A visual guide to unsticking yourself… without becoming unstuck.
When creativity stalls, pushing harder rarely helps. Looking at things differently does. This is a small, charming book of visual punchlines to break the creative inertia.
Created by award-winning graphic designer Sven Völker, whose work spans global brand identities for Suzuki and Volkswagon, and the New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book, A Million Dots, this book is a collection of stripped back, sideways provocations designed to loosen up ideas and reconnect with play. It emerged from his work as a professor of design at Potsdam University as a way to get students thinking laterally.
Illustrated in Völker’s distinctive, minimalist style, each page offers a small shift in perspective, inviting you to pause, reframe and see what’s been there all along.
There are no answers here. Just better ways of asking.
Sven Völker is the author and illustrator of the New York Times award-winning A Million Dots (Cicada, 2019) and the critically acclaimed Are We There Yet? (2023). His minimalist aesthetic has featured on car branding, stage design and art installations. He is a professor at Potsdam University.
Order your copy now
A visual guide to unsticking yourself… without becoming unstuck.
When creativity stalls, pushing harder rarely helps. Looking at things differently does. This is a small, charming book of visual punchlines to break the creative inertia.
Created by award-winning graphic designer Sven Völker, whose work spans global brand identities for Suzuki and Volkswagon, and the New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book, A Million Dots, this book is a collection of stripped back, sideways provocations designed to loosen up ideas and reconnect with play. It emerged from his work as a professor of design at Potsdam University as a way to get students thinking laterally.
Illustrated in Völker’s distinctive, minimalist style, each page offers a small shift in perspective, inviting you to pause, reframe and see what’s been there all along.
There are no answers here. Just better ways of asking.
Sven Völker is the author and illustrator of the New York Times award-winning A Million Dots (Cicada, 2019) and the critically acclaimed Are We There Yet? (2023). His minimalist aesthetic has featured on car branding, stage design and art installations. He is a professor at Potsdam University.
Order your copy now
