Nov 1, 2019
Friday Fives, Vol. 101
Every Friday we highlight five things we have on our radar that we think should be on yours, too.
Here’s this week’s Friday Fives.
900 ways to get into the spirit
Christmas can be characterized by three things, family, exhaustion, and bad made-for-television Christmas movies. Late Night with Stephen Colbert recently announced they would release 900 original Christmas films to compete with Hallmark and Lifetime Network’s 30 and 40 Christmas releases this year. The sure-to-be instant classics include “A Gingerbread Family,” “A Candy Cane Family,” “Santa in Hawaii,” and “The Mighty Wreath.” The Working Assembly’s new Christmas favorite from this roster is of course “The Christmas Movie for Christmas: The Movie”. It’s November 1st people, let’s try to get into the spirit. There’s only 55 days until Christmas. — MC²
As a young design student just beginning to learn the workings of branding design, I always opted for using too many colors and complex elements as I strived for a unique style. But after transitioning from school to the professional world and gaining more experience, I realized that being unique is not the solution to every problem. After designing countless logos, I’ve realized that simplicity almost always wins. This is clearer than ever in Adler’s hilarious experiment, where they tasked over 100 people to draw famous logos from memory. They’re mostly recognizable, but are they iconic enough? — AH
Diversify outside of your stock portfolio
Tech companies love to “diversify”. WeWork began as a company renting office space and is now opening a private preschool named WeGrow. Google started as a search engine and today is developing self-driving cars. Amazon went from selling books online to enterprise software, which has begun to rival giants like Oracle. And now, the new frontier for all these tech giants is finance. Apple released the Apple Card, Facebook went for the cryptocurrency Libra, and Uber has just announced its own debit card. While companies look for new ways to innovate in all forms of technology and product innovation, other, much needed change still seems to be lacking. Tech companies seem to be incredibly good at diversifying everything except hiring. — MC²
We all know parents will buy anything for their kids (such as Burberry sneakers), especially when those products work as distractions. The recently introduced Spotify Kids is no exception. In this standalone app, kids can choose an avatar and get handpicked songs from self-described “expert children’s music curators.” It should be noted that YouTube tried a similar children’s service in 2015 and struggled to gain traction, facing criticism for advertising to kids and for content filtering issues that sometimes let inappropriate content in. Let’s hope Spotify has a better crack at it. It’s best to develop a kids’ audio app “with safety in mind.” — HY
Do you remember what you wanted to be as a child? Was it to play in the NBA? Or to be an astronaut? And now, during your fourth The Office rewatch marathon, when Netflix asks you “Are you still watching?” and you’re forced to stare back at your desolate and almost deranged reflection in the black screen, do you ever wonder what happened? Well it turns out according to recent studies, trying to be the best in the world at one thing usually leads to disappointment. What might be more useful is being pretty good at a couple skills that compliment each other. While it’s incredibly hard to be the best at one thing, it’s not terribly hard to be the best in the world at your unique collection of different skills. Check out what Tomas Pueyo has to say. — MC²
