Hey everyone,
When browsing Google Fonts a few weeks ago, I noticed that the example text looked different 🕵️♀️
It used to be “the quick brown fox…”, but this time, it looked like the below:
You’ll notice it is very much not the bog standard text anymore. At first, I thought Google had been hacked! But after…Googling it, I realised that it’s the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, cool.
But, is it cool? Or is it a political statement? From what I can see, there was no feature announcement about it, and it just kind of arrived. Reddit suggests two years ago, but I’m quite sure as it’s new to me.
Anyway, I’m rambling. Should corporations offering font services be politically charged?
Enjoy the issue!
Luis
The sentiment of this article is pretty simple – there’s too much choice in software, and your differentiation must come from branding, visual design, or a richer story. I’m not too beat up about this, I do think we have too much software, and talk about it ad nauseam to anyone who will listen.
There’s some linguistic artistry in this article. It’s centrally about the blurring lines between on/offline and our ability to focus, but at the same time acknowledging that we’re doing a lot of talking on the subject but very little action is happening. This line in particular was delicious: “there is an algorithmic quality to our grievances with algorithmic life”.
The title speaks for itself here, and it’s painful. How many apps do you have on you phone? I’m willing to be 50. That’s frankly insane, isn’t it? Every single shop or service is creating more apps and software and login details and passwords and favourites and emails and urgh.
I’m breaking my own rule here a bit by sharing a video instead of a podcast, but you don’t really need to watch it, so it still counts. It’s a talk by Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman at the advertising agency Ogilvy. Firstly, he’s a brilliant speaker, but his point here is that speed isn’t the be all and end all of success. The value of something relies on it being done slowly! Rushing causes mistakes, and mistakes cause headaches.
Watch / listen to this (31 minutes)
YouTube
Have a great week,
@disco_lu
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