Ok, so you’ve “learned” to use Adobe Illustrator. That’s not what we’re talking about when we use the word creativity. There is a huge difference between a gift and a talent. The latter you learn and the former you’re born with.
Creativity is the difference between ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’and ‘Sleeping Beauty’. Guillermo Del Toro’s disobedient fairy tale rival’s Disney’s authority on the experiences of the protagonist by re-contextualising the use of certain elements pulled from a number of classic Disney stories. Basically, he flipped your favorite stereotypical damsel-in-distress act on its ass, creating an ode to the magic of imagination and being unlike anything else we’ve ever seen.
The same could be said for Ari Aster’s ‘Hereditary’. I don’t know about you but when you’ve seen enough horror film’s you kinda end up anticipating what could happen next and truly creative minds don’t like feeling boxed in. Just look at George R.R Martin and Tim Burton they all use context as a door to creative freedom and Ari Aster is no different. In Hereditary, you’re unsure of what’s next. The director did such a good job creating a stressful, oppressive, terrifying, emotionally and physically exhausting experience of the film, you’re not sure if you want to go back for seconds (and that’s saying a lot from someone like me who loves horror films), but curiosity alone will make you do it again because the experience was so distinct.
Creative People See Opportunity, Everyone Else See’s The Matrix
The difference is in the way your brain naturally works! If you’re mostly analytical and methodical in your thinking that means you naturally use the left side of your brain and if you’re more creative and artistic, you use the right side of your brain. Thus, it explains how someone can so easily misinterpret or be offended by branding.
Branding is about escapism. If it makes sense for your brand to communicate a specific way, then you shouldn’t shy away from doing so if it’s at the expense of communicating something meaningful to the people that matter. But some voices can be very restrained and even spurn those for who dare to walk on the “wild side”.
Illustrative of this point is an old local furniture store ad:
Now, to me being trained outside of Trinidad, this was a stroke of genius. The message was clear and strong instead of whimpy and generic. It got people angry, it got some people laughing some even loved it but what it really did was flip the audience’s assumptions about what is considered “advertising” in corporate Trinidad and Tobago upside down. Yet, it was pulled from billboards because of too many limiting, antiquated standards.
Fools do rush in where angles fear to tread but this is another reason why corporate branding shouldn’t be confused with small service business branding because it’s not the same thing! The voice of a government official will not be the same as the voice of a badass author and brand specialist speaker! Of course there are always exceptions but for those particularly outside of those rarities you’re either left-brained or right and to prove this, I’ve prepared a little quiz for you.
I am the Founder and Visual Brand Strategist at The BrandTUB
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