commitment to excellence in the housing that they provided their residents. When David Erickson, the president of Samaritan Inns, first called my ASID chapter and asked us to donate our interior design services, he was quite clear in his objectives. The project was Lazarus House, an 81-bed SRO, the first of its kind in the area. He wanted it to be nice -- actually more than that. He insisted that it be beautiful, warm and comfy -- a home to be proud of.

We set to work with hardly any money, but with incredible contributions of products and in-kind services from the design and building industry. We had no choice but to find these donations. David was a particular client, never once compromising his design standards. Lazarus House opened its doors in May 1986. To move into Lazarus House a resident must have been clean and sober for at least six months, they must be employed because they are going to have to pay rent, and they must be willing to make a commitment to rebuilding their lives.

One of the first women to move in had been on the streets for many years. Naturally, she had few belongings, but she carried them up the front steps of Lazarus House and into the lobby of this building that was to be her new home. When she walked into her room she stopped and just stood there for a moment. Then she sat down on the bed and started to softly cry. When asked why she was crying she said, "I never thought I was a worthy enough person to live in a place as fine as this. Now I know I am." For the people of Lazarus House, and for me, this is the power of design.

Interior designers, you have the power to significantly improve the quality of people's lives. It is a gift -- a wonderful gift. Use it creatively, ethically, wisely and with compassion. But above all, use it!

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