VIRGIL ABLOH - CREATIVE ADVICE, BRAND BUILDING, AND TOXIC PERFECTIONISM

Summary

The speaker emphasizes the importance of a brand's defining 'hit' item and discusses the creative process, drawing parallels to learning and personal growth. They advocate for finding one's unique design DNA and building upon the work of mentors. The talk also touches on the value of simplicity in brand concepts, the role of community in streetwear, and the need for designers to be fearless and genreless in their approach to creativity.

Takeaways

• 🚀 Every brand needs a 'hit' or a signature item that defines it, which can kickstart its success and then allow for further innovation.
• 🔄 The speaker emphasizes the importance of revisiting early ideas and concepts, suggesting that simplicity and a return to basics can lead to innovative design.
• 📚 The concept of 'cheat codes' in design is introduced, which are shortcuts or insights gained from experience that can accelerate the creative process.
• 👶 The speaker identifies with a perpetual student mindset, valuing continuous learning and the incorporation of new knowledge into one's work.
• 🔑 There's an encouragement to find one's unique 'DNA' in design, akin to identifying a personal architectural, artistic, or design signature.
• 🔭 The importance of mentors, whether past or present, is highlighted as a way to learn, grow, and then build upon their aesthetics and thought processes.
• 💡 It's acknowledged that even those we admire didn't invent everything themselves, suggesting that creativity is a process of building upon the ideas of others.
• 🛠️ The speaker discusses the value of approaching design with a non-linear mindset, allowing for new experiences and problem-solving opportunities.
• 🎨 The idea of 'genreless' creativity is promoted, suggesting that one should not confine themselves to a single medium or discipline.
• 📈 The power of focus and repetition in design is underscored, with the notion that a strong, singular concept can be more impactful than a complex array of ideas.
• 🌟 The speaker argues against perfectionism, stating that the only failure is not trying, and that the body of work and its refinement define a creative person.

Q & A

What is the importance of having a 'hit' or a signature item for a brand?

A 'hit' or signature item is crucial for a brand as it helps establish brand identity and recognition. It acts as a starting point to get the brand noticed and then allows for further exploration and development of the brand's offerings.

What does the speaker mean by 'cheat codes' in the context of the presentation?

The 'cheat codes' refer to shortcuts or strategies that can be used to accelerate the learning process and improve one's work. By answering the red slide questions, one can gain insights that act as shortcuts to enhance their creative and design processes.

Why is it beneficial to look back at one's earliest memories or thoughts when developing a personal aesthetic?

Looking back at one's earliest memories can reveal innate preferences and thought patterns that have shaped one's aesthetic sense. This can help in identifying and refining one's unique design DNA, which is essential for creating authentic and personal work.

What is the significance of finding a mentor in one's creative journey?

A mentor provides a body of work or thought process to learn from and build upon. By understanding the ethos of the mentor's aesthetic, one can learn to adapt and evolve it, creating a personal style that is informed by but distinct from the mentor's influence.

How does the speaker approach the task of redesigning Nike's icons?

The speaker approaches the redesign task as a major design project, focusing on rethinking the icons rather than merely altering their colors. The aim is to approach the task with a fresh perspective, akin to how a student might, to create something innovative and relevant.

What does the speaker suggest about the relationship between working on multiple projects and creativity?

The speaker suggests that working on multiple projects simultaneously can foster creativity by preventing one from becoming too linear in thought. The space between different projects allows for new experiences and problem-solving approaches that can enhance one's creative output.

What is the speaker's view on the importance of being concise in building a brand concept?

The speaker believes that being concise is crucial for a strong brand concept. A simpler and more focused idea is stronger because it allows the brand to be easily understood and remembered, which is essential for building a lasting brand identity.

How does the speaker define the longevity of a streetwear brand?

The speaker defines the longevity of a streetwear brand by its ability to resonate with a community and its focus on quality and consistency in storytelling. The brand should have roots in a community and offer a clear, singular narrative that resonates with its audience.

What advice does the speaker give regarding the avoidance of perfectionism in creative work?

