
9 Creative Lessons From Virgil Abloh

The idea of putting things in a box just doesn’t work for me. It worked for a generation that was supposed to be where they are. My story starts from immigrant parents from Ghana in West Africa. On the will of my dad making it to America, I was afforded the range of options opposite from a third world country.
Being an outsider allowed Abloh to appr... See more
Trung Phan • 9 Creative Lessons From Virgil Abloh
The importance of an outsider perspective
Abloh’s approach was often to make a small “3% “change to the original form. He wasn’t changing something by 3% just to change it by 3%, though. He was adding his personal 3% touch (in a world of generative AI, I really want to emphasize the personal touch aspecthere).
My favourite example of Abloh's approach was a collaboration with Nike on “The T... See more
My favourite example of Abloh's approach was a collaboration with Nike on “The T... See more
Trung Phan • 9 Creative Lessons From Virgil Abloh
What is a good way to riff on existing work? Small 3% changes.
It's important to recognize we're in the lineage of art movements...I'm sure...you're trying to challenge yourself to invent something new. Try to be so avant-garde, that has zero [connection to the past]. That's impossible...We exist off the backs of many other things in iterations before us. So once you think about us as a collective, you then re... See more
Trung Phan • 9 Creative Lessons From Virgil Abloh
Build on the work of a mentor (dead or alive). Odd are, these mentors did the same.