Culture
On the internet, media, nostalgia, and the forces that shape how we consume and create.
The Internet Lost Curation - And That's the Opportunity
Algorithms replaced human curation with engagement optimisation. Now the pendulum is swinging back. Why the curator is the most valuable person on the internet.
Read CultureThe Magazine Era Shaped Everything
How print magazines - The Face, i-D, Dazed - built the taste that now drives everything I create. Before algorithms, there were editors.
Read CultureThe Link Economy Is Broken - Here's How to Fix It
Bookmarking is broken. Social sharing is broken. The tools we need to manage links and discover content barely exist. I'm building the replacements.
Read CultureThe Death of the Algorithm Feed
Social feeds are dying. Chronological is back. Why human-curated feeds beat algorithmic ones. The RSS renaissance.
Read CultureWhat Print Magazines Got Right About the Internet
Editors, not algorithms. Curation, not aggregation. Finite, not infinite scroll. Everything print did that the web forgot.
Read CultureJapan Taught Me to Pay Attention
How Japanese culture - food, design, craft, service - shaped my obsession with detail. The connection between Oishii London and a deeper philosophy.
Read CultureThe Slack Channel as Crystal Ball
How analysing Slack channels reveals what people actually care about vs what they say they care about. The hidden signal in workplace chat.
Read CultureThe 3am Wikipedia Rabbit Hole
A love letter to curiosity. How following random threads leads to unexpected connections. The internet's best feature is still the hyperlink.
Read CultureThe Last Page of the Internet
A thought experiment: if the internet had a final page, what would be on it? A meditation on digital permanence, what survives, and building for the long term.
Read CultureRSS Is the Quiet Rebellion
While everyone argues about algorithms, RSS quietly does its job. No algorithm, no ads, no engagement tricks. The most punk technology on the internet.
Read CultureAttention Is Currency - And Most People Are Broke
The real economics of what people choose to look at. As an ad person, Mike understands attention deeply - but it's not about capturing it. It's about deserving it.
Read CultureNostalgia Is Strategy - Looking Backward to Build Forward
Why looking backward is the smartest way to build forward. The past contains design patterns, cultural moments, and aesthetic choices the present has forgotten.
Read CultureRetail Is Theatre - Why the Best Shops Are Designed Experiences
Physical retail spaces as curated experiences - from Supreme's drop culture to Aesop's store design. Why great retail is closer to art direction than commerce.
Read CultureSecond Screen Culture - We Never Just Watch Anything Anymore
The death of single-screen attention. We watch football with Twitter open. We watch films while checking Letterboxd. What this means for how products should be designed.
Read CultureInstagram vs Reality - How One App Reshaped Our Taste
How Instagram flattened aesthetics. The millennial grey, the avocado toast, the matching everything. But also how it democratised design taste and gave everyone a visual education.
Read CultureThe Small Internet - Why Building Tiny Things Online Still Matters
Against scale. Against virality. For building small, personal, considered internet things. The beauty of things that serve ten people brilliantly rather than ten million people adequately.
Read CultureMagma Closed - What We Lose When Taste Cannot Pay the Rent
Magma bookshop closed. Design books, indie magazines, zines - curated not stocked. What happens when the places that shape culture can't survive commercially.
Read CultureThe Optimist's Operating System
Belief, creativity and optimism are amongst our most powerful technologies. We can use them to reboot Britain. Originally published on Digital Frontier.
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