Vince Pan (pictured on the right), Founder of Analogue Studio talks about how to use design to activate your coworking space and help its members thrive.
Three Main Phases
There is no single solution. You need to approach design for every market and culture differently.
Vince broke design down into three main phases:
- Define your tribe.
- Who are you catering to?
- Who do you want to bring into your space?
- What kind of community are you looking to build?
- Define your project.
- What is your scope?
- Define your space.
- How do we build the whole thing to make it fit together?
When defining your tribe, there are two key components — attitude and culture. This the mindset and practices you want to engender. The mood you want your space should have is also a big influence as it can affect your marketing strategy later on. Design should help drive whatever you decide on.
The two key components in defining your scope are money and time. Decide where your money is going to go. Cost per square foot of construction changes depending on location and the existing conditions of the space. Try to find things within the current infrastructure that can be reused so that more money can go into funding for things are not already there. Once you map out your space, creating its aesthetic is going to cost additional money. Keep the audience you are catering to in mind because they can greatly impact the aesthetic and design of your space.
Design is what helps bring your whole space together. In the end, the culture of your space and community you want to build are influenced by design. For example, a member-focused work space that wants to be both professional and fun has multiple expectations. Members come in expecting to be able to have board meetings, showcases, private areas, etc. Therefore, the way that your space is designed needs to retain these expectations.