Photo by Suganth / Unsplash Journal The Airport Test If you want to understand a culture, don’t read its constitution. Don’t study its GDP. Spend 30 minutes at its airport. Airports are the most condensed, exaggerated versions of national character. They’re pressure cookers where design, behavior, and ambition collide in plain sight. In Helsinki, my home By Tobias Dahlberg • 3 min read
Photo by James Ting / Unsplash Journal When Everything Becomes A Brand It used to be that brands were things companies had. Nike, Mercedes, Rolex. You went to the supermarket, chose between Coca-Cola and Pepsi, and went home without ever thinking you yourself needed a “brand.” Well, that was me as a kid, long before I became a brand strategist. After By Tobias Dahlberg • 3 min read
Journal The Curse of Optionality We live in a time of near-infinite possibility. You can start a company in a weekend, outsource your supply chain to strangers on another continent, and advertise to millions of people with a few clicks. If you don’t like your job, you can switch industries. If you don’ By Tobias Dahlberg • 2 min read
Tobias Dahlberg Editor In Chief & Founder of Original Minds Design The State Of Design Today – A Reflection Design has always been a mirror. In the 20th century it reflected modernism’s obsession with clarity and progress. In the 2010s it mirrored the digital revolution, packaging convenience into screens and clicks. Now, in 2025, design isn’t just a reflection — it’s the operating system for how businesses By Tobias Dahlberg • 5 min read
Entrepreneurship Productizing a core service into a $10–50K “entry offer” to land bigger retainers. By Tobias Dahlberg • 2 min read
Journal Missed The Live Stream? Here's The Replay + Summary Yesterday I did a 60-minute live stream on the topic of Adapt or Die: How To Reinvent Your Agency or Consultancy for the AI Age. Here is the link to the replay, you can access it only during this week. Next week, I kick off a cohort for SimpleOS™ By Tobias Dahlberg • 3 min read
