Jason Mageehan

Colours carry meanings rooted in both nature and nurture. Designers often discuss red's fiery impact and purple's luxurious aura, but few delve into the why. Nature's influence is profound. Imagine an unfamiliar bug, yellow and black – a natural signal of caution. Consider blue – a serene hue. Whether it's the cyan sky or calm waters, nature subtly communicates a sense of peace. Then there's purple, a rare gem in nature. Historically linked to royalty, its scarcity made it a symbol of opulence until synthetic dyes came into play. Our colour perceptions are a blend of experiences and primal instincts. While our encounters shape how we see colours, nature has given us a hard-wired layer to our associations.

"I've written books about advertising - cheque books!" - Alan Sugar once penned. Advertising costs. Testing doesn't have to be hard, but it will cost more. It's truly a time in a business lifecycle where speculating does accumulate. In short, testing helps you know your customer better, narrow down their persona, learn more about their motivation to buy. Every campaign in every sphere of marketing SHOULD start with the question "What are we going to learn?" before deciding on what you're going to sell.

When all is said and done, you need to make a decision between vanity and sanity. Vanity will lead you to protect your work, your vision, your aesthetic or your brand. Sanity will help you be a profitable problem solver. If you can, turn off the emotion; embrace the criticism by providing a structure for someone to give their critique and know that a happy client is a profitable client.

"What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." - words of wisdom recorded in the Old Testament. Reviewing your work and citing sources are critical elements, but so too are making record of how a creation came into being. Working on an equation at school would yeild one point for the answer and five points for showing your working out - the same is true in design. Not only do you protect yourself from criticism when you can show why your solution was implemented, but you also demonstrate your expertise and your value as a designer of solutions. Show your research, show your work, show your value.

Use your voice judiciously. It is important to strike a balance in sharing your research in a manner that is not overtly promotional, while also not understating the significance of your findings. This can be a difficult task, but it is one that must be approached with great care and attention. By carefully considering your words and your audience, you can share your research in a way that is both authentic and compelling, while also contributing to the ongoing discourse and advancement of knowledge in your field.