POV: How valuable is the obscure creative reference?
A good designer is able to craft all those associations, bringing in “the right mix of history and the future” to create a resonant narrative for consumers. Brands must build on past associations but go beyond nostalgia to novelty.
Debbie Millman • Brand Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits
Curation gives even mundane objects value by connecting them with a point of view, heritage, a subculture, or purpose that makes them stand out in the vortex of speed, superficiality, and newness.
Ana Andjelic • The Business of Aspiration: How Social, Cultural, and Environmental Capital Changes Brands
These are cute designs, of a specific culture and of a specific moment, very contemporary yet of-a-kind. What’s interesting is that they’re popping up in these times, in this cultural economy: this style exists in a post-A24 merch, post-Online Ceramics, post-Graza space, making the more 1970s reference of the aforementioned feel more contemporary a... See more