maximum meaning, minimum means
The above line is attributed to designer Abram Games and it is truly brilliant.
It communicates the essence of quality in art in four elegant, alliterative words that practice exactly what they preach.
But why is economy of expression such a prized skill?
Although you can argue for nebulous abstractions such as ‘beauty’, I think it, and everything else we admire, comes down to a single thing: difficulty. Expressing elaborate concepts, such as the essence of a company, in three words (Just Do It), or the way love works in a single line (the love you take is equal to the love you make) is really, really hard, and therefore worthy of our admiration. It’s why we like short titles that have many meanings (War and Peace), or puns (they often have the added difficulty of being spontaneous), or works of art such as Shepard Fairey’s ‘hope’ image of Obama.
Advertising’s short timelengths are rich areas of density of expression and this can happen in very different ways. For example, he beautiful imagery and wonderfully lyrical voiceover of ‘Surfer’ can be taken in on the first viewing, but those 90 seconds can be watched time and again, revealing different layers on each occasion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zff9hVH3ptY
But equally, there’s a whole life, backstory, attitude and personality in two words and a muddy football pitch that we can all recognise and enjoy in various ways each time we see it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUSpjZEhNU8
Saying a lot with a little is quite a skill (that, as you can see, I have yet to master).
For pithy wordplay to create that density and resonance, context is everything. The backstory as you call it. Tolstoy had a fair few tomes behind him before he knocked out War & Peace and therefore we look deeper into it to find hidden meanings and depths. Guinness had just started a new direction in its ads and, as creatives, we were looking out for Surfer (having heard much hype in the weeks proceeding its launch). It also had two fine creatives behind it, so we knew that it wouldn’t be shit.
Just do it is a great endline, but it needed ‘proving’. Otherwise it’s as banal as any other endline. The ads that followed were good and kept hammering the message that anyone could get out there. Now it has returned to preening sports starts with ‘attitude’. And Rory McIlroy. But that’s another story.
Economy of expression works best when it comes from something you already believe in and trust. A bit like art. My coloured squares on a canvas aren’t going to be appreciated quite like Miro’s.
I am rambling. I have a very high temperature and am a bit bored. That’s why I love your blog.
Rambling?
It was the best reply I’ve read on here.
Context is indeed all.