Designing for your personality type.

I have just completed David Keirsey’s personality test and found out that I am an ENFP or a champion Idealist, as less than 1% of the population I feel quite special! It describes me as an unrelenting idealist who looks for the good in all and who is most comfortable dealing in abstract concepts. It also says that I have "outstanding intuitive powers and can tell what is going on inside of others, reading hidden emotions and giving special significance to words or actions" all qualities that help me with design. It also says I am... "Fiercely individualistic, Champions strive toward a kind of personal authenticity" Although this too has helped me with my career it has also lead me to become disillusioned about design projects in the past.

This has occured most frequently whilst working with large global manufacturers (although some smaller companies too). The brand and marketing managers involved are often operating in a hostile atmosphere where stress and fear seem to reign supreme. They are fraught in their job, and fairly often have not been enpowered to make even small decisions so exasperating their insecurity. This atmosphere makes it impossible to be authentic because they have little idea of what they are being true to.

These situations often lead to poor quality of brief and in turn unispiring, mostly ineffective designs. There is also a huge lack of trust. Brand managers are not allowed to take ownership of their projects and are acting as a mouthpiece to distinctly absent management who in turn are responding to the needs of their shareholders. The disillusionment on my part arose from a feeling that I was not trusted as the expert in design that I was being paid to be! Trust is the key word here, an atmosphere of fear and mistrust is in turn naturally passed onto the design company trying against all odds to make some kind of sense of a confused brief.

As well as studying my own personality type description I spent time looking at the others. Covering the full spectrum of society these are the people that my designs have to communicate to. There are four distinctly different personality types with more specific descriptions within those four. The majority of the popualtion makes up two of these types, but even so there are obviously differences within them. People are complex creatures also and although these types of personality profiles are insightful, they are not all encompassing. There are those that cross types and when it comes to the products we buy it doesn't just depend on our guiding values but also on our current whim. With this in mind it seems difficult to try and create a design that appeals to different people. I wonder why then, so many of the brands that I have worked on try so desparately to be all things to all people. The logic is, sell to more people and you make more money. These brands often appear confused, projecting mixed messages. Even worse they are the bland brands, those that look like everything else. They often fall into price wars and 'me too' new product development. If they were at a party you might think they were either trying too hard or even worse you wouldn't realise they were there at all.

In contrast those brands that have metaphorically taken the personality test and so have insight into what they are about have a strong sense of self. They are the easiest and most inspiring to work on for me and the clients involved.

Why OddOneOut?

This should have been my first blog I guess, but seeing as this is a recent revision of the blog title I am now only just explaining myself. Enough of the excuses for my topsy turvy blog it after all by nature a non linear story! OddOneOut is the name of the design company that I am creating, my design company. All that I have learnt up until now will go into this blog and my company. There will also be some new stuff too of course and these posts will be a reflection of both. As business is all about people the things I am talking about are equally applicable to individuals, charitable organisations, governments and socities. I am obviously most interested in business because just like everyone I need to earn a living.

At the centre of every 'good' business there are a core of guiding principles or values. There is another ingredient that brings these values to life and that is passion. Passion equals enthusiasm and energy. It motivates people into action and it is what you call upon when things get tough. I want to work with people that are passionate about what they do. Businesses that place the value of people at their core. Those that believe that it is not only money that makes the world go round but people and the 4 elementary forces of nature of course!

What OddOneOut will look and feel like is a little fuzzy at this point. But I hope that this blog will chart my progress and help to create a recognisible shape. It is of course also a blog of self discovery since OddOneOut is a reflection of my core values and an expression of my passion. I believe that design can help those that have a passion communicate it. Very simply put I believe that good design communicates that passion.

All geeks together, Science and Design.

I am currently reading The Canon: A whirligig tour of the beautiful basics of science by Natalie Angier. As I read it I am learning new things and remembering old lessons shoved to the back of my mind. It is making me look at the world from a different perspective which I think is good for me! Angier comments on the relatively recent phenomenon of labelling all scientists as geeks or nerds. If this is the case I think designers might be counted as geeks also. Not that we are wrestling with theories of everything or creating ground breaking discoveries that will change the world, but that we are just a little bit overly obsessed by small details. We have large collection of typefaces and pantone references are like the periodic table to us. We are guilty of talking in a code that often excludes non designers and can often have a self inflated view of our own importance. Hang on, those last two points include most other professions too, so how come they are not labelled in such a negative way? I think the main issue is lack of relevancy and issues of communication.

Science does not figure obviously in most of our lives, even though we interact with science in every aspect of day to day living, it doesn't mean that the whys and whats are of interest to us. Science seems to be something we are very interested in when we are young but kind of looses its shine once we have moved on from the buttons and flashing lights of the science museum. If scientists want to reclaim their rightful place on the list of jobs most dreamt about, by young girls and boys they need to put a bit more emphasis on good old fashioned communication. Design, in this case, as well as performing the function of translating a lot of very complex information simply also needs to convey the passion and inertia that drives science ever onward. It is that excitement and curiosity that fizzles with age for most of us and yet I am sure can be reignited.

