What’s news at Sounds Like Design?
The Sounds Like Design blog began in 2016 and since then we’ve covered business development and marketing topics, important policy and regulatory issues that affect the profession, and we’ve featured guest posts from several influential architects.
If you’d like to contribute to the blog about a topic or issue that you are passionate about, or think is important to share with your peers and colleagues, email us with your story idea, suggested images and proposed deadline, and we’ll collaborate to help you tell your story to a wider audience.
You can search the blog or sort posts by category
Do architects in Melbourne win more HOUSES awards?
The HOUSES Awards 2023 shortlist was recently announced, and – as in previous years – it indicates a heavy bias towards projects in the two most-populated states. We dig into the data to try and work out why in this article…
Do architects in Melbourne win more architecture awards?
Are you concerned that some architecture and design programs appear to be biased or unfairly skewed towards some cities and states? A new data analysis of six awards programs over the past 10 years indicates otherwise... So how can you make your entries stand out to win?
8 ways to elevate your architecture awards entries in 2023
Awards provide a fantastic opportunity to showcase all the ways you add value and transform places and buildings for the people who use them. To get the most out of your awards entries in 2023 – and to align them with your business development and marketing goals – think strategically about which projects to enter, and which programs will serve your needs best.
Why should you enter the Belle and InsideOut awards, and House & Garden’s Top 50 Rooms competition?
Entering architecture awards is a great way to raise awareness of your practice and projects, and maybe even connect with future clients. But how can you practice preparing great awards entries, in a low-cost, low-risk way? This article provides details of three great programs that enable you to polish your awards-entry skills.
What are the main benefits of the Awards and Publishing marketing channels?
Publishing and Awards are closely linked and both are useful marketing channels to raise awareness around your architecture practice and projects. And - if you strategically select the most appropriate awards programs to enter - you can potentially use them to generate new projects, too.
Do you repurpose your architecture awards entries for business development?
The 2021 Architecture Awards ceremonies are now over, so it’s time to repurpose your awards entries into marketing materials to promote your practice. With a few tweaks, you can easily ensure that your entries speak directly to new clients to bring in new projects. Read on to find out how…
What do the Pritzker Prize headlines tell us about promoting your architecture?
Last week, Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal, from their eponymous practice based in Paris, won the Pritzker Prize. The headlines announcing that achievement underscore the importance of controlling the narrative around your work, so that your projects, practice and approach are presented in the ways you prefer. Read on to find out how to do that…
3 ways to improve your architecture awards entries
Sounds Like Design’s 2021 Awards Workshop is jam-packed with insider knowledge, strategic marketing advice and practical suggestions that will help you to: improve your chances of winning an award; generate media coverage of your projects; and connect and engage with future clients. And you can earn CPD points!
Architect Talina Edwards rates SLD's Awards workshop 10 out of 10!
Talina Edwards attended the Sounds Like Design workshop, How to turn your Awards entries into Marketing Gold, in February 2020. She shares her feedback on the workshop itself, and the results she achieved by implementing the strategies and lessons she learned.
Do you want to write better awards entries?
In 2021, Awards programs will be subject to a range of influences and changes taking place across the profession and society more broadly, such as last year’s bushfires, the emergence of Architects Declare and draft revisions to the National Standard of Competency for Architects.
It’s possible to respond to these changes into your awards entries to make them more compelling - and to achieve better ROI on your entry costs - and this article describes how.
So you won an architecture award! What’s next?
The 2020 Architecture Awards ceremonies are almost complete, so how you can convert awards entries into marketing materials to promote your practice? Better still, how can you translate those entries - and any accolades you won - into new clients and projects?
How to promote your awards entries across the key architecture marketing channels
It’s time to switch into the post-awards marketing phase for projects that you entered into the Institute’s awards programs this year. Find out how to promote your awards activities across the key architecture marketing channels: referral networks, email, social media and publishing, and your website.
What are juries REALLY looking for in Awards entries?
Have you ever tried to distil and define the characteristics that juries are looking for in Awards entries?
Or wondered how you can emphasise those qualities in your entry submissions? I’ve conducted some research into what various architecture juries have been seeking in entries in recent years, and the results may surprise you…
Out with the new, in with the old
I’ve always been convinced that architecture should be for everyone – my Churchill Fellowship in 2003 looked at architectural responses to public and social housing, and I saw some wonderful projects on my travels. There are some great examples springing up here in Australia now too, but we have a long way to go before architecture is seen as a mainstream offering…