You know that feeling when you watch something and suddenly the whole world looks a little bit different? That’s basically what happens about twenty minutes into any episode of Abstract: The Art of Design. It isn’t just a show about people making stuff. It’s a masterclass in how humans process reality. Honestly, most "design" shows are just glorified home renovations or high-stakes competitions where someone cries over a cake. This is different. It’s visceral.
Netflix dropped the first season back in 2017, and even now, it feels ahead of its time. Created by Scott Dadich, the former editor-in-chief of Wired, the series does something tricky. It takes "design"—a word that usually feels cold, corporate, or exclusive—and makes it feel like breathing. It’s about the sneakers on your feet and the digital interface you're scrolling through right now.
What Most People Get Wrong About Design
Most people think design is about making things look "pretty." That's a mistake. If you watch the episode featuring Tinker Hatfield—the guy behind most of your favorite Air Jordans—you realize design is actually about solving problems you didn't even know you had.
Hatfield wasn't just sketching shoes; he was thinking about how an athlete’s foot expands under pressure. He was looking at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and thinking, Hey, what if I put the inside of the shoe on the outside? That’s the "Air" bubble. That isn't just aesthetics. It’s engineering disguised as art.
Design is messy. It’s loud. Abstract: The Art of Design captures that mess. It doesn't use the typical "talking head" documentary format where someone sits in a chair and drones on. Instead, the cinematography changes to match the subject. When they profile Bjarke Ingels, the architect, the camera moves like a blueprint coming to life. When it’s Paula Scher, the legendary graphic designer, the screen becomes a playground of typography and color.
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The Psychology of the "Click"
Design is often invisible. When it works, you don't notice it. You only notice it when it fails—like a door handle you have to pull when it looks like you should push. Don Norman calls those "Norman Doors," but the show goes deeper into the emotional resonance of these objects.
Take Cas Holman’s episode in Season 2. She designs toys. But she doesn't design "The Toy." She designs "The Tool for Play." Her Rigamajig set is basically a bunch of wooden planks and nuts and bolts. It looks like nothing until a kid touches it. Then it's a crane. Or a car. Or a monster.
That’s the core of Abstract: The Art of Design. It teaches you that the designer’s job isn't to dictate your experience, but to provide the framework for it. It’s about empathy. If you don't care about the person using the thing, you're just making sculpture, not design.
Why Abstract: The Art of Design Matters for Non-Designers
You might be thinking, "I'm a data analyst" or "I work in retail, why do I care about typeface?"
Because you're being designed at every single day.
Every app on your phone is designed to trigger a specific dopamine response. Every street sign is designed to be read at 60 miles per hour in a rainstorm. Understanding the framework of Abstract: The Art of Design gives you a bit of your agency back. It pulls back the curtain.
Christoph Niemann’s episode is probably the best example of this. He’s an illustrator for The New Yorker. He talks about "the gap." On one side, you have an idea. On the other, you have the execution. The art is what happens in the middle. He plays with the "abstract-o-meter"—a scale where a heart shape is on one end and a literal photo of a bloody human heart is on the other. Design is finding the sweet spot where the viewer "gets it" instantly without being bored or disgusted.
The Heavy Hitters You Need to Know
The show features some of the most influential people on the planet. Most of them aren't household names, but their work is in your house.
- Ilse Crawford: She’s an interior designer, but she’s really a sensory psychologist. She thinks about how the texture of a chair makes you feel safe or exposed.
- Ruth Carter: You know her work from Black Panther. She uses costume design to tell stories about Afro-futurism and history that dialogue can’t reach.
- Neri Oxman: She’s at the MIT Media Lab. She’s literally 3D-printing with silk and shrimp shells to create biodegradable structures. It's sci-fi, but it’s real.
- Platon: The photographer. He has photographed every world leader you can think of. His "design" is the design of a moment—how to strip away the power and find the human underneath the suit.
The "Abstract" Style is its Own Character
The show is a visual feast. No, that’s a cliché. It’s a visual assault. In a good way.
