tl;dr #009

w/c 20210719

Aug 09, 2021

Welcome to a new week and more fresh Content™ to keep you warm through these cold nights.

#research-and-insights

This week, like any popular cultural commentary (or talk show), we’re adding a new segment. Friends, let us welcome you to Research & Insights. Here’s a a few hot takes on the world around you.

We started this fortnight with a look at how US politicians seem to be investing a lot in anti-trust bust-ups. Lina Kahn might be one of the most interesting people to follow right now. Her perspective has the ability to fundamentally change the way big tech works. We’re not going to pretend we know all the answers or go deep on the topic, but the outcome will definitely change the course of communication. Moving away from Facebook paid advertising used to feel unthinkable but it didn’t slow down Stuff in New Zealand. So perhaps there is a turning point, especially as 55% of Americans say they thing the government who’ll limit tech companies ability to grow. On the other hand Facebook wants to control your meta-verse.

We also had a look at an opinion piece from Bloomberg on the prevalence of mental injury in elite sport. Finally, Charl shared a book about anxiety management and an idea about two types of curiosity — Interest (I) and Depravation). Spoiler alert: depravation is kinda the bad one.

#graphic-design-is-my-passion

In compiling this issue we were all forced to fall back into the pits we’d just crawled out of after bidding adieu to our beloved Wolfgang Weingart 😭😭 You like type, right? That’s why you’re here? Us too.

Since we’ve just started working on a variable typeface for a client of ours, there was a few links kicking around about truly, touchy type and that fold ole favourite from Collins.

While we’re fans of letters, we’re not sure how we feel about gradients (or at least our developers aren’t. Since Dog wrote this section for the last tl;dr he seems to have tentatively found his passion).

There’s also just some wild shit out there on the internet (where we live), if you like that kind of shit too, get it here or here, or here.

#processes-and-platforms

Our Figma chats this week included a handy plugin for making shadows smooth as butter and tips for communicating with devs. We’re also rethinking how we use pages to better organise our sprints and reviews: