Nick called us both into his office. He looked at me, then at Paul, then at the stack of clashing mock-ups between us.
“Julian,” he said, “you’ve created a bold, forward-thinking identity that risks alienating everyone.” Then to Paul: “And you’ve drawn the marketing team hanging from a racquet.” Paul said, “That was symbolic.” There was a long protracted silence. It could have felt awkward for some but I felt fine and composed a future email to Paul in my head: “Hey Paul a good meeting today I thought! I think we found common ground: keeping the humanity but updating the energy. Let’s build from there.”
Some hours later, Paul had responded.
“Sure. I’ll start by sketching humanity. You can add the energy in Helvetica later.” And then threatened to illustrate my PowerPoint.
I took an extended power nap. Brand direction was clearly going to remain unresolved for some time. But I remain optimistic that the new Helvetica will heal all wounds.
Mess Theory
Mess Theory has been inspired by my belief that creativity is dependent entirely on mess. We need scrap, junk or any old rubbish to exert our creative muscles and this book is no exception.
Mess Theory plays with the challenges of getting and securing gainful employment in the creative industries whilst providing an alternative insight into what that work can entail. ‘Creativity’ is one of …
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