New Orleans’ (Illegal) LOVE Signs

“The small plastic LOVE signs that began popping up on telephone poles around town this spring put a smile on many faces in the Crescent City. Though they occupied the same space as grassroots street advertisements, they didn’t seem to have anything to sell. Because they are generically designed and commercially produced, they didn’t look like conventional graffiti or street art. Because they are rather small and seek to share such a universally upbeat message, they are difficult to dislike … even if they are illegal.”

The Twee Aesthetic Is Taking Over (Fear It!)

“Is Twee the right word for it, for the strangely persistent modern sensibility that fructifies in the props departments of Wes Anderson movies, tapers into the waxed mustache-ends of young Brooklynites on bicycles, and detonates in a yeasty whiff every time someone pops open a microbrewed beer? Well, it is now.”

When Meditation Goes Bad

A psychiatrist and researcher at Brown University is studying an aspect of (now-trendy) mindfulness practice that most in the field avoid: the people for whom meditation leads not to serenity or increased focus, but terror, severe depression, or, occasionally, a psychotic break.

John Lithgow On The Single Greatest Challenge Of Playing King Lear

“[It’s] modulation. For Lear, the first half of the play contains four titanic temper tantrums of near bipolar intensity, and the second half tips over into dementia, bottomless grief and (spoiler alert) death. In rehearsing these opening scenes, I need to constantly remind myself how far I still have to go, like a marathoner husbanding his resources.”

Touchscreens Are Shaping The Ways Our Kids Interact With The World (And A Design Revolution Awaits)

“As the touchscreen itself increasingly merges with its environment, and embedded technology goes mainstream, this raises questions around design for the next generation of digital experiences and services. Designing for Generation Moth is going to require very different skillsets and ways of thinking beyond what we do now.”