The speaker advises against being tormented by perfectionism, stating that there is no wrong way to approach one's creative career. The only failure is not trying, and overcoming the fear of imperfection can lead to more ideas and opportunities for growth.

What is the speaker's perspective on the importance of community in building a brand?

The speaker emphasizes that a brand should not just exist within a small group but should resonate with a larger community. It should represent and engage with a community of people who find the brand relatable and reflective of their identity or interests.

Outlines

00:00

🎨 Embracing Creativity and Design Philosophy

The speaker discusses the importance of establishing a signature item or 'hit' for a brand to gain recognition. They emphasize the value of learning from mentors, both past and present, and finding one's unique design DNA by reflecting on early influences and personal preferences. The speaker also encourages looking at objects from different perspectives and not being overly precious with designs, which can hinder creativity. They share their experience with Nike, approaching it as a major design project rather than a simple recoloring of existing icons. The paragraph concludes with the idea of working on multiple projects simultaneously to avoid stagnation and to foster a broader creative experience.

05:02

🔄 The Art of Hyper Focus and Iteration in Design

This paragraph delves into the speaker's design approach, which involves intense focus and repetition to create a template that can be iterated upon. They contrast the concepts of fashion and streetwear, suggesting that quality is important but not the sole determinant of a brand's strength. The speaker advocates for clear and consistent storytelling within a brand's collections and emphasizes the importance of community and representation in streetwear. They also touch on the idea that perfectionism can be counterproductive and encourage embracing a variety of creative fields without fear, as this can lead to unique and innovative ideas.

10:03

🌱 Cultivating a Brand with Deep Community Roots

The speaker stresses the significance of having a brand that resonates with a community and grows beyond a small circle of acquaintances. They propose that a brand should represent a specific group or concept, such as aspiring filmmakers, rather than trying to appeal to everyone. The paragraph discusses the idea of creating a unique space for the brand within the market and the importance of presenting it in a way that stands out from the oversaturated graphic t-shirt market. The speaker also suggests that the brand should be presented as a solution to a need or desire within a specific community, using the example of a hypothetical streetwear brand for filmmakers and art directors.

Keywords

💡Hit Product

A 'hit product' refers to an item that becomes extremely popular and successful, often propelling a brand into the spotlight. In the context of the video, the speaker discusses the importance of having a standout product that can 'get the ball rolling' for a brand, allowing it to then explore and innovate further.

💡Design Project

A 'design project' is a creative endeavor focused on the development of a product or service, often involving conceptualization, planning, and execution. The speaker mentions being entrusted with reapproaching 10 different icons by Nike, emphasizing the significance of this as a major design project that goes beyond simple color changes to reimagine the essence of the products.

💡Cheat Codes

'Cheat codes' in this video metaphorically represent shortcuts or strategies that can be used to gain an advantage or simplify complex tasks. The speaker uses the term to describe the red slides in their presentation, which contain valuable insights or advice that can help the audience to navigate their creative processes more effectively.

💡Mentor

A 'mentor' is someone who provides guidance, knowledge, and support to another person, helping them to grow professionally or personally. The video discusses the importance of having mentors, whether they are alive or deceased, and how connecting with a body of work or a person's thought process can influence and shape one's own aesthetic and approach to design.

💡Aesthetic

An 'aesthetic' refers to a set of principles or a style that is valued for its beauty or appeal. The speaker talks about building one's own aesthetic upon the foundation of learning from others, emphasizing the importance of understanding the ethos behind the aesthetics one admires in order to adapt and evolve them.

💡Streetwear

'Streetwear' is a category of casual clothing that originated from skateboarding and surfing subcultures but has since become a mainstream fashion trend. The video discusses the longevity of streetwear as a concept, highlighting that successful streetwear brands are not defined by the quality of materials alone but by the community and culture they represent.

💡Quality

In the context of the video, 'quality' refers to the standard or level of excellence of a product or service. The speaker contrasts the approach of high-end fashion brands like Hermes with streetwear brands, suggesting that while quality is important, it is not the sole determinant of a brand's strength or appeal.

