In a world of constant change,
everything rigid will break.
We need to unlearn static approaches
and learn to envision flexible systems.
At Flexible Visual Systems, we are focusing on the paradigm shift in visual design education, from static to flexible.
FVS Atlas Interviews
Thought & Found
Read the interview
Publication
Flexible Visual Systems is a book. — It sums up 10 years of research* by Dr. Martin Lorenz at the University of Barcelona, 16 years of developing systems at TwoPoints.Net,** and 20 years of teaching systems at over 10 design universities*** throughout Europe.
* Design Research from 2005 to 2016 at the University of Barcelona, resulting in a doctoral dissertation about systems in visual design.
** TwoPoints.Net began in 2001 as a final graduation project at the KABK (Koninklijke Academie voor Beeldende Kunsten, Den Haag). Back then, it was a platform for artistic conversations. In 2007 TPN became a design studio.
*** Find a list of current and past teaching positions on the About page.
“Contemporary visual identities need to adapt and function consistently in a wide range of interactive, in motion, and static formats. The current landscape of design education, for the most part, still relies on concepts from the Bauhaus and Swiss “International” style; while significant historically, they can be pretty deficient when applied to design that is evolving with new technologies. Thanks to Martin, we now have a book to help us think and design ‘flexibly!’ This book will undoubtedly help educators like myself bring these new processes and ways of thinking into the classroom.”
Mitch Paone, Dia Studio
“Martin Lorenz’s typographic systems are gorgeous and inspiring. The seemingly infinite possibilities for typographic construction and customization are astounding. I’m sure they will turn up in my work. Many thanks, Martin!”
Paula Scher, Pentagram, New York
“Después de años de investigación y práctica con sistemas flexibles, Martin Lorenz nos deja este libro. Ya tiene un lugar destacado en mi biblioteca.”
Mario Eskenazi
“Este libro es fundamental para entender y explicar las identidades visuales flexibles.”
Verònica Fuerte, Hey Studio
“Dear Martin, I’ve long believed that sameness tends to be overvalued in design and branding so I am very happy about your contribution to the world of flexible visual systems, a wonderful primer for people interested in elastic identities.”
Stefan Sagmeister
“Grid systems may be produced by the left side of the brain and art creation by the right side of the brain: Martin’s book proves that there’s a field for playing around with both sides: real creativity is all about embracing both sides and that’s what is marvelous about his work.”
Genevieve Gauckler
“This is a wonderful book for both design students and practitioners who want to explore a more rule-based and dynamic approach to graphic design. I think the most interesting work today are done by designers who, rather than make one-off visual identities, manage to create flexible design systems, and this book is a great reference for those kinds of projects.”
Rune Madsen, Co-founder of Design Systems International
“This book hasn’t left my desk since I got it. It’s all initially so simple but the amount of space and variability that Martin covers is really profound. The insights and experiments are nested inside each other, one after another. I’ll be stealing from this for a long time.”
Kiel Mutschenknaus
Follow-up Publication
Flexible Visual Systems has arrived. — Designers worldwide have fully embraced the paradigm shift from static to flexible.* While in the last century, the identity revolved around logos, representing a message, this century is about systems functioning as flexible visual languages. This shift will have profound implications for how we relate to the world. The FVS Atlas ** is a growing directory of a global community of trailblazing designers pushing (FV) System Design to new creative heights.***
* The shift is not due to FVS alone, but due to a global trend, provoked by the co-evolutionary processes of technology and culture. Nevertheless, having taught thousands of students, speaking publicly about systems since the beginning of this century, and the book being in its sixth edition, has left its traces.
** The book is available at Viction:ary.
*** The FVS Atlas is not just a book, it is a community of designers further developing Flexible System Design.
«For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.»
Hannah Arendt
Courses
Flexible Visual Systems has transcended its origins as a mere book. — It has evolved into a comprehensive school of thought. With the English version of the book now in its sixth edition*, a Spanish version**, and even a Japanese translation***, designers and creative coders worldwide have adopted and taught the systemic approach. This website, along with our Discord server, serves as the platform where theory seamlessly transitions into practice, facilitating the evolution and application of these principles.
Foundation Course
The Foundation Course compiles the essential lessons you need before you take the other courses. Without a basic understanding of what a Visual Identity and a Visual System is and how Flexible Visual Systems change your design approach, it will be hard to follow the approaches of the advanced courses.
Lesson 1: What is an Identity?
Lesson 2: Identity Vs Image
Lesson 3: What is a Visual Identity?
Lesson 4: What is a Visual System?
Lesson 5: Change of Approach
Lesson 6: How do FVS work?
Lesson 7: The FVS Model
Lesson 8: The FVS Manifesto explained
History Course
In this course, we are going to look at the history of systems in graphic design. Looking back is helpful to understand why we are where we are at the moment. What needs to change and what should be conserved? The History Course, having a strong focus on Visual Identities, Typography, and Type Design is a perfect foundation course for any practical course.
Lesson 1: Introduction
Lesson 2: Designing Languages
Lesson 3: Logo ≠ Visual Identity
Lesson 4: Why Identities became more flexible?
Lesson 5: Are FVI’s a new thing?
Lesson 6: The Design Manual
Lesson 7: The Design Template
Lesson 8: The Construction Kit
Lesson 9: The Program
Lesson 10: How do contemporary FVI’s work?
Lesson 11: Summing Up & Final Project
Systematic Creativity Course
This course will make your creative process more efficient and effective without taking any of the creative freedom you need. It helps you to focus, go deeper in your exploration, make the design process transparent, identify key elements, and distinguish between the ones that work and the ones that make the result weaker. Becoming more creative, by becoming more systemic.
