Side Salad: The Word of the Day is 'Atomizing'
August 11, 2026
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.
We have energy waters for evangelicals and hydration beverages for golfers and coffee for veterans and liquid fuel for gamers, not to mention subcultures upon subcultures that are all stocked with kids who apparently don’t know how to dress. I MEAN, of course, we’re “atomizing.” While I’ll try not to wade into the splintered political ramifications of this, it does make things complicated when you’re a brand marketer trying to cast as wide a net as possible and missing everyone in the process of doing so.
Felt artist Lucy Sparrow is making it a Blockbuster Night. I would love a “VHS” copy of Poltergeist FWIW.
Poppie now has a Sour Apple flavor, and I dig the cans with the starburst ZINGS.
The Women’s Pro Baseball League (WPBL) just kicked off its first season at the beginning of the month, and while there are only 4 teams, they have some pretty sick unis. Let’s go, Boston Hunters!
You can either go bobbing for beads at this exhibit for Australian artist CJ Hendry while making your own bracelet, or you can go into my youngest’s room and do the same thing, as I have stepped on beads nearly 2,000 times this summer alone.
Aw, drag. InfoWars sold out of the gay frog plushies. Oh well.
Who knew you could make brewer’s yeast look cool?
This is a great Jif ad that not only plays around with their beloved logo but also shows you what else you can do with peanut butter that doesn’t involve jam and bread.
At this point, every tech CEO is just promising that everyone will get a pony. None of this is real, and it’s just an absolute grift.
I need a soccer jersey that says BEANS.
TTFN.
-Bill
To be honest, I think this frog looks like it was copied from the toad demon character in the 1986 animated series Calabash Brothers by Shanghai Animation Film Studio. But I still really like this gay frog sticker.