I will never be plain
When I was an agency dweller, I hid behind my cubicle wall, acting pretty much any way I wanted to, wearing clothes that made anti-fashion statements, flinging rude comments and spending inordinate amounts of time playing with toys. As long as my creative work was stellar—and on-time—this was allowed.
My situation wasn’t unique among designers and copywriters. Walk around the creative department of any agency worth its salt, and what do you see? Yo-yos, skateboards, wind-up toys, antique toys … morbid toys. One of my favorite places to visit is the cubicle of Steve Hobson, staff genius at Sullivan, Higdon and Sink, whose cubicular domain is guarded by a perimeter of disembodied doll heads. Go, Steve.
Why do we act like bad children? What’s wrong with us?
Nothing. We’re paid to be different rather than homogeneous, striking rather than plain. We’re valuable to clients because our personalities scream and our egos demand attention. Who else could invent concepts that stop target audiences in their tracks?
Now that I run my own business, I’m in the client spotlight more than I used to be, so there’s a real temptation to act “normal.” But even as I play grown-up, I try to preserve my panache, engaging in small rebellions:
I wear jeans to meetings where no one else is wearing jeans.
I let my cynical humor out of its cage and allow it to prowl ruthlessly through innocent conversations.
I verbalize thoughts that are off-topic, off-color and frequently wrong.
I refuse to wear a necktie outside my own funeral.
I continue to live by the code of the creative: “I will be bold. I will be controversial. I will even be unpopular, but I will never be plain.”
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Great ideas often receive violent opposition from mediocre minds.
–Albert Einstein
