I’ll admit it. I am a little superstitious.
Not dramatically. I am not throwing salt over my shoulder or avoiding ladders. But I do have small rituals that have followed me into my career as a brand, web and graphic designer working with marketing leaders.
I say hello to magpies.
I never give a project a job number until it is officially underway.
And if something feels wrong in the early creative stage, I pay attention. Instinct is usually right.
Recently, around Halloween, there was a lot of talk about superstition. It got me thinking about how those little quirks show up in my work and why I think they matter.
Because here is the thing. Even with my superstitions, I do not rely on luck.
Great design does not happen by accident. A strong brand is not born from chance.
A website does not succeed because someone got lucky on launch day.
Effective design comes from clarity, planning, experience and a lot of careful craft. Strategy first, creativity always, superstition just for fun.
A recent example:
One of my latest projects is a good illustration of that approach. I have just named and designed the brand identity, website and two substantial publications for IndEX (the Industry and Educators Exchange) at www.the-index.uk
The work brings together leading organisations and educators to help prepare learners for the future workplace and to strengthen industry pipelines. Partners include forward-thinking organisations such as Google, Newham Data, Intelligent Light and MADIC.
One of the printed books has a thirty-millimetre spine, which gives you an idea of the scale and ambition. It is a serious piece of work designed to support meaningful collaboration between education and industry while helping learners build real future-ready skills.
Projects like this do not come together by chance. They come from process, partnership, listening, shaping, questioning and building ideas with purpose. There may be a magpie greeting in the background, but everything else is strategy, craft and clarity.
