arcCA is thicker this quarter. We’ve added a full-color section to celebrate the AIACC 2004 award winners: Design Awards, Maybeck Award, Firm of the Year Award, and Lifetime Achievement Awards. Also included are awards given by Savings By Design, a sponsor of this special section. All of our sponsors, to whom we’re most grateful, are recognized on the back “cover” of the section; take a look, and, if you have the opportunity, thank them for their support.
Over the last month or so, I’ve received two thoughtful letters critical of arcCA’s graphic design; during the same period, we’ve received a graphic design award, one of many that the magazine has earned. In an issue devoted to awards, the coincidence is worth noting. The simplest way to account for the discrepancy is to say that opinions differ, which is true enough. Some people like some things, and other people like others.
Alternatively, one might say not that opinions differ, but that criteria differ. The people who give graphic design awards aren’t likely to be the same people who make up our readership; they have different expertise, recall different precedents, are aware of different constraints. Similarly, our own award juries differ from year to year, as does the context within which the awards are judged. Trends emerge and fade. Hence, we found it useful last year to highlight several years of Design Awards, for your comparison. We repeat that exercise this year, in “Tracking the Awards.”
I mentioned constraints, an acknowledgment of which may constitute a third level of differentiation in the judging of work, graphic or architectural. Reflecting on the Design Awards selection process, juror Eric Naslund, FAIA, notes that this year’s Awards Jury took care to try to distinguish what the architect brought to the project from what was given by the circumstances.
arcCA, itself, operates within a number of constraints—many set, as one might suppose, by cost. The size of the journal, the matte paper, and the duotone printing are all, in part, a response to a limited budget, one structured to lessen the burden on dues revenue.
But there are other reasons, as well, chief among them a decision not to try to be a mini-Architectural Record, but rather to distinguish what we do as clearly as possible from it and similar magazines. Our mission is not to highlight individual buildings, but rather to illuminate the broader context within which architects practice.
Of course, we’re delighted to celebrate—and to make a lasting record of—the individual buildings that have won awards. But we also expect the special awards section to call out some of these graphic distinctions, so I want to be clear about them. I’m proud of our graphic design, and I’m committed to the identity that it has helped establish for arcCA as one of the most thoughtful AIA component publications in the country.
Which is not to say that, as our funding increases (which will happen most quickly if readers encourage their favorite consultants to advertise here), I would not entertain the possibility of a larger format, to accommodate larger images and type; or a paper stock that would afford higher resolution printing; or more color. Those of you who have suggested as much, know that you’re heard. Meanwhile, enjoy the pictures.
Originally published 3rd quarter 2004 in arcCA 04.3, “Photo Finish.”
