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Design/leader: Robb Smigielski, Chief Design Officer At Vml

This week, we interview Robb Smigielski, chief design officer and executive lead of brand design at VML. For more than 25 years, Robb’s career has spanned many creative disciplines – brand identity, visual design, digital product development, social media, campaign advertising and strategic marketing.

Robb talks to us about the bravery of speaking up, cultural curiosity, the coolest cyberpunk pistol, and more.

Design

What would your monograph be called?

Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you wanted.

It’s a bit of wisdom I return to over and over again when dealing with the ups and downs of the business. I love it when a set of words captures a truth so simply and completely that it feels inevitable.

What recent design work made you a bit jealous?

Turner Duckworth’s recent refresh of Bob’s Red Mill made me a bit jealous.

It modernises and sharpens an iconic brand while preserving the character and equity that made it famous. While it’s getting some heat in online reactions, I believe that’s misguided. The face of ‘Bob’ is better suited to a seal-of-quality role in a brand system like this. It never made a great logo. I think this redesign is very respectful of the brand’s heritage.

Too many brand owners treat brand identity systems in a “set and forget” approach, fearing change will mean inconsistency. This work shows the opposite: careful evolution keeps a brand relevant and powerful without sacrificing what made it valuable. I wish I’d been part of it.

What’s an unusual place you get inspiration from?

I am unusually and constantly inspired by all the bad design that surrounds us all daily. Nothing is more motivating and thought-provoking than experiencing yet another unfunctional or unremarkable piece of design.

Name something that is brilliantly designed, but overlooked.

I have believed for a while that the last iteration of the Coke can’s product design was the most brilliant design solution in perhaps decades. It’s a masterclass in confident, focused packaging — iconic, insanely simple, and subtly premium.

That clarity of design elevated Coca‑Cola’s brand perception more than almost any other marketing effort by the brand. It’s a good reminder that restraint and conviction in design can elevate a product’s status and signal quality, even through minimal changes. That might reveal what I feel about the new updates.

What object in your studio best sums up your taste?

I have a screen-accurate, all-metal replica of the PKD blaster pistol from the original Blade Runner film.

It’s an iconic piece of design, and I just love to look at it and hold it. It captures my love of film, of creativity and how anything can become iconic in culture.

Leadership

What feedback felt brutal at the time, but turned out to be useful?

Being told I was “too slow” in my design process.

At the time it stung, but I treated it as a concrete improvement area and deliberately practised moving faster—sketching rough concepts, iterating ideas earlier, and shortening decision loops. The payoff has been significant: I generate more concepts, juggle more projects, reserve time for higher‑level strategy and deeper project understanding, and ultimately free up time for other priorities. Craft still matters deeply, but having the discipline to manifest ideas quickly delivers practical advantages across creativity, throughput, and leadership.

What’s an underappreciated skill that design leaders need?

The simple bravery to speak up in the room.

Regardless of who’s in the room – CEOs, seasoned experts, or senior leaders – stating your perspective on a business, brand, or design challenge almost always sparks curiosity, debate, and dialogue that advances collective thinking. That experience taught me what leadership truly is: listen first, then have the courage to voice what you believe.

What keeps you up at night?

Whatever the strategic challenges are of my most pressing current project.

When I am in it, I can’t stop thinking about it. And it’s with all that extra thinking time that the insights and curiosities that unlock new solutions come to light.

What trait is non-negotiable in new hires?

Curiosity in culture.

Brand design doesn’t compete only within categories – it competes with the visual culture occupying customers’ hearts and minds. You can’t do this work without an active mind that follows, questions, and participates in culture at large.