attracting excellence december design talent attracts 1973 to the excellence federal service Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013 http://archive.org/details/excellenceattracOOunit A report to Robert E. Hampton Chairman, U.S. Civil Sen/ice Commission from the Task Force on Examining Procedures for Design-Related Positions in the Federal Government table of contents Foreword/2 Task Force members/3 Recruitment/4 Classifications and qualifications/6 Professional development/9 Administrative awareness/1 1 Following through/12 Attachments/13-19 foreword During 1973, about 400 people were hired for design-related positions in the Federal Government. They joined more than 13,000 other Government designers as graphic artists, architects, illustrators, exhibit specialists and photographers, among other design disciplines. The influence of these Government designers far exceeds their relatively small numbers. The appearance of publications— and millions are published every year— conveys a distinct impression of Government programs and activities. So do posters, circulars, signs and drawings, photographs and exhibits; they reach millions of Americans in all parts of the country with the message of what their Government is doing and how well the work is being done. Federal buildings make impressions, too. Government architecture provides an image of Government, an idea of its accessibility and, by extension, an impression of our national life. For these reasons, the Task Force studying the recruitment of Federal designers approached its assignment with seriousness. The President's mandate to improve Federal architecture, graphics and design; the sheer impact of large- scale Federal building and publishing; and the need for communication between Government and its citizens were additional powerful incentives. The challenge, as Task Force members first saw it, was to enrich the design resources of Government by attracting the best professionals to the Federal service. But it soon became apparent that the situation was much more complex than an improvement in recruiting procedures. Only excellence attracts excellence. If we were to improve the quality of candidates hired for Federal design work, we had to stimulate present Federal designers to superior efforts and create an ideal environment for new hires. As a result, many of the recommendations in the following report involve the current Federal design community as well as those talented employees whom we hope to attract in the future. Successful recruiting hinges on the basic premise that Government is doing exciting things in design and is a dynamic place in which to work and have impact. Efforts must be made to make this premise a reality. For this reason, much attention has been paid to the role of Federal administrators, especially those at the highest levels. In the final reckoning, it is only with administrators' support that these recommendations and other elements of the Federal Design Improvement Program receive force and vitality; this was perhaps the most important message of the First Federal Design Assembly, held in April, 1973. The Task Force believes that great opportunities await the Federal Government in the field of design. It also believes that these opportunities will go begging unless improvements are forthcoming in the recruitment, evaluation and career development of designers. Swift action on the following recommendations will substantially contribute to that end. signatories Donald Holum, Task Force Chairman U.S. Civil Service Commission Jolfn E. Broger, Director Office of Information for the Armed Forces Department of Defense Stuart H. Clarke, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management Department of Health, Education and Welfare Boykin A. Glover, Chief Armed Forces Press Service Department of Defense (Alternate) Edward Hicks, Chief Staffing and Training Branch Office of Personnel and Training Department of Health, Education and Welfare (Alternate) Lani LaXX^m, Executive Secretary Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities C. Kent Slepicka Special Assistant to the Assistant Commissioner for Construction Management General Services Administration fiiixuv^ Marion Swannie, Manager Design and Arts Program IBM -7c-UJ^^d^i ^^^^^^-^^ Robert McKendry, Superintendent Division of Typography and Design Government Printing Office J Lee Treese U.S. Civil Service Commission C^^^.^^^ i^{/y^ Charles W. Moore, FAIA Charles W. Moore Associates David Granahan, Assistant Director Office of Communication Department of Agriculture Jeronne Perlmutter, Coordinator of Federal Graphics J. JValter Roth, AIA, Acting Director Office of Design Quality National Park Service recruitment Because it is responsible for so many important programs and offers unusual opportunities for impact and involvement, the Federal Government should attract outstanding creative people engaged in all design professions. Design students and experienced professionals should find Government programs an attractive natural environment in which their skills could flourish. Unfortunately, under present Government recruiting practices, talented designers are not being stimulated to seek positions. The design community at large is not convinced that the Government is seriously committed to design excellence or that the Government is an exciting place in which to work or exert influence. Although the