Van Schneider creates the things he wish existed

Words by: Nikolas Wrobel

„Do you know him? — this guy is insane" said a friend to me many years ago, showing me Tobias Van Schneider’s Website. I was a student, freelancing at an agency. The website showed Tobias’ face with his distinctive twisted beard. For myself, I was different from all the other creatives and artists at this particular time in space, often misunderstood and Tobias face reflected the archetype of a person that could be one of the people judging me. But this was just for starters. The guy seemed to have all I ever dreamed of, all that a young ambitious designer wanted, but didn’t got: Big clients. Recognition. Awards, you name it. „No… I don’t know him“ I replied in an overplayed cool tone.

I was exploding inside and just couldn’t transcend the infinite love, boundless energy and obsession for Graphic Design to the outside world to the extend I desired, and bring things to fruition. I was on fire, hard to tame, constantly working, pushing hard, headwinds many times. On my way home, I looked into him again. My judgement was replaced by respect. His fame and achievements? Deserved. Even more: he created something I needed. A portfolio system, called Semplice, allowing you to present your practice online. Boundless, but without the need to know how to code, without the need to squeeze your personality into a template or a platform. It was all pre social media where your portfolio was quintessential if you wanted to go big. This was my game changer.

Later down the line, when I created my very first typeface Cosi Times, I wanted to sell it on my portfolio, but how? I asked the Semplice team, to my surprise, Tobias himself answered with first class advice, equipping me with more than required. This was not only a job to him, his care, real. I can describe this as nothing less than the start of what later grew into the Nikolas Type Foundry. But things didn’t ended here. Tobias became a license and frequent user of Nikolas Type too, which you can see when you receive one of his newsletters, called „desk“ of Van Schneider, which is set in Grand Slang B-Side. And now: he keeps doing his thing, his logos are flying to Mars, he creates Motorbikes, he shares knowledge, his thoughts, opinions, journey, he keeps killing it, and founded a new big thing, called „my mind“ an app that is an peaceful escape from the chaos of the internet, something you can describe as an ai powered search bar and extension of your mind. And you know, the next thing is just around the corner for him. Yes. This guy is insane. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my very pleasure to introduce: Tobias Van Schneider.

Tobias, under what conditions do you work best?
The creative me enjoys being alone. Completely isolated, nobody even in the other room. It gives me freedom and clarity to think for myself and be myself. My real creative being thrives in these moments, untouched by the opinions and desires of others.

My ultimate solitude tends to arrive at midnight. It almost transforms me. The dark brings focus. Silence brings new ideas. No voices interrupt, no chance of emails, just me and my thoughts. It’s this time I feel most creatively alive.

Now, add a soundtrack to it and I’m in creative heaven (:

What are you grateful for?
The fact that I’m able to do what I do everyday.
The fact that I do what I want everyday.

I dream it, and then I do it. I realize how rare this is, and how lucky I am to have it. I also recognize the work and time I put in to get to this place, so I’m grateful to my younger self for the patience, hard decisions and risks that got me here.  

What’s the best advice you ever received?
“The best way to complain is to create something” by James Murphy, founder of LCD Soundsystem. It has become one of my guiding principles. It turns useless, negative energy into productive, positive energy.

How do you clear your mind?
I ride my motorcycle. It’s as if the world falls away, pure freedom. No constraints, no shields — just the raw intimacy of rider and road. It’s powerful and beautiful. Imagine feeling everything and nothing at all at the same time. High on adrenaline, everything loses its meaning. When death is only a small decision away, your mind suddenly becomes clear. All you care about at this very moment is to stay alive, nothing else. It’s this singular focus that puts you in an almost meditative state.

How can we gain more confidence, and well-being as Designers?
Confidence is earned by your own actions and experience over time, it is not simply given. Care less about what others think about you or your work. Do the best work you can, be nice, be reliable and confidence will come.

How can we enchant the internet again, and make it more sexy-obscure, beautifully weird beyond reels-tik-tok and generic ai-art?
As my mother tends to say: “If it's not hurting enough yet, nothing will change.”
I believe it will get a lot worse before it gets better.
One day we will all feel it, and that will be the day we will change something.

