After more than two decades of exploration and experimentation, Martin Lorenz, founder of TwoPoints.Net, has introduced a comprehensive new publication, Flexible Visual Systems, that promises to completely transform how designers conceptualize and implement visual frameworks. This exhaustive manual merges tangible strategies with in‑depth theoretical discourse, equipping creatives with tools to build scalable, dynamic design systems.
The Spark of a Systemic Revolution in Design
In 2001, shortly after graduating from the Royal Academy of Art (KABK) in The Hague, Martin Lorenz experienced a pivotal shift in his understanding of what design could be. That shift was ignited during a formative conversation with his professor, Petr van Blokland—a designer whose methodologies blurred the lines between logic, automation, and creativity. Van Blokland introduced a radical yet practical idea: that a small design studio could achieve massive, complex projects simply by creating and automating visual systems.
The simplicity of the insight was deceptively profound. By embedding rules into their workflows, designers could multiply output, scale visual identities, and maintain coherence across an increasingly fragmented design landscape. Martin was intrigued but cautious. Could design rooted in systems and algorithms still maintain the warmth, unpredictability, and emotional intelligence that resonates with human audiences? This question would stay with him for years, evolving into a deeply personal and intellectual exploration that eventually became Flexible Visual Systems.
Initially, Martin struggled with the binary that seemed to exist between systemic efficiency and creative authenticity. He feared that the logic of code and modularity might restrict, rather than liberate, the expressive potential of design. However, the more he explored, the more he discovered that systems were not inherently rigid or lifeless. On the contrary, they could be spaces of infinite variation—where design principles and aesthetic intuition coexisted within structured freedom. What emerged was a deeper recognition that systems are not constraints but foundations—structures that, when thoughtfully designed, allow visual language to evolve organically while retaining internal consistency.
From Curiosity to Commitment: The Academic Path
Driven by this newfound understanding, Martin embarked on a long-term intellectual journey to bridge the theoretical and practical dimensions of design systems. Recognizing a stark gap in formalized education on the subject, he enrolled in a PhD program at the University of Barcelona, focusing his research on the design and application of flexible visual structures. Over the next ten years, he immersed himself in historical precedents, studied the lineage of systematic design thinking, and traced the influence of logic-based aesthetics across movements—from the Bauhaus to contemporary generative design.
The resulting dissertation was both vast and complex: 700 pages filled with deep theoretical insights, design case studies, and systematic classification models. Although academically rigorous, it wasn’t immediately usable for practicing designers. Its density made it more suited for academia than for the studio. Yet buried within its pages were the frameworks and ideas that would later fuel a more approachable resource—a manual that would translate scholarly theory into everyday design practice.
Martin’s journey through academia wasn't solely intellectual—it was also philosophical. He began to see that the way we design is not merely a matter of style or execution, but a reflection of how we understand systems of meaning, structure, and communication. Every choice in a visual identity system—from grid construction to typography modulation—was part of a larger logic. This realization pushed him to find ways of communicating these concepts with clarity and pragmatism.
Designing the Manual: Making Complexity Accessible
In 2016, after years of research, teaching, and experimentation, Martin finally began crafting Flexible Visual Systems—a book that distilled his academic findings into a format that was not only readable but engaging and applicable. The goal was not just to create another design book, but to provide a robust toolkit—a synthesis of philosophy, methodology, and implementation.
What makes this publication exceptional is its dual function. It serves as both an inspiration and instruction manual, simultaneously explaining how systems work and guiding readers to build their own. Rather than offering prescriptive solutions or static templates, the book encourages an iterative mindset. It provides a roadmap for constructing dynamic visual identities that can adapt to various platforms, scales, and audiences.
The pages are filled with real-world examples, systematic explorations, and exercises that encourage designers to experiment with grids, modules, responsive typography, and parameter-driven variation. At its core, the book promotes autonomy. Martin doesn't ask readers to follow his design taste—he gives them the tools to develop their own systems, informed by their context and creative vision.
Unexpected Audiences and Interdisciplinary Resonance
Though initially intended for visual identity designers—those working on brand systems, logos, and communication materials—Flexible Visual Systems found an unexpected audience: creative coders, generative artists, motion designers, and typographers. These practitioners, often operating at the intersection of art, computation, and design, saw in Martin’s book a shared language—a way to bridge the rigid world of logic with the expressive potential of visuals.
This unexpected resonance is a testament to the book’s relevance in the modern design ecosystem. In an era where digital design tools and coding environments have become standard, and where brands need to function across responsive media, the ability to build adaptable, rule-based systems is more critical than ever. The book’s conceptual flexibility allows readers from varied backgrounds to internalize its teachings and apply them in contexts far beyond traditional graphic design.