numbers of professional designers hired in a particular year may not seem to demand an all-out recruiting drive, specialized recruiting techniques should' be used discriminately so that the people hired for design-related work are the most highly qualified candidates available. recommendations 1. A highly attractive recruiting publication on design opportunities in the Federal Government should be prepared. It should include stimulating narrative and demonstrate the new direction Government has taken toward design excellence. To the extent practicable, it should reflect new procedures recommended by the Task Force. Action: Civil Service Commission Suggested Target Date: Four months from acceptance of this report The recruiting publication should be distributed to key audiences in the designers' marketplace: to the country's foremost design schools to interest prime candidates for entry level positions; to design studios to attract experienced practitioners for middle and senior grades; to professional societies, organizations and trade journals. Action: Civil Service Commission Suggested Target Date: Five months from acceptance of this report 3. As part of the Commission's college relations program, contact should be established and maintained with deans of design schools and the country's outstanding professionals as a resource for identifying design talent. Although other phases of the recruiting program may have already contacted these groups through publicity and campus visits, it is important for these initiatives to continue through mailings and personal contacts to assure full involvement and participation. Action: Civil Service Commission Suggested Target Date: Two months from acceptance of this report and continuing 4. When highly qualified candidates are not available on the registers, an ongoing series of recruiting field trips should be made by teams of Federal designers and personnel specialists to design schools, meetings of professional societies and other promising sources of design talent. Agency team members should be identified who are committed to design improvement and who could "sell" the employment package professionally and persuasively. If there is a need to fill specific positions, a team could establish temporary quarters in a given location, advertise in the local paper and then interview potential candidates. The Commission should provide leadership and coordination for this recruiting effort. Action: Civil Service Commission Suggested Target Date: Four months from acceptance of this report and continuing Recruitment of Government designers should be promoted through a carefully coordinated publicity program based on the need for quality as well as the quantity indicated by hiring forecasts. Contacts are needed with professional journals, the trade press, outstanding design practitioners, design schools and related sources. Each contact and subsequent follow-up, in the form of articles, announcements or paid advertisements as needed, must be geared to reaching specific target groups — architects, graphic designers, industrial designers, photographers, etc. Action: Civil Service Commission Suggested Target Date: Three months from acceptance of this report and continuing To meet agency needs, the current successful summer intern program should include students from foremost schools of design and architecture. In addition, a work-study program could be set up, under which design students would spend a semester with Federal agencies and receive credits for the experience. This program could lead to recruitment of interns after graduation. Action: Civil Service Commission Target Date: Six months from acceptance of this report Issues 1. Need for recruiting brochure on design opportunities in the Federal Government Recommendations 1. Produce attractively-designed, well-written brochure. Action CSC Target Date* 4 months 2. Need to distribute brochure (See 1 ) 2. Send brochure to strategic audiences CSC 5 months 3. Need to work with design schools in attracting design candidates 3. Maintain ongoing contacts with deans and professors of leading design schools. CSC 2 months 4. Need to conduct talent searches for artists, designers, architects, etc. 4. Initiate regular field trips to recruit top-level design talent. CSC 4 months 5. Need for promotion, education and publicity 6. Need to attract design students to government 5. Conduct coordinated program in media and through direct mail, personal contacts. 6. Expand summer interns program to include design students. Suggested target dates following acceptance of Task Force report CSC CSC 3 months 6 months classification and qualifications Government often amplifies confusion about jobs by giving them titles different from the titles accepted among design professions at large and by setting qualifications at odds with those normally expected. For example, the title "designer," which has a clear meaning for professionals, does not exist among Government classifications. By the same token, "visual information specialist" is a job title in Government which has no commonly accepted counterpart outside the Federal service. Moreover, the visual information specialist group includes designers (whose jobs are filled from the Illustrator register) and nondesigners who make decisions about visual information. These latter visual information specialist jobs are filled from the Federal Service Entrance