This week's best things

Royal Ballet and Opera rebrand

Cultural rebrands normally go down well with you lot, so here's the story behind last year's renaming and rebranding of the Royal Opera House to the Royal Ballet and Opera.

RBO worked with DesignStudio on the project, and my pal Christina Østerby was leading things on the RBO side. DesignStudio have published a case study on their website.

"Tone of voice played a huge role in shaping the brand expression and capturing the vision we set out to create. We distilled the essence of our creative idea into three principles - Sharp, Evocative, Unexpected - to infuse the verbal identity with the powerful storytelling central to all their art forms. These principles characterised our tone in simple, definable terms which we applied across a messaging framework for the entire organisation. Together, they create an inclusive and flexible verbal identity that excites and engages audiences across all content and channels."

Folkloric robots

I enjoyed coming across David Szauder's work via last week's Storythings newsletter. His folkloric robots are fun.

"Folkloric Robots is a celebration of the delicate balance between tradition and modernity. It transforms the cold, mechanical nature of robots into warm, emotionally resonant beings, adorned with the rich cultural motif. This project invites viewers into a surreal, yet familiar world where the past and future coexist in harmony, encouraging a deeper appreciation for the cultural narratives that shape our present and future."

David Szauder

David Ariel Szauder portfolio site

David Szauder

Virtual Meetings and Your Brain: Four Ways to Refresh

This article from MIT Sloan Management Review shares some recent research that explores the neurological impact of virtual meetings, and suggests some ways to cope including audio-only meetings, using a single consistent platform, being curious about the tech you're using, and switching off self-view.

"Given the neurological basis for virtual meeting fatigue, business leaders need to do something to address it, particularly in an era of remote and hybrid work, to protect employees’ well-being, enhance their engagement in virtual meetings, and sustain their work productivity. To determine what strategies work in mitigating virtual meeting fatigue, we conducted in-depth interviews with 30 management consultants and IT professionals from high-profile companies. The findings from these interviews suggest that companies and individuals can adopt more nuanced approaches to alleviate the negative impacts of virtual meetings. While many organizations have turned to strategies like “meeting-free days” and promoting regular breaks, our interviews indicate that these solutions alone may not fully address the issue. A more effective approach involves a combination of targeted company policies and adaptable individual behaviors that, together, can help mitigate the draining effects of virtual meetings"

Virtual Meetings and Your Brain: Four Ways to Refresh

Research shows that “Zoom fatigue” is a demonstrable neurological phenomenon. Address it with these practical strategies.

MIT Sloan Management ReviewEoin Whelan, René Riedl, Markus Salo, and Henri Pirkkalainen

Final call for stories of digital failure

My digital failure survey closes on Sunday (13th), if you have a story to share (anonymously) please do!

Thanks to the dozens of people who have shared their experiences already.

What I'm seeing so far:

• Digital failure is rarely technical, it’s organisational. Misalignment, poor planning, and siloed working are far more common than technical errors or budget shortfalls.
• Many teams are caught in a cycle of delivery without reflection. Projects are launched under pressure, under-resourced, and often abandoned when they don’t meet (unclear) expectations.
• Cultural workers are eager to do better but are held back by disengaged leadership, lack of strategic clarity, and fear of failure.

Beyond the promise - when digital falls short

Digital is more crucial than ever for how we operate, engage audiences, and sustain our work. Yet digital projects in cultural organisations often fall short of expectations, and we rarely talk about why. This anonymous survey aims to uncover common challenges and lessons from past digital projects. By sharing experiences, we can start to identify patterns and avoid common pitfalls. I’ll be sharing an analysis of the results, highlighting key issues and possible solutions, via my newsletter (ashmann.co) later this Spring. I’m hoping that this will mean that digital can work a little better for everyone. This survey is accepting submissions until 13/04/2025. All responses are strictly anonymous. Who am I? My name is Ash and I am a consultant who supports cultural organisations with their digital work and thinking. Prior to that I was the Executive, and Managing, Director at Substrakt - a digital agency that works with cultural organisations. I have spent most of my career working in or with the sector on digital stuff. What will I do with the results? After the survey closes (mid-April), I will share a summary of the responses, highlighting common issues, and I will try to start a conversation about what solutions might look like. At the moment a lot of the responses are highlighting issues that could be resolved regardless of an organisation’s size or resources.