It also builds bridges between worlds that were once siloed: between print and digital, between craft and computation, between design as an art form and design as a system. By showing that these realms are not in opposition but in dialogue, Martin has contributed to the growing synthesis of visual culture and systems engineering.
Personal Challenges and Creative Perseverance
The creation of Flexible Visual Systems was not without its emotional and logistical obstacles. For Martin, this was more than a book—it was the culmination of two decades of thinking, teaching, and designing. Like many creatives who design for themselves, he faced periods of intense self-doubt. Crafting a publication that represented both his intellectual beliefs and visual standards was a complex balancing act.
There were long stretches of second-guessing, scrapped layouts, redrawn diagrams, and rewritten sections. He admits that there were times he considered abandoning the project altogether. Yet his commitment to clarity, quality, and creative integrity drove him forward. In the end, the difficulty of the process became part of the book’s authenticity. It’s a product of real-world tension, where idealism meets practical constraint—just like the systems it describes.
One of the most profound insights Martin gained during this period was about the nature of communication. Teaching, he realized, must change depending on the format. The way he explains systems in a classroom—with sketches, conversations, live iterations—was not directly translatable to a book. The content needed to evolve, and so did the method of delivery. This insight has already sparked future plans to expand into digital courses, interactive modules, and online workshops, where he can bring the same ideas to life in a more flexible learning environment.
The Journey to Publication: Independence Over Compromise
Initially, Martin sought to partner with a traditional design publisher to bring the book to market. However, he quickly found that most publishing houses wanted to reshape the project into something more commercially conventional—something easier to categorize and sell. But Flexible Visual Systems didn’t fit into any pre-existing mold. It was too theoretical to be a workbook, too practical to be academic, too visual to be a business manual, and too structured to be a coffee-table book.
Rather than compromise his vision, Martin chose to walk away. He completed the book on his own terms and began reaching out to independent publishers who might understand its hybrid nature. Eventually, he connected with Slanted—a small but respected publisher known for supporting avant-garde design publications. Their response was enthusiastic and immediate. With their backing, and a successful Kickstarter campaign to fund the first print run, the book launched—and quickly surpassed expectations. Demand was so high that it went into reprint within months.
This choice to remain uncompromised preserved the integrity of the book. Every page reflects Martin’s original intention: to create a living document that adapts with its readers, much like the systems it describes. His approach affirms that designers don’t have to choose between autonomy and quality; with patience and resilience, they can have both.
A Legacy Beyond the Page
As it circulates across studios, classrooms, and digital workspaces, Flexible Visual Systems is becoming more than a book—it is a reference point in the ongoing evolution of systematic thinking in design. It offers a timeless response to a contemporary challenge: how to maintain creative relevance in a world that demands efficiency, adaptability, and coherence.
Martin Lorenz has crafted a work that doesn’t just teach system creation—it embodies it. By offering readers both philosophical grounding and pragmatic tools, he enables them to build frameworks that are not just repeatable but resilient. These systems can evolve, adapt, and scale without losing their core identity.
In a field that often swings between trend-chasing and rigid tradition, Martin has struck a rare balance. His voice is neither dogmatic nor vague; it’s structured yet open, intellectual yet accessible. He reminds designers that systems are not soulless or mechanical—they are human constructs meant to serve human expression. And when designed thoughtfully, they can transform how we work, how we communicate, and how we create meaning.
Uncovering the Missing Link in Visual Design Education
In the early 2000s, as graphic design underwent rapid transformation through digital tools and responsive media, a silent gap emerged—one that few immediately noticed but many eventually felt. While innovative examples of visual systems began to appear globally—from modular brand identities to generative typography—there remained a startling lack of structured educational pathways to teach these systems. Many design professionals were left to reverse-engineer stunning visuals, attempting to decipher the logic behind them without any formal framework or accessible theoretical guidance.
Martin Lorenz was one of the first to identify this disparity. Working professionally while also mentoring students across Europe, he began to observe a growing appetite for system-based methodologies. Students and practitioners alike wanted to understand how to think in systems—how to construct rules that enabled rather than restricted their creativity. However, most available design education was still centered on static composition, isolated outputs, and linear workflows. This mismatch between industry needs and institutional offerings created a vacuum, where experiential knowledge existed but lacked codified transfer.
This realization marked a turning point in Martin’s career. Rather than merely lament the gap, he committed to closing it—through intensive academic study and, eventually, authorship.
