Morning all,
Someone pointed out this week that they actually look forward to Mondays now.
As everyday feels like a weekend, they enjoy the structure of having work to do, somewhere to be at 9am, even if that’s just their desk at home.
And I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I agree a little.
Anyway, happy Monday, I hope everyone is keeping safe & well.
C’mere to me…
The "Credibility" Bookcase 📘
An artificial symbol of one’s intellect…
I stumbled on a very interesting video by Amanda Hess and Shane O’Neill of the New York Times, an excellent piece of observation.
In this new era of video chats and tv interviews from home, people have had to choose the environment they’d most like to show the world, and they’ve all gone with a bookcase.
“As the broadcast industry shelters in place, the bookcase has become the background of choice for television hosts, executives, politicians and anyone else keen on applying a patina of authority to their amateurish video feeds.”
(read more - New York Times)
A very amusing Twitter account, Bookcase Credibility, emerged to call people out on everything from the books that can be seen, to the composition of their shot and how much of the bookcase they opted to include.
One can’t help but admit this perception of intellect is true. I like to think I have a strong instinct of vetting information and not taking things at face value based on someone’s credentials or situ, but the realisation that this seemingly stupid thing is actually so effective, that is what stopped me in my tracks.
We subconsciously put more trust in someone based on the environment they present themselves in, it is actually scary.
“The appearance of the credibility bookcase suggests that the levers of expertise and professionalism are operating normally, even though they are very much not. There is a hint of tender vulnerability embedded in these authoritative displays.”
(read more - New York Times)
This is the video if you’d like to take a look, a slightly sarcastic insight at what we humans seem to ‘trust’.
Only 4 mins.
“Treating a book as a purely aesthetic object is often seen as an affront to intellectual credibility. In recent years, the bookcase aesthetic has been heavily influenced by the design sensibilities of Instagram, in which books are often arranged not by author or subject but by color and height, in undulating rainbow waves that resist functionality.”
(read more - New York Times)
^^ This.
Saved 📷
Think 🌊
Advertising the very first colored TV’s on a black & white TV must have been hard.
That’s all 🤙🏽
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Until next week,
Guy