Design’s Duty is to be Daring
What’s it take to stand out in a crowd today? Besides a stepladder.
Bombarded by media messages from the moment we awake until our last text or tweet before bed, it’s become increasingly difficult to be noticed. Years ago, hippies and radicals used shock as their primary tactic. Some animal-rights groups still do. But what about today’s start-up companies and service providers? They need customers, not confrontation.
They need creativity.
Building a brand or a product takes fresh, clever, unorthodox ideas. It takes a well-defined target audience and concepts that hit the bull’s-eye. It takes designers, artists and other creative people who realize that the greatest risks lie in conformity and assimilation.
So try something daring. Zig when others zag. Buck the mainstream, but do it with talent and style. Because being different isn’t the same thing as being noticed – and only two letters separate appealing from appalling.