Examination. Other titles, like "exhibit specialist," "museum specialist," and "art specialist" are not clear to the private sector and to design schools which are potential sources of talent. Disparities in qualifications are similarly confusing. "Architect," for example, has a precise legal meaning involving state registration in the private sector. This meaning is ignored in the Federal Government, which does not require registration to bestow the title "architect." recommendations 1. The civil service classification system should be modified to relate more clearly to possible sources of professional talent. For purposes of recruitment and general classification, the following commonly recognized design disciplines are suggested: Visual Communication Group Environmental Design Group a. Graphic a. Architecture Design b. Landscape b. Fine Arts Architecture c. Photography c. Urban Planning d. Cinematography d. Interior Design e. Industrial Design Action: Civil Service Commission Suggested Target Date: Six months from acceptance of this report Government art directors have little confidence in the Civil Service Commission's illustrator register. Most art directors fill vacancies by word-of-mouth, trusting the recommendations of their associates to provide qualified people. Often a selection is made before the Commission is even asked for a list of applicants and then the applicants are systematically rejected until the selected illustrator is "reached." Or they choose the person, rewrite the job description to fit that person's unique qualifications and once again reject applicants certified from the register until the preselected candidate can be hired. To circumvent the register entirely, a rewritten job description can be cited as justification to hire off the street. In any event, the register often presents a bureaucratic barrier rather than a substantive assistance in filling artist-illustrator vacancies and enjoys little credibility among art directors. Very early during the implementation of the Task Force recommendations, the responsible agency design officials should be informed, either through meetings or appropriate Commission issuances, that changes are being made to improve the selection system. They should be encouraged to submit suggestions for improvement of the register, with the long range aim of eliciting their support and use of the registers resulting from improved recruiting and evaluation techniques. Action: Civil Service Commission Suggested Target Date: Four months from acceptance of this report Because of the wide variety of skills and duties encompassed within broadly-defined design occupations, additional measurement tools are needed to rate applicants accurately. Under the criteria of present registers, a prospective employer who has a vacancy in publications design may be required to waste a great deal of time interviewing applicants with backgrounds completely unrelated to his needs. Applicants for Federal design jobs should complete self-coded forms to supplement the Standard Form 171 as a means of indicating qualifications which are unique to the design field. Such supplemental forms should provide for the applicant to indicate experience with particular processes (i.e., air brush techniques) and products (i.e., exhibits) in addition to their general education and experience. The Skills Sheet included as page 16 of this report is a suggested prototype supplemental application form. Similar forms should be developed for all general design categories. The supplemental self-coded form, along with the applicant's portfolio and Standard Form 171, would serve as the basis for rating applicants and entering their names on registers. It would also serve as the input data sheet for computer storage and retrieval as vacancies arise. The same form or a variation (see page 17) could be used as a prospective employer's medium to indicate the exact skills needed to fill a particular vacancy. Action: Civil Service Commission Suggested Target Date: Four months from acceptance of this report With the exception of landscape architects, applicants for civil service registers in the field of design are not reviewed or graded by qualified members of the design professions. Eligibility is generally determined by personnel specialists on the basis of a Personal Qualifications Statement which in itself is not sufficient to measure design capabilities. Although the logistical problems involved in reviewing portfolios are recognized, the fact remains that no artist's capabilities can be judged without a professional review of his or her work. All applicants meeting education and experience requirements for design-related positions should be required to submit samples of their work for review by a "blue ribbon" panel of Federal and non-Federal design professionals. The size and type of portfolio required should depend upon the particular discipline involved. Procedures for evaluating applicants, establishing registers and referral from the registers are outlined in the following charts. ( pages 1 4 and 1 5 ) Action: Civil Service Commission Suggested Target Date: Six months from acceptance of this report In order to achieve promotion to higher grade levels (above GS-12 in many occupations), it is the customary practice among agencies that design professionals must assume supervisory duties in addition to or in lieu of participation in their creative