Google Docs

Kengo Kuma designs the world's first dedicated audio museum in Seoul

I came across this article about the Audeum Audio Museum in Seoul which looks very cool.

"“My aim for this museum was to craft a unique listening experience within a forest-like structure. I tried to recreate sunlight shining through a forest using aluminium pipes,” says Kuma on his concept for the façade. “By not subjecting the facade to a certain thickness or layout, I wanted to replicate a randomness that can be observed in nature.” Housing the world’s largest audio equipment archives, the building itself acts as an instrument, weaving tangible narratives to connect its visitors with nature and themselves."

Kengo Kuma designs the world’s first dedicated audio museum in Seoul

Encased in a cascading wilderness of vertical aluminium pipes, the Audeum houses the world’s largest audio equipment archives in its sensorial array of vessel-like spaces.

STIRworld.comSTIRworld

Beleef de Lente

A couple of years ago we did a big, nine-week bike ride around Europe. We started in the Netherlands in late April and I was surprised at just how much birdsong there was everywhere we went.

Anyway, on the same subject here are a load of Dutch webcams that allow you to watch different types of birds, if you like that sort of thing.

Beleef de Lente

Kijk live mee met de cams van Beleef de Lente. Geniet van vele ontroerend vogelmomenten.

Vogelbescherming.nl

Clickens

Continuing the bird theme, here is a genuinely enjoyable website that features lots and lots of drawings and paintings of chickens. It presents these images to you, two at a time, and asks you to choose one via questions like "which one is more wrathful".

Simple, playful and enjoyable.

"At the end of last year, I started preparing chicken from scratch to feed my silly old doggie. I don’t typically eat chicken myself, so this was a new activity. The little guy gets a lot of attention and he goes through a LOT of chicken. So, I started feeling it was a bit unfair for chickens to go so unnoticed as living creatures. They just get tossed thoughtlessly into the nugget hopper. (Not by everyone, I know. I have friends who raise and name and love their chickens).

So I decided, in exchange for boiling one or two up every week for Rupert, I would really try to see chickens, so that chickens can be seen by other people, too. As soon as I decided to paint chickens, all on the same 7x7 paper, I started knocking out chickens very quickly. (This has nothing to do with me “working on a book”.)

Despite having a whole studio space for work, I paint chickens at our kitchen table. The kitchen is now full of chickens. After producing a dozen or two, I realized the paintings look like profile pics. I’d created an analog social network of pretend chicken friends. So, I started calling that corner of the kitchen Chicken Town, as one does. "

‘I just want to hang out with other nerds’: how TV’s water-cooler moments found a new home online

Having recently lost a good few hours to r/HOTDGreens trying to understand what I should care about in House of the Dragon, it was interesting to read this Guardian article.

Some good thoughts about community culture, moderation, and the layers that digital connection can add to offline experiences.

"Today, there are too many streaming apps and too few days in the office for people to catch up in quite the same way. Instead, online forums dedicated to dissecting TV episodes are thriving: on Reddit, more than 776,000 people have joined a subreddit about The White Lotus, while 765,000 discuss everything that happens in Ben Stiller’s dystopian workplace thriller Severance. Like colleagues around a cooler, people praise their favourite characters and share theories about what will happen next. Unlike colleagues around a cooler, they also accuse each other of being stupid, bigoted and perverted.

There’s no HR here, so who supervises almost a million people as they contribute their opinions – ensuring they stick to strict subreddit rules ranging from “no spoilers” to “no politics”? The answer – a lot of the time – is: Will Smith.

No, not that one. Will Smith is a 38-year-old from North Carolina who works for an airline. In his spare time, he also moderates 22 subreddits, including ones for House of the Dragon, The Boys, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Severance and The White Lotus. “If I’m moderating it, it’s because I like the show or the movie,” Smith says. “I just want a place to be able to hang out with other nerds and talk about stuff while being respectful to one another.”"

