Virgil Abloh's three most important design principles
Touching on a speech that Virgil gave at Harvard, product progress and ad campaigns.
Happy Thursday, all.
I was unable to put something together for the past two weeks, but I feel better about dropping things in your inbox when I’m inspired and have something tangible and/or valuable to share.
I wanted to touch briefly on some ideas from the late Virgil Abloh’s presentation he gave to Harvard Design students, share some updates on our products (and some potential future ones), and share some ideas about video campaigns.
Virgil Abloh
Now, the talk that Virgil gave at Harvard is quite famous, and I believe I had watched it a few years back—but I rewatched it last week. It was wonderfully inspiring, and to be honest, I just love hearing creative people speak and trying to observe and understand the lens through which they see the world.
Virgil has worked on many projects across different industries and refined his craft and design language deeply, but he talks very directly about how important it is for aspiring creators or builders to find that language themselves—to find what is unique to you, the thread that can be pulled on through all of your work.
The three that stand out the most to me are the 3% rule, signs of work in progress, and speaking to both the tourist and the purist simultaneously.
The 3% rule is essentially a combination of a few of his principles, but it’s the idea that you can take something people love, change it by 3%, and by doing so, you’ve created something completely new—yet the central product or concept is still the same and therefore recognizable. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel to be creative. Find what is widely accepted and loved, change it by 3%, and you have something new.
Signs of work in progress — this might be my favorite. Much of Abloh’s work retains a certain element of human touch, and he does this on purpose. Where most people would see “unfinished,” Virgil sees what looks like a touch of humanity. And this creates relatability. Perfectly polished crisp white shoes off the shelf don’t look made by humans, but when the leather is sticking off the side, the color hues are off a bit, and the Nike sign is backwards—it looks designed and created, and therefore able to be understood and appreciated. It’s the same reason why I love the work of Casey Neistat. The elements of humanity and imperfection create relatability and honesty.
Lastly: create for both the tourist and the purist. It does not serve much of a purpose to create solely for the purist, because then a large amount of the world will never be able to interact with your work. Create work that draws a line between the two. His collaboration with IKEA was crazy to me—he was making $30 rugs on a huge scale that you’d see in an LA designer home, but now could be purchased by low-income families at the same time. Making your work accessible and available, and drawing the line between the two types of people.
Product Updates
Not to sound redundant, but we are in a waiting period now with the manufacturers. We’ve made adjustments to all of the garments—adding functionality to the hoodie, making the hat more breathable, and changing up the shirt completely. I’ve been doing lots of research on different types of fabric blends that athletic companies are using to create high-quality, durable pieces. But it’s a complicated puzzle finding a partner who works with these new technologies, but can also produce them in low quantities for early-stage brands at a reasonable price. More info on that soon.
One thing I’d love to get in the works for the second collection is a mix between a boardshort and a running short. I find myself wanting to wear my boardshorts all the time, but functionally, they don’t have pockets like a Lululemon short, for example, which works well for running. But at the same time, I also don't like the style aspect of many of these Lulu/athletic shorts. I think finding an in-between—with the right fabric, pocket, and inner lining combo—would be an actual problem solver for me. And good products start with a problem.
Some socks as well - couple changes we need to make here on both the design and material, but again, great to see things coming to life.
Campaign Ideas
Now, I know we’ve been a bit quiet on the socials lately—but again, we wanted to just get these finished pieces in hand and then begin the “promotion” part of the process. As we are trying to be a brand that sits at the intersection of sports and art, or running and lifestyle, the idea for the initial campaign is to show other areas in your life in which you run—away from the track. I think many of today’s “running” brands focus much of the promotion around the sport itself, but I feel like the next evolution will be the athletic brands that treat ads the same way streetwear brands do. It’s the only way to stand out amongst so much noise. Be creative, film skits, and sell via story.
More to come—thanks for being here early, it means a lot.
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– Clark
Virgil Abloh’s talk was a great watch