A lot of great ideas start as a ... really, really bad-looking idea.
It's the messy jumble of words that inspires an entire brand narrative. A hastily sketched logo that leads to the winning mark. The awkward question in a meeting that immediately gets the room to the heart of an issue. I certainly still have my fair share of these clunky, imperfect ideas during the creative process.
But someone has to give those ideas a chance. In a world where everyone has a hot take, it requires an immense amount of courage to put forth a cumbersome, flawed, unfinished idea. And even more courage to defend that new idea so it has the space it needs to become something great.
In their book "Creativity, Inc.", Amy Wallace and Edwin Catmull know this well: "When someone hatches an original idea, it may be ungainly and poorly defined, but it is also the opposite of established and entrenched — and that is precisely what is most exciting about it. If, while in this vulnerable state, it is exposed to naysayers who fail to see its potential, or lack the patience to let it evolve, it could be destroyed. Part of our job is to protect the new from people who don't understand that in order for greatness to emerge, there must be phases of not-so-greatness."
Our designer Shay Bocks uses the Smart Brevity approach — championed by the founders of Axios and Politico — in her deliverables to “communicate clearly and get heard faster.” In a video originally recorded for the Focus Lab team, Shay breaks down her communication strategy
AI is a frequent topic of conversation in Focus Lab’s Slack channels. Matchstic Design Director Gray Hauser shares a perspective we won’t soon forget: “I like the metaphor of sculpture for brand identity work. Constantly chipping away, uncovering truth as you work and making effective beauty in the process. In this metaphor, I think AI can be a powerful hammer or chisel. It will never be the sculpture itself.”
We’ll see your Windows Media Player music visualizer and raise you a particle simulator that actually looks like living, cellular organisms. Press number keys 1-8 for different presets in the generator, and watch Spherical Sound Society’s video on its creation.
We wrote about the importance of trust in the last issue of Build On Brand. Fast Company introduces the “flywheel of trust”: company creates product, product attracts customers, customers trust brand, brand differentiates company.
C R E A T I V E S P O T L I G H T
Posters for Jaws 2, The Birds, and Godzilla Vs. Hedora from Danny Dutch
