Be A Rule Follower

Be a rule follower  

I hope that the title of this article confuses or even shocks people who follow me. I throw the words “disrupter” and “innovator” into a lot of conversations. Why would I suggest that you follow rules?

“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.” – Pablo Picasso

That’s it in a nutshell: you can’t improve on an idea or concept if you don’t understand it. Picasso spent thousands of hours analyzing and practicing basic concepts of art – perspective, color theory, balance, etc. – in order to create the art that made him a household name.

Branding is an example of an area where you can benefit from a firm grasp on rules that are, in many ways, centuries old. Consider THE LOGO, the almighty visual image for your brand. So much rides on a logo that you can’t just text your nephew who took a couple graphic design classes in high school and ask him to create one for you. He may, indeed, end up completing the project, but you, the queen or king of your brand, needs to have the most input when it comes to the design.

And how do you know what input is necessary? The rules of good design. And where do you find those rules? Come on, people! Do I really have to provide the answer to that question? It’s the answer to probably every question about rules you might have in 2019. Google it. I’m not kidding. In less than one minutes I found multiple not just good, but great, resources for “rules of good logo design.”

Remember, though, that to be the Picasso of your business you aren’t learning the rules to follow them; you’re learning the rules to break them. Back in the Mad Men days of advertising, research indicated that the colors red and yellow enhanced diners’ appetites. Hmmm… where do we see that red and yellow color combo the most? McDonald’s, Burger King and Wendy’s, the top three fast food businesses in the U.S.

So maybe you take that particular rule (red and yellow) and Picasso the hell out of it in a unique way that is more representative of your personal brand. The Five Guys Burgers and Fries family decided red and red only was more representative of their brand. No yellow for the Murrell family’s burger biz. In interviews, patriarch Jerry Murrell has said that the family wanted the quality of the food products to speak for themselves and in their early days word of mouth about the food was what led to lines around the block.

The restaurant rules indicated red and yellow was needed. Fast food rules indicated a unique logo and mascot was important. Plenty of people alerted the Murrells to the rules that had to be followed if they wanted to be successful. The family learned ‘em and then they broke ‘em. All the way to the bank. Five Guys’ beyond simple graphic elements fly in the face of everything that had worked before and an industry was disrupted.

If innovation and disruption are on your to do list, one of the best ways to start is to understand what you’re innovating and disrupting. The sooner you learn the rules, the sooner you can start breaking them.