A Decade of Inquiry: Entering the Academic Arena
Fueled by the ambition to formalize what he had been intuitively practicing, Martin enrolled in a PhD program in Design Research at the University of Barcelona. His aim was not just to earn a degree but to create a comprehensive theoretical foundation for flexible visual systems—something that could serve both as a philosophical touchstone and a methodological compass for future designers.
Over ten years, Martin undertook an exhaustive exploration into the historical, conceptual, and technical dimensions of system-oriented design. He studied movements such as Swiss Modernism, the Ulm School, and Constructivism, all of which subtly embedded systematic thinking in their design language. He also examined how grids, algorithms, repetition, variation, and visual rhythm operated not only as aesthetic devices but as strategic systems of meaning-making.
His doctoral dissertation grew into an epic volume—700 pages that covered visual communication theory, design methodologies, semiotic systems, and case-based applications. It was a body of work unprecedented in scope, complexity, and originality.
However, this document, while groundbreaking in academia, was not user-friendly for the average practitioner. Its depth was intimidating; its language academic. It functioned as a high-resolution map of a landscape few had yet charted, but it needed translation—conversion into a form that could support real-world designers navigating fast-paced environments.
The Absence of Practical Frameworks for System Design
Martin’s experience highlighted a recurring challenge in the creative disciplines: the lag between professional practice and pedagogical structure. Design education often focuses on tools, trends, or outputs without embedding the underlying strategies that give rise to sustainable, scalable work. In this climate, system thinking becomes anecdotal rather than instructional. Students might encounter a flexible identity system in a case study, but rarely are they taught how to build one from scratch.
This disconnect had consequences. Without a conceptual base, designers tended to approach system design through imitation rather than innovation. Projects became visually consistent but intellectually hollow—lacking a true understanding of how rules, variation, and adaptability can enhance both function and aesthetics. Visual identity creation, in particular, suffered from a lack of structural foresight. Logos were designed in isolation, grids applied reactively, and brand coherence achieved through repetition rather than thoughtful orchestration.
The discipline needed a structured, yet creative way to teach systemic visual logic—something that could resonate with seasoned professionals and design students alike.
The Dissertation as Incubator for a Future Manual
Though his dissertation was not meant for immediate publication, Martin saw in it the seeds of something more useful: a manual that could empower designers to design not just objects, but systems. He began dissecting his academic research into parts—breaking down theoretical pillars, case examples, diagrammatic models, and algorithmic thinking into digestible sections. He realized that by reimagining the format, shifting from academic prose to design-oriented language, he could offer what the field sorely lacked: an educational tool rooted in rigorous research but accessible to the practicing designer.
This reframing required not just simplification but transformation. Complex concepts had to be paired with visual aids, step-by-step exercises, and clear examples that mimicked the design process itself. Instead of teaching rules as formulas, Martin sought to teach systems as ecosystems—adaptable, evolving, and context-aware.
The result would become Flexible Visual Systems, a book born not from trend-chasing but from two decades of reflection, experimentation, and instruction. It stood as an answer to the educational void he had once struggled within—a bridge between scholarly inquiry and applied design practice.
Empowering Autonomy Through Systemic Instruction
At the heart of Martin’s philosophy lies a compelling proposition: that every designer should be equipped to create their own logic, not simply follow someone else’s. Visual systems are not about restriction but possibility. When taught correctly, they enable designers to generate consistent yet varied outputs, to respond to multiple platforms, and to evolve a visual language without losing identity.
Through his workshops and teaching positions at institutions across Europe, including KABK and Elisava, Martin refined his pedagogical approach. He didn’t just present theory—he encouraged play, iteration, failure, and questioning. He used coding metaphors in graphic design, invited students to invent modular components, and pushed them to reflect on the ethics and impacts of systemic design.
This method of education—both analytical and experimental—demystified visual systems. It removed the aura of exclusivity that often surrounded “generative design” or “modular branding” and repositioned them as learnable, designable, and teachable practices.
Importantly, it showed students how system thinking could be applied to any style or genre. Whether minimalist or expressive, hand-drawn or digital-first, the core structure remained. Systems were not about homogenization—they were about scalable coherence and intentional flexibility.
A Broader Impact on the Design Community
The educational vacuum Martin identified wasn’t limited to students; it extended to seasoned professionals navigating increasingly complex brand landscapes. As user interfaces multiplied, content delivery became more personalized, and audience expectations diversified, designers needed frameworks that could accommodate change without sacrificing clarity. Static design, once sufficient, was no longer viable.
Flexible Visual Systems offered those professionals a toolkit to rethink their processes. It showed them how to scale a brand identity across responsive platforms, how to inject variation into repeated motifs, and how to embed structural intelligence into every creative output. More importantly, it positioned system-based thinking not as a trend but as a philosophy of practice.
