The decor sets the stage for content; it does not stand in for it.

principle — attributed to David Stark

For one of the nation's leading nonprofits, Stark's design unified everything that happened on stage and throughout dinner with the organization's overarching theme. The decor functioned as it should: as the stage on which the content transpired, not as a substitute for content. The principle generalizes. Events whose design is disconnected from their content read as expensive distraction. Events whose design is integrated with the content read as a single statement. The integration is not aesthetic. It is editorial. The designer's job is to amplify the argument the organization is making, not to compete with it.

For event designers, agencies, and clients commissioning event production. The principle is most useful at the briefing stage; it is harder to integrate decor and content once both have been independently developed.

theme, content-alignment, decor, purposeful-design