Sam Williams, head of strategy at AMV BBDO, made a point that’s worth bearing in mind while we’re busy prompting, tinkering, and saying the likes of “it’s basically just pattern recognition” (guiltyyyy 👀):
“It’s impossible not to be excited about what AI is opening up for us [...] I can move quicker, cut through complexity, and stitch together disparate data sets [...] But it’s a tool - not a substitute. And as we’re constantly pushed to do more, faster, we should never let the ease and efficiency of using it make us forget where great strategy really comes from. Not a workflow, not a deck, but in the streets, homes, and lives of the real people we’re trying to move. Because if strategy loses its grounding in real people, then who exactly are we making ideas for?”
According to Brian Potter, just over 7% of the major inventions between 1800 and 1970 were accidental. But what does that tell us?
“The most notable pattern at work here is that the majority of these inventions — 8 out of 14 — are chemical inventions [...] The other notable pattern is that most accidental inventions (11 of the 14) were the product of deliberate research, or of attempts to invent something else [...] This probably also shouldn’t be surprising: it suggests the conditions for creating an accidental invention aren’t likely to be created in everyday life, but instead when trying to create or discover something new.”
A nice case for protecting R&D budgets - you never know what else you’ll stumble into. And henceforth, my pivot into chemical manufacturing begins.
Karin Chan wrote a properly interesting piece on ask vs. guess cultures. And how not being aware of them can lead to all sorts of workplace kerfuffles. Quoting Andrea Donderi:
“In some families, you grow up with the expectation that it's OK to ask for anything at all, but you gotta realize you might get no for an answer. This is Ask Culture. In Guess Culture, you avoid putting a request into words unless you're pretty sure the answer will be yes [...] If you're a Guess Culture person then unwelcome requests from Ask Culture people seem presumptuous and out of line [...] If you're an Ask Culture person, Guess Culture behavior can seem incomprehensible, inconsistent, and rife with passive aggression.”
After The New York Times spent a year following Mouleena Khan and Aleks Jeune as they opened their restaurant, it’s safe to say it ain’t no picnic.
However, a quick Google confirms that their restaurant is still open (and with verrrrry good reviews), so they must have done something right.
An archive of space exploration logos, celebrating all things design in the cosmos. Anyone got a favourite? The Apollo-Soyuz mission insignia wins it for me 🖖
I love these old Hollywood bloopers. Even their mistakes are elegant.
And with my apologies in advance for the next 10 minutes that you’re about to lose… Can you guess the date and location of these photos?
Bon weekend,
Fran