Christian Barnett Creative Strategist

Why did you become a creative strategist?

I love moving from customer insights into creative solutions; finding solutions that may not articulate themselves. Businesses and their customers are very capable of creative thought, but it’s all too easy to start the creative process with the wrong questions.

As soon as I knew that this kind of role existed, I knew that it was the job for me. I was working in research. I like research; I view it as my technical background. But what you do with research is the thing that’s useful. Having some input, being able to get to the nub and take it to a conclusion that people might not be able to think of themselves.

What’s your favourite moment in the process?

The eureka moment when you somehow make sense of all the data, then suddenly it becomes incredibly clear.

You can see the solution; it requires immersion in the data, and then to back away from it. The eureka moment often doesn’t have anything to do with staying focused on the data but, when you look back to justify how you managed to justify this eureka, you find it in the data. You think, “Wow, there’s a solution that I didn’t know I could even think of.”

What is the biggest challenge in design?

There is a gap between brand design (the design that ‘creatives’ do) and digital. It points to an opportunity to use design to differentiate and get competitive advantage.