June 2017 | Nutella, designing by algorithm and nailing it
1
7 MILLION UNIQUE NUTELLA DESIGNS…
…one algorithm. If you’ve ever worried that the robots are coming for your design job, Nutella has proven that you have every right to worry. In this case, the robot is an algorithm written to design 7 million cohesive but unique Nutella labels. They’re fun, wacky, and delightful. I would totally buy a jar.
2
IS THIS GOODBYE, SKETCH?
I know Sketch has been the hottest UI tool on the market and that you’re all switching to it, but have you heard of Figma? At least one person is reallllly excited about all the things it does that Sketch can’t. Tell me what you think.
3
MINDFULNESS IN DESIGN
Has mindfulness crept into your daily life? Ever on the quest to quiet my busy mind, I practice a bit of meditation here and there (mostly when I need to fall asleep, which may not be the intended purpose…but it works, so I’m sticking with it). Being more mindful while working benefits you mentally and helps your portfolio. Try it.
4
THE SMARTPHONE BRAIN DRAIN
Want to get something done? Put your smartphone away. Far away. The mere presence of that tiny computer connecting you to the rest of the world reduces your ability to focus on other things. [Side note: I love academic papers; they’re full of wonderful words like salience, stimuli, attentional, posit, multivariate, univariate…I could go on.] So, next time you need to create (or heck, if you just want to focus on something with your whole being), leave your phone in another room.
5
COOPERATION = THE “SNUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL”
When I find myself overwhelmed by the myriad examples of pain and oppression one can find in this world of ours, articles like this lift me back up and give me hope. We require each other to survive, and those who cooperate - with each other, with society - benefit. Here’s a key point:
As humans collected into ever larger groups, the discovery of increasingly complex technology was accelerated. In high-density settlements, artisans and innovators could specialize in their crafts and exchange ideas. Selection for tool development has had an associated pressure on our ability to co-exist peacefully in large numbers, and aggressive, uncooperative individuals may have been selected against. We’ve become, by most accounts, a gentler, more cooperative species over time.
That’s us! We’re artisans in high-density settlements! The future, it seems, is rife with the possibility of peace.
Bonus article: If you haven’t read “Greetings, E.T. (Please Don’t Murder Us.),” I recommend you do. For one, the title is delightful. The article itself discusses the ethics of sending word to possible extraterrestrial civilizations (because, as the title suggests, a civilization that can intercept and interpret said word may also be a civilization advanced enough to kill ours) and submits that altruistic societies create successful, long-lasting civilizations (see item 5 above).