work. This establishes a ceiling for those who want to remain active practitioners and bumps ambitious designers up to positions at least once-removed from the drawing board. A new examining or classifications guide should be developed and publicized which is similar to the special guide now used for research positions in scientific disciplines. The guide for research positions allows promotion to higher levels for scientists without their taking the supervisory route to senior level jobs. Action: Civil Service Commission Suggested Target Date: Six months from the acceptance of this report Issues 1. Need for parity of job titles between Government and design professions at large Recommendations 1. Modify classifications. Action CSC Target Date* 6 months 2. Need to heighten confidence in illustrator register 3. and 4. Need for more accurate descriptions of designers' special skills 5. Need for design applicants to be rated on the basis of samples of their work 6. Need for nonsupervisory routes to higher grades 2. Solicit cooperation of agency art directors. 3. and 4. Develop supplemental application forms. 5. Establish "Blue Ribbon" panel to review portfolios. 6. Develop new examining or classifications guide. CSC CSC CSC CSC 4 months 4 months 6 months 6 months Suggested target dates following acceptance of Task Force report professional development Design which is both contemporary and timeless is a difficult achievement, requiring continuous professional self-renewal. The need for stimulation and for the free exchange of ideas and information is at least as vital to creative people as the need for exposure to new techniques is recognized to be for professionals in the computer field, where there is a great emphasis on training. Continuing education is not only desirable but essential if Federal designers are to maintain a high level of interest and productivity. recommendations 1. Comprehensive training programs should be developed for and promoted among Government designers. Their goals should be to keep designers abreast of their profession, to stimulate them to higher levels of creativity and to enrich their experience by involving them with foremost practitioners in their fields. Training should take the form of special courses at design schools, seminars at the Civil Service Commission or other convenient local sites and programs at local universities, design schools and museums. Action: Civil Service Commission Suggested Target Date: Six months from acceptance of this report and continuing 2. Departments and agencies should be encouraged and assisted to conduct ongoing in-house training programs for designers and to develop plans for continuing self-evaluation. Outstanding designers and teachers should be brought to Government agencies to lead workshops and seminars. Arrangements should be made for Federal designers to visit studios, museums and companies and to participate in other kinds of professional tours. Cross-pollination of design ideas within agency art staffs and between agency art staffs should be encouraged and the concept of "designer in residence" should be explored. Action: Civil Service Commission Suggested Target Date: Six months from acceptance of this report and continuing A practical course for Federal designers should be prepared by the Government Printing Office to clarify ways in which GPO can contribute toward producing high quality graphics. The course should focus on design excellence rather than prohibitions under existing rules. The course should also improve communications between GPO and Federal agencies, dispelling myths about the "impossibilities" of Government printing. Action : Government Printing Office 4. Specialized courses for Federal designers should be arranged with colleges, universities and art schools. Summer or other school vacation periods might be ideal. Instruction should be practical and realistically geared to the Federal situation. Action: Civil Service Commission Suggested Target Date: Eight months from acceptance of this report and continuing A program should be developed for detailing Federal designers to private firms and studios. The detail would broaden the designer's experience and give firsthand knowledge of commercial practices. In time, the possibility may exist for an even exchange of designers between Government and industry. Action: Civil Service Commission Suggested Target Date: Four months from acceptance of this report and continuing Suggested Target Date: Four months from acceptance of this report and continuing Federal designers whose on-the-job achievements are outstanding or who have nnade valuable contributions to professional activities at large should by suitably recognized, rewarded and publicized. A fornna I committee of Government and non-Government design professionals should be constituted to develop a formalized framework and procedures for the recognition of outstanding Federal designers. Action: Civil Service Commission National Endowment for the Arts Suggested Target Date: Three months from acceptance of this report A design register should be compiled and frequently updated which would list key Federal design professionals and describe their responsibilities, backgrounds and specializations. It should also include information on agency programs, design facilities and capabilities. Such a register would be a valuable aid to Government-wide professional communication in