It would seem wise to put a premium on curiosity.
With most brands’ desire to differentiate themselves from their competition, it would seem wise to put a premium on curiosity, encouraging it, planning for it, and protecting it, since design’s own power to differentiate is actually something that’s fueled by exploration and experimentation. If this were the rule rather than the exception, the consumer landscape would look more like an art gallery than a cross between the Las Vegas strip, a dollar store, and a newspaper checkout tabloid all dissolved in a vat of cheap wine. Pity that some would rather have it be just that, though.
Meeting the challenge that curiosity-fueled creativity offers is a group effort that should be more about a true partnership than what people think of when they hear the words “vendor-client relationship.” Gorgeous, gamechanging ideas come from clients who see themselves as patrons and partners and creators, not simply as the ones who write the checks, and those who cash them. Paul Rand, anyone? Those at the helms of brands big and small must be encouraged and emboldened and helped to understand that they have a tremendously positive and powerful role not just in moving commerce forward, but also in moving culture to new places, as well. In a sense, designers and creatives should consider taking a backseat at times, acting much as a corner man would, rubbing the shoulders of those who sit on the other side of the table, telling them, “You can do this, I know you’ve got this one,” and setting them up to champion the ideas. Understand that in so many cases they have helped to identify AND realize ideas and that sharing ownership with everyone will pay expected and unexpected dividends in the short and long term as a result. It’s one of the many places where something can snowball into an unstoppable force for positive change, so long as all the people involved hold the cause of curiosity up on the highest of levels.
And what of success, then? When curiosity is served, ownership is spread, challenges are met, and new ground is broken, is it wrong to sit back and relax? Is it so bad to tread more than once on successfully explored ground? Success is not always its own reward, for it can sometimes sound like a lullaby when instead it should thunder like a rallying cry. Be wary of those who would have you step and repeat once the sun begins to shine. Keeping all involved constantly curious rather than just opportunistically curious will ensure the creative equivalent of moss finding no happy place anywhere near a rolling stone.