Greetings!
We have a new look! Hope you like it. It may get tweaked in future issues, but I'll continue to try to keep things brief, and, I hope, interesting. My goal with these communications isn't to change the world, but to, perhaps, cause you to think a bit about this industry and how you approach it. In business, as in design, there is always more than one right answer. Our job is to seek out the best right answers for our clients and for our businesses.
| A Few More Words
 Readers of past issues (click here to find them) know that I like words. I come from a family of teachers, and funny enough, I married into another such family! My grandmother, still chugging along at 93, was an English teacher, so it's in my blood. It was the writing part that got me started as an English major. When I realized that everyone around me was pre-law, I had to find something else! Writing and landscape design have a lot in common. I'll often introduce lectures this way, because all of us had instruction in writing in school and it's easy to relate. Consider the process of starting with a theme, creating an outline, coming up with three examples, an introduction and a conclusion, and then massaging the thing into something coherent, focused and interesting. It's design, isn't it?
Furthermore, the vocabulary we choose to communicate our ideas and to describe what we do has meaning beyond what many of us imagine. See Letters and Words if you missed it.
Now the segue....If you get the (free to the industry) trade pub Lawn and Landscape, check out your September/October issue. Not sure why they chose me, but I'm featured in the Professional Landscape Design supplement,and much of the interview has to do with professionalism and the vocabulary we use. I'm interested in your feedback, so please let me know your thoughts.
| Creativity = Design?
 I got some interesting comments from the last newsletter where I suggested that we consider our legacies when designing landscapes. Certain landscape elements, in my view, are trendy and stylish, the latest and greatest. Like white bucks and harvest gold, what is today's hot product is potentially tomorrow's big hair. I put certain hardscape materials and even some plants in the "trend" category. Can you come up with any more? I'd like to hear your thoughts. For the original issue, see What's Your Legacy?
Oh, in answer to some of your questions, yes, I've been known to use a number of the materials I was commenting on. But I do make a conscious effort to steer clients toward elements that will never go out of style.
Okay, I hope the headline caught your attention. A few weeks back I was having a discussion with some colleagues about design and creativity. Is "creativity" a skill or talent necessary to generate good landscape designs? I am very comfortable in stating that there are plenty of very creative people who do all kinds of original, interesting things that do not even approach good design. Likewise, I truly believe that, armed with certain teachable skills, a motivated person with very little natural creativity can create a decent landscape design that is functional, attractive and fits all the major criteria that define "good design."
Now... take the creative person and teach him or her the skills needed to create good design, and you may have the makings of an outstanding designer. Here's a question for you. Can you teach the competent, non-creative person how to be creative? I'm not sure I know the answer to that one. I'm very interested in your thoughts.
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As we approach the end of our landscape season here in the Chicago area, thoughts will soon turn to preparing for next spring. It flies, doesn't it? To that end, we are still working on winter course offerings, so please stay tuned. This year's offerings will take into account all of the suggestions provided by those who participated in last year's survey.
Lastly, I'm running a 3 hour workshop at this year's GIC in Louisville. If you're there, please say hi.
Sincerely, 
American Academy of Landscape Design
| 1926 Waukegan Road
Glenview, Illinois 60025
847-657-7900
www.aaldweb.com
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