addition to promoting more efficient use of existing Federal design facilities. (The Audio Visual Directory now published by the National Audio Visual Center is an excellent example of this type of register.) Action: Civil Service Commission Suggested Target Date: Six months from acceptance of this report Issues 1. Need for central training programs for Federal designers Recommendations 1. Plan and sponsor variety of courses, seminars, and activities. Action CSC Target Date 6 months 2. Need for agency training programs for Federal designers 2. Encourage and monitor agency training programs. CSC 6 months 3. Need for course on Government printing 3. Coordinate course at the Government Printing Office. GPO 4 months 4. Need for special courses at design schools 4. Arrange training courses at college and universities. CSC 8 months 5. Need to keep abreast of commercial practices 6. Need to recognize achievements of Federal designers 7. Need for better use of Federal design resources. 5. Detail Federal designers to firms and studios. 6. Establish committee to set up procedures. 7. Compile Federal Design register. CSC CSC Nat'l Endowment CSC 4 months 3 months 6 months ' Suggested target dates following acceptance of Task Force report 10 administrative awareness The success of the President's Design Improvement Program depends on the commitment and sustained support of Federal administrators. If administrators are given opportunities to develop their awareness of the ways in which effective design can serve them and enhance their agency programs, the commitment and support will be forthcoming. The First Federal Design Assembly opened a line of communication with Federal administrators and represented the Government's initial design awareness program. But the annual Assembly is not a panacea for administrative indifference to the value of design. A series of actions is needed to make administrators more design-conscious and to help them become better clients for design. Programs should be organized to answer questions and focus on problems of the several different groups who make design decisions at all levels in Federal agencies. recommendations 1. Basic design awareness courses and activities should be planned for top Federal administrators, including department and agency heads and their deputies. These courses could become part of the curriculum at the Federal Executive Institute, Charlottesville, Virginia, and at the Executive Seminar Centers in Berkeley, California; King's Point, New York; and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Action: Civil Service Commission Suggested Target Date: Seven months from acceptance of this report Similar courses and activities should be planned for agency off icials whose day-to-day decisions affect the design quality of Federal agencies. Prime candidates for these courses are office administrators, budget specialists, contracting and procurement officers and maintenance officials. These courses could be integrated into overall Civil Service Commission training activities. The following concepts should be included among program curricula: • The status of design as a profession, not a service. • Advantages of good design, as it affects employee morale and reduced turnover rates. • Cost savings of integrated design decisions. • Personnel procedures which can be used to encourage excellence. • Desirability of encouraging agency design professionals to plan their own work environments as demonstration models of what can be accomplished by excellent design . . . values in terms of productivity and recruiting potential of doing so. • Placing design decisions with those who are qualified to make them. Action: Civil Service Commission Suggested Target Date: Five months from acceptance of this report A pilot workshop seminar on the components of the design process— need, cost, personnel, problem-solving, etc.— should be planned for Federal managers. Outstanding Government and non-Government design professionals should be invited to work with managers from a small group of 6 to 8 Federal agencies to review and assess their own experience and to examine a series of case studies. Action: Civil Service Commission and National Endowment for the Arts Suggested Target Date: Six months from acceptance of this report Issues 1 . Need for design awareness by agency and department heads Recommendations 1. Conduct training programs. Action CSC Target Date 7 months 2. Need for design awareness by key executive decision-makers 3. Need for Federal Managers to review mechanics of design programs 2. Conduct training programs. 3. Conduct pilot workshop/ seminar of case studies. CSC CSC Nat'l Endowment 5 months 6 months Suggested target date following acceptance of Task Force report 11 follow through Although initiatives for better design must find expression and support at the policy-making levels of Government, success can be assured or frustrated at the operating level. If the recommendations of this Task Force have no effect in agency art departments and personnel offices, the effort to improve Federal design will fail. recommendations 1. A program office should be set up within the Civil Service Commission to prepare step-by-step guidelines for agencies and to monitor progress with implementation of adopted Task Force recommendations. The program could be channeled directly to agencies through an Interagency Design Group with mandatory