♥ Zara’s New Logo May Be the Future of Branding, Love It or Hate It (Fast Company): “The new look was created by the design firm Baron & Baron, whose founder, Fabien Baron, is known for this kind of compressed, overlapping spacing, and also created much of the visual imagery for Zara’s newly launched marketing campaign. Baron has helped design the typography for a wide range of fashion brands, from Dior to Coach to Bottega Veneta.”
♥ One Lawyer, One Day, 194 Felony Cases (The New York Times): “Some judges have ruled that taking illegal drugs, driving to court drunk or briefly falling asleep at the defense table … did not make a lawyer inadequate. It is even harder to make the argument that the sheer size of lawyers’ caseloads makes it impossible for them to provide what the Constitution requires: a reasonably effective defense. That is partly because there has never been a reliable standard for how much time is enough … reformers are using data in a novel attempt to create such a standard. The studies they have produced so far, in four states, say that public defenders have two to almost five times as many cases as they should.”
♥ The Plight of the Political Convert (The New Yorker): “Counter-revolution critically depends upon revolution … acquiring an intimacy with revolution takes time. To make that right turn … you have to have been around the block a few times. But that’s not true of revolution. Revolutions don’t react to or borrow; for better or worse, they create an untried form. They have no need for defectors, no need to turn the other side … they always begin something new.”
♥ Geisha Effect: Asian Skin Care Shakes Up the U.S. Beauty Market (The Wall Street Journal): “U.S. skin-care sales rose about 15% over the past year, led by Japanese and Korean-inspired products, while makeup increased by 3% … J-beauty sales grew by 19% and K-beauty sales increased by 39% from January to September of last year, surpassing the broader skin-care category’s rate of 16%.”
♥ Why Are Young People Pretending to Love Work? (The New York Times): “Welcome to hustle culture. It is obsessed with striving, relentlessly positive, devoid of humor, and — once you notice it — impossible to escape … From this point of view, not only does one never stop hustling — one never exits a kind of work rapture, in which the chief purpose of exercising or attending a concert is to get inspiration that leads back to the desk.”
♥ Why Westerners Eat so Much Chicken (The Economist): “Data from the OECD … show that since 1990 consumption of chicken per person has risen by 70% in rich countries … chicken’s reputation as a clean meat has remained unscathed … In 1960 a pound of chicken cost half as much as a pound of beef. This ratio has now fallen to one-third.”
♥ Second Thoughts: The Rise of the Celebrity Side Hustle (The Guardian): “… in the last few years, celebrity makeup, clothing and other luxury lines have moved from a side hustle into a multi-billion-dollar industry that can generate fortunes for the famous that far surpass the money they make for doing the thing they’re famous for.”
♥ White-Collar Robots Are Coming for Jobs (The Wall Street Journal): “Amelia … a white-collar robot … and her kind are not enhancers of labor productivity—like faster laptops or better database systems. They are designed to replace workers. They are not as good as human workers, but they are significantly cheaper … The sophistication of AI systems like Amelia, Watson and Erica will displace many service-sector jobs—but they will eliminate only a few occupations.”
♥ The Hidden Automation Agenda of the Davos Elite (The New York Times): “… in private settings … executives … are racing to automate their own work forces to stay ahead of the competition, with little regard for the impact on workers. All over the world, executives are spending billions of dollars to transform their businesses into lean, digitized, highly automated operations. They crave the fat profit margins automation can deliver, and they see A.I. as a golden ticket to savings, perhaps by letting them whittle departments with thousands of workers down to just a few dozen … A 2017 survey by Deloitte found that 53 percent of companies had already started to use machines to perform tasks previously done by humans. The figure is expected to climb to 72 percent by next year.”
♥ New styles have been added to the Nordstrom sale section. My picks: Ted Baker Marther Tie Neck Silk Blouse, Tory Burch T Logo Clip Leather Belt, Nike M2K Tekno Sneaker, J. Crew Perfect Winter Parka with Faux Fur Trim, Halogen Mock Neck Cable Knit Sweater, Nike Zoom Pegasus Turbo XX Running Shoe, Vince Faux Fur Trim Puffer Coat, and Topshop Lily Knit Back Midi Coat.
♥ Starcraft Is a Deep, Complicated War Strategy Game. Google’s Alphastar Ai Crushed It. (Vox): “AlphaStar — a new AI system from Google’s DeepMind — competed with pro players in a series of competitive StarCraft games … AlphaStar won all but one of the games it played … Sure, it made mistakes, some obvious, some bizarre, but it won big anyway, taking 10 of the 11 games from the pros … AlphaStar won by employing a variety of strategies, demonstrating an understanding of stealth and the scouting aspects of the game, pressing an advantage when it had one, and retreating from ill-advised fights.”
♥ Sneakers? Check. Mascara? Check. Makeup is the New Workout Gear (The Wall Street Journal): “Makeup companies are taking a cue from the ‘athleisure’ trend of clothing that has blurred the line between gym clothes and fashion wear. Consumers, the thinking goes, may also want makeup that goes back and forth between work and the gym.”
♥ A Tiny Screw Shows Why iPhones Won’t Be ‘Assembled in U.S.A.’ (The New York Times): “… no country — and certainly not the United States — can match China’s combination of scale, skills, infrastructure and cost … ‘In the U.S., you could have a meeting of tooling engineers and I’m not sure we could fill the room,’ [Cook] said. ‘In China, you could fill multiple football fields.'”
♥ The Corporate War on What Constitutes an Employee Poop Break (MEL Magazine): “Is poop time personal time, or not? Technically speaking, according to the Fair Labor Standards Act, employers are required to pay their employees for breaks shorter than 20 minutes; however, this hasn’t stopped employers from at least attempting to find loopholes … Basically, bathroom breaks are a complicated issue that both employees and employers can take advantage of in their own ways.”
♥ How Happy Is the Fashion Industry? (Business of Fashion): “… the majority of the fashion industry is in fact satisfied with their jobs, with 54 percent of respondents classifying themselves as such … However, the picture is not all rosy. At the other end of the spectrum, 20 percent of those surveyed were actively dissatisfied with their employment, with 7 percent identifying as very unsatisfied with their role.”
♥ The Long Lines for Women’s Bathrooms Could Be Eliminated. Why Haven’t They Been? (The Atlantic): “The issue persists for many reasons: the exigencies of real estate, the building codes that govern construction, and … sexism … toilets don’t make money (and are quite expensive to install), so developers don’t have a financial reason to go beyond what the code requires … Many jurisdictions started apportioning more toilets in women’s rooms than in men’s … From 1987 to 2006, at least 21 states enacted potty-parity legislation. These laws have no doubt helped, but … older structures will remain unchanged.”
♥ Why Do We Hurt Robots? (The New York Times): “Agnieszka Wykowska, a cognitive neuroscientist … said that while human antagonism toward robots has different forms and motivations, it often resembles the ways that humans hurt each other. Robot abuse, she said, might stem from the tribal psychology of insiders and outsiders … Paradoxically, our tendency to dehumanize robots comes from the instinct to anthropomorphize them.”
♥ Recently ordered: J. Crew Officer Patch-Pocket Wide-Leg Pant in Stretch Twill, Lou & Grey Long Signaturesoft Poncho, Ann Taylor Lorna Suede Sandals, and Z Supply Loft Fleece Cinched Ankle Pants (now further discounted, like hundreds of other styles in the Shopbop sale section; do browse the 70%+ off final sale section as there are some unexpected gems in the mix).
Have a great weekend, everyone!
