The late, great and utterly legendary designer Milton Glaser once said, “There are three responses to a piece of design: yes, no, and WOW! Wow is the one to aim for.”
What has he wowed with? For starters, the “I Heart NY” logo, the colorful and swirly Bob Dylan hair poster, the Brooklyn Lager logo and a host of other posters, book jackets and other forms of design that have materialized over a more than four-decade career.
Now, I agree with Uncle Milty G — “yes, no, wow” is magnificent criteria to judge creative things. Imagine you’re a creative director of a fashion brand: is that scarf a “Wow?” How about the director of a film? “Is that script a “Wow?” TV show runner: Is that scene a “Wow?” Architect: Is that atrium a “Wow?” Ad agency CD: Is that billboard a “Wow?” Student at MoMA seeing the entire wall of Jackson Pollack’s “One: Number 31…”
Wow.
You get the idea.
Namely, is the thing you’re looking at inspiring you to say, “Yes…I understand.” Or “No…I don’t like it.”
Or do you lose control for a split second, lean in, with your mouth opening slightly to utter the word, somewhat uncontrollably….‘Wow?”
What I would like to suggest now is that you use “Yes, No, Wow” everywhere.
Is the job you’re applying for a “Wow?”
Is the person you’d be working for a “Wow?”
If you’re a manager, is the person you’re interviewing for a job a “yes,” a “no” or a “Wow?”
You see whatever it is in your career or life, you can simplify the assessment of it to this brutally simple, yet effective criteria: Yes, No, Wow.
By the way, what do you think of this post? Yes? No? Or…?