💡Concept

A 'concept' in this video denotes the underlying idea or philosophy that guides the creation and development of a brand or product. The speaker emphasizes the importance of having a clear and concise concept for a brand, suggesting that a focused and singular idea can be more powerful than a complex or multifaceted one.

💡Community

'Community' in the video refers to a group of people who share common interests or values. The speaker stresses the importance of a brand having roots in a real community, suggesting that a successful brand should resonate with and represent the people who identify with its concept.

💡Creativity

'Creativity' is the use of imagination or original ideas to create something. The speaker encourages the audience to be creative in a 'genreless' space, transcending traditional boundaries between different creative fields such as illustration, apparel, and film, highlighting the value of cross-disciplinary thinking in the creative process.

💡Perfectionism

'Perfectionism' is the pursuit of flawlessness or the setting of extremely high standards for oneself. The video discusses the idea that perfectionism can be a hindrance to creativity and progress, suggesting that it is better to embrace the freedom to experiment and learn from mistakes rather than being held back by the fear of not achieving perfection.

Highlights

The importance of having a 'hit' or signature item for a brand to gain traction in the market.

Approaching design projects with a fresh perspective, akin to a student's mindset, to innovate rather than just recolor existing products.

The concept of 'cheat codes' in design, which are shortcuts or strategies learned through experience to enhance one's work.

The value of self-discovery in design, encouraging individuals to reflect on their earliest memories and preferences to find their unique style.

The significance of mentorship, both living and historical figures, in shaping one's aesthetic and thought process in design.

The idea that no one invents a style from scratch, but rather builds upon the work of others to create something new.

The importance of understanding the ethos behind the aesthetics you admire to better inform your own creative direction.

The challenge of not being precious with ideas and taking risks in design, as exemplified by the speaker's work with Nike.

The notion that a shoe is more than just a shoe, encouraging a broader perspective on objects to find new design spaces.

The benefit of working on multiple projects simultaneously to avoid stagnation and foster creativity.

The power of conciseness in brand building, suggesting that less is more when it comes to defining a brand's concept.

The debate between fashion and streetwear, and how quality does not necessarily dictate the strength of a brand.

The longevity of streetwear brands being tied to a collective ownership of the space they operate in, rather than individual ownership.

The strategy of hyper-focusing on a single concept and repeating it to establish a strong brand identity.

The idea that perfectionism can hinder progress, and the importance of trying and refining work over time.

Encouraging creativity without fear and working across genres to find new ideas and opportunities.

The importance of community in brand building, and ensuring that a brand resonates with and represents its intended audience.

The challenge of finding open spaces in design, especially in oversaturated markets like graphic t-shirts.

The concept of presenting a brand as representing a specific community or niche, such as filmmakers or art directors.

The idea that a brand should be presented in a way that it stands out and is not easily replicated by others.

