In ‘A Season in Hell’, Arthur Rimbaud, the visionary teenage poet who went on to become a gun runner, declared:

One must be absolutely modern’ (il faut être absolument modern).

As a poet, Rimbaud’s point was that copying or repeating and regurgitating great past works was pointless.

If one wanted to be remembered like the old masters, then one had to do what they did and become a master of the new.

Of course, no brand sees itself as ‘old’.

Your brand might have a long proud history but you know full well the value of keeping fresh.

And not every brand wants or needs to call attention to itself by breaking artistic ground.

But you can and should look at the way you talk about your brand and the way your customers talk and ensure that you’re using the same language.

You can and should ensure that your design and user experience adopts — and where possible improves on — the most modern design and user experiences offered by the other brands that your customers frequent.

And to help you do that, here are my ‘5 Do New Always’ principles:

1. Get new answers to old questions

Sometimes you need to admit that you don’t know anything.

And especially if you know you need a design or content makeover, now is the time to get new answers to old questions.

So run a survey.

Ask tough questions.

Get some real honest feedback.

1. What is the main problem that they have that your brand aims to solve?
2. How does your business solve that problem?

Go out there and see what people are “really saying” about your brand (and your competitors.)

That might make for painful reading. It might not align with what you thought.

It might even force you kicking and screaming back to the drawing board.

But the pain will be a whole lot less than the pain you’ll feel if you publish a new website in a vacuum.

2. Don’t be afraid to stand out

If people like your eccentricities or quirks, don’t iron them out, push them to their digital limits.

Remember what we said in a previous lesson: people like brands that stand for things, who have a “Why” they can relate to.

If your “Why” can be further incorporated into your website or make your content truly stand out, don’t hold back.

1. What are your key branding messages?
2. What is the one strange thing that differentiates you from everyone else?
3. Where did the game-changing idea come from?

We all started somewhere.

We all have a backstory.

But be specific.​

People like to know where you stand whether they end up standing for or against you.

They don’t like not knowing where you stand.

Or having to guess.

So be clear.

Be bold.

Be remarkably and unmistakably you.

3. Don’t follow the herd

There are many great reasons to follow the herd when it comes to design and content best practices.

At the very least, you won’t stick out like a sore thumb.

But being modern and new is not the same as blindly copying every new trend.

The herd isn’t always right. And the herd often likes the lazy option.

Don’t be lazy.

Don’t assume the herd is always right.

Run a competitor analysis, understand what works for them (learn from what doesn't), differentiate your style and cherry pick only those things that ensure your style remains timeless.

4. Out modernise the competition

Look at your competitors.

1. How ‘modern’ is their design?
2. How on trend are their marketing messages and content?

Remember that most of your customers will look at you and them together and ask:

1. Who is the real innovator and leader here?
2. Who is going to keep pace with change and adapt to meet my needs now and tomorrow?

If that’s you, great!

But if not — and be honest — put a modernising strategy in place that will put clear blue ocean between you and your competitors.

At the same time, don’t limit yourself to the competition.

Look at the news sites and social media sites that talk about your niche.

After all, their audience is your audience too. If they are doing it better than you, learn from them.

The brand evangelists and arch bloggers who talk about you and your industry want to be able to confidently back the winner too.

Make sure that is you.

5. Dazzle new audiences

Lastly, never stop trying to up your game when it comes to how new customers experience your brand.

At every step from the search engine listing to the homepage to your social media profiles even down to your sales emails and advertising, you’re design and content are being judged.

If you’re sloppy in one area or out of date in another, if there is a mismatch in your messaging, fix the problem.

And never waste any opportunity to delight or surprise or dazzle your potential customers with something new and unexpected.

Your brand is all about being the brand of tomorrow.

The old brand that is always somehow the hot new brand on the block ..