Issue #6 | Laszlito Kovacs on taking risks and the power of "no"
Welcome to RIP, a tribute to every great idea the world never gets to see
I’ve become a Sunday papers person.
It was inevitable really. I’m an early riser, I love to read, and (pandemic aside) these days my kicks are far more likely to come from learning new things than anywhere with a heavy bass, UV lights, and B.O.G.O.F shot deals.
But the part I look forward to most isn’t the reading, or the learning, or even the slow-pace at which I pore over each and every supplement, worn sleeves of a battered old house jumper clasped around a steaming mug of coffee (although I almost got a boner writing that.) No. It’s the sudoku.
If you’ve been on the internet over the past couple of weeks you’ll have likely heard of languishing. A term The New York Times describes as “a sense of stagnation and emptiness… as if you’re muddling through your days, looking at your life through a foggy windshield.”
In a way it’s a relief. To know this feeling has a name, to know it’s not just me, to know other people are stumbling through life with withering motivation, on what feels like day 365 of a two-day hangover.
But there’s hope. The same New York Times piece notes an antidote to languishing: flow. It’s a concept coined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (try saying that after a few too many B.O.G.O.F shots) back in the 70s, and refers to that “elusive state of absorption in a meaningful challenge or a momentary bond, where your sense of time, place and self melts away.” You know, when you lose yourself in an activity or task, completely focused and utterly unaware of the passing of time.
It turns out one of the clearest paths to flow is cultivating challenges that are neither too demanding nor too simple for our creative abilities. And in a time when I’m very much languishing, it seems Sunday sudokus are my gateway to flow.
Now that my pensioner hobbies are out of the way, I feel like I owe you a bit of excitement, so this month’s Rest in Progress is all about risks.
Over to the significantly more exciting (he has a pseudonym and everything) Laszlito Kovacs*. Now a Creative Director at Typeform, he shares an unpublished gem from his days at WeTransfer.
What was your idea and what happened (or, better yet, didn’t happen) to it?
When Dropbox rebranded back in 2017, I noticed the visual language and comms seems a little too close to what we were doing at WeTransfer.
I thought it would be a good idea to respond, spark a conversation, and have a laugh. And I thought Malvina Reynold's Little Boxes could do the work for us.
It’s a song about sameness and uniformity, about the perpetuation of the establishment.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.
Previous to its rebrand, Dropbox seemed so normcore and uninteresting from a creative standpoint. While WeTransfer always felt to me like something interesting, someone I liked hanging out with, someone with an uncompromising point of view. And we saw some of our users saying the same sort of thing on Twitter.
I thought a campaign featuring Malvina's song and ending with our own brand-new logo would be a fun, elegant response to Dropbox’s news, and a wink to our community.
I would have loved to see the reaction this campaign could have had. I believe our community would have “got it.” And I hope Dropbox would have engaged in the conversation too.
That said, it strategically might not have been the best move for the company. So the idea floated around and was easily dismissed. I have to say, I really didn't put too much effort into creating a strong presentation.
What is it about this idea you can’t let go of?
The prospect of engaging in a public conversation with one of our biggest competitors at the time.
I always love brands who, especially in the US, tease each other. We have Coca-Cola and Pepsi producing playful pieces that elevate both brands. Or the legendary Mac vs. PC spots.
It’s also the feeling of bringing something old-fashioned. Something I felt fit with our way of seeing the world and understanding of our users.
Do you think being part of an in-house creative team means you get more or less opportunity to take risks with your ideas?
Often in-house creative teams can feel like they aren't really driving the conversation. And I get where that comes from.
I'd argue that, because in-house teams are so embedded in every touchpoint in an organisation, it’s their vision that helps third parties recognise and embed a company's culture in any projects these third parties participate in.
And conversely, the fact that agencies, freelancers, consultants bring a new view of the situation contributes to a healthy creative tension between both parties. It’s within this creative tension where ownership is redefined and where, in my opinion, exciting ideas are forged.
Take WePresent. It was an in-house project initially led by Rob Alderson and his team that has created one of the most fascinating creative avenues for WeTransfer. Particularly now when you sprinkle in Holly Fraser's brilliant vision and the fantastic curation from Suzanne Tromp, Lucy Pike, and the rest of the team — including the WeTransfer Studio mavericks.
Out of that in-house idea, incredible collaborations with creatives, agencies, and brands were born, touching the hearts and imaginations of many people.
There are undoubtedly other cases in which ideas didn't come to fruition. But as a creative, I think “no” is the best answer you can get. Because it puts you back to square one, that moment during the creative process in which anything is possible. Exercising that muscle and feeling comfortable with being pushed back, I believe, is one of the key ingredients of good creative thinking.
🛎️ BONUS ROUND 🛎️
When it comes to creative ideas, is your alter ego (Laszlito) more daring?
We should ask him, hahaha. I don’t know, I can tell you that my best ideas have been the ones that I don’t exclusively own but rather those that I had the opportunity to contribute to with the team. Witnessing creativity emerging in contexts of close collaboration is one of the best things ever.
Which brand is putting out good work right now?
A24
What TV series/book/podcast are you binging right now?
I just discovered the work of Clarice Lispector. I recently finished Hour of the Star and it felt like a wild rollercoaster rode. As a lover of the early nouvelle vague films, I feel this is the best nouvelle vague film that was never made.
Huge thanks to Laszlito, I love the idea of “no” being a chance to exercise your creative thinking. Now for some other bits and bobs that helped me find flow, or just made my brain happy, over the past few weeks:
This entire YouTube channel
Every last morsel of this podcast series (and in turn, rewatching the show in its entirety)
This tweet, which I felt in my ovaries
The Pudding has done it again
David making a baGuetta
This perfect articulation of how I feel about space
In case BBC police dramas and grammar are also where your venn diagram of interests collide
*I met Laszlito three years ago and still don’t know his real name — a level of aloofness I can only aspire to achieve.