Words we love: panacea

Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a magic, fix-all solution to life’s problems? A reliable remedy for whatever gets thrown our way.

Of course, I have my own go-tos that help ease the ride: an ice-cold negroni on a Friday night after a long week; hot yoga to soothe a sore body and a cluttered mind; a big bubble bath and a good book – for pretty much everything else.

The idea of a “panacea” – a cure-all for every difficulty – sounds like striking gold. But in the real world, it’s rarely that simple.

In fact, the term is often used critically to describe something unrealistically pitched as the answer to everything – whether it’s a wonder drug claiming to cure all ills, or the belief that AI will eliminate every inefficiency overnight.

In design, we can see similar shortcuts: the same creative formulas applied to the same categories. Think ultra-thin sans serif type for D2C beauty brands on Instagram; leafy green illustrations for anything plant-based; extrabold, all-caps logotypes for protein powders. Or in advertising, where celebrity cameo + comedy = winning Super Bowl spot.

But when every brand follows the same blueprint, none of them can stand out.

Great creatives know that there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for a certain product, category, or campaign. They look past the easy answers, past the “panacea”, and chase the unexpected: the unorthodox combinations and fresh perspectives that challenge convention – and connect with people on a deeper level as a result.

Take Loewe and On’s 2024 brand collaboration. Their luxury sportswear collection debuted a hybrid logo that Fast Company praised as proof that “brand rules are meant to be broken.” It fused the ornate cursive of Loewe’s monogram with On’s modern, minimalist type. On paper, it shouldn’t work. But in practice, it’s a visual harmony of opposites – a merge made in heaven.

‘Disrupt’ may have picked up bad connotations in recent years, but when done well, true disruption pushes creativity forward. Just look at Robot Food’s work for Goldmine Gummies, which boldly reimagines the visual language of cannabis brands; Mother Design’s identity for Chewing Gum Nuud, which keeps the familiar colours but reinvents the category's tone; or Sibling Rivalry director Joe Wright’s Super Bowl ad for Acura, which ditches celebrity gimmicks for pure, cinematic thrill, driven by an electrifying soundtrack.

A panacea may be a lovely word – and a tempting idea – but in design, I’ve learned it rarely delivers. The best work comes from brave thinking. From challenging trends, questioning “category codes”, and refusing to settle for the obvious.

That’s how good branding becomes great.