Good Design is the Concept

You've seen this video, yes? Or at least heard the story behind it? How, in 1976, French director Claude LeLouch mounted a gyroscopic camera on the front of a Ferrari and commissioned a Formula 1 race car driver to go all Grand Theft Auto before there was such a thing: Paris, end to end, in less than ten minutes. 140 miles per hour, running red lights, going the wrong way down skinny one-way streets, taking to the sidewalk to pass a slow moving truck, and nearly clipping spectating pedestrians, with that burly Ferrari engine growling and tires screaming for their lives the whole time.



Problem is, such an awesome display of recklessness never happened. LeLouch has admitted that the Ferrari was a Mercedes, 140 was more like 80, and the mysterious speed demon behind the wheel was the director himself.

However, knowing what you know now, watch again and tell me that nine minutes behind the wheel is any less exhilarating.

I like this video in the context of talking design because it's a perfect visual metaphor for my philosophy that design doesn't need to be concepted to death to work. Sure, it makes for a good if not gimmicky presentation to the client when you can say you chose a color because, say, its PMS value is exactly one-third of the year the company was founded, but just as LeLouch's video is badass regardless of backstory, neither should design rely on the crutch of a nebular concept to be impactful.

And what do you know, Paul Rand agrees with me. (Dig the afro mullet on Miggs B.)