The Day The Berlin Wall Fell, The Future of Search, and Hollywood's Secret Magic Consultancy

👋🏼 Hello!

🔔 I’m REALLY enjoying seeing the results of the polls we’re including in the newsletter every week - it’s a fascinating weekly insight into what you’re all dealing with in your work. Last week we asked how you measured the success of a B2B content project, and the most popular by far was, unsurprisingly, Inbound partnership or sales enquiries. This week’s poll is asking the opposite - what’s stopping you from making your next big idea? Hit the buttons below and let us know!

We’d love suggestions from you for next week’s question - if you want to suggest one, drop me an email!

📕 The Short Story

Behind The Scenes of Apple TV’s New Logo (33-sec video)

Craig Mod on ‘Fullness’ and Creativity (5-min read)

The Future of Search and The Death Of Links (22-min video)

Unseen Photos From The Day The Berlin Wall Fell (photo slideshow)

Messenger: An Incredible Browser Game About Delivering Letters (15-min play)

A Simple, But Beautiful Music Archive Site (Click around and explore!)

Vasilis Marmatakis’s Beautifully Strange Film Posters (10-min read with lots of awesome images)

The Secret History of Hollywood’s Magic Consultancy (10-min read)

What The Look Of Your Favourite Podcast Is Trying To Tell You (NYT Interactive Essay)

📣 How Our Very Own Anjali Ramachandran OWNS IT! (40-min listen) 📣

📚 The Long Story

Behind The Scenes of Apple TV’s New Logo (33-sec video)
I started watching the (awesome) Down Cemetery Road last week, and liked the new ident for Apple TV. I didn’t realise it had been made using practical FX. I wish more people did this!

Craig Mod on ‘Fullness’ and Creativity (5-min read)
I’m a big fan of Craig Mod’s writing on creativity, attention and the power of a long walk. This is a lovely essay exploring the idea of fullness - at the end of the day, how can you feel like you have control of your attention, and have a sense of creative fullness?

The Future of Search and The Death Of Links (22-min video)
We’re huge fans of Noah Brier’s Brxnd.ai project, and he recently put up the videos from their recent NYC Summit. In this talk Tom Critchlow talks about how we’re moving from an era of links to an era of recommendations, and what this means for content creators. Make sure you check out Rex Sorgatz’s excellent talk A Brief History of People Talking to Their Computers as well!

Unseen Photos From The Day The Berlin Wall Fell (photo slideshow)
Nik Gowing was a BBC journalist who was in East Berlin as the Wall came down in 1989. This Reddit thread of his previously unpublished photos really illustrates the way individual people’s lives interact with key moments in history.

Messenger: An Incredible Browser Game About Delivering Letters (15-min play)
I saw this in Ash Mann’s newsletter this morning, and had to bump another link to include it in today’s newsletter. It’s an absolutely gorgeous browser game, with a unique art style and a lovely story to it. Don’t click this link if you’re procrastinating and have a deadline today!

A Simple, But Beautiful Music Archive Site (Click around and explore!)
Talking of beautiful things, Emma G from the Storythings team shared the site of one of her favourite artists, Andrew Bird. There’s something about the simplicity of the interface - it uses Image Maps! - that harks back to an earlier era of the web.

Vasilis Marmatakis’s Beautifully Strange Film Posters (10-min read with lots of awesome images)
I’ve not yet had a chance to see Yorgos Lanthimos’ new film Bugonia, but I loved this deep dive into how Greek gaphic designer Vasilis Marmatakis designs his film posters. It’s the story of a long-running creative friendship that results in something stunning and unique.

The Secret History of Hollywood’s Magic Consultancy (10-min read)
Deceptive Practises is a consultancy that has been helping Hollywood films create magical effects for decades. I love this kind of deep dive into people who are absolute experts in their craft. And it’s written by fellow magic nerd Steve Martin. Yes, that Steve Martin!

What The Look Of Your Favourite Podcast Is Trying To Tell You (NYT Interactive Essay)
You know we’re a sucker for a good NYT scrolly-telling story, and this one is no exception. Hugh dropped it into the Storythings’ Slack, and it’s a really insightful look into the set design from modern podcasts, and what that signifies to their viewers/listeners. Roland Barthes would be proud.

📣 How Our Very Own Anjali Ramachandran OWNS IT! (40-min listen) 📣
The excellent OWN IT podcast recently featured Storythings’ Director Anjali Ramanchandran, talking about her creative career, what inspires her, and how we can close the gender gap in agency ownership. Amen to that!

💌 Humans of LinkedIn

This week one post really stood out for me - Martha Lane Fox’s insights into what she learnt during her tenure as Chancellor of The Open University. It’s a fantastic and inspiring reflection on the power of education to change people’s lives:

“More than 60% [of The OU’s students'] work while studying, many while raising families or caring for relatives. They’re not “part-time” — they’re double-time. The OU gives people back their sense of agency, proving that learning can happen at any age, in any place, at any pace.”

READ THE FULL POST HERE →

Drop us a line if you have anything you’d like us to share in a future edition of this newsletter, or of course if you have any comments or suggestions for us!

Have a great weekend!

Matt, Anjali, Hugh, and the team