Can designers still have a signature?

I can’t really say I’m a fan of director Sam Raimi, but I am familiar with his work. As a superhero fan, I have of course seen all his Spider-Man movies, which I really enjoyed. And though I didn’t see any of his Evil Dead movies, I quite liked Drag Me To Hell, another one of his horror movies — the genre he is most associated with.

So when I learned that he would be helming the second Doctor Strange movie, I was excited. Sam Raimi is back at Marvel! The guy who layed the groundwork for the MCU is back in the director’s seat, making Marvel’s first movie labeled as “horror”! I got really curious what he would do with this movie. Would it be ‘just another Marvel flick’, or would it be a Sam Raimi movie?

Because just like Zack Snyder, Taika Waititi, Christopher Nolan or Quentin Tarantino, Sam Raimi is one of those directors that has a distinctive style. It’s not just the kinds of stories he chooses, it’s also how he uses the camera, editing and the recurrence of certain themes, objects and actors. Especially Bruce Campbell — would Bruce Campbell be in Doctor Strange 2?

Yesterday my questions were answered, because we watched Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in the cinema.

Was it the best Marvel movie ever? No, can’t say it was.
Was it entertaining? Very much, well worth the ticket.
Was it a Sam Raimi movie? Most definitely!

It has horror elements, but also comedy, campiness and plenty of smash zooms. And yes, it has Bruce Campbell! It was much more a Sam Raimi movie than expected. And yet, it was also very much a Marvel movie, giving us wht we have come to expect from the Marvel brand.

It got me thinking about my own creative profession, which isn’t filmmaking but design. Is it possible these days to have a signature as a designer? To design something that serves the brand and its users in the first place, but that also carries something of yourself? A certain style, certain characteristics, trademarks even?

With so much of design now being dictated by brand guidelines, design systems, frameworks, processes and technical constraints, is there still room to put yourself into your design?

I like to think there is. I believe design is, and always will be, a creative and thus personal job.

And whenever I feel like it isn’t, I can think back on what Sam Raimi did with his Marvel movies.

Thanks Sam, for the inspiration.