This month, the MoMA welcomed Unsupervised, a mindblowing piece of modern art based on an adaptive system. Deutsche Telekom raised awareness of the risks of posting personal information online with a shocking campaign. Speaking of which, Sarang Sheth spotted a bunch of dark UX patterns into the recently launched ‘Threads’ App. French telecom sponsor Orange deftly used deep fake technology to demonstrate that women’s football is just as technical as men’s football in a glorious advertisement. I published the second volume of my Design Lessons from Singapore series as well, and the finalist shots from the Comedy Pet Photo Awards 2023 are available to the delight of pet lovers.
In other words, another month filled with amazing new design discoveries, some of which are listed below.
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Unsupervised at MoMA
… the average museumgoer spends about 30 seconds in front of an artwork before they move on to the next one. I’ve seen people in front of Unsupervised for hours.
Joan Kee, Art historian
Part of the reason why this installation by Refik Anadol holds the audience is because it is based on an adaptive system. The artist created a custom machine-learning model to learn about MoMA’s collection, including information about all of the artworks in their archive, artists, dates, media, and visual characteristics. The model was then used to try to organize the information and categorize these hundreds of thousands of data points into patterns or clusters of relationships.
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Comedy Pet Photo Awards 2023
Here is a selection of finalist shots from the Comedy Pet Photo Awards 2023. A competition whose sole mission is to reward the funniest photographs featuring pets.
Through the Comedy Pets, we want to promote positive awareness of animal welfare issues and celebrate the incredible and valuable contribution that pets can and do have on our lives.
The Team at Comedy Pet Photo Awards
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Share with Care
To raise awareness of the risks of posting personal information online, Deutsche Telekom has partnered with creative agency adam&eve Berlin to educate parents on how these uploads could lead to identity abuse.
The campaign uses an older (and deep fake) version of a girl named ‘Ella’ which sends a warning from the future to her parents to show the consequences a child may face due to their photographs being shared on the internet.
According to studies, by the time they are 5 years old, the average child has 1,500 pictures of themselves online—uploaded without their consent, by those they trust most: their parents.
Experts have also predicted that by the end of the decade, two-thirds of identity theft cases will occur through data carelessly shared online, with parents unintentionally exposing their children to data brokers, hackers, and other bad actors.
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Threads dark UX patterns
The recently launched ‘Threads’ App by Meta is filled with dark UX patterns to keep you on the platform as long as possible while providing them with even more personal data than before. Here is a summary of the most obvious ones that Sarang Sheth spotted in this article:
- Threads requires an Instagram account for sign-up, forcing users to maintain both accounts simultaneously.
- Deleting your Threads account also deletes your Instagram account due to interconnected settings.
- Deactivating Threads leaves your data on Meta’s servers, linked to your Instagram profile.
- Threads simplifies onboarding by pre-creating accounts, which poses a security risk if your Instagram gets hacked.
- Threads content can be easily shared on Instagram, increasing its user base and limiting user choice.
- Threads copies profile settings but requires manual notification setup, leading to constant app checking.
- Threads mirrors all Instagram data, potentially leading to targeted advertising.
- Threads collects extensive user data, including your health, financial, and location information. (If you’re in the EU, you likely can’t access Threads due to strict laws on data gathering.)
- IG followers can’t view your Threads fully without installing the app, encouraging more sign-ups.
- Threads lacks a desktop website, coercing users to install the app and gather more data.
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Allez les Bleues !
Despite small improvements over the years, enthusiasm for women’s football remains far less compared to that of men’s football.
Yet, this advertisement deftly uses deep fake technology to demonstrate that women’s football is just as technical as men’s football, with the goal of sending a strong message to combat gender bias in sports.
Some have praised this advertisement as one of the best, while others have questioned its necessity in the first place. But regardless of what some people may think, this campaign by Marcel agency for French telecom sponsor Orange simply proves the talent of these women and gives them the recognition they deserve.
The only potential downside I can think of in terms of effect lies in the punchline coming in only halfway, which could reinforce stereotypes for some viewers who will not watch the whole thing.
Finally, the ending tagline “At Orange, when we support Les Bleus, we support Les Bleues” cleverly alludes to the feminine form of the French word “blue,” which is also the nickname for the French national sports teams.
Allez les bleues ! 🔥🔥🔥
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Design Lessons from Singapore – Volume 2
I live in Singapore for more than a decade and I’m still regularly (and pleasantly) surprised by some design choices made here. Everything is so functional!
So I started to document some of these designs to draw a parallel with User Experience and (Digital) Product Design. Today, I’m pleased to share the second volume of my observations.
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