Small Hat Studio

"A healthy partnership is the collaboration of the client’s unique vision and the creative’s unique imagination." #partnership #design

In today’s fast-paced world, the term innovation is thrown around with such ubiquity you’d think it’s easily achieved. CEOs champion it, factories churn it out, and consumers demand it. But does every problem require an innovative design solution? No.             True innovation—at least the kind that disrupts markets and creates obscene wealth—is rarely needed to accomplish a client’s objectives. Often, a client needs design that subscribes to the MAYA principle—Most Advanced, Yet Acceptable. Coined by industrial designer Raymond Loewy, the MAYA principle calls for presenting novel design solutions that are new to the client but never so advanced they can’t be understood. In other words, most people need good design—not even great design— to achieve their goals.             Does that mean we don’t create innovative work at Small Hat Studio? Not at all. However, we believe in balancing the correct amount of innovation, time, and effort against our client’s objectives and budgets to make design an accessible commodity. Now that’s a novel idea. 

A dictionary defines integrity as a staunch sense of moral uprightness. However, the word’s connotation has evolved to something even more potent. It suggests the act of doing the right thing, even when nobody is looking–even when you could get away with doing less than your best. For communication professionals, the adage of doing one’s best rings especially true since—as the saying goes—you’re only as good as your last job. The design world isn’t removed from the rules of principled ethics. The integrity of our work reflects our fundamental obligation to our craft. One of the objectives of good design is to uphold a visual standard of excellence. This can’t be achieved with winging it on what is passable. Enter the importance of peer reviews and critiques. As designers, we rely on others in our professional space to hold us accountable for the work we create. Their honest feedback challenges our ideas, pushes us in new directions, and ensures we present our strongest work to our clients and the greater public. The burden of responsibility in this dynamic falls not only on the creator but also on the colleague providing the critique. Compliments and platitudes feel good, but constructive criticism takes effort. As a result, the integrity of an honest and mindful review encourages quality achievement in design—even if people outside our office rarely see it.