Transcripts

every brand needs like a hit like one

thing that it's known for or like the

takeoff item can be annoying but it's

like it gets the ball rolling and then

you can like play with it being

entrusted with Nike to sort of

reapproach 10 different icons I took

that like as like another major design

project not like a sort of let's just

color them up and put them back out into

the market let's almost think about it

like a student would you know I still

feel like I'm a Perpetual like kid at

school and that's that's first

thing that I wanted to deliver because

when I was a student

all that I wish I knew now is that one

person would have told me like one like

ounce of advice there's all these sort

of shortcuts that you can take and so

that's what this literally this whole

presentation is about these red slides

are cheat codes

basically if you can answer them you uh

you basically give yourself a cheat code

and that's like the sort of 2.0 of these

talks that I'm using and it's things

that I've had to learn I basically work

at a feverish pace

in a self-serving way just to find my

signature like what's my DNA every

architect designer artist that I look up

to you know whether they were doing

period paintings or buildings in their

early career to the end of their career

there's basically a through line so what

I would challenge you in your work no

matter what is go back you know go back

to when you were like that your earliest

memories or the way that you thought to

organize something the way you thought

to organize your closet or what colors

were your favorite

back in that sort of like early

rationale before you sort of learn too

much you also have to have mentors like

dead or alive you have to sort of

connect with some body of work or

someone who formulated a thought and an

aesthetic and then build yours upon that

what most people won't tell you is that

the people that you look up to didn't

invent it themselves you know everyone

has this sort of like

I call it like getting your brain

reprogrammed like once you sort of learn

a thought process you can actually see

yourself in that and add to it and so

obviously I have a mentor I have a sort

of thought process an aesthetic that I

love but then once you learn the the

ethos of why the estate why you love the

aesthetic you dig deeper and then you

know how to turn the wheel left or right

so it's important you know that's why I

often reference things of not ashamed at

sort of recognizing these great moments

before us but

take anything and add it to the year

2017 it should be different it should

feel like we can collectively agree on

it and that's what I that's what I focus

on

in a number of projects being entrusted

with Nike to sort of reapproach 10

different icons I took that like

that's like another major design project

not like a sort of let's just color them

up and put them back out into the market

let's almost think about it like a

student would I think it's important not

to be precious that's what this whole

thing is like Nike another dream project

for me and I was like I have to hit this

out of the park and all the architecture

kids can sort of Catch A vibe a lot of

this is like model making

that's where the this is at the same

time that I came up with that whole

putting sculpture on a bag which that

was like just me finding sort of new

space

and that's when I was like you know a

shoe is in a shoe to me like I'm not

approaching it as a shoe and I think

maybe that's why I found a little bit of

like open space is that

I was just looking at like an object

I always thought if you worked linearly

then you have no room

you know do opposites it just feels

better but then that space in between

gives you sort of a new experience that

you can apply and problem solve that's

why I think I work on so many things at

one time I couldn't just do one project

like day in day out I think it's

actually not healthy

one of the greatest lessons that I've

learned in building sort of like my sort

of career path and like street wear or

fashion

is in an ironic way is like being very

concise you know I think

because your life especially like a

young life it's like absorbed by like

things that you've been into like very

passionately and then you know when you

start a brand you can often try to like

whip them all together one big story but

it also it surprisingly takes less for a

brand concept the less it is the

stronger it is the more focused the more

you know when your brain starts drawing

parallels between say like Olympics

uh tendo and Anime then it can start to

get a little bit like fuzzy as to like

what does the brand really mean you know

like

the biggest trick in design that I use

is just like hyper focus and then repeat

you know make one thing and then it's

like a template Street where in a way

like isn't fashion you know like there's

an ironic debate that could be had about

fashion and streetwear you know one of

the same they're very different I think

for your concept well of course quality

is what you're trying to achieve but

it's almost like

not phrasing it or trying to compare it

to something that's fashionable yeah you

know I think that the longevity of the

concept of streetwear comes when we all

collectively own the exact like space

that we operate like if you look at

Brands like the best streetwear brands

that have like that are the most

successful they're they're not Hermes

but they're they're quality

doesn't dictate how strong the brand is

and nor do they like like an Hermes has

to like lean on the crutch of that this

is the best quality because that's what

that's what their brand is about yeah

they scrap thousands of pieces of

leather just to find one and that's what

that's what you're they're selling so

streetwear the strongest brand they're

sort of not none of them are like

claiming to be like hey this is the best

made you know cotton or wool or

something like that to me

it's just about organizing you know and

I think like all the different story if

you want the brand to be this wide it

needs to be like clear delineation like

this season is about this one thing you

know so if it's about smoking then I

want to see

also like all the imagery for all the

different collections sort of like look

the same irreverent to the concept that

