Unlike private development, public agency projects often require more time and thoughtful steps at the outset. It’s not that private projects skip these entirely, but the stakes are different: public projects are deeply tied to community trust, transparency, and long-term public value.
Over the years, we’ve found that a strong foundation makes all the difference. Here are three key focus areas we emphasize at the start of any public agency partnership – setting the tone for a collaborative, lasting relationship:
-Establishing Design Expectations & Building Trust
-Defining Guiding Principles
-Engaging the Community Early and Often
Design Expectations = Trust in Action
When kicking off a public agency project, one of the most valuable things you can do is establish trust early – between the ownership team and the design team. That trust starts with clarity around how the design process will unfold, including what’s expected in meetings, how feedback will be gathered, and when key decisions will be made.
A powerful tool in those early conversations? Precedent imagery.
Images of outdoor spaces, interior environments, furniture, building materials, and comparable projects for interiors and exteriors, can help teams express what resonates with them – and just as importantly, what doesn’t. These visual references spark honest conversations and surface values, priorities, and design preferences that might otherwise stay unspoken.
When teams feel comfortable telling us as designers “this doesn’t quite feel like us,” you know you’ve created the kind of collaborative environment where good design thrives.
Harnessing Stakeholder Input: Turning Insights into Actionable Guiding Principles
When our client invited over 800 employees to share their perspectives on project goals and values, it created a powerful opportunity – and a complex challenge:
How do you distill so many voices into a clear, actionable executive summary?
One highly effective method we recommend is the use of a word cloud.
By capturing the most frequently mentioned words and ideas, a word cloud surfaces the priorities that matter most to stakeholders. These guiding principles become a foundation for decision-making, aligning the owner, designer, and construction teams around a common vision.
In our experience, tools like word clouds are critical in early project stages. They translate complex input into focused design drivers, ensuring that stakeholder values are not just heard – they are built into the fabric of the project itself.
Survey responses, interviews, and meeting discussions all offer valuable language that can be mined to create clarity, consensus, and momentum. For SAIF, we started out with this world cloud, and this is how we ended up!
Saif Headquarters
Community Voices: Designing and Inclusive Engagement Process
When working on publicly-funded projects, one thing is always true: you’re not just designing for a client – you’re designing for a community. That comes with both opportunity and responsibility.
Community engagement isn’t just a box to check. It’s a chance to build trust, reflect diverse needs, and ensure public dollars are spent in a way that truly benefits the people who live, work, and move through the community.
But engagement looks different for every client and every community. Some just need you to listen. Others want to inform after the first session or collaborate across several touchpoint. The key is meeting people where they are and providing tools that support informed dialogue.
What should you be prepared to provide the public?
-A clear project overview in everyday language (and possibly in multiple languages)
-Visuals or diagrams that communicate design intent
-A summary of what decisions have been made vs. what’s still open for input
-A way for people to respond – whether it’s in person, online, or through community partners
We’ve learned that when you design the process with care, you end up with stronger outcomes – and stronger relationships.
