A Foundation for Multiple Dimensions
Typographer and designer Andrew Footit explains how he developed his distinctive color palette and two and three-dimensional illustration techniques through systematic experimentation with various materials and approaches.
Editor's noteAndrew Footit built his palette and his illustration technique the same way, by trying materials until one refused to behave. It led Marketing & Design because a style manufactured one test at a time is more useful to a designer than one discovered. The difference between a look and a practice is whether you can say how you got there.
TECHNOLOGY
Why IT leaders should unpack AI before they buy
IT leaders should define what they mean by AI before making investments, distinguishing among technologies such as LLMs, agentic systems, and automation, then aligning purchases with specific operational problems and business goals.
Editor's noteBuying advice rarely earns a lead. This does because it names the actual failure: AI is three or four different technologies on one purchase order, and a business case written against the word rather than the capability cannot be evaluated by anyone, including the person who signed it.
Unisoc VoLTE Video Call Exploit Chain Can Give Attackers Full Android Kernel Access
Researchers disclosed a two-stage exploit chain affecting Unisoc modem firmware that can escalate a VoLTE video call attack into full Android kernel access, exposing certain budget smartphones to complete device compromise.
What’s New in PyCharm 2026.2.1
PyCharm 2026.2.1 adds AI agent support for Jupyter notebooks and environment management, introduces marimo notebook support, redesigns the Python Packages tool window, and improves type checking clarity.
MARKETING & DESIGN
Brand marketers are adopting fan-first social media strategies
Major brands are increasingly prioritizing highly engaged fan communities over broad audiences, using social platforms for feedback, content amplification, trend spotting, and product development while adopting creator-style engagement strategies.
WEBTOON is turning 6 fan-favorite webcomics into microdramas
WEBTOON launches Short Dramas, six live-action vertical series adapted from popular romance webcomics, on August 17. The microdrama format condenses emotional narratives for smartphone screens, capitalizing on established fandoms and billions of cumulative views.
ADVERTISING & PR
Ad Tech’s Last Neutral Party Just Picked A Side
Publicis Groupe's $2.167 billion acquisition of LiveRamp raises concerns about the company's neutral position in the industry as a connector between competing agencies, brands and platforms for data and identity management.
Editor's noteIdentity infrastructure only works if everyone trusts it, which is why ownership matters more here than price. A holding company now owns the layer its competitors route data through, and the question for every rival agency is not whether Publicis would abuse that, but that they must now ask.
HUMAN RESOURCES
AI Is Driving Down the Cost of Outplacement
Pelgo leverages artificial intelligence to reduce outplacement service costs, expanding access beyond executive-level clients to broader employee populations through improved service economics.
Editor's noteOutplacement has been an executive perk for decades because the economics only worked at executive prices. If AI genuinely moves the cost down, the same service becomes affordable for whole cohorts, and the ethics of a layoff change with it. We ran this for the HR heads who will be asked why they still offer it to so few.
This $240 office chair is supremely light and packs a boing
Sihoo's M59AS office chair features springy construction designed to adapt to user bodies while maintaining affordability and delivering adequate comfort for budget-conscious buyers.
AI Candidate Fraud: How Applicants Use AI to Game Interviews (and How HR Tech Fights Back)
Candidates increasingly use generative AI to cheat during remote job interviews, with nearly 38% reportedly employing such tactics. HR technology companies are developing detection and verification tools to combat sophisticated interview fraud schemes.
PUBLIC POLICY
Buzzkill: How to defend Europe against drones
An ECFR report warns Europe faces escalating civilian and military drone threats, arguing that fragmented national responses leave vulnerabilities and calling for coordinated detection, data-sharing, and counter-drone defenses across EU and NATO members.
Editor's noteDrone incursions have been reported one airport at a time, which is exactly the problem this report names. Fragmented national responses leave the gaps, and detection and data-sharing only work if they cross borders, so the fix is institutional rather than technical, and slower for it.
What Is El Niño? Here’s What It Means for Weather, Water, and Global Economy
A WIRED explainer examines an exceptionally strong El Niño event, outlining how unusual Pacific Ocean warming can alter rainfall, temperatures, storms, agriculture, water supplies, and economic activity across multiple regions worldwide.
Why land-use emissions have fallen by a third this century – in six charts
Global land-use emissions have fallen roughly one-third since the early 2000s due to lower deforestation rates, reduced peatland emissions, and stronger forest regrowth, though fossil-fuel emissions continue rising and remain the dominant climate challenge.