Designing meaningful difference

As a designer we are trained to seek out and exploit difference. We design logos that set companies apart from others. We design packaging for products that sets them apart from their competition. We naturally think differently to others and originality is the design holy grail. There is another side to difference though. Difference needs to be meaningful. Meaning in our lives is dependent on our actions. When we help someone or acheive something it enriches our life. Meaning in business as it is in life is derived from doing the things that you are passionate about and having possitive benefit. That is meaningful difference. It is nearly impossible to create truely meaningful difference through design when the ideals and motivation that drive the design do not ring true.

I believe that difference is a good thing, it is our difference that drives our creativity and enriches our societies. People are inherently different but at the same time we all hold some common values. Do we try to be different? Probably not, I think it is more likely that we try harder to be the same, to conform. If we naturally follow what feels true and important to us, follow our hearts, we will naturally be different. Popular culture is more often about conformity, exploiting our fundamental need to belong. Our economy is driven by spending on consumerables and as such we are told to be continually disatisfied by life. We are told to throw away our uncool 6 month old gadget and buy the new slightly improved one, to toss out our wardrobe and dress like the latest fashionable celebrity. So I ask myself as a designer do I feel guilty to be part of this system of pressure and supression of difference? The simple answer is yes I do feel guilty but not hopeless. I think there is a changing mood that is incredibly inspiring and exciting.

There are government leaders, Barak Obama being the obvious one who cellebrate difference who do not influence by messages of conformity and fear but that preach that we should be proud to be different. He is very sure of his vision and it is the passion and energy that he leads with, that people are drawn to and follow. There are similarly businesses that are as self assured, that have a burning passion and ultimate aim beyond profit that attract us to follow them. However these leaders and companies are completely polarizing. They are vocal with opinions, and brazen in their actions. As such not everybody will sympathise and agree. These people operate outside of accepted 'norms' and will inevitably face opposition. On the flip side those that follow them will do so with an enthusiasm and dedication that is infectious. It is by no fluke that Obama has gone from the outside chance to a president with over 70% support.

I am passionate about design. I think that it has a huge power to influence, and inspire. I love the challenge of communicating complex messages in simple sensory ways. However, I do not like using my design skills to gloss over, to bambozal and to twist what is true. It makes me feel dishonest. When I have worked on designs for products that exploit their suppliers, pollute the planet, produce unhealthy products and treat their staff as an exploitable commodity I feel guilty. Yes we all need to make money but how can I advocate being true to ourselves when I feel guilty about doing what I love.

I did mention however that I do not feel hopeless, I am definitely hopeful. There are an increasing number of companies that are values lead. They exist because they want to acheive something meaningful, they are meaningfully different and want to create meaningful difference. They are not slaves to shareholders and profit. They exist because they believe in something and conduct their business with honesty and regard to those around them. They are inclusive rather than secretive, genorous rather than mean and definitely optomististic rather than fearful. Those are the companies that I would feel proud to work with.

What is difference and what has it got to do with design?

This is my first blog, so like my ever so slightly mad (aren't they all?) English teacher Mr Drummond once said, "all stories must have a beginning, middle and end". He also said that if "you woke up and it is was all a dream" it would be marked as an instant failiure. With this in mind, lets begin.

My name is Clare I am a senior graphic designer. I am living and working as a freelance designer in Auckland, New Zealand. I am originally from High Wycombe in England, a not so small London suburb, that thankfully has lots of beautiful green spaces. Enough about me as it is not the intended subject for this blog. I want to take a look at the organisations and individuals who are as the title suggests expressing their difference through design.

It is important at this point to define what I mean by different. Different in this case means those that are distinct from others in the ways that they think and act. Different from who or what though? I am not entirely sure how to define the 'norm' by which we measure things that are different. Normal is complicated! 'Norms' are the rules or standards and expectations that guide the behaviour of members of a society' (Scott, 2000). So it is those that fly against these norms that strike us as being different. Sometimes called visionaries, inventors, groundbreakers, crackpots! these people lead the way in creating new ways of doing things, continually questioning. I am interested in those that have used design as an integral part of defining and communicating what it is that makes them different.

The interesting thing is that difference seems to be transient. Difference often turns to convention mostly without us noticing maybe this is actually a mark of success? Some organisations and individuals however continue to strive to be different, not for it's sake but because they see the world differently to most of us. Those are the individuals and companies I want to champion. I believe that successful design has helped these people to bridge gaps and communicate with the world. What might have otherwise remained outlandish and alien to most with the help of design becomes trustworthy and even inspiring. Design can only be as powerful as the message behind it. If the message it conveys rings with confidence, truth and sensibility we can connect to it.

In each post, I will feature a design and the company or individual behind it and why I believe them to be different. My aim is to create a sort of whos who of companies that inspire through a focussed heartfelt message and great design.