Swim outside your lane
Why Playing It Safe Will Eventually Sink Your Brand
Most brands claim they want to stand out. Few actually do.
Somewhere between committee feedback, brand guidelines, and “what competitors are doing”, bold ideas get watered down until they’re safe, familiar, and forgettable.
But the truth is, great brands don’t win by staying in their lane. They win by swimming outside it.
In design and growth strategy, that means taking creative risks.
It’s choosing a visual identity that might make you slightly nervous, or a tone of voice that doesn’t sound like everyone else’s. It’s saying something real when your competitors are hiding behind jargon. It’s trusting your audience to recognise authenticity when they see it.
The brands people remember are rarely the ones that played it safe.
They’re the ones that dared to zig while everyone else zagged. Whether it’s a disruptive colour palette in a conservative industry or a website that breaks the traditional grid, standing out starts with intent. You have to decide to do something different, not just talk about it.
Creative risk doesn’t mean chaos. It means knowing your strategy well enough to bend the rules with purpose.
When we work with clients, we often find their strongest creative direction already exists somewhere in their story, it just needs the confidence to surface. The challenge is helping them see that bold design isn’t reckless; it’s strategic bravery.
The digital space moves too fast for safe ideas. Algorithms reward attention, and audiences reward honesty. If your brand looks and sounds the same as everyone else’s, you’re invisible.
And invisibility is far riskier than doing something unconventional.
So how do you swim outside your lane?
Start by questioning everything you’ve accepted as “the way it’s done.” Look beyond your sector for inspiration, architecture, music, fashion, film. Experiment with contrast and tension. Simplify what others overcomplicate. And most importantly, don’t design for approval, design for impact.
At Hiatus, we believe creativity is an act of courage. Every bold brand started with someone willing to take a calculated risk and say, this feels different, but it feels right.
Because if your brand doesn’t make waves, it’s probably still swimming in the same lane as everyone else.