From Tobias Van Schneider's ARTIFACTS — Branding collateral for new NASA project (top secret)

Tobias, how important is expressive type and typography for your practice?
Impossible to ignore.
Good typography is the bedrock of good design.
In some cases, it is the design.

How do you protect yourself against consuming, draining effects from Social Media, or disenchanting tech-mechanisms?
This question almost too perfectly leads into what I do everyday. In part, I protect myself by using mymind.com (which I created) — there are no ads, no vanity metrics, no social media features, nothing but myself. Only me and the things I care about. Over the years, mymind has become so valuable to me, it's the first place I go to look for inspiration. In fact, while I am answering this interview, I find myself going back and forth between old notes and musings inside my mind.

Social media still drains me, just like everyone else, but it’s nice to at least have one place just for myself. And thats mymind.

Aside from that, I just get offline and out into the world. Or I create something.

Independent Poster Study for MyMind — set in Solare by Nikolas Type

Please tell us more about the my mind man! (sitting figurine)
As with many things, it was a total coincidence. When we initially worked on the mymind product and brand, we didn’t even have the name “mymind” yet. The whole thing was called AWMT, which stands for “As We May Think” and is a reference to an old essay by Vannevar Bush from 1945 in which he wrote about a machine called “The Memex” which was some sort of machine that collects and connects your personal knowledge.

Coming off of that inspiring essay, we came up with a slogan called “Think for yourself” which is sort of the antithesis to the cloud/hive mind of what we call social media today. Especially since we position mymind as a private sanctuary, it just made sense to us.

All of this eventually got me into the rabbit whole to search for ideas for our logo. The classic “Thinker” statue immediately came to mind. I always loved that one, a man deep inside his own thoughts, unfazed by the world around him. But the statue was a bit too literal to me, too well known, too sharp and serious. We needed something more abstract, more playful. Eventually I found out about Cycladic art, originating from the Aegean islands during the Early Bronze Age. Very famous for their minimal and stylized marble figurines. Now, the rest is history. I immediately fell in love with the simplicity of it and it felt like a great canvas to build our visual universe on it. The rest is history (:

Below is a secret inside to "my" mymind, and what happens if you enter "logo".

How willing are you to compromise?
It’s a matter of respect. But it's not always a given.

What’s your favorite place in the world?
My favorite place in the world is New York City.

What’s your favorite food?
The best meal I have ever had was in Jerusalem at Machneyuda.
My go-to spot in NYC is PASTIS. It’s a classic.

Can you recollect what made the Machneyuda Meal so special?
I believe it was simply the atmosphere. The entire place felt like someone’s living room, with mismatched chairs, random artifacts everywhere. It was like someone’s busy living room in which someone would serve honest and beautiful food. You didn’t expect anything, you felt comfortable, like a normal human being, and then you got wowed by the food.

Of what work are you most proud of?
In 2020 we designed a logo for NASA. It ended up being the official Mars 2020 rover mission identifier. It was the first time something I worked on flew to space, even landing on another planet.

Your legendary Mars Logo also made it's way on a Lego Packaging...not to speak planet Mars itself. How did it made you all feel? And how did you even got there, getting this honor of creating such a meaningful branding?
I still can’t believe it, mini-me would’ve probably been even more impressed by the LEGO packaging. You know, as with many things, sometimes its all about being in the right place, at the right time. Someone introduced me to someone over a decade ago. I ended up working with NASA/JPL on many small projects, many of them internal which nobody has ever seen, and eventually this led to the big Mars project. As with many things, its complex, messy, but all makes sense in retrospect. Many little actions leading up to something bigger. I am still thankful for the opportunity.

Below you see already the follow up from the house of Van Schneider, branding NASA’s mission to Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa.

Tobias, what is "cool" for you?
There’s a wonderful poem by Charles Bukowski called “Style is the answer to everything” and I truly believe this to also happens to be the entire definition of cool — For me at least. Being cool is being effortlessly yourself, and that can come in many different flavors. Read the poem, and you know what I mean.

What have you forgotten?
What it was like to be a child. 
That beautiful feeling of unbiased wonder.
To see and feel everything for the first time.

I try to find glimpses of it again with my hobbies or creative work, but it will never perfectly capture the purity of a child’s point of view.