Desk of Tobias von Schneider

A cruel reminder for all designers

The other day I had a conversation with a friend and it made me think about this scene from MadMen (as I was roughly paraphrasing it myself in a conversation). It's a cruel reminder for most designers because it is the simple reality we often don't

The WHY always comes first.

What makes working on mymind so fulfilling is that everything starts with the WHY, which also happens to be my personal design philosophy. All of our values & principles come all the way at the beginning. Then they trickle down into product decisions, the HOW and WHAT. Some examples from

Dear Young Designer, Part II

(this is a timely continuation of Part I of Dear Young Designer) → You don't need to become a grifter to be successful. I know it seems that way today (given the context of 2025), but trust me there is another way that's more meaningful and long

What makes Japanese letterforms so irresistible to designers?

Welcome back to DESK! As promised last week, I continue to use this newsletter to share more thoughts straight from mymind. Thinking a lot about the future of writing lately, I’ve come to a new conclusion. For the past years I've tried to get better at my

How to reverse AI brain rot — A note to myself

Stop chasing frictionless convenience Accept some slowness and complexity in your life. Don't use shortcuts everywhere even if they're easily available to you. Embrace manual effort to train your mind and body. It's the only way to grow and retain personal agency in a

Death by a Thousand Buttons — from the Desk of van Schneider — Edition №268

Welcome back to DESK! New York threw us another perfect weekend so I took the Escape Machine down to Balthazar in SoHo for some overpriced eggs benedict (a Tobias favorite, although I prefer it at PASTIS in Meatpacking District, same owner, better food). While enjoying my brunch I watched the

That thing that you loved (before you googled it)

There's something special, even sacred and pure about experiencing something for the first time, all by yourself.

Smoke, Mirrors, and Toothpaste Foam — from the Desk of van Schneider

The story of the Orange

Welcome back! Many new readers joined this email list last week. Makes me happy that my writing resonates. Thank you for recommending this newsletter to your friends and colleagues, it means a lot to me ♡ LAST WEEK ON DESK Last week I wrote about "The future of Design"

The future of the designer — From the Desk of van Schneider — Edition №263