Most creative people care about purpose, even if they don’t use that word. We want the work to matter. We want the team to feel connected. We want clients to believe in the thing we’re building together. But wanting purpose and activating purpose are two different jobs.
In studios, agencies, and in-house teams, purpose often lives in the margins. It shows up in pitches, creds decks, and About pages. But when deadlines hit, the purpose that once felt alive becomes a layer we talk about instead of a lens we use.
The truth is simple:
Purpose only matters when it shapes decisions, behaviors, and craft.
Everything else is decoration.
Creative Teams Need Purpose More Than Most People Think
Design is emotional labor. It takes vulnerability, curiosity, patience, and the willingness to be wrong until you’re right. That requires trust. And trust comes from culture, not process. Purpose gives you that culture. It grounds your team when the brief is messy. It guides you when a client shifts direction. It keeps your designers, writers, and strategists connected to why the work exists at all.
Without purpose, creative work becomes “deliverables.” With purpose, it becomes contribution.
Why Purpose Falls Apart in Creative Environments
Creative people are passionate, but we’re also busy. We sprint. We shift. We juggle. And in that pace, purpose breaks down in a few predictable ways:
• It becomes a tagline, not a touchstone.
• It sits with leadership instead of living across the team.
• It shows up in kickoff decks, then never again.
• Junior creatives don’t know how to use it.
• Reviews focus on execution, not meaning.
• Clients don’t hear it enough to value it.
When purpose disappears, so does alignment. Teams lose that spark of shared ownership. Work becomes “good,” but not grounded. Creative leaders feel this most. You sense when the team is drifting. You see when the work looks right but doesn’t feel right.
Purpose is often the missing piece.
Creative Purpose Begins With the Leader’s Posture
Not strategy. Not workshops. Posture. You go first. You set the temperature. And the team mirrors it. The creative leaders who activate purpose well share a few habits:
• They talk about why the work matters, not just what’s due.
• They ask deeper questions: Who is this for? What do they need? What problem are we solving?
• They invite honesty and humanity before they ask for ideas.
• They tell the truth about the constraints and the possibilities.
• They model calm when feedback gets tense.
• They notice when someone on the team needs support.
Purpose flows through presence. When you show up with clarity, the team does too. Make your values creative tools, not corporate statements. Creative people don’t need values written in corporate language. They need values that feel like something you can design with.
Values should be:
• Simple
• Visual
• Active
• Repeatable
• Easy to reference in critique
Here’s the test:
Can a designer use this value at the moment they’re stuck?
Can a strategist use it when shaping a story?
Can a producer use it when making a tough call?
If not, rewrite it.
Translate values into action statements the team can use in critique:
• “Make the complex simple.”
• “Honor the story.”
• “Choose clarity over cleverness.”
• “Design for the person, not the persona.”
This is how purpose guides the work instead of decorating the walls.
Build Purpose Into the Creative Rhythm
Purpose has to show up in the places where creative decisions actually happen:
• Kickoffs
• Working sessions
• Mood boards
• Rounds of review
• Client conversations
• Debriefs
A simple rule that works well:
Start and end every project touchpoint with purpose.
Start with what the work is trying to do for the audience. End with how the decisions you made supported that purpose.Repetition builds culture.
Culture builds clarity.
Clarity builds better work.
Stories Make Purpose Stick
Design teams love stories. They are our fuel. So use them.
Tell the team when a piece of work changed someone’s day. Share a client moment where clarity shifted everything. Celebrate the tiny decisions a designer made that protected the truth of the story. Name what good looks like so the team knows how it feels.
Stories make purpose emotional.
Emotion makes purpose memorable.
And memorable purpose becomes everyday behavior.
Measure What Matters to Creatives
Creative people don’t respond to generic KPIs. Purpose-driven measurement for creative teams works best when it focuses on:
• Alignment
• Collaboration
• Consistency of story
• Emotional impact
• Audience response
• Craft quality
• Team health
If your measures reinforce the purpose, your team will too.
Purpose Is a Creative Act
This is the part many leaders miss. Purpose isn’t a declaration. It’s a design problem.
You shape it.
You iterate on it.
You test it.
You refine it.
You bring people into it.
You prototype how it feels in a room.
You adjust the system when the team or the work changes.
Purpose becomes real the same way design becomes real: through practice.
When purpose is lived, your team feels more connected.
Your work feels more honest.
Your clients feel more trust.
Your studio feels more human.
And the work gets better. Not because the team tried harder, but because everyone finally knew what they were trying for.
A creative leader for over three decades, Justin Ahrens stands at the intersection of design, strategy, and purpose. As Chief Creative Officer of both Rule29 and O’Neil Printing, he blends storytelling and strategic insight to help organizations, from startups to Fortune 50 companies, create meaningful change.
Header image courtesy of the author, © Rule 29.
The post Purpose That Sticks: For Creative Leaders Who Want Their Work to Mean Something appeared first on PRINT Magazine.