Excellent

There was a subway poster for the School of Visual Arts (SVA) back in the, mid to late 1980s that prompted me to eventually attend the college. The poster was an illustration of a beautifully colored zebra on a flat white background with a caption that read: “To be good is not enough, when you dream of being great.” [1]

The piece of the illustration that struck me next was that the zebra’s shadow was in black and white, and in sharp contrast to the colorful animal. This image casted a shadow which would otherwise be completely impossible in reality. Shadows are generally filled-in silhouettes which block the source of light. In this illustration the shadow showed the true colors and pattern we associate with the zebra, as a shadow.

I don’t think a lot of people got the meaning and context of the shadow cast of the zebra. This idea added so much more depth to the poster — a deeper definition into the art of what ‘being creative’ can mean.

Moreover, replacing the black and white zebra pattern with all of the spectrums’s colors was already a good and striking idea. And, it hits us once. However, the shadow cast showing the true black and white color of a zebra is what made the poster great. The illustrator went an extra step further - from good to great.

“To be good is not enough, when you dream of being great.” is still an inspiration today as it was when I attended SVA from 1995-1999.

We can choose to Be Excellent in all we do. So, hit us once, hit us twice and if you can, go from good to great then hit us three times.

[1]

http://8grape.com/sva

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