Marketing & Design
Brand, creative, martech and the consumer, read for the decisions behind the work rather than the work alone.
Marketing and Design covers the work of making people want things, and the decisions that sit behind it. Three stories a weekday at 11: a rebrand and what it risks, a visual system and why it was built, a consumer shift and what it costs to ignore. The beats are brand strategy, creative and design, martech, and consumer insights, with a Funny lane for the campaigns that made us laugh, on purpose or otherwise. We write every summary ourselves and link to the publisher, because the reporting is theirs. What is ours is the choice, and the editor’s note under the day’s lead says why it was made. Readers here run marketing functions, design teams and agencies in India, the United States and the United Kingdom, and the stories are chosen for what travels between those markets.
Every story we have kept in Marketing & Design, newest first. Headlines link to the publisher; the tags below narrow the list.
forget doomscrolling: meadow shrinks the smartphone down to only the most essential apps
Meadow is a three-inch Android phone with its own number and T-Mobile service from $15 monthly, offering only calls, texts, maps, Uber and music apps, while camera photos sync later instead of displaying instantly. A larger batch is reaching preorder buyers.
The Porsche 550 Spyder Gets a Smaller, Electric Second Act
Porsche and Hedley Studios unveiled an electric, 80%-scale replica of the 1950s 550 Spyder, offered in two power outputs with a carbon-fibre body from 69,500 pounds.
lume traveler’s lightest caravan hides a pull-out kitchen in its aluminum shell
Lume Traveler's Ranger caravan adds a pull-out outdoor kitchen module to maximise interior space, weighing 1,150kg with a fixed queen bed and enclosed bathroom.
Patty Studios Looks to the South of France for Its Debut Rug Collection
Portland studio Patty Studios launched its debut collection of six handmade wool-and-silk rugs, designed by Candace Cohu, Ally Hasche and Max Pluenneke and produced in Nepal, inspired by southern France.
Editor's noteThree designers leaving established studios to launch together is the quieter story here. Debut collections are expensive and slow, so the decision says something about how much room salaried design roles are leaving for authorship. Worth watching whether Nepalese production holds as the collection scales.
Canva launches ProSuite bringing Affinity, Cavalry, Flourish and Leonardo together with more than new 100 features
Canva launched ProSuite, unifying Affinity, Cavalry, Flourish and Leonardo into one professional design platform with over 100 new features, including a Blend Tool, INDD import and a Claude connector.
Editor's noteCanva has been buying professional creative tools for years, and this is the week it stopped treating them as separate products. Four acquisitions arriving as a single suite is a direct move on the incumbent bundle, and the pricing question that raises for studios is the one worth watching next.
What’s new in roaming homes big and small from the 2026 Düsseldorf Caravan Salon
Nine new motorhomes and caravans debuted at Germany's Caravan Salon, including a Mercedes-based luxury camper, a VW Crafter concept using bonded aluminium, and an expandable French caravan from 74,990 euros.
Hands-On With the iPhone Duo: The Crease is Still There, But Barely
Hands-on impressions suggest Apple’s first foldable iPhone delivers a premium design, minimal display crease, adaptive multitasking software, and iPad-like usability, though the device’s $1,999 starting price positions it firmly at the high end.
A Folding iPhone at Last? What to Expect From Apple’s Surprise and Shine Fall Event
Apple’s September 9 event is expected to introduce the iPhone 18 Pro lineup and Apple’s first foldable iPhone, alongside updated Apple Watches, AirPods, and other hardware under the “Surprise and shine” keynote.
Editor's noteThe folding iPhone led Marketing & Design not for the hinge but for what a new top tier does to every tier below it. A first foldable, the 18 Pro, new Watches and AirPods arrive together on 9 September, and the line is repriced by its ceiling. Watch the pricing, not the fold.
