Reading List

I should read more, but here are some recent articles I've read and thought others might enjoy. Feel free to ask me on a free consultation call about how this sort of thing is powered. It can be really handy for curating and sharing content.

James Kindred
Creative Consultant for Brands
T. 07921 517912
Get in touch

Layout

April 2024

30 April 24

Inside Google’s latest move to postpone the cookie apocalypse

By Seb Joseph for Digiday

January is as good a place to start as any. That’s when Google began ending third-party cookies in Chrome among one percent of traffic, which equates to around 30 billion users. The move gave ad executives something to test.

30 April 24

Speculation continues to swirl over a possible WPP breakup

By Ronan Shields for Digiday

However, for some, the figures, which represent continued flat or declining revenue performance, signal the need for a more root-and-branch turnaround approach for the entity that is still thought of as the largest marketing communications agency in the world — even if its market cap, which nears

30 April 24

Making Sense of Color Tests the Bandwidth of Human Perception

By Joseph Sgambati III

It may come as a surprise, but the human experiences of taste, hearing, smell, touch, and sight, share the computing capacity of technologies like the pocket calculator, hard disk, USB Key, and computer network, respectively.

30 April 24

Tesla axed its entire marketing team—here’s why that matters

By Jeff Beer for Fast Company

News broke earlier this week that Tesla had laid off its entire 40-person marketing and growth content team, barely a year after starting it. Perhaps the biggest surprise for many was that Tesla even had a marketing and growth content team.  Ford spent $2.

30 April 24

Headspace overhauls visual identity to become mental health all-rounder

By

The platform tries out new illustrations and a custom typeface to help it compete as a serious mental health coach service. The Headspace look is famous.

3 April 24

Stagecoach Joins Soberchella as Music Fests Amp Up Their Booze-Free Options

By T.L. Stanley for Adweek

The move fits into the growing sober curious and dry tripping trends, largely driven by Gen Z, which aim to add a clear-headed layer to traditionally hard-partying events.

3 April 24

plant-based vinyl replaces PVC with sugarcane bioplastics for compostable records

By matthew burgos | designboom for designboom

Evolution Music’s Evovinyl is a plant-based vinyl record made of sugarcane bioplastics that ditches the use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a synthetic thermoplastic that contributes to damaging the environment, to devise compostable records.

March 2024

27 March 24

Why you shouldn’t trust AI search engines

By Melissa Heikkilä for MIT Technology Review

This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. Last week was the week chatbot-powered search engines were supposed to arrive.

27 March 24

The creatives’ guide to finding happiness

By Tom May

Finding happiness in the ever-demanding world of the creative industries can often feel like it’s just out of reach. We pour our hearts and souls into our work, often grappling with the pressures of deadlines, self-doubt and the relentless pursuit of perfection.

19 March 24

Yuki Uebo’s crowded illustrations are inspired by the hustle and bustle of Tokyo life

By Dom Carter

With practically 14 million people calling Tokyo home, the largest city on the planet is also one of the most densely populated.

13 March 24

I tried ‘slow productivity’ – I’m happier, less frazzled and achieving more

By Isabelle Aron

What does being productive mean to you? Being at your desk at 6am to get work done before the onslaught of Slack notifications and meetings? Tackling your inbox so that the number of unread emails is only in double digits? Getting through your never-ending to-do list?

11 March 24

The 50 most powerful women in architecture and design

By Dezeen for Dezeen

Today is International Women’s Day and to celebrate, we’ve compiled a list of the 50 most influential women in architecture and design. Having joined the Museum of Modern Art in 1994, Paola Antonelli is now the institution’s senior curator and founding director of research and development.

11 March 24

Rivian Revolutionizes the Midsize Market with R2, R3 and R3X

By Evan Orensten

Rivian has unveiled not only the expected R2 midsize SUV, but also surprised with the introduction of their previously unannounced smaller SUV, the R3, along with its performance variant, the R3X (in the few hours since the event these two are already dominating social media).

February 2024

27 February 24

Can Humans Endure the Psychological Torment of Mars?

By Nathaniel Rich for The New York Times

Alyssa Shannon was on her morning commute from Oakland to Sacramento, where she worked as an advanced-practice nurse at the university hospital, when NASA called to tell her that she had been selected for a Mars mission. She screamed and pulled off the highway.

26 February 24

Land of Plenty’s rebrand of Happy Endings makes everyone feel welcome

By Tom May

Founded in 2014 by award-winning Australian pastry chef Terri Mercieca, Happy Endings is an ice cream brand defined by colourful chaos.

26 February 24

Why Do We Have a Leap Year Anyway?

