Adit Garg #16: The 3% Approach
I recently came across a new creative idea widely followed in the fashion industry (commonly associated with Virgil Abloh); it is called the 3% rule. The concept of the 3% rule is that when creating something new, you only need to change the original product by 3%. This creates a common association behind all the pieces and removes the pressure to create something fully original immediately. Artists often feel a need to come up with big ideas quickly, but in reality what we call "big ideas" are just small ideas slowly building off of each other to the point wherein the end there are only very few similarities between the latter and the former. Even when you look at the evolution of humans, the earliest human beings are so much more different than us. However, when you look at the evolution of humans, you can see that the changes to their structure are little and subtle. Slowly, these subtle changes turn into something "distinct."
There is this saying that "great artists steal," and in a way that is very true. All ideas have a source, no matter the magnitude of how present the source actually is. Any time a creator says that their concept is fully original, they are fully lying. All thoughts come from somewhere, they just do not realize it. Rappers sample other music, Quentin Tarantino took scenes from other movies and added his own twist to them, and Steve Jobs took the mouse that Xerox invented to use as the user interface for his computers. This concept of "stealing" other ideas is important because it shows that a lot of the times that our ideas do not have to be fully original. All innovators take commonly accepted ideas and incorporate their own way of looking at things. Look at the evolution of clothing over the decades, you can clearly see each decade simply building off of the last one. However, you can hardly see similarities when looking in increments of several decades.
An artist's goal should not be creating something fully original in a single iteration. Their goal should be to find inspiration and keep making changes to the idea until they have created something that they could consider to be theirs.
Hi Adit! When I look at art on social media, I sometimes scroll through the comments on pieces of art that I really like to look for advice, and one piece of advice I often notice is "always use reference pictures." Artists are encouraged to take from other artists and other pictures they find to incorporate in their art, and it is a combination of these reference materials that make up a new art piece. Eventually as artists grow comfortable with their art, they will develop their own art style to alter reference pictures to their liking. It is interesting to see that this happens in almost everything related to humans' creations, but I suppose its because our creativity is limited by the things we have experienced or see as fathomable. I've always been intrigued about how there might be other colors outside our range of visible light waves (or however colors work), but it is unfathomable to us as everything we see is some shade of red, orange, yellow, etc.
ReplyDeleteHi Adit! It is completely true that as much as an artist or creator wants to invent a new piece of work, the overall goal at any point should be that the artist creates something that is an original piece of work until something they created of their own was made. I have never heard of the 3% rule of recreation, but it is definitely true that small changes that build off each other create a point at which the initial design in a comparative spot with the most recent one will be distinct enough to differentiate. Humans had started off with someone who looked closely to the features of a gorilla, but they grew to evolve into looking quite different from that of that animal. Incorporating a spark of your own taste as an artist will always create a new feel and look to the overall design you are creating. Over a decade period, I recognized that differences are almost unnoticeable when closely compared from older designs to the newer ones. Thank you for your blog and I look forward to your next ones.
ReplyDeleteThe 3% rule is an extremely interesting thing to think of. While I get that changing a thing only 3% does tend to work out best economically, I feel like completely organic and new designs are the way to go. The original Jordan 1 was a piece of art and it led to millions of dollars in revenue. So it does take original works at the beginning, but change can come later. I guess that the 3% is much smarter to do, but the completely new designs are the ones that are much more likely to crash and burn or hit the sky. There is likely a balance somewhere in there, but the 3% rule is just too reliable to pass on.
ReplyDeleteHey Adit, you make an interesting point revolving around the 3% rule. Products and art, and various facets of our life have all gone through years of conceptualization and ideation that culminated into the material world that surrounds us today. Products that are altered by a simple 3% in a manner that makes it more effective or usable or even more appealing in any way can result in an all new product significantly more successful than its predecessor. However, the utilization of previous concepts or ideas to make new ones is a lot more successful with significant independent innovation or ideation. Products that really create a new niche or quality based off of a basic concept spun in a new or organic way tend to be significantly more successful than the simple three percent changes necessary to create a new product. However, this method has proven consistent in recent years and that reliability is hard to deny, so it's definitely going to persist in coming years.
ReplyDeleteHi Adit! As someone who’s not particularly artistic or creative, I feel like the 3% rule is an effective approach to any task that does require creativity. For one, it’s easier to have a starting point to create from as opposed to being completely stuck on a blank canvas. The progress itself is already made, and being able to follow in the footsteps of someone who already has experience creating some form of art seems to be the best way to learn it. The 3% rule also does still leave room for individual creativity and still allows for the development of personal preferences and styles.
ReplyDeleteHi Adit, I had not heard about the 3% Approach before reading your blog, but I think it is a very interesting idea. I definitely agree that all new ideas build off of each other, and nothing can be completely original. Every art piece has a source of inspiration. Every new innovation builds off of other ideas behind it. I really like this 3% idea because it reassures artists and innovators that they only need to make small changes and improvements. In today’s world, I think that people can get overly possessive about ideas and accuse others of “stealing” their ideas or creation. While I understand their will to protect their ideas and creations, I truly believe that the best ideas and best products come not from one mind, but from multiple minds put together. By borrowing from others, and adding your own twist, one can create something truly remarkable. Thus in order for us, as a society, to make significant progress, we must be open to artists and innovators taking inspiration and ideas from one another. I am sure that this will allow many new ideas and unexpected developments to arise.
ReplyDeleteHey Adit, the connection that you draw between this 3% rule in fashion and human evolution is genuinely so interesting. It's crazy that fashion pieces might be so similar to another piece 10 years ago, but it will be completely different from a century ago, just like the human race and society. But I also think there is another metaphor to be made here. People often complain that fashion will finally go back to its roots; a lot of the trends these days are heavily inspired by 60s and 70s fashion. Soon, we could find the next decade of fashion to be inspired by an earlier era of fashion. In the same way, although human race and society in every decade seems so different, when we really look at it closely, there are many similarities that we can note because our evolution is ultimately inspired by past evolution.
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