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.