When you start a new project, what’s the goal?
As I see it, you can go two ways. It’s a given that you want to make something that people will like. Ultimately, the direction you take is determined by how you define that word: “Like”.
If by like you mean passionate, celebrated, different, noteworthy, challenging, then you’ve set the bar high. Good. The world needs more people like you. It will never get them, so your work is even more valuable.
If, on the other hand, you define like as not offensive, you’ve gone in the opposite direction. It’s impossible for brilliant work to not offend someone. By it’s very nature, it won’t appeal to everyone. It will put some people off your product or your business or you.
But, what you made, yes, people will like it. Kind of. In this other direction, the phrase actually reads more like, “no one is going to not-like this.” This is what you do when you make the perfect example of an insurance commercial, or a website that’s normal, or a press release about your sale.
The bar is set pretty low for work like this. You can do it for an entire career, and chances are no one is going to not-like it.
But no one’s going to like it, either.
