False empathy, fast fashion, gender pay gap

Stop bastardizing design with false empathy

A long and necessary read that reclaims the concept of empathy, which is currently misunderstood and misused in the business world.

For empathy to be a successful part of design, it must not be an external reflection, but most decidedly an internal activity that leads to transformative action. Empathy in design is not something you have, it’s something you build. And it must be designed to hit all three levels of depth or it won’t work. Let me explain.

🔗 Read the article (on Medium)

How Shein beat Amazon at its own game — and reinvented fast fashion

Rest of World spent six months investigating the new ultra-fast-fashion ecosystem where Shein, one of the world’s largest fashion companies, thrives.

At the heart of these issues is Shein’s aggressive business model. Comparisons to fast-fashion giants like H&M miss the point: it’s more like Amazon, operating a sprawling online marketplace that brings together around 6,000 Chinese clothing factories.

🔗 Read the article (on Rest of World)

Ep 153, Hauls! Algorithms! Crazy Cheap! What Does Shein’s Ultra Fast Model Mean for Sustainability?

Host Clare Press sits down with American journalists Meaghan Tobin and Louise Matsakis who, together with Wendy Chen, spent six months looking at the matter from every possible angle.

And you thought Zara was fast fashion! Buckle up because new trends are landing daily if not hourly, as a new breed of online disruptor throws out thousands of styles a week to see what sticks. Brands like Boohoo, Pretty Little Thing and Fashion Nova are part of a new ultra-fast fashion era, but Shein is by far the biggest player.

🔗 Listen to the podcast (on The Wardrobe Crisis)

Chinese tech companies now have to tell users about their algorithms

A new set of Chinese regulations designed to restrict tech companies’ usage of algorithmic recommendations could shape the global algorithm regulatory landscape.

🔗 Read the article (on Protocol)

Behind the Twitter bot posting the gender pay gap of brands celebrating IWD

The Gender Pay Gap Bot called out empty corporate celebrations of International Women’s Day. Francesca Lawson and Ali Fensome are its creators.

🔗 Read the article (on Vice)

Australian Open debuts sound design intervention for blind tennis fans

Action Audio by AKQA uses real-time ball monitoring technology and spatial sound design to give low-sight audiences insight into what is happening on the court.

🔗 Read the article (on Design Week)

State of California Design System

The design system is an open source project in its alpha version, created to help digital teams build consistent and accessible websites. Check the United States Web Design System as well.

🔗 Visit the website

Mapped: visualizing the true size of Africa

The common Mercator map projection distorts our geographical view of the world, rendering Africa smaller than it is. Also, take a look at the true size of countries.

🔗 Read the article (on Visual Capitalist)

Ukraine invasion

A small collection of art showing how the creative community is responding to the invasion of Ukraine.

• “You can’t be silent”: how designers are rallying in Ukraine
• Peace, Love, & Protests: The Creative Community Responds to the Ukraine Invasion
• “We’re trying to push all the buttons”: how Ukrainian designers are supporting a country in crisis

Recommended books

A couple of essential books for anyone into design. Extra Bold, written by a diverse team of authors, is the design career manual for everyone. 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know about People combines real science and research with practical examples to deliver a guide every designer needs.

• Extra Bold – A Feminist, Inclusive, Anti-racist, Nonbinary Field Guide for Graphic Designers
• 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know about People by Susan Weinschenk

Two women, 120 miles, 120 years

A year-long photography project born from a collaboration between my good friend Vanessa and Eve. Their beautiful work is inspiring me to pick up the camera again.

Choosing to reach outside their bubbles of isolation, 2 women who had never met have began an enriching and fascinating photographic collaboration. Although both living in the UK, they inhabit different worlds - Vanessa in the depths of rural Somerset and Eve 120 miles away slap bang in the middle of London - but they connected over the time of COVID through their photos and stories on Instagram.

🔗 View the project (on Vanessa Simpson’s website).

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