MY APPROACH
I don't have a process.
Many things can be true at once.
A risky creative idea can also be the most sensible one. Something unfamiliar can feel wrong simply because it’s unfamiliar. I try to recognise the difference between a real reason to stop and the discomfort that comes with doing something differently.
I think about business, not just aesthetics.
I was born into a family of entrepreneurs and have run companies for most of my life. Commercial awareness doesn’t mean choosing the safest or most immediately profitable option. Sometimes the smarter business decision looks inefficient in the short term, because the real value is created somewhere else, or further down the line.
Consumers rarely know what they want to see.
Sometimes the thing that shouldn’t work, works. When I belong to the audience we’re creating for, I have one more source of information to work with. I’m not only observing the consumer. I know what would make me stop, care, go somewhere, buy something or tell someone about it.
People are more complicated than target groups.
Years of working around mental health, community and human behaviour have changed the way I approach creative work. I pay attention to what people fear, desire, avoid, protect and rarely say out loud. Those things often explain behaviour better than what people say they want. Empathy is how I tell the difference between them.