agency membership. Such a group should also include representatives from the American Society of Federal Designers, the Federal Design Council and other professional societies by invitation. Responsibility for coordination of agency action should rest with a single design administrator, supported by management, who will function as agency coordinator and representative to the Interagency Design Group. At present, many agency personnel officers and art directors seem unaware of, or unwilling to use, flexibilities currently allowed in Federal personnel regulations which are available to encourage excellence among Government designers. Early communications to agencies should include the following: An extra grade for creativity is currently allowed in the qualifications standard. Quality step increases in salary are allowed to reward employees for high quality work. Promotions are provided for on the basis of "the impact of the man on the job." The exceptional employee can be recognized in this way. An unsatisfactory employee can be released during his probational year. "Grade stacking" can be used. AGS-15 Landscape Architect, for example, can report to a GS-15 manager, thus eliminating the need for the Landscape Architect to go into supervisory work himself. Action: Civil Service Commission Suggested Target Date: As soon as possible. Issues 1. Need to monitor implementation at agency level Recommendations 1. Establish program office. Action CSC Target Date* As soon as possible 'Suggested Target dates following acceptance of Task Force report 12 attachments 13 HIRING PROCEDURE REQUEST FOR APPLICANTS (SKILL FORMS) HIRING AGENCY ® CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION FIVE TOP APPLICANTS APPLICANTS NOTIFIED FOR INTERVIEW HIRING AGENCY ® APPLICANTS PORTFOLIOS, PERSONAL INTERVIEWS NOTIFICATION OF SELECTION; UNSUCCESSFUL APPLICANTS RETURNED HIRING AGENCY ® CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION ■HMIH^ AP /T\ A hiring agency will s V_y by a completed applica required of the prospe The Civil Service Comn register, and the five returned to the hiring ^2) The hiring agency will ^^ listing a portfolio as All five applicants wi /T\ Following interviews, ^^ — ' notified of the one su applicants. The four the register, and the PLICANT HIF ubmit a requ« tions skills ctive employe ission will p top applicat agency. notify all a a requiremer 11 be intervi Civil Service ccessful and unsuccessful successful ap tEO ^JHI^^H )st for an artist, accompanied form listing the exact duties te. urogram the skills into the .ions will be ipplicants for interview. It for interview. ewed and portfolios reviewed. ! Commission will be four unsuccessful applicants will be returned to >pl leant will be hired. 14 ESTABLISHMENT OF REGISTER RECRUITING BROCHURES, APPLICATIONS © GOVERNMENT AGENCIES PRIVATE INDUSTRY, ART SCHOOLS.COLLEGES.UNIV'S. APPLICATIONS SKILLS FORMS, PORTFOLIOS CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION © BLUE RIBBON RATING PANEL © APPLICATION IS: CODED, AUTOMATED, FILED ASSIGNED TO REGISTERS REJECTED (Applicant notified, portfolio returned in all cases) ELIGIBLE, "INELIGIBLE" © © © The Civil Service Coamiisslon initiates and distributes recruiting brochures and applications skills forns to government agencies, private industry, art schools, colleges, and universities. Interested applicants, in turn, submit applications skills forms and portfolios to the Civil Service Commission. The Civil Service Commission forwards applications skills forns to a "Blue Ribbon" Rating Panel for review and grading. The Applications Skills Forms and portfolios are returned along with "eligible" and "ineligible" ratings to the Civil Service Commission. Rejected applications and portfolios are returned to unsuccessful applicants; Eligible applications are coded, automated and computer programmed, and assigned to register(s). In all cases, successful and unsuccessful applicants are notified and portfolios returned. 15 1 APPLICANTS SKILLS Graphic Design Check the appropriate BOX in the categories below which best describes your strength of skill and/or experience, using the following scale: 4 Very Strong 3 Strong 2 Adequate 1 Weak None 4 3 2 1 SKILLS 4 3 2 1 SKILLS abstract design acrylics advertising aeronautical airbrush anatomy animation architecture ART DIRECTOR books briefings calligraphy cartoons chart preparation collage color separation composition comprehensive layout computer graphics copy fitting customer contact drafting displays dummy preparation editing engraving equipment operation exhibits figure drawing fine art handcomposition hand lettering historical Illustration periodicals photo cropping photography photo retouching photo typography plotting portraits posters presentations proofreading publications design record albums scale models scratchboard sculpture set design silk screen slides storyboards technical illustration television tempera three-dimensional trademarks, logotypes type casting typography watercolor industrial interiors landscape layout letterheads lettering letterpress map preparation marine mechanical drawing medical newspaper offset oil painting package design paper sculpture paper stocks pasteup pen and ink pencil 1 16 2 EMPLOYER'S NEEDS Graphic Design The activities below have been rateci with regard to our needs, using the following scale: i Absolutely Necessary 2 Necessary 3 Helpful 4 Not Necessary 4 3 1 1 NEEDS 