is a part of that one story so it's like

about military camo it should be

set on a military base like a little not

always in nature you know I see there's

like a variance but I'm just saying

things to like think about like the

smoking thing should be all shot in a

convenience store or something like that

you have to do what you're doing but you

also have to do it in a way so that it

grows and to see that growth it's going

to take

that strictness so that you know you get

better

a bigger audience based on the work

that's being done

uh perfectionism doesn't Advance

anything ironically

um as a creative and as a designer

there's no wrong way to go about the

future of your career the only the only

failure is not to try it you know and I

think that

designers we all have like a creators or

artists we have a natural convention to

sort of be maybe tormented or a little

bit of like an inner struggle is is the

work living up to its fullest potential

or is it

you know

is it as great as the work that you

idolize from your your design Idols but

at the end of the day it's your body of

work and the the amount of work and the

refinement of that work that'll Define

who you are as a creative so you know

just by this challenge of like not being

fearful of perfectionism of being able

to do it then

uh I resulted in not just one idea that

I would but two coming for I where I

come from as like a

as a creative person I like and I

challenge as well students to sort of

work in a genreless sort of space you

know just be if you're in the

illustration Department doesn't mean

that you shouldn't be

I have ideas and apparel or film and you

know

there's basically No Boundaries in the

real world you can catch a check from

like 17 different creative industries

that you guys are about to be rich

um if you work hard you know I think

um

the amount of Freedom that you guys will

interface in this new world I feel that

creativity is like

highly valued in all different

Industries so you know keeping your eyes

open to those things

post-rationalizing my career and my

tastes like why do I like helvetica why

do I like

um

Graphics that look like that or why do I

like fashion that feels like that the

first phase

in becoming a designer sort of like

self-analyzing yourself

you know it's sort of digging into like

what are your Primal emotions and why do

you like the things that you like what

you can't exchange is like the community

that's my first question was like are

your friends wearing it like because

it's you know whatever it can exist but

for it to be like a a tried and true

sort of like brand like I think you want

it in like I think most streetwear

brands attempt to be it has to have

Roots back in the actual something that

was like a community of people so I

think it's important that your brand

doesn't like just live like in your

apartment with a few people that you

know should be out there like yeah other

people should find

like it represents them because it can

be your concept but unless there's like

you know you're finding ways to do

community things where that just means

like four people getting together

because four people turns into ten and

then you do a party and then there's 30

people and there's the line and all

these people yeah exactly that's like

yeah and it's you know when it's more

like

this is your community you know you

should like in your pitch you should be

like I want to represent

kids that want to be filmmakers instead

of rappers or DJ you know everyone wants

to be a DJ now but if you said like

there is a group of kids that are like

hey I don't DJ but I'm either a stylist

or my art director I want to make films

like

if you came to me and you were like

I want to represent the next generation

of like Spike Jones you know he is yeah

you should look him up he did like those

beasties legendary species boys yeah

Beastie Boys video

he's a street wear kind of skate guy

who you know just didn't like wear the

Wild Things Are like Hollywood director

but like everyone wants to be a skater

everyone wants to be a creative director

there's got to be kids you know every

kid that's rolling around with a camera

and like you know like film camera or

whatever like that they might not skate

you know they need a brand too yeah yeah

like from what I've seen from those

videos

whoever those kids are that made that

you know they should be

I would translate how every kid wants to

be like

a skater or a DJ or a rapper or a thug

and I would just be like hey this is the

first streetwear brand that's just for

the filmmakers and the cinematography

the next wave of art directors cancel

the t-shirts imagine they don't exist or

do this

this is good for the film too

good for the mastered class the kids at

home that's how you should have

presented it

like

you know what's back here is supposed to

be with the focal point and then over

here was just about to be like it's just

a laptop just like hey this is probably

like weird porn on there earlier or

whatever you know like oh and then

here's my super content like you know

it's just whatever yeah I feel you like

you're selling to me what your product

is is these videos you know that video

looks like it's like

eight thousand dollars you know like

this t-shirt like you could go somewhere

and someone will charge you that much to

do to do that and the t-shirt's just

like whatever you know that's even how

you pitched it to me yeah you know yeah

yeah for so when you put this at the

focal point like this is new I haven't

seen it there's not every kid running

down the street saying oh I got another

t-shirt you know like there's millions

of t-shirts like it's almost impossible

it's the most oversaturated kind of

human existence of our graphic t-shirt

you know so it's like it's gonna have to

check like so many boxes and I go so

like I can't even design a t-shirt

anymore because it's like where's the

open space to me it's like oh these you

know kids can't like I can do that

anyone can do this but I can't do that

you know I wouldn't even know where to

start but then when you put this out

it's gonna like kids in Paris kids in

you know Tokyo will be like damn like

I've been learning Cinema 4D I love

streetwear but that you know t-shirts

and all that wasn't my wave I need

to get on my film you know