No excuses for blandness
Is creativity haram? This is not the right kind of question… I am not looking for a fatwa here. This is the kind of question you ask yourself after looking at the ads for Islamic banks in Pakistan. From their logos to their communication, they all look the same; geometric patterns, arches, Islamic architecture, Arabic fonts, shades of green…
Every critique of Shariah-compliant advertising comes with the usual culprit as a defence: religious constraints. Ask any brand manager why his bank looks, sounds, and behaves exactly like every single other competitor, and he will cry you a river about how difficult it is to have anything approved by the board. Which board?
In fact, we have started to believe that constraints are the last thing we need in order to be creative. Yet, this could not be further from the truth; constraints can be an advantage when it comes to doing great work; or even better, they are essential to creating extraordinary work.
If you have ever faced writer’s block, you know what it’s like to be paralysed by the prospect of innumerable choices. Restrictions take away those choices (in Islamic banking’s case, a lot of choices) and with them, the paralysis of choice that stops us from getting started vanishes. I am a big fan of brands in countries such as Iran and Saudi Arabia which, despite many constraints, produce outstanding work.
Here are some examples.