my journey to playground

From flopping around aimlessly we learn to courageously crawl, then to stand, slowly to walk and finally to leap. In between these moments we fall tirelessly without much control, but it's okay, we're evolving. 

Evolution is great, it means we're breaking habits and treading unfamiliar territory. Evolution is also frightening, and to some it's life or death - the beginning or end to ones career depending on the path they choose. 

Last year Hoang and I took one of the the biggest leaps of our lives. We joined Playground. 

Hoang had just left Amazon to join Matter as Principle and I had just filled a leadership role at Astro. Things were beyond exceptional, we were blessed and real comfortable. We both had no intentions of resignation for at least a few years; the ink of our promotion letters had barely dried. But it happened, somehow, some way.  

It came in the form of an email: "do you guys want a unicorn-grade ID gig?" Who doesn't like unicorns? Who wouldn't read? So we did, and to be frank, it was a bigger deal than we had expected. Things were going exceptionally well with clients, so we didn't need another exotic pony. Our situation was as flawless as flawless could be. 

To our parents we were idiots. With an ocean to sail, who in their right mind would abandon a perfectly fine ship for a pair of swimming fins? Us, I guess. 

"A smooth sea never made a skillful mariner."

To be extremely honest, this imperative moment left me feeling more vulnerable than I had ever felt in my adult life. As a designer, I had seen a few places, but Astro remained my first and only love. These were the guys who rescued me from the assembly lines of Jamba Juice, put a pen in my hand and told me I was made to create. In the design world, things like this don't happen often, especially for a premature sophomore who'. The spark they saw in me was nurtured into a flame and that's why we became family.

Walking away from Astro  meant submitting comfort, security and our house keys if things fall apart. It also meant rebuilding habits and taking on roles that brought shakes to my knees and sweat to my palms. I was truly scared again, for the first time in a very long time.

Interestingly enough, chasing discomfort was the reason why I left. As painful as failures are, and as stubborn as I am, I enjoy being a student. A student of everything. Some see evolution as age, I see it as wisdom, snowballing. 

If questioned today about my decisions, my answer would be yes I made the right choice. Not everything I produce will be perfect, not every product I pitch will change lives, but I'm learning and I'm trying. Best of all, these last 6 months felt like I went straight from crawling to jumping! 

Anh

Yesterday, Playground was featured on WIRED. Read more about our journey here. 

The misconception of followers

Let me start off by clarifying. We are HUGE fans of Instagram and genuine believers of all social platforms alike. Without them, we wouldn't have had the opportunity to reach giants like Audi, BMW, Nike, Adidas, etc. So trust us, when we say we are HUGE fans, we really are. 

Notoriety five years ago, meant creating an exceptional body of work, critique and refine; critique and refine; to finally post a web portfolio. A good artist received five to 10 views a day, a great artist 10 to 20 - and this took an overwhelming amount of physical effort. 

Today, engagement is granular. Those five to ten viewers  have become thousands to millions. Unlike Madison Square Garden, Instagram can not sell out and Twitter has no seating restraints. The internet has become our venue, and the couch, our stage. This is where the problem lies. 

One's success is often gauged by the number of followers he/she has and this is the major misconception.

If not all, most of the time, you find people's tongues rolled out and jaws on the floor when they meet a person with 100k+ followers. We've been approached by people with 200-300k followers, who have never handled a single legal document, written a proposal or touched a contract.  We've also worked with people who have less than a hundred followers who have changed the world in major ways. 

At the end of the day, avoid verifying ones experience or worthiness against followers. Don't let crowd building derail you. Stay focused, keep learning, keep doing, keep killing! Real world experience, over everything. 

Follow us :P

Futurecraft Tailored Fibre by Adidas

If you're like us and find beauty in the process, this video is for you. Layers, weaves, textures and patterns. A work of art. 

TIMBALAND IN THE HOUSE

Nothing but respect for Timb. This man musically shaped our generation and is responsible for some of the greatest artists of our time. Huge blessings to be able to sit down in one table and trade thoughts. The future is looking real bright.  

Shout outs to the squad - @Playground.Global @Subpac

The end.

The death of one sketchbook gives birth to another. Most pages are confidential, things I cannot legally share. Here are a few that I can!

Tackling Cinema 4D

We've always been an advocate for not falling into complacency. One way to avoid that is to continue to learn new things. Well, we're about to take on the bold task of learning Cinema 4d. Its capabilities are super attractive for both graphic and industrial design work we do. It'll be a long journey but we're excited none the less. 

Starting with what we know best. Building a highly detailed pair of headphones, so when we start to animate its construction, every detail matters. We're done building the headphones. Next up is throwing it into Cinema. 

Perspective

“Okay. The story is about a little wave, bobbing along in the ocean, having a grand old time. He’s enjoying the wind and the fresh air-until he notices the other waves in front of him, crashing against the shore.

”My God, this is terrible,” the wave says. “Look what’s going to happen to me!”

Then along comes another wave. It sees the first wave, looking grim, and it says to him, “Why do you look so sad?”

The first wave says, “You don’t understand! We’re all going to crash! All of us waves are going to be nothing! Isn’t it terrible?”

