Chirp’s challenges, Native creativity, and photo diversity
Chirp’s challenges, Native creativity, and photo diversity
IN THE MARGINS
Do those “Number Thing under Age” lists stress anyone else out? Example: 35 Innovators Under 35. 12 Prodigies under 12. Forbes 50 Richest Under 50. Shit like that. Society tells you that life should have milestones at specific ages. In the States, the life flow that was pushed was university, marriage, house, 2.5 kids and golden retriever. Toss in climbing the corporate ladder and a Florida retirement by 70, and you’re set! That narrative is restricting at best and harmful at worst. It pushes people into careers they hate, relationships they know won’t last, and buying things they can’t afford (Fight Club, hello).
Maybe you had a sickness that kept you from graduating “on-time”. Maybe you changed careers four times before finding something you truly enjoy. Maybe at 60 you invented something dope that the world needs. If your life hasn't followed the “golden timeline”, don’t beat yourself up. If you WANT to follow that path, then go for it. The thing is, that’s not the ONLY path. We only get one life. It’s short as fuck so create your own timeline and milestones.
ACCESSIBILITY
Twitter's Chirp is Challenged
Yay for Twitter trying to make their platform more accessible! They released a few new changes such as a new font called Chirp, higher contrast colors, and decluttering the UI (user interface). I think they did pretty damn well with 2 out of those 3, tbh. Where did they miss? The Chirp font.
The font was intended to be sharp, legible, and scalable yet have personality but some people with dyslexia and other visual impairments have said it has in fact made Twitter harder to read. Some type nerds suspect the unbalanced kerning and tech nerds suspect it’s how Windows renders the font. Those that suffer from migraines even reported it making them physically unwell from vertigo and feeling seasick while scrolling (source).
A few users have found a hack to disable it on web but luckily Twitter has been listening to feedback on the changes and are working on improvements.
📝 Bonus: For my type nerds, here you can dive into more of the typography research of Chirp
DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
Photo Tagging for Diversity
As a graphic designer I try to portray diversity and inclusion in visuals, which includes photography. Most popular open-source photo sites have predominantly White, non-disabled, cis-gender people in their photos.
The good news? Some of the bigger sites have been getting better at diversifying their photography and the systems behind sorting the content. Unsplash is looking to improve by ruly living up to their tagline of “photos for everyone.” They updated their algorithm to create more inclusive searches but the AI (artificial intelligence) can only do so much. The catch is that it depends how users who submit images tag their photos so Unsplash created a guide on how to properly, and respectfully, tag people in photos.
ART & DESIGN
Healing Through Native Creativity
National Museum of the American Indian invited artists to share stories about their art and latest creations. From metal carving to jewelry, the videos are only about 15 minutes each so imagine what you can discover in a 1-hour lunch break?
Tetris Meets Typography
Designers that game, this is your moment: an experimental specimen for a font where the letters are made from Tetris blocks. Not only that, but the specimen animates the building of them! You can even download your own custom GIF, so have fun!
Signing off from the Starship SBLTN,
Laneen (Pronouns: she/they)