Good design is taught, studied and consistently implemented. Creativity is inherently maverick.
Design is about flow, alignment, spacing and relevance. Print design considers readability and font choice, web design is measured by usability and flatness, and interior design is grounded in the science of environment and space. It's a competency.
Creativity on the other hand is ultimately subjective. When you see an ad or a T.V. commercial and think, "I wish I would have thought of that," your envy is rooted in creativity. Creativity is how well you solve a specific problem for a specific person using specific parameters.
So should your marketing be creative or well designed? Differentiate your community by flexing your creativity muscle when given the opportunity, but don't expect all of your outreach will be creative. Stock photography is not creative. Neither are metaphor concepts or balloons on monument signs. Creativity is an effective resident retention program, and unique move-in promotion and flexing your policies to allow for customized rent payments.
Good design is mandatory, and should be evident in everything you produce, both online and offline. Design should speak to your target resident, and should carry the tone of your community or company. For example, 3D floor plans may seem creative, but they borderline on poor design because they're often difficult to understand. (apartment renters look at floor plans once a year vs. those of us in the industry who see them everyday) Most locator magazines and web sites are void of creativity, but their design allows for efficient consumption of large amounts of data that whether you like it or not, needs to be compared.
Most importantly, design allow people interact with it; and is neither creative nor effective if it doesn't sell.
Illustration Via Illustrator and Graphic Designer Frank Chimero
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