Institutional memory

Something happened today that brought home how easily the history of a design firm's work slips out of its collective consciousness. Marketers and rainmakers alike come and go. In an established firm with newer offices, knowledge of the work can be quite shallow. This may be exacerbated by the transition of photography from transparencies to digital files - not everything made it across. What got left behind, even if documented in print, risks being entirely forgotten. Perhaps the solution is to provide an accessible, visual walkthrough of the firm's legacy projects, noting especially the counter-traditions (genre vs. modern, for instance). Then make this part of the learning process when people are hired or promoted - make sure they know it.