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Henry Miller: Forget Yourself

June 14, 2019 by Douglas Bonneville

The Creative Power of Self-Forgetting

Henry Miller understood something that most creatives eventually discover: the best work happens when you get out of your own way. When Miller said “forget yourself,” he was pointing to a state that athletes call flow and artists call being in the zone. Self-consciousness kills creativity. The moment you start thinking about how you look, what others might think, or whether your work is good enough, you lose access to the deeper currents of creative energy. Miller spent years as a struggling writer in Paris, learning to silence his inner critic and let the words flow without judgment.

Practical Application for Designers

For graphic designers, this advice translates directly to the blank canvas problem. That moment of paralysis when you open a new file and suddenly every choice feels loaded with significance. The solution is to start making marks without worrying about their quality. Sketch ugly. Design badly. Get the self-conscious phase out of your system so the real work can begin. Miller wrote in the mornings before his rational mind fully woke up. Many designers find similar benefits in starting projects late at night or early in the morning, when the editorial voice is quieter and the creative voice can speak. The goal is to reach that state where time disappears and you look up to find hours have passed. That only happens when you forget yourself completely and become absorbed in the work itself.

You Can Design Everything

June 13, 2019 by Douglas Bonneville

Vignellis Unified Theory of Design

Massimo Vignelli believed that design principles transcend individual disciplines. Whether designing a subway map, a corporate identity, packaging, furniture, or tableware, the same fundamental rules apply. Visual hierarchy, proportion, grid systems, and typographic discipline work across every medium and scale. This philosophy stands in contrast to the specialization that dominates modern design. Vignelli would have found it strange that a “web designer” might consider themselves unable to design a book, or that a “brand designer” might avoid packaging. For Vignelli, these artificial boundaries limited creative potential.

The Six Typefaces

Vignelli famously claimed that designers only need six typefaces: Garamond, Bodoni, Century Expanded, Futura, Times Roman, and Helvetica. This constraint was intentional. By limiting his typographic palette, he could focus attention on how type was used rather than which type was chosen. Modern designers have access to thousands of fonts, which often leads to paralysis or poor choices. There is wisdom in Vignellis restraint. Master a small set of typefaces thoroughly before expanding your toolkit. Know how each one behaves at different sizes, in different contexts, with different spacing.

Timeless Over Trendy

Vignelli dismissed design trends as superficial and temporary. His work aimed for timelessness, which he defined as designs that would remain valid across decades. The New York subway map he designed in 1972 lasted until 1979 and remains influential today. Achieving timelessness requires stripping away anything fashionable. What remains are fundamental principles of clarity, hierarchy, and proportion that do not change with shifting tastes. Evaluate your work by asking whether it will still function in ten years. If it relies on a current trend for its appeal, it has a short shelf life.

Read Design Culture for an insightful interview with Vignelli covering his story, thoughts on design and type, and advice to young designers.

Minimalist Brand Identity for Your Cat

June 13, 2019 by Douglas Bonneville

This made me laugh. People are great…

Zebrapets asked our team at Robin Design Studio to create a visual language, concepts, packaging and identity for their brand. The goal was to introduce the new pet brand to the German market in a fresh, bold and minimalist way. We used two basic main colours: black & white, because there is a serious colour-chaos in the shelves of the pet shops (and we all know the Von Restorff Effect).

Act Like a Child to Spark Your Creativity

June 13, 2019 by Douglas Bonneville

How do you get creative? Writer Madeleine Englis at Thrive Global says “start acting like a beginner, a child….”

What happens when we remove our narrow definition of creativity, and accept that we are all inherently creative?

We will come to see that tapping into creativity equates to harnessing our power to create, rather than to imitate. That is it! How that shows up for you is up to you. You could build something with your hands. You could list out 10 really bad ideas, but hey, they are original and they are your creative ideas. Who cares. It’s a muscle. You need to stop being a victim of creative perfectionism and start acting like a beginner, a child. That is the first step, to leading a creative life. Read On…

Less is More with Hong Kong Coffee Shop

June 13, 2019 by Douglas Bonneville

Creating a minimalist white coffee shop in Hong Kong is sheer genius from a marketing stand point. NOC is a popular coffee shop that aspires “to remove distractions, so you can connect with the things that matter.” Brilliant Design and Branding by SuperUnion

Hong Kong is all about more. NOC is a coffee company that believes in less. Less of what you don’t need or never asked for. Less irrelevant choice. Less cutting corners. In a world that is obsessed with more, NOC decided to put a stake in the ground for believing in less. Nobody needs dozens of types of flat white – all you need is a good one. We created a coffee experience to give a moment of calm amid the chaos of a busy city.