Behind the Issue Let's start with a familiar scene. Thursday, 4 pm. Staff are furiously going through a presentation that the firm will give to a potential client Friday morning. The team's been working on this one for weeks. They've gone through the RFP with a fine tooth comb. They've completed an approach and maybe even a preliminary set of sketches. They've collaborated with a writer to develop a bold narrative detailing their initial ideas. The proposed project manager and lead designer are on deck to present the firm's experience, and detail a recent visioning exercise they did with a client that wanted their office to be a major recruiting tool. One of the firm partners will talk about their desire to push the boundaries of design, and then hopefully they'll engage the client in a spirited discussion about what the project could be and how they'll work together. But only if they can finish proofreading and pick up all of the edits before the clock strikes morning, and the team leader just came in with a new round of changes... Good stories are everywhere. When the Perspective team sat down to talk about an issue based on the theme of "competition," we started with a broad discussion about what that word really meant in the context of design. How were firms competing in a tumultuous market? Was it mostly against each other? Themselves? Other industries? What emerged were some truly inspiring stories about how firms are pushing the industry forward. So much creativity is happening right now, and as firms work to stay relevant, they're writing an important new chapter in design and expanding the very definition of what it means to be a designer. Here at Perspective, we're expanding too. As Cheryl and Julio note in their letter, in 2015 we'll launch a new all-digital magazine that complements our June and December issues. We hope it will enable us to deepen and extend our conversation with readers. I welcome your thoughts on the stories we've presented here. One of the most rewarding aspects about working on Perspective is hearing from IIDA members who have continued the conversations we've begun in these pages. I look forward to continuing the conversation with you in 2015. 8