Design Comes First, Everything Else Comes Second

At my first lecture during my freshman year, the speaker made a statement that changed my view

about interior design forever. He said,

“Design comes first, and everything else comes second.”

As soon as I heard this simple, yet powerful statement, it became a moment of epiphany, a

realization that this was what I was meant to bring to the world. I was meant to be a designer.

Design comes first. Without place, there is nothing.

Conversations can not happen without a place to gather, one can not sleep without a place to rest,

thoughts can not be pondered without a place to think.

Designers create place. They design spaces that facilitate.

Nothing is accidental. Every thought, conversation, behavior, and action is facilitated by the place

from which it takes place. The designer of space is responsible and intentional for the events that

occur within that space.

Everything that happens in this world is predetermined by the designer of place. From family

conversations at a dinner table to surgeons performing life-changing operations in a hospital room,

everything that happens in a space is meticulously decided, intended, and facilitated by the designer.

So, when people ask me if interior design is just about picking color palettes and pillow-fluffing, I tell

them no. I tell them that I design the future. I am a designer of place.

By: Julia Lett

Major: Interior Design

Hometown: St. Louis, MO

Keywords: Design, Space, Facilitation

Fun Fact: I am going to be an aunt soon!