We can only create what we can imagine.
We can only dream from our existing thoughts.
We can only realise a brand that we can visualise.
Our knowledge and understanding of the world around us – its history, its purpose, its function and its relationship with us human beings is the bedrock for crafting a compelling brand.
You see, creativity is not random. It is about connecting dots that many would not have connected themselves. The more dots we are aware of, and how deeply we understand them, allows us to connect dots in more interesting and specific ways than other people (and other machines).
A dot might be a typeface, a colour, a photo, a movement in art, a design era, a tool, a style – anything really. First, we must know a dot exists. Then, we must understand the context of each dot and how combining them creates new context entirely.
This is creativity. This is how it works.
By this definition, anyone can be creative. Just pair a cool font with a funky colour. Or take a photo, add a filter and stick some text on it. Throw paint on a canvas. Shape a lump of clay into a vase. Congrats, you are now a creative person.
But because it is that basic, AI can mimic creativity. Through connecting a few dots in a clever way, it can achieve creativity beyond what most of us humans are capable of – because of its wealth of understanding about dots. The very thing it has been trained on.
As I write this, AI has – and is – causing the extinction of many creative careers. This is nothing new. New technology has been doing this for decades.
So rather than sit and wallow in what was, and complain about losing something that was never ours anyway, the challenge to all of us is: How can you be MORE creative than AI? And the answer to that question is:
Vision.
Listen carefully: how well you articulate and visualise the future state of something is now one of the most valuable things a creative can have.
Your ability to come up with something unique, and execute it so others can experience what’s in your head, needs to be nurtured and prioritised.
Stop being a pixel pusher.
And start being a visionary.
