Kindling 40: Substantially different

A thought from me

I don’t remember a lot of people from my high school. Of course, I remember my high school girlfriend, and I remember the other guy who wanted to date her. I remember the prettiest girl in school. And I remember the weirdest girl and the weirdest guy. The weirdest guy had a cone mohawk and orange hair, and was the only teenager I knew with a PowerBook. The weirdest girl dyed her hair purple and superglued it all so it pointed straight up, and didn’t realize her mistake until after the fact. (It became her signature look.)

The girl with the purple hair was gifted with auto repair and knew exactly what she wanted out of life. She had more clarity than the rest of us. The boy was, for a high schooler in the early 2000s, practically prescient: he felt technology should only empower people, he was wary that we were building our own prisons unless we could seize the technology for ourselves, and he built canoes and other woodworking projects as a release. 

Being different earned my attention. The substance underneath is why I remember it.

Substance without attention is irrelevant. Attention without substance is noise.

Doing what people expect your organization to do, following every standard and tradition, in an effort to avoid rocking the boat is a great way to make sure your brand is palatable, forgettable, and ultimately invisible in a sea of do-alikes. 

If you have something unique and substantial to offer, you need to look different enough to get attention. Once you get attention, you can share your good news. Find your purple hair or your mohawk and wear them with pride.

Things worth sharing

1. While some of today’s filmmakers are reportedly embracing AI for storyboarding, Akira Kurosawa’s spectacular hand-painted storyboards are a reminder that even the earliest parts of the creative process can be filled with a sense of humanity and splendour. 
2. Sharp Type’s new Ghost superfamily is a monumentally massive type release, complete with four variable axes that support optical size, weight, slant, and how monospaced the type is. An incredible release.
3. How niche is too niche? Dan Mall shares the math on identifying your potential target market.
4. As LLMs get better at craft, what’s left? Naz Hamid argues that craft is not culture, and AI isn’t embedded in culture the way humans are.

A question to ponder

Sometimes, looking different is simply stating the opposite of the competition in your field. For example, I think hourly billing is a mistake, and I think LLMs will flatten creative work to average. What are your oppositional statements?

Until next week,

Nathan

What you should do next…

1. For more insights like this, subscribe to the weekly Kindling newsletter.
2. To see people walk the talk, explore my case studies.
3. Schedule a free call to review your brand and website. Get a one hour consultation where we discuss your brand, your current marketing problems, and potential next steps. If you’re not ready to work with somebody like me, I won’t even attempt to sell you.