The production design of the show itself mirrors the subjects. It uses a mix of 4K cinematography, stop-motion animation, and quirky practical effects. In the episode about Neri Oxman, the visuals feel organic and biological. In the episode about Ian Spalter (who led the redesign of Instagram), the visuals are sleek, digital, and iterative.
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It’s meta. A show about design that is itself an incredible piece of design.
One of the coolest things about Abstract: The Art of Design is how it handles failure. Most documentaries want to show the "genius" at work. This show shows the "idiot" at work—the person who tried 400 things and they all sucked. Paula Scher talks about how her best ideas often happen in the back of a taxi, but only after she’s spent months failing at her desk. It’s incredibly validating for anyone in a creative field. Or any field, really.
Digital vs. Physical: The Great Divide
The second season took a hard turn into the digital world. This was a smart move. Our lives are increasingly lived through glass screens.
Ian Spalter’s episode is a standout because it addresses the "Like" button. That little heart. It seems so simple. But the amount of psychological research, color testing, and user-experience (UX) testing that went into that one icon is staggering.
He talks about the "emotional burden" of design. When you change an icon that billions of people use, you’re actually disrupting their muscle memory. You’re changing their daily ritual. That’s a heavy responsibility. Abstract: The Art of Design makes you realize that the people building our digital world are basically architects of our behavior.
Does it get too "Art School"?
Sometimes. Yeah. There are moments where the subjects get a little bit lost in their own philosophy. You might roll your eyes when someone talks about the "spirit of a line" for five minutes.
But that’s okay. Design is philosophical.
It’s the intersection of art and utility. If it were just utility, we’d all live in grey concrete boxes and wear identical jumpsuits. If it were just art, nothing would ever work. The friction between those two poles is where the magic happens. The show doesn't shy away from that tension. It embraces the pretension because, honestly, you have to be a little bit pretentious to think you can change the world with a new font or a better chair.
How to Apply "Abstract" Thinking to Your Life
You don't need to be a professional designer to use the lessons from this show. Here is how you actually use this stuff:
1. Practice Iteration, Not Perfection
Almost every creator in the series starts with garbage. Tinker Hatfield’s early sketches aren't masterpieces. They’re experiments. Stop trying to get the final version of your project on the first try. Just move the pen.
2. Look for the "Why" Behind the Object
Next time you buy something—a coffee mug, a laptop bag, a pair of scissors—ask yourself why it’s shaped that way. Why is the handle that size? Why is it that color? Once you start seeing the "why," you start seeing the world as a series of intentional choices rather than random occurrences.
3. Use Constraints as Fuel
Bjarke Ingels talks about "hedonistic sustainability." He had to build a power plant, but he also wanted a ski slope. Instead of choosing one, he designed a power plant with a ski slope on the roof. Constraints (like a lack of space or a tight budget) aren't walls; they're the edges of the puzzle.
4. Empathy as a Business Tool
Whether you're writing an email or building a house, think about the end user’s emotional state. Are they rushed? Are they confused? Design your communication to meet them where they are.
The Future of Design Docuseries
We’re in a weird spot with media right now. Everything is short-form. TikToks, Reels, 30-second clips. Abstract: The Art of Design is the antidote to that. It asks you to sit down and think about the curve of a car door for 45 minutes.
It’s meditative.
There hasn't been a third season announced yet, which is a bummer. But the sixteen episodes we have are basically an encyclopedia of modern human thought. If you want to understand why the world looks the way it does—and how you might be able to change a little piece of it yourself—you need to watch this.
Start with the Christoph Niemann episode if you want to laugh. Start with Neri Oxman if you want to feel like you're living in the year 3000. Just start. You’ll never look at a letter "A" or a pair of sneakers the same way again.
Design isn't just what things look like. Design is how things work. And right now, the world needs more people who understand how things work.
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Actionable Next Steps:
- Watch the "Graphic Design" episode (S1:E6) to understand how typography shapes your political and social opinions without you realizing it.
- Audit your workspace: Identify one object that "fails" you daily (a messy drawer, a bad chair) and research the design history of its "perfect" version.
- Follow the "Abstract" creators on Instagram: Many of the featured designers, like Olafur Eliasson or Ruth Carter, post behind-the-scenes looks at their current projects that serve as a "Season 3" in real-time.