28. Say you are an architect

ALSO SEE THESE RELATED NOTES FROM PREVIOUS WEEKS:
17. Blow your own horn!
19. Promote your name or loose your fame.


From an AIA recruitment flyer via http://lifewithoutbuildings.net/

27. Brand Your Self

Branding is one of the most important aspects of becoming a famous architect. A good branding strategy gives you a leg up on the Hobsian Battlefield.

What exactly is branding you ask?

It is your promise to your potential clients and others what to expect from you. It is based on how you perceive your self, really who you are, and want to be.

The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines a brand as a "name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers.

The objectives that a good brand will achieve include:

* Delivers your design philosophy clearly
* Confirms your credibility
* Connects your target prospects emotionally
* Motivates potential clients & the public
* Creates a loyal following

The foundation of your brand is your mystique: Your architectural style or philosophy, the types of projects that you go after or attract, your persona, your presentation & publicity style, your clothes, signature, your glasses, your personal idiosyncrasies, everything. It extends to every aspect of you.

Defining your brand is like a journey of self-discovery. It can be difficult, time-consuming and uncomfortable. It requires, at the very least, that you answer the questions below:

Are you the innovative maverick in your industry? Or the experienced, reliable one?Are you the high-cost, high-quality option, or the low-cost, high-value option? You can't be both, and you can't be all things to all people. Some will call you a genius others will hate you. Get used to it! Who you are should be based to some extent on who your target clients want and need you to be.

Your brand strategy is how, what, where, when and to whom you plan on communicating and delivering on your brand messages.

Star Architects are every bit as much a brand as Nike, Coke, Pepsi, or the Body Shop. Lets take a look at the grand daddy of them all: Le Corbusier. Here are some of the things that were consistent about him that created the Corbu Brand.

Clothing: The glasses, & the bow tie


Persona: intellectual, artistic, scientific



Logo Identity: signature, modular


Graphic Identity: cubist vocabulary



Philosophy & Architectural identity: machines, concrete, radical



Publicity Style: writing manifestos & books, lectures, power networking

To be a celebrity architect you must be a brand.

Start by identifying the qualities or characteristics that make you distinctive from your competitors -- or your colleagues. What would your colleagues or your clients say is your greatest and clearest strength? Your most noteworthy (as in, worthy of note) personal trait? NOT LE CORBUSIER'S

Ask yourself: What do I do that adds remarkable, measurable, distinguished, distinctive value?. Ask yourself: What do I do that I am most proud of? What have I accomplished that I can unabashedly brag about? If you're going to be a brand, you've got to become relentlessly focused on what you do that adds value, that you're proud of, and most important, that you can shamelessly take credit for.



ALSO SEE THESE RELATED NOTES FROM PREVIOUS WEEKS:
8. Develop a Mystique
9. Fight! Its a Hobbesian war
10. Pay attention to your glasses

26. Fake It 'Til You Make It !

This is an open appeal to those of you who have gone on job interviews and said that you knew much more about .... lets say AutoCad, than you actually do. After you got the job, you went home with a book and studied the basics. When you went to work, you really learned how to do it on the job.

That's called faking it till you make it for beginners!

What I am saying here is to take this to a whole other level. To become the Famous Architect, you will need to create an illusion and mystique so grand that the whole world looking will believe you. You need to become a kind of a magician-al-a-con-man.

To illustrate my point, take a look at this clip from Catch Me if You Can. This is based on a real life magician-al-a-con-man.

His formula: Study the industry, learn all the lingo, the body language, the attitudes, all the trappings and outward appearances like an actor preparing for a role. Study, study, study and then put on the performance of a lifetime.

In this clip below, look at how he manages to communicate using "industry terms". Just marvelous!

An outsider listening to this conversation can not understand what the hell is going on. That's the point! you are in a club, and like any club or fraternity you have secret code language.

Compare this to famous architect Peter Eisenman. He uses a lot of "industry terms" Listen for catch words like "Radical", & "Disturbance".

These are big "industry terms" there are lots of them, study them and learn them.
If you cant find any more of these words in the dictionary, be creative, make some up or look realy deep into the dictionary for almost defunct words. As long as it sounds interesting and obscure it's fine. Peter Eisenman uses some like "interstitial" and "Canonical", learn those too.

After you have begun to master this game you will find that you are no longer faking it. This is because you have made it! You are left with two choices. You can either tell everyone how easy it is to climb up the ladder like a "monkey" or you tell them that a monkey has no brains and can not climb ladders. If you are a true "Hobsian Warrior" you will tell them that a monkey at a type writer will produce gibberish. Discourage, Discourage, Discourage: More space at the top for you.

In this next clip, notice how Eisenman immediately maintains control and dominance by positioning himself above the rest of the Jury. He looks at his nearest subordinate Professor Wolf Prix, and directs attacking questions to him. Prix was suddenly thrown in the position of defending his teaching methods; like a stuttering kid in front of his school teacher. Brilliant!

A big part of the illusion is creating a sense of authority. You talk down to people, yell if you have to. The Famous Architect lets everyone in the room knows who is in charge when he enters. Students are of the lowest rank and must be spoken to accordingly (if you have to speak to them at all). Notice how Eisenman speaks about the young architecture student, she is referred to as "the Student" and is not spoken to directly. She is spoken about in the third person case, as though she was not in the room and compared to a monkey.

If you keep people intimidated and on their heels, they will be too busy trying not to look stupid in front of you to question you!

This is a classic technique used by Leonardo DiCaprio in the movie. Look at how he swindles doctors into submitting to his authority.

The real life Frank Abagnale was only 17 years old when he pulled this off. His actual formula was slightly different though. Instead of intimidation and redicule, he used charisma.

Frank used humor to cover the fact that he lacked the basic knowledge of a pediatrician. If he didn't know something or was asked an uncomfortable question, he would joke about it and skirt around the issue, often leaving the actual details of the work to other resident doctors. His wit and humor worked well for him. It successfully covered his ignorance, but at the same time also earned him a reputation as a jovial, if eccentric, doctor who was much liked by the hospital staff.

He used the same formula to become a lawyer. If he wanted to play the role of an architect, he easily could. So my dear architects, use what ever suits you, there is no shame in faking it.

Just be careful, but not too careful! When you follow this path look for the writings on the wall;"Peter Eisenman wuz Here!"

By Conrad Newel,
Staff writer
NOTES ON BECOMING A FAMOUS ARCHITECT
Liberating Minds Since August 2007

ALSO SEE THESE RELATED NOTES FROM PREVIOUS WEEKS:
8. Develop a Mystique
17. Blow your own horn!
21. Get it Straight! Famous Architects are NOT Gods