Dombrovskis was a Tasmanian wilderness photographer,
Piccaso was a cubist painter,
Tim Winton writes about place and community,
Le Corbusier was one of the 1st the architects to use concrete,
Azimov was a Sci-fi writter….

Now think about these names: Myers, Billabong, nike, McDonalds, Teva, Coles, Mountain Design, …. etc
Each of these also brought to mind an image did it not? one that included the logo and the style and the contents of their stores….

It’s got to do with the whole BRANDING thing. we love brands and logos and symbols…. an artist or creator who wants to be successful (as in well known) needs a brand – a way of doing things that fits within a recognisable template. So you have to have a recognisable style. one that is reasonably consistent. … Because people like to know what to expect.
People like to put other people in boxes – it feels safer that way! If you keep breaking out of the box they want to put you in, they don’t know what to do with you or how to relate to you and so you will be avoided.

Think of it another way: Homo sapients are a very social species who are also a little contradictory…
In general, we like to think of ourselves as individuals, but we also like to fit in to a social crowd. So unique artwork gets a higher price tag than mass produced stuff because it is unique, but people are more likely to buy unique one off / limited edition art or have their house designed or read a book if there is other things out there that are similar – that shair a brand-like identity.

So, a creative person who is just starting out and who wants to be ’successful’ needs to find a style, a brand and stick to it – at least until they get a ‘name’, then they can experiment if they want to, but only if the experimentation is extensive. By that I mean a series, a set, a whole exhibitions worth. … or several.

It also means that if an artist has a particularly ‘new’ and different style, it is going to be a very slow start while they wait for the brand to become known – while they wait for a few brave individuals start a trend and risk being different by buying weird stuff. After a while , when some point of critical mass is reached, the artists work will stop being weird, will become safe/different and maybe even popular. it is a funny old journey, to be sure!

I read somewhere that many of the ‘great’ creators (Picasso for example) were not going solo in a new style, but were part of a group of creators who were all exploring a similar style at the same time…. and the great ones were not necessarily the 1st, just the ones that became more popular. Maybe they outputted more work and so reached the critical mass point a little sooner, maybe their style was more constant, maybe they had better marketing skills….who knows?… (Someone must, I just haven’t found their report yet!)

Graphic Designers on the other hand….

From looking around the web, it seems that graphic designers and illustrators break this mold all the time. It seems that you need to be more versatile? Or is it only the people just starting out that are more versatile…  while the more experianced ones with a srtong client base or who are in demand have developed a style that works for them?

Perhaps that is how it works for all artists, designers & creators?

What are your opinions & ideas on this?