Each week, we share the top five articles that caught our attention. Here are your must-reads, published here and abroad, for the week of April 3rd 2017.
Silence is the new luxury
Silence—yes, silence—is the most sought-after luxury of 2017. In November 2016, Khajak Keledjian, businessman and founder of Intermix, opened a meditation centre in the heart of New York City. This past December, multi-disciplinary artist Marina Abramovic, demanded 70 minutes of silence before her 70th birthday celebrations. A rare commodity in our media-soaked times, silence is now considered a luxury.
→ Read it on W Magazine Pocket
The secret formula of Irish pubs
If all the pubs you’ve been to lately look alike, it’s probably because they were all designed according to the same formula. Mel McNally, Founder and CEO of the Dublin-based Irish Pub Company, spent a year visiting the best pubs in Ireland to discover the winning formula for an Irish pub. In 1990, he partnered with Guinness to export this concept to pubs from Moscow to Halifax.
→ Read it on Fast Company Pocket
About loser experience design
It’s easy to create digital experiences for innovators, influencers and thought leaders, since these people also contribute to the success of said experiences. However, if you design interfaces for winners, you are effectively alienating occasional, casual users, as well as curious visitors. How can we create platforms, apps and websites that will welcome all potential users?
→ Read it on Medium Pocket
Nothing to fear but big data
Big data may be scary for some, but it’s important to remember that these numbers don’t define who we are as human beings. This is what Michael Keller, interactive and new technologies journalist, would have us believe. Last month, in collaboration with illustrator Josh Neufeld, Keller published a comic that explores how big data is collected, in order to break down myths and encourage healthy debate about privacy and rights on the web.
→ Read it on Le Monde (In French) Pocket
Gen Z rewrites rules for fashion industry
So much energy is spent on the war between Boomers and Millennials, that little attention is paid to the up-and-coming Generation Z. These post-Millennials are eager to take on the world, especially when it comes to fashion. Having grown up with smartphones and technology, they know social media better than anyone. In fact, young designers like Millinsky, who launched his career at 17, used Instagram to turn #badgal Rihanna into a client.
→ Read it on Bloomberg Pocket
Too well paid to be likeable
#Sponsored
You don’t have to have participated in the demonstration against Bombardier’s pay hikes or shared your displeasure on social media to know that this isn’t the kind of exposure that brands want. Whether you disapprove of the hikes or are simply disgusted by the whole thing, for once, there is consensus on this question. But has the disclosure of the earnings of executives become an important-enough conversation topic to influence how brands are regarded? Stéphane Mailhiot, VP Strategy of Havas Montréal, reflects on the issue.
→ Read it on L’actualité (In French)
In your earbuds: Write Now
Maintaining a healthy work/life/writing balance can be hard. Sarah Werner, a writer and contributor to Forbes, hosts the Write Now podcast. Each week, she shares advice, encouragement and inspiration to help aspiring writers retain some semblance of sanity.
→ Listen to it on iTunes
This week’s favourite thing
Do your favourite movies include Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Breakfast Club and Clueless? You can now fall back in love with all of your favourites thanks to the reimagining of classic teen movie characters as Instagram aesthetics! Be forewarned—nostalgia may draw you into a rabbit hole of clicks.
Image from The Space In Between
