Yanko Design’s commitment to exploring the minds that shape our world has just taken on a new dimension. With the launch of their new podcast, “Design Mindset,” YD is bringing weekly conversations with some of the most influential names in design, innovation, and creativity directly to their audience. Each episode offers not just inspiration, but real strategies and honest stories about the creative journey, perfect for designers, entrepreneurs, and anyone who’s ever wondered how great ideas come to life. The show premieres every Friday, adding a fresh layer to YD’s coverage of the global design landscape.
Episode 7 in this series is an insightful interview with Benjamin Hubert, the founder and creative force behind the acclaimed British studio LAYER. Known for his holistic approach to product, furniture, and experience design, Benjamin’s work spans collaborations with global brands and has redefined what it means to borrow and build upon design ideas. In this first episode of “Design Mindset,” Benjamin discusses the importance of borrowing wisely, building a unique studio culture, and why constraints often lead to the best creative breakthroughs.
The Art of Creative Theft: Why Great Designers Are Strategic Borrowers
Benjamin Hubert doesn’t shy away from the topic of influence in design, instead advocating for a transparent, respectful approach to borrowing ideas. He says, “In design, everything is essentially a remix. The important thing is to understand the origin of the ideas you’re working with and to build upon them in a way that’s authentic and respectful.” For Hubert, the difference between imitation and innovation is intent and the ability to push ideas beyond their reference points. This perspective challenges the often-romanticized notion of the lone creative genius, embracing design as a collaborative evolution of ideas across time and culture.
What sets successful designers apart is their skill in synthesizing influences intelligently. Hubert emphasizes that the best designers remix, adapt, and evolve existing concepts. “You need to know why something works, not just that it does,” Benjamin explains. “It’s about learning from the past but not being limited by it.” This approach requires both historical knowledge and forward-thinking vision, allowing designers to honor their influences while pushing boundaries. At LAYER, this philosophy translates into a research-heavy process where understanding precedents becomes the foundation for innovative leaps, ensuring that every borrowed element serves a greater creative purpose.
Beyond Data: How LAYER Balances Research with Creative Instinct
At LAYER, research forms the backbone of the design process, and it’s always coupled with a healthy dose of intuition. The studio’s approach challenges the false dichotomy between analytical thinking and creative inspiration, treating them as complementary forces. “We do a lot of research, but there’s a moment where you have to trust your gut,” Benjamin shares. The team dives deep into user behavior, material science, and emerging trends, and the creative leap that sets a project apart often comes from an instinctual response to the brief. This balance prevents the studio from falling into either the trap of over-intellectualizing design or relying purely on aesthetic whims.
Purely data-driven design, according to Hubert, can lead to predictable outcomes that lack soul and surprise. “If you rely solely on data, you’ll make safe and predictable things. Intuition is what gives a project its edge,” he notes. This philosophy has shaped how LAYER approaches client relationships and project development, encouraging calculated risks and creative leaps that push beyond what market research might suggest. The studio’s success lies in knowing when to follow the data and when to trust the creative instinct that comes from years of design experience and deep understanding of human behavior.
Building Creative Obsession: Inside LAYER’s High-Energy Studio Culture
Building a design studio requires more than assembling talented people; it’s about crafting a culture where creativity can thrive under pressure and passion. Hubert is refreshingly candid about the atmosphere at LAYER: “We’re not a nine-to-five kind of place. We’re obsessed, and that’s intentional.” This focuses on cultivating a team that genuinely loves what they do and pushes each other to excel. The studio culture is built around shared obsession with good design, where late nights spent refining concepts become opportunities to perfect something meaningful.
Central to this environment is a culture of constructive critique and ego-free collaboration. “There are no egos here,” Hubert explains. “We encourage everyone to challenge each other, and the work gets better because of it.” This collaborative, high-energy environment is designed to push boundaries and keep the team hungry for new ideas. It’s a delicate balance that requires hiring for skill, attitude, and cultural fit. The result is a studio where junior designers feel empowered to challenge senior staff, where ideas are judged on merit, and where the collective pursuit of excellence takes precedence over individual recognition. This culture has become LAYER’s competitive advantage in an industry often plagued by creative politics and territorial behavior.
Why Limitations Spark Genius: Embracing Constraints as Creative Fuel
Constraints represent one of design’s most powerful and underappreciated tools, according to Hubert. “The best ideas come from having clear boundaries, whether that’s time, budget, or material limitations,” he argues. This counterintuitive approach flies in the face of the common belief that creativity requires complete freedom. Hubert has observed that unlimited resources and open-ended briefs often lead to creative paralysis, while tight constraints force rapid decision-making and innovative problem-solving. At LAYER, constraints become creative catalysts that push the team toward unexpected solutions.
Constraints force designers to prioritize, simplify, and think resourcefully in ways that often yield breakthrough innovations. “Some of our most successful projects started with a really tough brief,” Benjamin recalls. “We embrace constraints as part of the creative process.” This philosophy extends beyond project briefs to include everything from material limitations to manufacturing constraints, each seen as an opportunity to innovate. The approach has led LAYER to develop unique solutions that might never have emerged from more open-ended scenarios, proving that creativity often flourishes most when it has clear boundaries to push against. This mindset shift from viewing constraints as problems to seeing them as creative opportunities has become fundamental to how the studio approaches every project.
The Real Talk Every Young Designer Needs to Hear
When asked what advice he’d give to emerging designers, Benjamin offers genuinely actionable wisdom rooted in years of industry experience. “Never stop asking questions,” he advises, but his guidance goes deeper than simple curiosity. He emphasizes the importance of maintaining what he calls “intelligent humility”: being confident enough to contribute meaningfully while remaining open to learning from every interaction. “Stay humble enough to know you don’t have all the answers, but confident enough to try anyway,” he explains. This balance is particularly crucial in an industry where both over-confidence and imposter syndrome can derail promising careers.
Hubert encourages young creatives to seek out inspiration from an unexpectedly wide range of sources, viewing design as a practice that benefits from interdisciplinary thinking. He suggests learning from fields like anthropology, psychology, and even economics to develop a richer understanding of human behavior and societal needs. “Design is about solving problems for people,” Benjamin concludes. “If you keep that in mind, you’ll always find your way.” This people-first approach to design thinking, combined with technical skill and creative vision, forms what Hubert sees as the foundation for a sustainable and impactful design career. His advice focuses on the fundamental human connections that make design meaningful.
YD’s new podcast, “Design Mindset,” promises to bring more candid, actionable insights like these every Friday. As Benjamin Hubert’s interview reveals, the journey from influence to innovation is as much about attitude and process as it is about talent. For designers everywhere, it’s a conversation worth tuning into.
The post Great Designers Steal: Benjamin Hubert on the Art of Creative Remixing first appeared on Yanko Design.