Good morning from Dieline’s editor-in-chief, Bill McCool. Here’s your daily side serving of design news, short musings, brand stuff, and forgotten ephemera.
It’s irresponsible for news organizations not to add context to quotes for the sake of clicky headlines. For instance, Forbes forgot to add that, after Jeff Bezos claimed on Fox News, without any real evidence, AI could allow for a 3-day work week, they forgot to add the part where he said, “with the exception of the delivery drivers who work for me, all of whom will receive extra bottles to urinate in for the sake of productivity.”
OK, he didn’t say that. But I’m sure he thought it.
The American chestnut tree was basically wiped out by a fungus in the early 1900s, and was one of the most dominant species in the US. Now, one of the few remaining chestnut groves could potentially be cleared for, yes, a data center. Honestly, this feels like a subplot in The Overstory. Give it a read.
PepsiCo is pushing two new functional Poppi drinks, Lift and Chill, that just debuted at NACS, and boy...this looks very confused. I guess it didn’t take them all that long to dilute the brand?
Vienetta is still the height of luxury, right?
More music videos like this one from Twisted Teens, please and thank you.
Incidentally, I’d love it if there were some kind of haunted public access channel on Roku. Make it happen, or can anyone at least point me to something like this?
Yeah yeah yeah...it’s a concept, I get it. I’m reaching my saturation point on fictitious brands as well. But a lighthouse lightbulb box is a genuinely cute idea.
Shout out to R5 and First Unitarian. I cannot tell you how many bands I saw there, but I’ll link a show I actually went to...and from a band getting back together for some shows!
Eventually, all of those hip DTC brands have to find the middle of the road, a place where your initial eyeball-stroking design meets consumer relevance. And the Magic Spoon refresh is exactly that. It’s a good update, and they were wise to put the goods front and center because, on the shelf, that tactic seldom fails. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss the OG full-box illustration.
Play in some leaves.
-Bill