By Phil Plait for Scientific American

When I was a little kid I had a friend who was born on February 29, the “leap day” we add to that month every four years. I remember we used to tease him by saying that he was only three years old.

26 February 24

Logo Rhythm

By David Airey

Logo Rhythm: Band Logos that Rocked the World (on Kickstarter) features more than 90 design stories behind iconic band logos from the 1960s to present day. “Many of the band logo design trailblazers are no longer with us. Some of their stories have been lost in the mists of time.

26 February 24

Arts Council England’s stance on “overly political” artists comes under fire

By

The government-funded organisation, which distributes public money to arts projects, recently changed its guidance on political matters.

26 February 24

Industrial Design from Thailand: A Quirky Alarm Clock Concept

By Rain Noe

For reasons of access, we haven’t seen any work from industrial design studios in Thailand since 2013.

13 February 24

The art of doing nothing: have the Dutch found the answer to burnout culture?

By Viv Groskop for The Guardian

I am standing on the sand at Scheveningen, The Hague’s most famous beach resort, in the act of niksen, the Dutch term for doing absolutely nothing. I try not to think about whether I am really doing nothing if I am standing on a beach.

8 February 24

How Quora Died

By Nitish Pahwa for Slate

“Why Do So Many Music Venues Use Ticketmaster?” “What’s It Like to Train to Be a Sushi Chef?” “How Do Martial Artists Break Concrete Blocks?” If you were looking for answers to such questions 10 years ago, your best resource for finding a thorough, expert-informed response likely would

3 February 24

What’s the Chemical Difference Between Hot- and Cold-Brew Coffee?

By Caroline Delbert for Pocket

Scientists put on their barista aprons and found out.

January 2024

26 January 24

Can QR Code-driven Incentives Solve Fashion’s Trillion-Dollar Waste Problem? This Company Thinks So…

By Aki Ukita for Yanko Design

Fashion still remains perhaps the biggest offender when it comes to waste and emissions generated by any given industry. Every year, 40 million tonnes of clothes find their way into landfills and third-world countries that are less than equipped to deal with this onslaught of wasted fabric.

23 January 24

How a 27-Year-Old Codebreaker Busted the Myth of Bitcoin’s Anonymity

By Andy Greenberg for WIRED

Just over a decade ago, Bitcoin appeared to many of its adherents to be the crypto-anarchist holy grail: truly private digital cash for the internet.

17 January 24

Easy Mode Is Actually for Adults

By Omar L. Gallaga for The Atlantic

Video games can be arduous. But real life is hard enough. Produced by ElevenLabs and NOA, News Over Audio, using AI narration.

15 January 24

The best ways to help homeless people

By Rachel M. Cohen for Vox

And not just at the holidays. I’ve been covering America’s homeless crisis at Vox all year.

12 January 24

AI ‘completes’ keith haring’s unfinished artwork, raising ethical issues and copyright concerns

By Keith Haring for designboom

Controversy erupted online when an X user employed artificial intelligence to ‘complete’ Keith Haring’s Unfinished Painting (1989).

12 January 24

rabbit releases r1, an AI walkie-talkie that can plan itinerary, order food, book taxi and more

By matthew burgos | designboom for designboom

During CES 2024, Santa Monica-based AI startup rabbit introduced r1, a handheld and touchscreen artificial intelligence device that works like a walkie-talkie with camera functionality. The main premise of the r1 is that it does what any app can do without needing a smartphone.

7 January 24

What We Lost When Twitter Became X

By Sheon Han for The New Yorker

A little more than a year ago, Elon Musk began his reign at Twitter with an elaborately staged pun. On Wednesday, October 26, 2022, he posted a tweet with a video that showed him carrying a sink through the lobby of the company’s San Francisco headquarters.

1 January 24

CASE-REAL transforms 80-year-old traditional japanese house into craft beer brewery

By Case-Real for designboom

In Saga, Japan, a renovation project by CASE-REAL has transformed an 80-year-old traditional Japanese house into a craft beer brewery, named Whale Brewing.

December 2023

19 December 23

Anak’s visual identity for coffee brand Bettr is purposely flawed, and all the better for it

By Tom May

Bettr isn’t just any old coffee brand. Founded in 2011 and based in Singapore, it’s Southeast Asia’s first certified B Corporation and is committed to bettering our planet through providing holistic vocational programs to educate and empower marginalised communities.

19 December 23

The biggest trends in graphic design for 2024, as predicted by the creative industry

By Tom May

The world’s in a rocky place right now. But the good news is that whatever happens to the economy in 2024, graphic design will be in demand… perhaps more than ever.

17 December 23

Figma Creator Micro Keyboard gives designers all the shortcuts they need

By JC Torres for Yanko Design

Computers are powerful tools that enable all kinds of workflows, including designing products, architectures, or artwork. As powerful as they may be, the devices that we currently have for creating these digital artifacts aren’t exactly conducive to the creative process.

