Meaningful Creations

EDITION 02 / 2025

Happy Monday Reader!!

I am very house-proud - my home is my sanctuary and so it is important to me that I feel good about it. HOWEVER, that does not mean that there isn't CHAOS behind many a wardrobe door 🤣. (And I'm willing to bet good money that I'm not the only one! 😜)

A few years ago after binge-watching the series, my partner and I decided to 'Kondo' our closet. It started as a bit of a laugh, but honestly it was a game changer! We do it regularly now. (Althought I can't pretend that we do it for the whole house LOL!)

There is just something so therapeutic about feeling like everything is organized and your favorite items are easily accessible - and most importantly, it's easy to find things & you know that you've got rid of anything you don't need anymore.

Sparking Joy

So this week on YouTube I am running with the new year's energy by sharing 5 tips for organizing your Canva dashboard or workspace so that you can work more efficiently, without overwhelm, and without having to search for the same things over and over. A little 'Canva Kondo' if you will - to set you up right for the rest of 2025. 😁

Have a watch, and let me know in the comments if you have any other tips for staying organized in a world of digital clutter!

Having worked in creative agencies for a very long time, I can sometimes be a little jaded about marketing & advertising. I have seen some AMAZING creative campaigns, but I have also seen how manipulative marketing & PR can be! (FYI - it's one of the reasons I try and be so transparent about how I communicate & market my offers!)

ANYWAY, this week I wanted to do something a little different and share a short breakdown of a GENIUS advert that one of our community members shared with me (Thank you Steve!)

So, have a watch of the advert below, and the come back to this email for my thoughts!

First of all the design references in this advert are amazing. The Wes Anderson influence is obvious, but there is also such a strong tribute to the designs of Dieter Rams. Both of whom are visionaries, established a design style that was unique to them, and disrupted their industries with a new way of doing things - perfect associations for a company that seeks to establish themselves as a kind of maverick or fresh perspective in their own industry.

Secondly, have a look at the color palette and the textures used. (OK - so I may be a LITTLE biased cos it's basically my brand palette 🤣 - but hear me out.) The majority of car adverts use colors like black, dark blue and red and there's usually a lot of chrome. They also usually use roads and cities as inspiration...skyscrapers, glass, tarmac and dirt. The refined color palette in THIS advert immediately makes it feel unique and stand out - and it elevates the car as a style icon. In fact the use of perfume-style bottles for the paint color options, and the rolls of fabric options (Like a tailor or haberdashery counter) are direct indications that this is a car that values style and elegance. All the textures here (apart from the marble!) are also soft and tactile - even the drapes in background. It feels confident, luxurious, affluent. It's not about revving your engine and screaming around corners like a boy-racer - it's about feeling in charge, comfortable and luxuriating in the experience.

The third thing I loved is this feeling of being in a retro hotel or department store. Again a lovely reference to Wes Anderson films, this is also SO clever because it gives the brand a feeling of heritage - which people equate with reliability. Which is brilliant because the brand has actually only existed as a stand alone car manufacturer since 2017!! Also, having what seems to be a concierge and bellhop looking after you immediately implies a luxury and individualized experience. You are being taken care of.

Number four on my list of why this advert is brilliant: Have you every tried to VISUALIZE a software upgrade or digital offer that doesn't have screen grabs? It's tough! (Most of the time I revert to some kind of packaging mockup so that it feels like there is a real product.) In this advert they bring their 'tech packs' to life by showing a selection of hard disks presented in a luxury box (again with a suede lining) - as if you can pick a disk with your upgrades, and simply load it up. It's not how it really works obvs, but it makes it feel real. PLUS, by using hard disks to represent this, Polestar firmly establish their main target audience - people who are old enough to have USED hard disks! 🤣 Genius.

Five: Presenting gift boxes (and then a whole wall) of pristine car parts as if they were jewelry choices reinforces the idea of luxury, but ALSO implies a real attention to detail - even if (like me) you wouldn't know what those parts looked like anyway! 😜. Every tiny part (including gold-plated valve caps!) has been intentionally considered. Making you feel like you can trust this car... thoroughly. And it always looks perfect.

The fact that Polestar has the confidence to create an advert that doesn't try to just show you how fast and powerful a car is (like most of it's industry), but focuses on how you can customize the car for your own, unique idea of luxury, is something I love.

The 'performance meter' in the box is a brutalist masterpiece and is a quick, visual device for illustrating that the car DOES have excellent performance...but they don't feel they need to prove it to with POV videos of fast corners and engines like everyone else.

Lastly - notice how you don't actually see the faces of the few peolpe in the video. Why - because this is about YOU and your choices.

Honestly I'm such a geek sometimes 😊...I get so excited about stuff like this because I love it when someone does something that is different from the rest of their industry - that what creativity is all about. And it's a great way for me (for us!) to learn how to stand out - by taking inspiration from other industries and trying to apply the insights to our own business. And - like with any good branding - it all starts with looking at something like this advert and asking "What visual devices or techniques does it use, to make me FEEL this way?"

As the Pointer Sisters said...

I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it. 🤪 Next week, Monday 20th Jauary 2025 - CanvaOS opens for enrollment!! PLUS there's a new bonus just for this enrollment.

Wanna know more? Wanna take your Canva skills to the next level? 🤨 Join the waiting list now at createdbywayne.com/canvaos.🖤

OK lovely people - have a great week and take care of each other. 🖤