Perspective is my ongoing series of short essays, an effort to share thought leadership, not only finished work. Using everyday observations such as a teacup, a roundabout, or a prehistoric tool, I explore what design does when it is working: turning complexity into clarity, making care visible, and building systems that stay human across digital and tactile experiences, especially in an era shaped by AI.

So Takahashi So Takahashi

Design That Waits

The Greenland flag worked silently for 40 years. Designed in 1985 by Thue Christiansen, a simple disk offset on a bicolor field representing sun rising over ice, it did its job without fanfare.

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So Takahashi So Takahashi

Language shapes design thinking

I recently attended a design conference titled "Læringer fra Japan: Den omsorgsfulle arkitekturen" ("Learnings from Japan: Caring Architecture"), and one idea has stayed with me

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So Takahashi So Takahashi

Ichigo Ichie

I took a Japanese tea ceremony class here in Oslo this week. It is something I never actually did back in Japan.

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So Takahashi So Takahashi

Design as Evolution

Have you ever looked at a prehistoric arrowhead?
Not as a museum artifact, but as a design decision.
Somewhere, thousands of years ago, a human stood shaping stone with intention. Edges refined. Weight balanced. Form serving purpose.

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So Takahashi So Takahashi

The Pause Is the Feature

The teacup has no handle.
When it’s too hot to hold, it’s too hot to drink. When it fits comfortably in your palms, the tea is ready. Your hands are the thermometer.

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So Takahashi So Takahashi

Making Care Visible

Visual design has a role to play in building a planet-centric future, not through greenwashing, but by creating systems that make care visible and culturally valued.

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So Takahashi So Takahashi

Against the Superflat

We’re designing ourselves into a superflat world.
There’s an inherent dance between the digital and the tactile, one I find myself constantly navigating.

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So Takahashi So Takahashi

Design is translation

Rethinking Visual Design
They call it making things pretty.
I call it shaping how meaning takes form

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