the Designer Pages blog

It feels like it was just a short time ago that I was sitting behind the reception desk at FXFOWLE Architects during the summer of 2006. My second day on the job, I was assigned to assist the Resource Director with updating the materials library database and cataloging system, a task, I assure you, I was not excited about at all. I was given an excel spreadsheet with contact information for all the manufacturers and distributors FX had ever spoken with. Over 900 entries long, and with information dating back to 1994, I recognized this was going to be a tremendously tedious, unproductive task for two reasons: one, the information was so out-of-date that many of these companies had long since changed their phone numbers, addresses, and emails, making it nearly impossible to reach anyone, and two, any revisions I would make that summer would only become out-dated again in just a few months time.

While my supervisor had expected me to call each contact one at a time, I quickly marked that operation as entirely wasteful; in my first day alone, I believe I made it through only the first 30 entries, considering that when I came across a disconnected phone number, I would have to spend a good deal of time on the internet trying to relocate this lost relationship. The next day I decided to switch to email. I sent out a mass-email to 100 manufacturers and distributors requesting that they respond with their updated contact information. This seemed more promising at first, but it was taking me too long to input all the responses into the excel spreadsheet. That night I decided that none of this made any sense! Why should an architecture firm waste its time managing out-of-date information when manufacturers and distributors should be responsible for updating their own information? And on the same note, I suspected that manufacturers and distributors might even prefer controlling this content themselves, creating an opportunity for direct access to designers. This was the beginning of Designer Pages, a concept that has been transformed immensely in the past six months together with my good friend and partner Avi Flombaum. In fact, I sometimes joke that our final product is so much more impressive than my earliest visions.

But my real point is that while opportunities to create value in this world often seem to be few and far between, there are so many inefficient, harebrained tasks out there waiting for someone to revive them. Sometimes it even takes being assigned a boring, menial assignment to open one’s eyes to a smarter, more efficient procedure. On that note, we give you Designer Pages, the first collaborative community targeting the design and construction industries - the smartest method for searching and specifying building materials and architectural products, updated directly by suppliers.