So, the other day, I got a bit curious about how certain actors are perceived online. I ended up looking into stuff related to Cate Blanchett, specifically around terms like ‘sexy’.
I did a quick search, you know, just typing those words into the search bar. What came up was pretty standard fare – lots of red carpet shots, stills from her movies, interviews. You see photos where she looks glamorous, powerful, sometimes intense.
My Thoughts During the Process
Looking through all that, it wasn’t really hitting me as ‘sexy’ in the typical, obvious way you see plastered everywhere online. It felt different. More like… authority? Or maybe just strong confidence? She has this presence in photos and films that goes beyond just looks.
It actually made me think about something completely unrelated, something from way back.
An Old Work Story
I remembered this project I was on years ago. We were designing a main character for a presentation, a sort of brand mascot figure. The directive from upstairs was vague, something like ‘make her relatable but also aspirational, maybe a bit alluring’. Instantly, half the team went down the road of making her ‘sexy’ in the most cliché way possible. Tight clothes, exaggerated features, the works. It was kind of embarrassing, looking back.
- We wasted days arguing about proportions.
- The concept art looked generic, like a copy of a copy.
- Nobody could agree on what ‘alluring’ even meant in our context.
It became a total mess. The character had no personality, just this forced attempt at ‘sex appeal’ that felt hollow. We were stuck because we latched onto that one superficial word from the brief.
What I Realized
Seeing those images of Cate Blanchett, showing so many different facets – serious, playful, commanding, elegant – it reminded me of how we failed on that project. We couldn’t see beyond the simple ‘sexy’ idea. We needed depth, character, something memorable. Instead, we just chased a shallow concept pushed by a couple of loud voices in the room.
In the end, we had to scrap the entire character design. Weeks of work down the drain. We had to go back to the drawing board and focus on personality, backstory, what the character represented, not just how she looked in a tight dress. It was a painful lesson in getting stuck on labels.
Funny how a random internet search can drag up old work frustrations. Just goes to show how easy it is to miss the bigger picture when you focus too much on one narrow idea.
