In 1963, sociologist Howard Becker studied the identity of jazz musicians who played for hire in bars and nightclubs. In his book, “Outsiders, studies in the sociology of deviance”, he describes the antagonistic relationship that was gradually and collectively constructed by this occupational community between their own and those they would describe as “squares”, or outsiders.

In their own recent work, two Grenoble-based researchers – Apolline Le Gall & Valerie Chanal – have led similar research based on the reaction of young designers to the introduction of business model considerations in their curriculum. What they found is a contradiction much similar to what Becker observed some 50 years ago: designers are reluctant to integrate business considerations to their craft, describing those who do as selloffs and defining their identity as opposed to them.

Designers are more keen to designate their work as a craft, following the ethos of the French “artisan”, whose ability lies in mastery of a technique combined with the humility of his trade, day after day. Just like the jazz musicians, they value their independence above all, preserving the creative freedom that naturally stems from their mastery. In its ideal-typical form, such an ethos refuses every type of subordination to the whims and dictates of others.

In this, both designers and jazz musicians live in a constant state of contradiction. They are, on one hand, dependent on the affluence of such exterior influences to live from their trade, yet they refuse this influence which they reject as illegitimate within their universe. They strive in a market whose rules they refuse to follow.

In this, perhaps, lies the paradox of the modern creator. A strong will to remain independent, yet the imperative to remain connected, to design with the user in mind, to obey the principles of a collaborative, emergent ethos. The contradiction may remain forever unresolved. It is, perhaps, when sitting on the thin line between these two forces that designers and jazz musicians may find an infinite source from which to draw their inspiration.

This text is part of a series written in the context of the Fifth edition of the Montreal-Barcelona Summer School on Management of Creativity, organized by Mosaic HEC Montréal and Universitat Barcelona, July 9 to 24, 2013.
Illustration by Studio 923a. Read all posts in the series at blog.fandco.ca/yulbcn.