‘I just want to hang out with other nerds’: how TV’s water-cooler moments found a new home online

From hyper-intelligent analysis to heated arguments, the 21st-century home of buzzy chatter about big television shows is Reddit. We go behind the scenes to hear about millions of Severance and White Lotus fans, wild freebies – and accusations of racism

The GuardianAmelia Tait

“Effortlessness” isn’t a human-centered design goal

I enjoyed this thoughtful post from Josh Lovejoy, in it he recounts his teenage son's dilligently curated daily playlist that is shared with three friends. He asks whether 'friction-free' and 'seamless' experiences are actually always a good thing.

"My son has a Spotify playlist that he shares with three of his friends. Every morning, he looks forward to checking out any additions that his buddies may have made. They all carefully curate what makes it into the list. In his own words, “I put a lot of work into it.” He’s proud of the playlist. The music itself and also what it represents. It’s a playful and serious endeavor all at once. Teenagers tinkering with identity and expression. For all these reasons and more, it’s meaningful to him.

I’m sure we all have stories like these. Where time and energy and intention are poured into something, and as a result, it takes on meaning. And it “carries” that meaning, like a vessel, becoming more than its constituent parts; becoming a place where meaning can be directed *towards*. In my son’s case, when he hears a song that makes him think of a friend, he can channel those feelings toward the playlist. And when his friend spends the time to listen to it, something clicks."

My son has a Spotify playlist that he shares with three of his friends… | Josh Lovejoy | 11 comments

My son has a Spotify playlist that he shares with three of his friends. Every morning, he looks forward to checking out any additions that his buddies may have made. They all carefully curate what makes it into the list. In his own words, “I put a lot of work into it.” He’s proud of the playlist. The music itself and also what it represents. It’s a playful and serious endeavor all at once. Teenagers tinkering with identity and expression. For all these reasons and more, it’s meaningful to him. I’m sure we all have stories like these. Where time and energy and intention are poured into something, and as a result, it takes on meaning. And it “carries” that meaning, like a vessel, becoming more than its constituent parts; becoming a place where meaning can be directed *towards*. In my son’s case, when he hears a song that makes him think of a friend, he can channel those feelings toward the playlist. And when his friend spends the time to listen to it, something clicks. This is why “effortlessness” isn’t a human-centered design goal. Because “effort” isn’t the problem. Drudgery is the problem. Similarly, “seamlessness” isn’t a human-centered design goal. Because the “seams” aren’t the problem. The snags are the problem. And perhaps most importantly of all, “productivity” isn’t a human-centered goal. Because lack of productivity isn’t the problem. Being unfulfilled, unmotivated, and unappreciated are the problems. Choose your design goals wisely. If you find yourself in a situation where the stated goal is to “save” someone time, considering asking, “so they can spend it doing what?” Even if all it produces is an interesting discussion or a thought exercise, it’s worthy of your curiosity. Because the boundaries between “saving someone from” and “depriving someone of” are shaped by the user’s definition of meaningfulness, not the product’s. | 11 comments on LinkedIn

LinkedInJosh Lovejoy

Elizabeth Goodspeed on why graphic designers can’t stop joking about hating their jobs

I don't think this is just confined to graphic designers, but there's an interesting thing described in this article.

"The cynicism our current moment inspires appears to be, regrettably, universal. For millennials, who watched the better-world-by-design ship go down in real time, it’s hard-earned. We saw the idealist fantasy of creative autonomy, social impact, and purpose-driven work slowly unravel over the past decade, and are now left holding the bag. Gen Z designers have the same pessimism, but arrived at it from a different angle. They’re entering the field already skeptical, shaped by a job market in freefall and constant warnings of their own obsolescence. But the result is the same: an industry full of people who care deeply, but feel let down. As Shar Biggers describes it, designers are “realising that much of their work is being used to push for profit rather than change, making the rich richer, and being manipulated for misinformation. I’m constantly meeting designers who are looking to do work they believe in, and they’ve yet to find an opportunity to do that. And when they do, even that lets them down for numerous reasons.”"