4 3 2 1 NEEDS abstract design acrylics advertising aeronautical airbrush anatomy animation architecture ART DIRECTOR books briefings calligraphy cartoons chart preparation collage color separation composition comprehensive layout computer graphics copy fitting customer contact drafting displays dummy preparation editing engraving equipment operation exhibits figure drawing fine art handcomposition hand lettering historical illustration industrial interiors landscape layout letterheads lettering letterpress periodicals photo cropping photography photo retouching photo typography plotting portraits posters presentations proofreading publications design record albums scale models scratchboard sculpture set design silk screen slides storyboards technical Illustration television tempera three-dimensional trademarks, logotypes type casting typography watercolor map preparation marine mechanical drawing medical newspaper offset oil painting package design paper sculpture paper stocks pasteup pen and ink pencil 1 — 17 THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON May 16, 1972 One year ago I asked the heads of 63 Federal agencies to determine ways by which their agencies could more vigorously assist the arts and, in turn, how the arts might be used to enhance their programs. The response to that request has been gratifying, calling fresh attention to the importance of the arts in the daily operations of Government and leading to the development of several recommendations by the National Endowment for the Arts. Today, based upon this first set of recommendations by the Endowment, i am pleased to announce that we shall move forward on three fronts: First, I am asking the Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities to sponsor an annual Design Assembly for Federal administrators and artists. Second, 1 am asking the National Endowment for the Arts to appoint a special ad hoc task force committee to review and expand the publication, Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture; this document was first printed in 1962 and set forth broad aesthetic recommendations of considerable value. I am also asking the National Endowment to recommend a program for including art works in new Federal buildings. Third, I am taking a series of actions to improve Federal graphics and publications. The National Endowment will now be responsible for coordinating the efforts of the executive agencies to upgrade their graphics. I am also requesting Federal agency heads to make a comprehensive review of their own graphics and production, and I am asking the Civil Service Commission to review existing procedures for employing artists, architects and designers for Federal service. The Commission is also to evaluate the need for expert rating panels to review credentials and portfolios of applicants for such jobs, as is done in other professional areas. The people of this country arc increasingly concerned— and properly so— with the physical appearance of their communities. There should be no doubt that the Federal Government has an appropriate and critical role to play in encouraging better design, and I am hopeful that the actions announced today will enable the Government to reflect new standards of excellence in all of its design endeavors. 18 THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON July 21, 1972 Dear Bob: Nancy Hanks, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, has just told me about your enthusiastic response to the actions I am taking to encourage design excellence in Federal architecture, graphics and publications. I appreciate this-and 1 invite your participation in our new efforts. The Civil Service Commission, with its responsibilities for developing qualification standards, examinations and rating procedures for Federal employment, is directly involved with the selection of artists and architects responsible for the design of Federal buildings and publications. Our objective is, in fact, to attract the best available creative talent to Federal service. So I would like to request the Civil Service Commission to review its procedures for recruiting, examining and rating architects, artists and designers for employment in the Federal Government. It would now be especially helpful for the Commission to evaluate the need for establishing separate examinations for architects, artists and designers. In addition, I would like to have your own recommendations on the use of expert rating panels, consisting of Federal representatives and professionals outside the Government, to review the credentials and the portfolios of applicants in arts-related professions. To undertake this review, you might wish to appoint a task force committee composed of representatives from the Civil Service Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts and other appropriate Federal agencies, as well as professionals from arts-related fields. 1 think your cooperation in encouraging the Executive Agencies to employ creative and talented personnel in arts professions will be invaluable in our design improvement effort. And I assure you that you may express my own strong personal interest in promoting design excellence through the employment of qualified design professionals to all Federal agencies. Sincerely, Honorable Robert E. Hampton Chairman United States Civil Service Commission 1900 E Street NW. Washington, D. C. 20415 19 notes 61*0 526-389