What’s design without good ideas? We find out with help from Studio Dumbar, PARSONS, Open Practice and more

The Anatomy of Creativity is a partnership between The Brand Identity and Antalis Creative Power, in which over a series of three articles, we explore and discuss if there are specific components to creativity. Within a world becoming faster and faster, woven amongst an ever-increasing demand for content, capital and convenience, there doesn’t seem to be an awful lot of time afforded to thinking – instead sidelined to the desire for engaging visuals that catch our attention amidst the plethora of dazzling competition. But is something that is simply eye-catching an example of ‘good’ design, or is it just shiny? Does design need a concept to fulfil this criteria or is the latter a concept in itself? In today’s context it’s time to ask whether ‘good’ ideas need to be conceptual or can be a solely aesthetic endeavour; and simply ask, what is a good idea? “Absolute ‘A Smile In the Mind’ fodder,’” Studio Lowrie Creative Director Mike White recalls, “discovering the FedEx arrow was a mind-blower” he adds, describing what he was taught a good idea to be. In a sentiment shared by Liza Enebeis, Creative Director at Studio Dumbar, who notes the “very traditional way” they were taught of good ideas, White explains that as a child the concept of “the word fish shaped like a fish” constituted a resounding success. “In the very early days,” he adds, “a good idea was a bold, simple logo that obviously communicated in a ‘witty’, whimsical way an aspect of the business or its values.” Less traditionally, Open Practice explain their undergraduate education in a somewhat similar vein, suggesting that “there was a focus around ‘good design’ having clarity of its message,” however adding that “at postgraduate, we were encouraged to critique and challenge messages and their mediums.”