Before It Becomes a Project
Most hospitality projects don’t start with a clear brief.
They start with a feeling…..
Something isn’t quite working.
A space feels harder to run than it should.
Guests aren’t behaving how you expected.
The business has evolved, but the building hasn’t caught up.
Often, it sits quietly in the background for a while. Until it doesn’t.
At some point, pressure creeps in. Decisions need to be made. Timelines appear. Budgets start to form. And suddenly, what was once a loose set of thoughts becomes a project.
But in my experience, the most important design conversations happen before that moment.
THE IN-BETWEEN STAGE
There’s a stage that rarely gets named.
The space between recognising an issue and committing to a solution. It’s messy, uncertain and often uncomfortable.
You might know something needs to change, but not what. You might have ideas, but no clarity on what really matters. You might be worried about spending money in the wrong place, or making decisions that can’t easily be undone.
This is the point where assumptions tend to creep in.
“We’ve outgrown the space.”
“The layout just doesn’t work.”
“We need more covers.”
“We need it to feel fresher.”
Sometimes those things are true. Sometimes they’re symptoms rather than causes.
Where projects often go wrong……
By the time a project feels formal, many decisions are already quietly locked in.
Layouts are sketched. Budgets are allocated. Expectations are set.
Design becomes about responding, rather than questioning.
That’s when opportunities are missed.
Not because anyone has done anything wrong, but because there hasn’t been space to pause and properly understand:
how the business actually operates day to day….
where friction shows up for teams and guests….
what success really looks like beyond opening night….
Design decisions made without this understanding can still look good, but they often create knock-on issues operationally. Flow feels awkward. Spaces get underused. Teams adapt around the building instead of the building supporting them.
Why early thinking matters!!
Good design isn’t just about solving visible problems. It’s about addressing the quieter ones too.
When time is taken early on to explore how a space is used, how people move through it, and how it needs to support the business, design decisions become clearer and more confident.
That doesn’t mean everything needs to be figured out upfront.
It means asking better questions before committing to answers.
What’s actually driving the need for change?
What’s working that shouldn’t be lost?
Where is pressure being felt most by the team?
What does the business need from this space now, not five years ago?
These conversations often save time, money and energy later. They also tend to lead to spaces that feel calmer, more intuitive and easier to run.
DESIGN AS A THINKING PROCESS
Design is still very much central to this stage. It’s just informed by insight rather than assumption.
It’s about using understanding to guide decisions, rather than decorating over issues or reacting to trends. When design is approached this way, it becomes a tool for alignment – between people, space and purpose.
The result is rarely louder or more dramatic.
More often, it’s quieter, clearer and more resolved.
Creating space to pause.
In an industry that moves fast, taking time to think can feel counterintuitive. But that pause, before something officially becomes a project, is often where the most valuable work happens.
It’s where uncertainty can be explored rather than rushed past.
Where design can be shaped deliberately, not retrospectively.
Where decisions feel considered, not pressured.
Once a project is underway, momentum takes over. That early window, where things are still fluid, is precious.
And it doesn’t last long.
Sometimes the most useful conversations happen before there’s anything to design at all.
If you ever want space to think things through before a project takes shape, I offer one-to-one Design Strategy Calls. They’re simply a dedicated hour to talk, ask questions and bring clarity to early decisions.
