|
|
|
|
10 stories we've enjoyed this week
|
|
|
|
Hi All,
Hope you've all had a great week. Just a couple of things from Storythings for you to cast your eyes over.
We've published a couple of Formats Unpacked since our last newsletter. In the week that the big boat clogged up the Suez Matt wrote an excellent piece on Breaking News Memes and this week Eliz Mizon deconstructed one of my favourite TV shows RuPaul's Drag Race.
If you have a favourite format that you'd like to unpack do get in touch. We're interested in all kinds of formats including joke formats, book formats and learning formats.
This week's inspiration and thanks go to Ben Diez, Jason Kottke, Swiss Miss, Laura Olin, and Eliz Mizon.
That's it from me. Enjoy today's stories and have a great weekend everyone.
Hugh
|
|
How can we help you?
Storythings is a strategy and content company based in Brighton and London. We'd love to help you with some creative and bold ideas.
Here's 3 reasons to get in touch.
1. You want to talk to us about content production: podcasts, videos, animations, illustrations, editorial.
2. You want to talk to us about content strategy or format development.
3. You want to create a brand or an identity that makes it easier to communicate your message.
We do other things too. We're very friendly and always enjoy meeting people, so get in touch.
|
|
I Called Off My Wedding. The Internet Will Not Let Me Forget
If you're looking for a distraction from staring at old photos served to you by Facebook, Timehop, or some other digital service, then this long read about how we are no longer able to forget is worth bookmarking: "When engineers build ad retargeting platforms, they build something that will continually funnel more content for the things you’ve indicated you’re interested in. On average, that’s the correct thing to do, Seyal said. But these systems don’t factor in when life has been interrupted. Pinterest doesn’t know when the wedding never happens, or when the baby isn’t born. It doesn’t know you no longer need the nursery. Pinterest doesn’t even know if the vacation you created a collage for has ended. It’s not interested in your temporal experience."
(19 min read)
You Don't Know What's Going On In People's Lives
I love this long illustration from Hazel Mead which serves as a great lesson in empathy. She's also created one featuring children too.
(Illustration)
Sustaining a Creative Metabolism
I liked Mary H.K. Choi's framing of the creative process as 'creative metabolism': "I believe in a creative metabolism working in a way where I have ingestion periods. Then, I have gestation periods. Then, I have output periods. I feel like these three things are really, really important, and they work hand-in-hand, but they have to be discreet from one another."
(8 min read)
5 Ways to Avoid Making Bad Decisions
As Shane Parish points out 'Sometimes success is just about avoiding failure'. There are many reasons why we make bad decisions. Here are five tips on how to spot the warning signs and rules for avoiding them.
(4 min read)
Getting Out From Under Your Influences
I've read a lot about creative influence over the years. But I've not read much on how creators move beyond their influences, which this short piece looks at. I'd like to read more on the subject and am with Austin Kleon here when he says "I’d watch a whole documentary about writers talking about how they got themselves out from under the influence of their writer heroes."
(5 min read)
Design Museum: The Story of the First Modern Kitchen
Nearly 100 years after it was introduced, architect Margarete (Grete) Schütte-Lihotzky‘s famous Frankfurt Kitchen continues to exert enormous influence on kitchen design. This short film tells the story of how she mapped people's journeys, created the golden triangle and in doing so shaped how kitchens look today.
(3 min watch)
"We’re here, we’re queer, get... better at representing us already"
It's Nice That talks to ad-man John Osborne about the importance of queer representation in advertising, on screen and in-agency, and the pioneering ads the include LGBTQ+ lives in an authentic, empowering way.
(4 min read)
Documenting India's Endangered Single Screen Cinemas
Single-screen cinemas have been a feature of the Indian entertainment landscape for more than 100 years. But with the rise of home entertainment and multiplexes, they are disappearing. One photographer set out to capture them before they are gone for good.
(8 min read)
All the Short Films From SXSW Are Available to Watch Online
Spend your weekend at a virtual SXSW Film Festival and enjoy all these shorts for free.
(multiple films)
Middle-Aged Skateboarding Manoeuvers: Kickflop. Failslide. Half Cramp
McSweeney's names all those moves you've been mastering during lockdown
(list)
|
|
|
We hope you've enjoyed this week's newsletter. I'm sure some of your friends would love to read it. Sharing it would be really appreciated. If you've received this from a friend you can subscribe here and get it direct to your inbox every Friday.
Thanks for reading and see you all next week,
Hugh, Matt, Anjali and the team at Storythings
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
