In professional work - certainly in the arts and graphics - 99% of people have zero courage. They blow with the wind.
George LoisRead
In any creative industry, the fact that others are moving in a certain direction is always proof positive, at least to me, that a new direction is the only direction.
Interpretation
When everyone is following a trend, it often indicates that innovation lies in pursuing a different path.
George Lois suggests that in creative fields, observing a collective movement towards a specific direction can signal the necessity for change and innovation. Instead of adhering to trends, true creativity flourishes when one dares to explore uncharted areas, as this often leads to unique and original expressions.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of originality, this quote illustrates why it's vital to break away from established norms.
In professional work - certainly in the arts and graphics - 99% of people have zero courage. They blow with the wind.
You can't test great advertising. You can only test the mediocre. Not that I don't care about demographics. You have to understand who you're going after.
Truly great images make all the other millions of images you look at unimportant. You gotta look at an image and understand it in a nanosecond.
I've done truth to power all my life. It's got me into trouble, but who cares?
I don't design. I get what I think is a big idea, and I put the idea down. I'm not a designer. I'm a communicator.
Great advertising, in and of itself, becomes a benefit of the product.
It seems to me that's the only way you can have a truly creative aggregate of people is if they're all contributing in different ways.
People who do a job that claims to be creative have to be alone to recharge their batteries. You canβt live 24 hours a day in the spotlight and remain creative. For people like me, solitude is a victory.
Creativity is the ability to identify self-imposed constraints, remove them, and explore the consequences of their removal.
Coming up with ideas is the easiest thing on earth. Putting them down is the hardest.
Creative ideas flourish best in a shop which preserves some spirit of fun. Nobody is in business for fun, but that does not mean there cannot be fun in business.
Creativity has two possibilities. One is that it arises out of your silence, love, understanding, your clarity of vision, your intimate friendliness with existence - then creativity is healthy. But if it does not arise out of meditation, out of silence and peace and understanding and love, then there is a danger. It may be arising out of your confused mind. It may be arising out of your insanity.
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