Link round-up - 23 October

This link round up has been stuck here since the 8th of October. Added some new stuff and decided it's time to post it!

• Clever advertising campaign from Sweden
• I know it's hard to really 'sum things up' through lists, and they often overlook a lot of important people. Unfortunately, this one is just plain ridiculous, because I don't think it actually knows what it wants to say. It claims women who are changing business, and then women who are changing the face of the Arab world...right, through cookie shops.
• It was particularly strange on my commute this morning, to see Londoners reading about my hometown of Ottawa. A great piece in Rabble on the situation.
• Although New York City is not nearly as confusing to navigate as London, it seems the city is taking a page out of London's book. New Yorkers, thanks to the people at Pentagram led by former Vignelli and associates employee Michael Bierut, are finally discovering the genius of Massimo Vignelli's 1960s designs for the subway. I do think the London ones are great, but a more TfL like aesthetic would be awesome.
• A major and necessary resource was launched by Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art - The Mathaf Encyclopaedia of Modern Art and the Arab World. This long term project is still in beta, and I'm looking forward to its official launch!

Bad taste is ubiquitous

The end of September is both a sad and a happy time. It represents the official sad end of summer and the sudden appearance of cold weather. It also represents the somewhat end of wedding season. Now I am not against weddings, but elements of weddings. They continue to prove - through every facebook post and instagram image posted - that people have incredibly terrible taste, and no creativity. Weddings are proof that photographers, wedding planners, and print shops pretending to be design studios, are making a lot of other money and fooling people into thinking their wedding is unique or interesting.

The worst thing about weddings - aside from the predictable elements of each one I've seen recently (prove me wrong people, prove me wrong!) - has got to be the decision to have bridesmaids and groomsmen. This tradition needs to be abolished. I just can't stand looking at the pictures, the unflattering dresses, the mismatched colours...

Then comes other predictable items, the ones that make all weddings seem like clones of each other: the photo booth, the mason jars, the chalk board with bad hand lettering, the typewriter typeface, the 'fun' child-like one, or the calligraphic one, terrible engagement photos, video trailers, and the poses to name a few (you know where everyone's jumping in the air?)...I can't tell weddings apart thanks to these things.