Creative Fluency
June 14, 2023
Despite being fully remote, we have the most extraordinary meetings at a small studio. Our Office Hours (what we call our brief, but highly impactful meetings) are filled with Squirrel moments; off-tangent ideas, and discussions that make us laugh, reflect and sometimes make someone yell; "I love you guys!" That's just how we empower one another to do our best work
What often leads to the most Squirrel moments is the divergence in the lingo of the millennials and Gen-Zs. A never-ending but entertaining linguistic battle. Millennials constantly asking Gen-Zs if the "slang" is IN or MID? And Gen-Z continually pointing out the "ERA" of life they are presently living in and encouraging millennials to keep up.
The differences in the language of these two generations of creatives enrich our design style and flow daily. Watching seasoned millennials and the unrelenting Gen-Zs articulate their processes and design solutions is a beautiful game of professional ping-pong.
Hard to believe, but millennials were once the cool kids; they created and popularized the abbreviations we all use in instant messaging today. So, the LOLs, LMAOs, and OMGs are the brain-script of the millennials. But giving them their flowers, Gen-Zs have taken things to the next level, by pretty much inventing new words and changing the meaning of old ones just for fun and desired emotions. If you are a millennial reading this, ask a Gen-Z what these 💀, 🪑, 🧢 mean, and you will see exactly what we're talking about.
Wherever you might fall on the generational spectrum, know that you are the YIN to a YANG.
This diverse linguistic palette of Gen-Zs infuses our work with a sense of cultural relevance and keeps our finger on the pulse of the times. Their fluency in internet culture and meme-speak empowers them to tap into the collective consciousness, creating designs that resonate with their peers. They possess an innate ability to capture the zeitgeist, transforming slang and memes into visual masterpieces that are straight-up fire.
On the other end of the generational spectrum, millennials bring their wealth of experience and refined linguistic blend to the creative process too. Their visual-rich language, honed through years of digital communication, carries a unique blend of efficiency and depth. They can distill complex concepts into bite-sized impactful chunks. We leverage their linguistic prowess to convey powerful messages with brevity. Their ability to infuse emotion into carefully crafted words to enrich a design solution helps them connect with audiences profoundly and we love this.
There is a constant collision of generational dialects and design solutions at a small studio, and it ignites fireworks of creativity, pushes boundaries and breathes life into fresh concepts. Wherever you might fall on the generational spectrum, know that you are the YIN to the YANG of the other person on your team. Be open-minded to unlock creative fluency, like we continue to do at a small studio.
