How has the Economy and Other Challenges in the Design Industry Affected Business?

I’ve seen the economy go up and down – remember the slogan “Stay alive to 85”?  I’ve found that especially during those times, not unlike today’s economy, you can actually emerge stronger. For example, networking and peer tables were created for designers during that period and we all grew.  Technology is of course a major change and challenge I have seen.  In those 30 years have come faxes, computers, cell phones and they have kept evolving into more complex equipment for both us and our clients.  I found you have to make them your asset and aid and grow with them.  How wonderful it is to be in Europe and e-mail a photo of a potential item to a client wherever they are for approval.  I remember how exciting my first huge, digital camera was, and that wasn’t that many years ago.  I had a client who couldn’t decide on the façade colors of their home, so I experimented with my “new” digital, took a picture of the house and colored in the selections.  They made an immediate decision.  That seems so primitive now.  And of course CAD has made space design so quick, clean, changeable, and transportable.  We can work on projects anywhere!