Today in The Future Is How: Francesco Ciccolella. His illustrations don’t just decorate the page– they challenge how we see the world. Francesco is a Vienna-based artist, illustrator, and designer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, The New Yorker, MIT Technology Review, and on the covers of books and ideas that have shaped our thinking. He also brought Frederik's ideas to life , through incredible sketches, including the one-line illustrations in Frederik's book What’s Next Is Now. Francesco's illustrations hold up a mirror to our culture–showing us not only what is, but what could be.
Today, we talk about:
• The Power of Visual Thinking
• Making the complex visually accessible through empathy
• The power of reduction
• Between the lines-Francesco´s book, a visual philosophy
• Everyone Is an Artist (as long as we overcome our fears)
• A well of inspiration—exploring world views and travelling
Where to find Francesco Ciccolella:
https://www.francescociccolella.com/
Between The Lines The Book: https://www.francescociccolella.com/Between-The-Lines-Artist-s-Book
Where to find Frederik G. Pferdt:
NextLetter – https://www.frederikgpferdt.com/#nextletter
What's NextIs Now The Book: https://www.whatsnextisnowthebook.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fgpferdt/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/frederikgpferdt
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frederikgpferdt/
Website: https://www.frederikgpferdt.com/
In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Intro
(03:13) Francesco's future bio: A space between words and images
(05:45) Complexity in one image—empathy and the visual vocabulary
(08:07) The viewer's shoes—a repertoire of different angles
(09:01) Stripped to the essence—the Zen garden story and finding beauty in reduction
(11:59) Creative challenges—quick pace and the flow mode
(14:55) Between the lines—Francesco's book on dealing with mental health crises
(17:34) Discovering the inner artist—it's about taking away the fear (or: there are no perfect lines)
(21:03) A Mindstate Moment with Frederik
(25:31) A three word-game-visual creativity from scratch
(27:30) Finding inspiration—travelling, exploring world views, new paths
(29:09) Provoking emotion—The illustrator's playbook
Music: Andreas Horchler