Elizabeth Goodspeed on why graphic designers can’t stop joking about hating their jobs

Designers are burnt out, disillusioned, and constantly joking that design ruined their life – but underneath the memes lies a deeper reckoning. Our US editor-at-large explores how irony became the industry’s dominant tone, and what it might mean to care again.

Bluesky Can’t Take a Joke

I find it interesting to watch how norms and expectations emerge and develop on different platforms.

This article in Wired looks at how and why Bluesky seems to be particularly averse to jokes (and how this might relate to wider issues around filter bubbles, misinformation, and the times we are living through).

"To paraphrase an Axios story from last year, America is in the midst of a gullibility crisis. People can’t tell what’s AI, a manipulated screenshot, a joke, or a lie. Many of us have opened up our relationship with reality. And the political climate has exacerbated the issue, according to Josh Gondelman, a comedian who previously worked as a producer and writer on Desus & Mero and wrote for Last Week Tonight With John Oliver.

“Since Trump’s run for the presidency, there has been a rapidly accelerating not-getting-jokes on the internet,” Gondelman says.

By Gondelman’s recollection, Bluesky hit a point where it was populated enough with active users to be both fun and useful at some point within the past six months. “But that also means it hit the tipping point where it’s populated enough to be annoying,” he says, laughing.

Mattie Lubchansky, an Ignatz Award–winning cartoonist, author, and illustrator, describes herself as “a primarily joke-posting kind of person.” The humor-detection issue of Bluesky is part of a broader phenomenon she has observed, which she calls “riff collapse.”"

Bluesky Can’t Take a Joke

Bluesky has been a safe haven for users fleeing X and Threads. But while there’s less hate, there’s also fewer lolz.

WIREDAshwin Rodrigues

Wide-Leg Jeans of the 1990s: When Fashion Took Baggy to the Next Level

When I was about 15 me and my friends would make semi-regular pilgrimages to Camden high street.

The main reason we did this was to buy band t-shirts, bad jewellery and, most importantly, incredibly wide-legged, baggy jeans.

So I enjoyed this photo gallery which showcases more-or-less exactly that.

Some fashion should never make a comeback...

Wide-Leg Jeans of the 1990s: When Fashion Took Baggy to the Next Level - Rare Historical Photos

Discover how wide-leg jeans defined 1990s fashion, from their rise in hip-hop and skate culture to their lasting impact on style. Explore the trend that took baggy to the next level.

Rare Historical PhotosRHP

Vacancies

CRM Manager - St Paul's Cathedral - London, UK - £50,400 - deadline 23/04/25

Producer, BBC Audio North Classical Music - BBC - Salford, UK - £39,800 to £50,000 - 05/05/25

This week's consumption

I finally went to the cinema to watch Jesse Eisenburg's A Real Pain (midday on a Friday, the best time to go to the cinema), it was really good. Sharp, funny, poingnant, thoughtful.

I did 10 hours of intensive 'introduction to swing dance' classes last weekend and my god, my thighs have been sore all week.

We finished The White Lotus season 3, I'm not sure this season ever really got going, nor did it really earn its ending.

I finished The Covenant of Water, which I really enjoyed. I thought it was excellent. Some of the reviews I've read said it was too long, amongst a few other complaints, but I thought it warranted its (720) page count (and I'm normally the first person to say a book/film/play could've lost 25% of its runtime).

I started Beyond The Wall by Katja Hoyer, which is about the GDR. Thus far, it's fascinating and well-told, but it's 400 pages of quite dense history so I'm not sure if I'll make it to the end. I need to line something shorter and lighter up next.

The new Arcade Fire single, Year of the Snake is great

See you next week

Thanks for reading all the way to the end. Please enjoy these two weird little websites, Endless Horse, and Falling, Falling.

To finish, a quick reminder that I'm a consultant who helps cultural organisations do better digital work - if it sounds like I could be useful, then let's chat.