Adopting a Jazz Mindset
When designers hear the word jazz, the first image that comes to mind very well may be the appropriately named “jazz design” made up of jagged, crayon-like brushstrokes of teal and purple that first made their appearance in the 1990’s on paper plates and cups. Since then, the design has achieved cult-like status, become a pop culture icon, and been applied on everything from sweatshirts to shoes, cars, and playing cards.
But when I hear the word jazz, I am instantly transported to my childhood living room. As early as I can remember, my dad would invite me up on the couch to listen to his records and look at the album artwork each night after work. (This was probably his tactic to prevent me from breaking another needle or knolling his records across the floor.) But it was in those formative moments that I began to appreciate the music and foster a lifelong love of design. Because if my dad loved those things, then of course I wanted to love them too.
Over the years, my love for the genre has grown and been complemented by an appreciation for the mindset in which the music was created. First, I’d like to share with you three elements that make a jazz mindset not only different but necessary to our work. Then let’s look at how adopting that mindset can help us better respond to uncertainty and to each other—ultimately inspiring solutions that will have a deeper and wider impact long into the future.
A mindset shift
Prior to jazz, music was primarily composed. Meaning the outcome of the piece was predetermined and structured by an individual to provide a specific and repeatable sonic experience. Precision, perfection, and discipline were the ideals. Even their sheet music “album covers” reflected that discipline!
As designers, we often apply a similar mindset to our work; that is, to follow a fixed, linear path. Usually, it’s written as something like:
Define > Design > Develop > Deliver
This mindset isn’t inherently wrong, but it doesn’t represent the world I know or we live in. Transformation has become a buzzword that can be applied to everything. We are in a constant state of change—and the pace is faster than ever. Processes, systems, and experiences at the highest level all need better solutions. Fixed, linear thinking will not lead to the type of breakthrough solutions we need, and according to McKinsey, nor does it pay off as those who capitalize on change see much higher returns in their innovation efforts and outperform their peers across several measures.
To develop solutions to address the problems of today, we need more adaptability. Let’s look at three core ideas that jazz adheres to improvisation, comping, and tension.
Improvisation
Improvisation is the idea that a musician can spontaneously compose their own freeform expression, within the structure of a piece, in response to outside events. Those outside events could be the music itself, the venue, the crowd, the other musicians, their own emotional state, etc.
In fact, the best-selling jazz album of all time, “Kind of Blue” by Miles Davis, was recorded without rehearsal. Reflecting on the process, Davis said, “I brought in these musical sketches that nobody had seen. I told the musicians that they could do anything they wanted, play anything they heard, so that’s what they did.”
Improvisation isn’t unique to jazz; we do it all the time. In conversation we make up or change what we’re going to say based on where a conversation leads, we take alternate routes based on traffic, when playing sports, etc. But at work, we follow, and are often rewarded for, doing things “by the book.” In essence, we’re playing the composed music.
Being adaptable means seeing opportunities that lead to improvisation which, in turn, lead to innovation. As Dan Weiden of Weiden + Kennedy says, “if you’re never lost, you’re never going to wind up anyplace new.” By learning to embrace the unexpected rather than resisting when things don’t go as planned, we can discover more innovative ideas and better respond to a changing world.
“If you’re not making a mistake, it’s a mistake.”
To hear improvisation, listen to how three musicians play George Gershwin’s jazz staple, Summertime.
Comping
One of the greatest compliments a jazz musician can receive is having “big ears,” which means they listen to others more than themself. Comping, an abbreviation for accompanying, is supporting the other musicians to sound as good as possible with the notes you’re playing.
The most skilled compers are able to alternate between echoing a soloist at some points and contrasting at others. Such a great metaphor for our work as designers. To be successful, our team needs to understand that everyone brings something unique to the table and it’s our job to help bring that out.
We can do that by creating a psychological comfort zone, ensuring each person speaks and is heard, picking up on unspoken emotions, and showing understanding for everyone’s contribution. If the team feels safe, they are much more likely to contribute. As people share their work, new perspectives, and ask questions in the context of those relationships and exchanges, additional insights will occur.
“It’s the group sound that’s important, even when you’re playing a solo. You not only have to know your own instrument, you must know the others and how to back them up at all times. That’s jazz.”
To hear comping in action, listen (carefully) to how pianist Sonny Clark changes his approach to support the solo in Cool Struttin’.
Tension
Used individually, improvisation and/or comping won’t work; they must be held together in tension.
Like music, design most successfully operates in tension. This brings me back to the iconic album covers I would look at with my dad. Designer Reid Miles effectively used tension to capture visually what was happening audibly. In the book Cover Art of Blue Note Records, author Felix Cromey says his covers, “sound like [they know] what lay in store for the listener.” And, as a result, he helped shape the visual identity of not only Blue Note Records—but also modern jazz.
We need to consider the tension between form and function; symmetry and asymmetry; feasibility, desirability, and viability; and the list goes on… But, for many reasons, it’s easy to lose sight of and focus on one element at the expense of the other. For example, usability at the expense of creativity. Or on developing a beautiful solution, but one that isn’t accessible or understood.
Joshua Brewer, CEO of Abstract was getting at this exact point when he said, “Just because something looks good doesn’t mean it’s useful. And just because something is useful does not make it beautiful.”
“Blue Note was recognized worldwide as the most important jazz label in modern history. The sound and look expressed a whole feeling about jazz.”
To get a sense for tension in action, try listening to Kind of Blue which is regarded as the most popular jazz album of all time.
So what?
We’ve covered three key characteristics of a jazz mindset and how they can inspire our work. What next; back to design as usual? I implore you, we cannot. Einstein famously said, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” The time to shift our mindset from fixed to adaptable and from individual to collaborative is now.
Why? We need it more than ever. An adaptable and collaborative mindset can help everyone from business leaders and policymakers to epidemiologists and underrepresented peoples navigate ambiguity. Experiences, services, and systems are being designed and redesigned as we speak, rarely by an unbiased cross-disciplinary group of people seeking to uncover the most appropriate solution. And regardless of who designs those solutions, their effectiveness decides who—not only companies but people—survive and who thrive. It’s clear, we need a new mindset to deliver good design more than ever.
By modeling the way with their own mindset, Blue Note Records founders Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff called attention not only to the creativity of the music but to many black American artists who they supported and promoted, making them household names at the time and entering many into the proverbial jazz club hall of fame.
“Without the experimentation of Blue Note Records and the authority and respect they gave to black artists, music today would be a far less diverse landscape and black voices would be heard even less than they are now.”
My hope is that this mindset becomes our second nature. Because if we can learn from jazz, we’ll see that it will not only impact our work, but more importantly the audience(s) we’re designing with, and generations upon generations who will interact with our work years into the future.