Martin’s contribution became particularly relevant to those straddling design and technology. Creative coders found alignment with the book’s approach, which spoke in rules, patterns, and logic but resulted in visually engaging outcomes. Brand strategists appreciated its emphasis on consistency and scalability. Educators embraced it as a long-overdue addition to the design curriculum.
In uniting these audiences, the book helped reframe the conversation about what design education should prioritize in the 21st century.
Bridging the Divide Between Intuition and Structure
The enduring success of Martin’s educational philosophy lies in its balance between intuition and logic. While his academic research gave weight and structure to system-based design, his teaching and publication style retained a designer’s sensibility—clear, visual, rhythmic, and flexible.
This balance is what allows his approach to remain both rigorous and liberating. Designers are not boxed into a rigid formula but are shown how to build structures that serve their creative goals. They learn how to ask the right questions: What needs to be fixed? What can be variable? How do rules create identity? And how can identity evolve without disintegration?
The result is a form of design education that is both holistic and actionable. It empowers not only creation but reflection—encouraging designers to continually revise their systems in response to context, audience, and purpose. In doing so, it lays the groundwork for a more intelligent, responsive, and sustainable design practice.
Translating Rigorous Theory into Pragmatic Guidance
In 2016, inspired to distill his extensive research into a more usable format, Martin embarked on the transformation of his dissertation into what would become Flexible Visual Systems. He set out to create a resource that not only explained the conceptual underpinnings of system design but also provided replicable workflows and hands‑on practices.
The resulting manual weaves together philosophical reflection, case‑based learning and practical exercises, giving designers the ability to define structure, generate visual variants through rule‑based processes, and adapt systems in evolving contexts. It positions itself less as a prescriptive rulebook and more as a creative ecology in which designers engage with mutable logic and refined aesthetics.
Crafting a Toolbox That Bridges Disciplines
One of the most remarkable aspects of Flexible Visual Systems is its reach beyond its original intended audience. Although conceived primarily for identity designers—those developing brand signatures—the book found enthusiastic adherence among creative coders, generative designers, and algorithmic typographers. Martin admits his surprise at how effectively his guidance connected analog and code‑driven design realms. The manual serves as a conduit between traditional graphic systems and dynamic, computational workflows, enabling practitioners to infuse identity systems with modularity and variation at scale.
The Challenge of Designing for Yourself
Releasing this book represented a uniquely personal creative challenge for Martin. As a seasoned designer tasked with building a visual system for himself, he confronted the difficulty of reconciling perfectionism with progress. Designing for oneself magnifies self‑critique, and Martin repeatedly grappled with internal expectations that threatened to halt momentum. Despite self‑doubt, he persisted, determined to make the reading both pedagogically effective and enjoyable. The struggle revealed a truth familiar to creators: when the subject and the client are one and the same, clarity often demands dedicated hardscape.
Adapting Pedagogy Across Media
Throughout the writing process, Martin discovered that pedagogy must be shaped by the medium in which teaching occurs. While classroom environments benefit from incremental exploration, discussion and live iteration, print demands a different cadence. Page layout, navigation aids and visual consistency become essential, as does the need to anticipate reader questions within static text. Recognizing this, he reimagined learning sequences to accommodate the linear yet reflective rhythm of the book format. Each chapter unfolds like a workshop—in structured steps that each build upon the last, yet invite readers to pause, experiment and revisit.
This insight naturally progressed into aspirations beyond the printed page. Martin is now planning an online series of workshops and interactive classes to complement the book—recasting the content into immersive, guided experiences that echo the fluidity of live teaching.
An Educational Lineage Reimagined
Hailing from a family of educators, Martin initially resisted conventional teaching roles. Yet the allure of design won out. He went on to co‑found TwoPoints.Net with creative partner Lupi Asensio and further enriched his credentials through postgraduate studies. His teaching résumé spans more than a dozen European institutions, including KABK and Elisava in Barcelona. These experiences shaped his belief in experiential, scaffolded learning—where students engage actively with design systems, not just memorize structural rules.
By channeling his familial teaching heritage through design education, Martin has cultivated a mode of instruction that neither abandons critical rigor nor forfeits creative freedom.
A Collective Effort Across Decades
Reflecting on his two-decade journey, Martin emphasizes the myriad individuals who influenced the book’s evolution. He credits student inquiries, peer critiques and spirited debates within TwoPoints.Net for sharpening his frameworks. Even in moments of self-doubt, feedback from workshop participants and design colleagues sustained his resolve. A special mention goes to Lupi Asensio, who patiently supported his repeated iterations and deep immersion into the subject. Without this communal scaffolding, the manual might never have emerged so confidently.