16 December 23

Signal and noise

By

If the signal is very weak and the noise is large, it’s easy to imagine that there’s no signal at all. AI and computers can be used as lenses now, which means we can strip away the noise and see things that we certainly didn’t expect.

11 December 23

2024 Pantone Color of the Year is looking deliciously peachy

By Tianna Williams

It looks like the new year is going to be peachy, as the Pantone Color of the Year is announced. The 2024 colour ‘PANTONE 13-1023 Peach Fuzz’ strikes a perfect balance between pink and orange, a velvety combination that evokes calmness.

6 December 23

The Science of Savoring

By Flora Bai

This past July, I turned 60, and I started thinking more about my health. To me, the idea of healthy eating has always been a drag. I’m from Philadelphia. I want my cheesesteak.

6 December 23

The Dirty Secret of Alternative Plastics

By PHA for Time

This story was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center’s Ocean Reporting Network.

6 December 23

Floating Bamboo House is designed to withstand rising sea levels in Vietnam

By Srishti Mitra for Yanko Design

Called the Floating Bamboo House, this architectural prototype by Vietnamese studio H&P Architects is exactly what it sounds like! The floating home is built from bamboo and is designed to withstand rising sea levels.

2 December 23

Alaïa teams up with Rare Books Paris to curate a stylish library

By Tianna Williams

There is always an air of romanticism to perusing the shelves of a bookstore, a sentiment that Alaïa has delved into with its latest partnership with Rare Books Paris.

1 December 23

Word of Mouth: Art and Culture on the Faroe Islands

By Austa Somvichian-Clausen

The Faroe Islands, a small Nordic nation located in between Iceland and Norway, is a destination at glorious odds with itself. Just a hundred years ago, roads and cars did not exist across its eighteen mountainous islets.

November 2023

28 November 23

Environmental photographer of the year 2023 – in pictures

By Matt Fidler for The Guardian

A termite-snatching drongo, cows wading through flood water and a coral glowing like a Christmas tree are among the winning photos from this year’s environmental photographer of the year competition

22 November 23

El Anatsui’s Turbine Hall hangings turn rubbish into treasure

By Jon Everall

Along the south bank of the Thames opposite St Paul’s Cathedral, Tate’s fourth gallery was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in May 2000. Immediately, what was so astounding was the sheer scale of the building.

21 November 23

let it grow: compostable iPhone case blooms with basil and flowers when planted after use

By matthew burgos | designboom for designboom

Retail iGreen Gadgets has created a compostable iPhone 13, 14, and 15 Pro cases named iGreen Cover that grow basil, daisies, and forget-me-nots when the user plants and recycles them instead of discarding them after use.

14 November 23

Rich People Are the Big Barrier to Stabilizing the Climate

By Tom Athanasiou for The New Republic

In 1990, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its first report on global warming—and by so doing started the clock on our collective response.

14 November 23

Tim George’s incredible photos capture the rapidly vanishing world of pubs in the East End

By Dom Carter

Pubs are a vital part of London’s cultural history; nowhere is this more evident than in the East End. But while the area used to be brimming with the best independent breweries in the country, the sad fact is that these communities, buildings and histories are under threat.

11 November 23

Lucky Find at Auction Identifies Man on Cover of ‘Led Zeppelin IV’

By Claire Moses for The New York Times

On Nov. 8, 1971, Led Zeppelin released its iconic fourth studio album, which was untitled but is widely known as “Led Zeppelin IV.

8 November 23

Seven Japanese designers working with neglected materials at Designart Tokyo

By Max Fraser for Dezeen

Furniture crafted from driftwood, “dresses” made from thousands of wood pieces and lamps 3D printed from tatami-resin were some of the highlights of Designart Tokyo.

7 November 23

‘Say High’: Gotham’s new campaign aims to celebrate and destigmatise cannabis

By Katy Cowan

Hitting street and subway posters plus digital screens this week, the ads are centred around how it greets customers at its flagship store in Lower Manhattan’s East Village.

3 November 23

Who Invented the Measurement of Time?

By Stephanie Pappas for Scientific American

In modern times, clocks underpin everything people do, from work to school to sleep. Timekeeping is also the invisible structure that makes modern infrastructure work.

3 November 23

An Apocalyptic Meditation on Doomscrolling

By Erik Davis for MIT Press

As far as I can make out, the term “doomscrolling” started making the rounds in 2019, and became, for obvious reasons, far more infectious in 2020. We’ve had two more years of pandemic, and a yearish of whatever this next thing we are in is, and the term does not seem to be losing much luster.

To top