Lesson 1: Systematic Creativity, an Oxymoron?
Lesson 2: System Theory
Lesson 3: Limitation
Lesson 4: Iterations
Lesson 5: Fritz Zwicky
Lesson 6: Karl Gerstner
Lesson 7: A box for FVS
Lesson 8: Summing Up & Final Project
The CAA Method
In this course, you will learn how to design flexible systems for visual identities based on form. The 3-Step method “Components, Assets, Application” is the main approach in the book Flexible Visual Systems and according to my research the most popular in the field. Being able to design custom assets does not just help you design distinctive Visual Identities, it also speeds up your application process and opens it up to co-workers.
Lesson 1: Introduction
Lesson 2: What do I mean by …?
Lesson 3: Components
Lesson 4: Asset Symbols
Lesson 4.1: Asset Line
Lesson 4.2: Asset Frame
Lesson 4.3: Asset Shape
Lesson 4.4: Asset Letters
Lesson 4.5: Asset Pattern
Lesson 5: How to Apply Your Assets?
Lesson 6: Summing Up & Final Project
Modular Type Design Course
Designing Flexible Type Systems is my favorite thing to do. In this course, I am giving you a general introduction to type design, and then show you how I develop Modular Type Systems for Flexible Visual Identities. This course opens up a million things you can do with type.
Lesson 1: Amuse Gueule
Lesson 2: Form Follows Function
Lesson 3: Form Follows Function II
Lesson 4: Form Follows Tool
Lesson 5: Form Follows Grid, Part 1
Lesson 6: Form Follows Grid, Part 2
Lesson 7: Form Follows Grid, Part 3
Lesson 8: The Grid of Tp ESPN Next
Lesson 9: Components First
Lesson 10: Summing Up & Final Project
Grids as Transformational Tools
If you are new to Flexible System Design, the course “Grids as Transformational Tools — How Grids Can Become Visual Identities” will give you a whole new perspective on System Design.
Lesson 1: Introduction
Lesson 2: Making a grid with a circle
Lesson 3: Making a grid with a triangle
Lesson 4: Making a grid with a square
Lesson 5: Making a three-dimensional grid
Lesson 6: Using the grid as a transformational tool
Lesson 7: Focusing on masks
Lesson 8: Focusing on typography
Lesson 9: Multi-layered design
Lesson 10: Summing up & Final Assignment
I’ve developed the 6 six courses mentioned above, comprising 58 lessons. They teach you not only the fundamentals of Flexible System Design but also how to apply them in your work. FVS is not a tutorial or rulebook; it is an open framework that allows you to become who you are.
To access the courses, you need to sign up for my Patreon first. This is not exactly like buying a product. More like supporting me so I can invest time and money in maintaining what’s there, developing more content, and hiring people who can help me with all the things I would love to do in the future. 🙂
Please spread the word!
Thank you!
Martin
FREE
€ 0 / month
If you sign up for the FREE Patreon Membership, you’ll receive a bi-weekly update on what’s new on FVS, every Monday at 9 a.m. CET. If you read the newsletter on Patreon, you can leave me and the community comments. It’s a good way to keep connected and have an influence on what I am developing next for you.
- Most Bi-Weekly Patreon Newsletters
Supporter
€ 6 / month
Become my Supporter and get access to the Foundation Course — Essential Lessons in Identity Design, most of the articles, most of the interviews, and most of the bi-weekly Patreon Newsletters. You will also get access to our lovely Discord Community to share and ask anything you like.
- 1 Course
- Most of the Articles & Interviews
- Most Bi-Weekly Patreon Newsletters
- Access to Discord Community
Student
€ 12 / month
Become my Student and get access to ALL courses, ALL articles, ALL interviews, and ALL my bi-weekly Patreon Newsletters. You will also get access to our lovely Discord Community server to share and ask anything you like.
- ALL Courses
- ALL Articles & Interviews
- ALL Bi-Weekly Patreon Newsletters
- Access to Discord Community
Sponsor
€24 / month
This tier is for all the generous people who want to sponsor this project. You will get all the Student tiers’ benefits and help me grow the educational offer faster. Thank you!
- ALL Courses
- ALL Articles & Interviews
- ALL Bi-Weekly Patreon Newsletters
- Access to Discord Community
Who is “I”?
Dr. Martin Lorenz (1977, Hanover, Germany) is the grandson, son, and nephew of teachers. His escape plan from this family tradition was to become a graphic designer.
He graduated from the Graphic Design department at the Royal Academy of Art (KABK) of The Hague, Netherlands, after studying communication design at the University of Applied Sciences in Darmstadt, Germany. While founding the design Studio TwoPoints.Net with Lupi Asensio and raising two boys, he enrolled first in a Master’s Degree and later in a Ph.D. Degree at the University of Barcelona, Spain, writing a doctoral dissertation about flexible visual systems in communication design.
Martin became a teacher in 2003. He has taught at dozens of European Universities since then. He currently teaches at the Bachelors and Masters Degree of Graphic Design of Elisava, Barcelona, and the Film Academy of Ludwigsburg. He is also the Conversational Design Lead at the Not-For-Profit organisation Dark Matter Labs and a partner of TwoPoints.Net and Coding Systems.
Get in contact with Martin through Patreon or
www.instagram.com/flexiblevisualsystems/
www.instagram.com/martinlorenz
https://www.linkedin.com/in/drmartinlorenz/