Navigating Publishing Frictions and Creative Autonomy
Despite the clarity of his vision, finding a publishing home was far from straightforward. Martin initially collaborated with a mainstream craft-oriented publisher, but soon found their editorial constraints misaligned with his aim to produce a hybrid manual‑essay book. Distinct in its ambition, the manuscript demanded a publishing house willing to embrace unconventional structure and typographic experimentation.
Ultimately, Martin parted ways with the initial publisher and pursued relationships with independent presses. He landed on Slanted, a boutique publisher founded in 2004 by Lars Harmsen and Julia Kahl, whose shared enthusiasm for systemic design made them ideal partners. Their commitment culminated in a successful Kickstarter campaign that underwrote initial print runs and enabled alpha‑quality production. The book resonated immediately with the community; early orders exceeded expectations and prompted a swift reprint.
The Book’s Booming Reception and Critical Acclaim
Since release, Flexible Visual Systems has attracted glowing feedback from both design managers and creative technologists. Through insightful reviews, individuals have praised the clarity of its process diagrams, the elegance of its modular type specimens, and its ability to connect historical precedents—like Swiss typographic grids—with contemporary computational tools.
Design leaders now reference the book during brand strategy workshops, using its frameworks to generate logo variants and visual families. Typography specialists comment enthusiastically on the generative techniques that balance randomness with constraints. The enthusiasm signals that the manual has become a nexus point linking visual identity, generative logic, and structured creativity.
SEO‑Optimized Themes and Strategic Content Placement
To ensure maximum discoverability and relevance online, this expanded article emphasizes key search‑centric phrases such as adaptive design systems, scalable visual frameworks, generative design in branding, system‑based identity creation and modular design instruction. Each thematic cluster is intentionally woven into the narrative—helping algorithms match content intent with search engine queries from designers, educators and creative technologists.
Utility for Practitioners and Learners
For identity designers, Flexible Visual Systems offers templates and workflows to build logo systems that can scale across platforms. For creative coders, it provides accessible pattern architectures that generate visual complexity programmatically. And for educators, it includes chapter outlines and discussion prompts that facilitate classroom integration. Martin even added margin annotations to prompt reflective practice, encouraging readers to constantly evaluate how their own aesthetics respond to imposed rules.
Future‑Forward Learning Pathways
Looking ahead, Martin envisions a multi‑modal ecosystem around the book. Plans include:
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Multi‑week online workshops where participants build complete identity systems based on chapter prompts
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Interactive generative modules tied to textbooks, enabling readers to experiment with code‑driven visual rules
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Virtual peer review sessions for system refinement and shared learning
By blending analog and digital, self‑study and collective learning, Martin hopes to make the subject matter even more approachable and dynamic.
Final Thoughts:
As Flexible Visual Systems continues to make waves across the design community, it becomes clear that Martin Lorenz has not merely written a book—he has initiated a movement. His work stands at the intersection of logic and intuition, tradition and technology, craft and automation. The principles within this publication are not tied to fleeting trends or bound by the constraints of specific software; rather, they address a timeless and increasingly vital concern in visual communication—how to create design structures that are adaptable, sustainable, and deeply human.
The book’s value lies in its versatility. It speaks to professionals looking to scale visual identities across complex ecosystems, to educators hoping to instill systems thinking in their students, and to creative technologists experimenting with generative processes. Martin's approach helps demystify the notion that systematic design is cold, repetitive, or restrictive. Instead, he reveals its generative potential—how constraints can fuel invention, how repetition can birth rhythm, and how structure can amplify uniqueness.
What’s particularly refreshing is the transparency with which Martin shares his own doubts and difficulties. The emotional honesty behind the creation of Flexible Visual Systems—the long gestation period, the design challenges, the publishing hurdles—makes it not just an informative guide but also an inspiring story of creative perseverance. In doing so, Martin affirms that designing a system is not just a technical act but a personal journey that involves reflection, experimentation, and continuous refinement.
In an age where visual communication spans from print to interactive environments, from AI-generated outputs to handcrafted typography, the relevance of flexible systems cannot be overstated. They allow for consistency without rigidity, coherence without monotony. They offer a framework within which design can breathe, evolve, and respond to cultural and technological change.
Martin Lorenz’s contribution with this book is both timely and enduring. It equips designers with not only a methodology but also a mindset—one that values clarity, adaptability, and thoughtful innovation. As design continues to shape how we experience information, brands, and culture, Flexible Visual Systems will remain a vital resource for those committed to shaping that experience with intention and impact.
