I will admit it. I am a little superstitious.
Not dramatically. I am not throwing salt over my shoulder or avoiding ladders. But I do have small rituals that have followed me into my career as a brand, web and graphic designer working with marketing leaders.
I say hello to magpies.
I never give a project a job number until it is officially underway.
And if something feels wrong in the early creative stage, I pay attention. Instinct is usually right.
Recently, around Halloween, there was a lot of talk about superstition. It got me thinking about how those little quirks show up in my work and why I think they matter.
Because here is the thing. Even with my superstitions, I do not rely on luck.
Great design does not happen by accident.
A strong brand is not born from chance.
A website does not succeed because someone got lucky on launch day.
Effective design comes from clarity, planning, experience and a lot of careful craft. Strategy first, creativity always, superstition just for fun.
A recent example
One of my latest projects is a good illustration of that approach. I have just named and designed the brand identity, website and two substantial publications for IndEX (the Industry and Educators Exchange) at www.the-index.uk.
The work brings together leading organisations and educators to help prepare learners for the future workplace and to strengthen industry pipelines. Partners include forward-thinking organisations such as Google, Newham Data, Intelligent Light and MADIC.
One of the printed books has a thirty-millimetre spine, which gives you an idea of the scale and ambition. It is a serious piece of work designed to support meaningful collaboration between education and industry while helping learners build real future-ready skills.
Projects like this do not come together by chance. They come from process, partnership, listening, shaping, questioning and building ideas with purpose. There may be a magpie greeting in the background, but everything else is strategy, craft and clarity.
Bringing it back to superstition
If your brand or website feels like it is running on hope and habit, it might be time to put something more reliable behind it.
I will keep greeting magpies. That is not going anywhere.
But when it comes to your brand, everything has intention, structure and purpose.
If you want design that is built on insight rather than good fortune, I would love to talk.