The second wave says, “No, you don’t understand. You’re not a wave, you’re part of the ocean.”

-Tuesdays with Morrie (p.179)

Chucka Chucka

Mama says "no shoes in the house." So I put em on the table, and drew around em. 

GOOD ENOUGH VS PERFECT

Perfection is dropping a golf ball from top of the empire state building and having it land precisely in a cup. In one try.  

Good enough, on the other hand, is dropping it as precisely as you can, and then dropping it again, and again. Until you make it (then repeat).

Very often, on our pursuit of delivering the "perfect" product, we do not deliver any product at all. By the time we realize that good enough was actually good enough, we are perfectly late. 

Even Twitter, the multi-quadrillion dollar business has flaws. :P

"IF WE WAIT UNTIL WE'RE READY, WE WILL BE WAITING FOR THE REST OF OUR LIVES."

THIS ONE IS FOR MOM&POPs

California College of the Arts Fall 2015 Issue

California College of the Arts Fall 2015 Issue

“Your child is a problem. he seems to find joy in disrupting my class. you should really be concerned with his future.” 

My ears were almost numb to these reassuring phrases that spilled from the ear piece of our slinky corded phone. These monthly teacher, father and child conversations became so recurring that for the next 10+ years of my childhood, I really believed I was a failure. 

The amount of Ds, Fs and Incomplete's on my report cards made the occasional C worth celebrating. 

It wasn't until my senior year in High School when I finally came to terms with my education. My lack of interest, was because of a lack of interest. Where some saw numbers, I saw shapes and colors. Where they saw problems I saw opportunities. Beauty had no boundaries; there we're no rights or wrongs. This was when I discovered me. This was when I discovered art. 

Because my parents have felt the torching 110 degree Southern Vietnamese sun, and have labored through 15 hour field days, the comfort of a white lab coat and a crispy air conditioned room was the only future they wished for their own child.

Alumni Stories featuring the CreativeSession brothers

Alumni Stories featuring the CreativeSession brothers

“WHERE WE'RE FROM PEOPLE DON'T REALLY TALK ABOUT CREATIVITY AS A REAL CAREER PATH, BUT WE WENT FOR IT ANYWAYS.” -D.WHETSTONE

Fortunately I realized young enough that the white lab coat was not fitting; and luckily, I had the support needed to switch career paths. Today, I am definitely blessed to say that I am not as problematic as I once was, and my future is looking a lot more hopeful!

When our college reached out to have us featured on their Magazine, it was quite a humbling and awakening moment. Thanks for the op.  

To read read our feature, click here (p.24).

OLD DOGs & NEW TRICKS

"An old dog that listens will learn more than a young dog that barks."

-Anh

Y-3 QASA HIGH "CORE BLACK"

Some days you dress up. Some days you dress down. My favorite days are when you dress like a ninja! We were lucky enough to snatch an early pair of the SS2016 Y-3 Qasa High Core Black, enjoy these! 

devialet phantom silver

At the end of the day, we are as geeky as we are trendy fashion boys. We live, love, consume, inhale, create and surround our selves with neat technology, gadgets and toys every day.

Here's an exciting new piece of technology we'd like to share! Andy Rubin gifted us brothers four sets of these CRAZY implosive speakers. These speakers are rated at 105db, which I believe is orchestra level! One speaker shakes our whole darn house. 

"the speaker designed itself"

One of the most interesting things about the Phantom is it's design; or lack of. There were no industrial designers. Every detail, crease, curve, material, magnet and cone is instrumental to its functionality. Even the grill pattern wasn't designed, it was the result of sand cymatics; A naturally created pattern when music frequencies come in contact with a metal surface filled with sand. 

As a cherry on top, the fellas at Devialet customed these speakers with our logo on the side! Enjoy. 

EUGENI QUITLLET @IDEO

You know those moments when a song comes on, but for the life of you, you can not recall the artist? Yes, Eugeni was that for us. Fortunately, we have friends in great places who were able to fix that issue (kidding). We probably owe Youenn and Kornelia a few bottles of champagne for inviting the considerate brothers who have a habit of showing up with a +10 guests list.  

Jokes aside, last night was extremely insightful to say the least. It was an honor and a huge inspiration to put a face to some of the design icons that have helped shape our generation physically and emotionally. 

“The object is not the object - it is a vehicle to an emotion.” 

Eugeni reminded me, that as designers we are emotional curators. We create things that tingle our senses and dance with our thoughts. A successful design not only invites our eyes, but warms our heart.

One of my favorite pieces of the night was the "Magic Flute", an instrument designed for children beginning their musical studies. As Eugeni described it: "The idea was to make disappear the physical and bring up the immateriality of the music and make it visible, helping kids to see where the sound and air flow through the instrument." Often, as designers, I feel we mistaken the task of creation with addition; to layer textures, materials, colors, buttons and lights on top of existing objects. For me, the real magic happened when Eugeni stripped the simple instrument of unnecessary clutter and used design to make sexy not by adding, but subtracting. 

YZYSZN

Many, many, many blessings from Kanye West + Adidas crew this season.