A lot of designers, writers and artists I work with often have an impulse to do things differently. Differently than what? Differently than whatever is normally done of course. Why? Because it’s more creative!

Imagine applying this thinking to fields where success and failure are more clear and objective. Why are you trying to cure this disease using an unusual, nonstandard often untested treatment? Because it’s more creative? Hope you’re not my doctor.

If everyone is doing something a certain way it usually means that way works pretty darn well. Especially in creative fields, because we all want to be different. Usually a lot of people have already tried your uniquely brilliant idea before. You just didn’t hear about it because it ended up not working.

I find it best to focus on the audience. Which choices create the best audience experience? Originality does factor into that. People tend to enjoy seeing things new twists on familiair ideas. However, novelty can’t counteract a genuinely worse design choice. It might be unusual to smear ketchup over your canvas, but that doesn’t make it a better painting.