Creative Excellence: what does it mean to the creative leaders of today?

In an ever-accelerating industry, what does “creative excellence” actually mean now – and what does it take to sustain it?

For season three of the Design Next podcast, we spoke with design leaders to understand how they define, design and evolve excellence in every aspect of their work.

For Emily, the bar is set: nobody cares. You have to make them. And Among Equals does that by delivering excellent creative. This episode features a highlight for us: The Yorkshire Test.

“Excellence has always been expected. It’s just that our definition of that has changed.”

With everyone pulling from the same online references, Hyperfocus argue that excellence now means actively resisting sameness – rather than just executing well. And they do that – 24 hours a day.

“To create something that stands out needs a new interpretation of what has been done before.”

Now here’s an agency who have maintained extremely high creative standards for a long time. Find out how to nurture a client relationship for nearly 30 years, where the beverage industry is at right now, and the production secrets behind some of the world’s finest spirits.

“Intelligent bravery is the combination of strategic rigour and creative courage.”

When it comes to bringing your whole self to work, Libby commits. She readies herself to kill it in the studio every day, with a morning routine that puts us to shame. It speaks to a commitment to greatness; when you invest in yourself, creativity will follow.

“Creative excellence is when the problems are solved in a way where you’re like, ‘that’s just it. There’s no other solution.'”

Alex pushes back on the industry’s obsession excellence, arguing that not everyone needs to chase it. They just need to do something.

“Excellence is a completely moving target. It’s an oil painting that should be added to and changed all the time.”

When it comes to mass appeal and killer ideas, JKR are the kings. Tosh’s test for a great idea: could you explain it to someone completely outside the industry and have them get it instantly?

“Creative excellence is an idea that has mass appeal, that is singular, that people get and it can transform a business.”

Talia’s studio create things you’ve never seen before. Cotton design is a creative technology agency, and their three-part definition of great work is a beautifully simple way of summarising something very complicated. Look, meaning, innovation.

“Just because there aren’t that many design studios that are solo female-founded doesn’t mean I can’t be that.”

Kapono reduces excellence to a single discipline: sustained focus. He also shares his approach to the Away luggage brand project, which propelled Combo’s business. Despite what most say, sometimes you need to commit to more, for less pay, to enable greatness.

“You can solve everything with design.”

Chris lays down the ‘three T’s’ of creative excellence, but there’s one thing that can’t be captured in a checklist. That grit in the oyster. The thing that is slightly off, that catches your eye, makes you think, or puts a whole new spin on any brand story.

“No client will make a big decision unless they believe in you as much as they believe in the work.”

A lot of people are committed to work – few are quite as wholeheartedly committed to creativity as Chloe. Care enough to stay in love with design, to support the pipeline of the entire industry, and even enough to torture yourself a little bit in every single project.

“Caring enough. Giving a shit. Enough to go: this isn’t right.”

If you need inspo to get off the internet and get yourself inspired, Kiser is the one. He is consistently inspiring himself through new experiences, learning, sharing, and living in New York. Our take? Once you’re as open-minded as Kiser, you’ll be as creatively successful as he is too.

“Singular perspectives don’t make creative work great. If you define the process through your ego and your assumptions, it’s really narrow.”

The scale of what Studio Drama produces can’t be underestimated…
Last week, Heinz reported it sells over 650 million bottles of ketchup every year.
Globally, Snickers hits $1 billion in sales each year.
Mozilla Firefox has 155 million monthly users worldwide.

What do these mega brands have in common? They know the value of being recognised for their words alone. From a branding POV, the drama is justified.

“We realised type is the thing we’re most passionate about: how about we lean into that? Since that day, it’s just flown.”

We can’t possibly summarise all of these great conversations into one sentence, but we admit there is one clear takeout that we want to share.

Open your mind.

If you want to be inspired, you will be inspiring. You’ll discover new things, embrace change, learn more, and enjoy the ride.

Thank you to our wonderful guests this season. Season four launches in September; see you soon!