Design for the Street, not the Screen

A good big decision makes the small ones better automatically.

When you design a building that improves the street, you don't need to optimise how it looks on Instagram. But we spend hours studying social media tactics, rewriting captions, adjusting brightness where the environmental context takes a back seat, and the algorithm creates a new context that influences how you design.

You think it's useful because your inbox is loaded with enquiries. But those enquiries stem from the fact that you're famous, not necessarily because your work is.

A lot of really good architects don't care about making their Instagram look good. 

They care about making the street look good, and that's enough. They then don't even require the support of a "good Instagram page."

Design one project this year where you assume the only audience is the street. No posts or progress shots. Notice what changes in your decisions.

"What you pay attention to grows."