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.
In professional work - certainly in the arts and graphics - 99% of people have zero courage. They blow with the wind.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the rarity of true courage in professional fields, particularly in arts and graphics, where conformity often prevails.
George Lois highlights a significant issue in creative professions: many individuals lack the courage to express their unique ideas and instead conform to prevailing trends. This lack of bravery inhibits innovation and personal expression, as most professionals are swayed by popular opinion rather than standing firm in their convictions and creativity. Lois calls for greater courage among artists and creatives to differentiate themselves and contribute original work.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech at an art college to inspire students to embrace their unique vision.
More from George Lois
All quotes βTruly 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.
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.
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.
Similar quotes
Do not be afraid of seeming different and being criticized for what might seem to be losing or out of fashion; your peers but adults too, especially those who seem more distant from the mindset and values of the Gospel, are crying out to see someone who dares to live according to the fullness of humanity revealed by Jesus Christ.
Fire is catching! And if we burn, you burn with us!
One of the marks of a gift is to have the courage of it.
I think I would have drank myself to death, literally, if I didn't just stop, once and for all when I did. I am not ever going to preach to anyone about drugs or drinking. But, for me, when they were around, I had no self control.
Bravery is the capacity to perform properly even when scared half to death.
I call on the Iranian people: it is not too late to replace the corrupt regime and return to your glorious Persian heritage, a heritage of culture and values and not of bombs and missiles... How can a nation allow a regime to instill fear, take away the people's freedom and shock the young generation that seeks its way out of the dictatorial Iran.