Journal

We talk to Matthias C. Hühne about his new book Airline Visual Identity: 1945-1975 and why airline branding used to be so much better than it is today.

When Continental announced its sudden merger with United Airlines back in 2010, they unveiled the very vanilla visual identity that’s still in use today. The uninspired new logo—which simply stuck the United Airlines name onto Continental’s blue “whiffle ball” logo—replaced the iconic “tulip” logo designed by legend Saul Bass in 1973. It also joined the ranks of countless other airline identities that are playing it safe with competent but bland visual identities—awfully similar as a result.

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How do designers go glamping? With a hand-built sauna and pizza oven, naturally.

Armed with a few supplies, two weeks time, and a wealth of ideas, 18 designers descended on the Swedish island of Gotland and built their dream campsite. Hailing from all across Europe and practicing an array of disciplines—from product design to biology and mathematics—the group riffed on the landscape and crafted tents, hand-dyed sails, a hot tub and more all in the spirit of collaboration. Designers on Holiday is the ultimate—albeit all-too-twee—rustic summer getaway.

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Upgrading it is slow and expensive work, but the new systems will eventually allow more trains to run on the same track.

The New York subway is old. You see the signs every time you ride it. The paint on the cast iron pillars is layered like the rings of a tree trunk, and if you removed the ads from the walls, the stations would fool any time-traveler from the 1950s into thinking they were still in their own time.

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What happened this week? Here’s our quiz for September 4, 2015.

Did you follow the news this week? Research says that one of the best ways to solidify new information is to be tested on it. Here’s a chance to bolster your knowledge of current events—and earn a special emoji badge.

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A Dutch engineering firm has developed a clever way to distribute water in developing countries while collecting revenue for the community.

When Dutch engineering firm Grundfos started researching the best ways to distribute water in Nairobi, Kenya, they found that access to clean water wasn’t the problem. In most communities, people could go to central spigots and pay a fee for access to groundwater that’s both drinkable and readily available.

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An open letter asks Twitter to restore API access to a service that automatically saved politician’s deleted tweets.

Last month, Twitter revoked access to its API from Politwoops, a network of sites that automatically archived the deleted tweets of politicians.

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The new doc Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine is in theaters and on-demand today. What does it mean for the Valley legend’s legacy?

There’s a moment at the end of director Alex Gibney’s new documentary Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine that presents the audience with a blank iPhone screen. The glossy, black surface reflects an image of Jobs that slowly morphs into an image of Gibney—a stylistic nod to Gibney’s thesis for the doc: We’ve all become the men and women in the machine.

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This capsule-like spacecraft will take passengers to and from the International Space Station.

Boeing has unveiled details of its new commercial space taxi, a small vehicle called Starliner that will ferry passengers to and from the International Space Station starting in 2017. The spaceship, formally titled the CST-100, is currently under construction at a massive facility in Florida. In a press conference at Kennedy Space Center, NASA and Boeing announced the name “Starliner” and plans for 2017 test flights. Before Friday’s media event, only sketchy details were known about the commercial space vehicle.

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Newly revealed emails show that the U.S. egg industry sees a “major threat” in eggless mayo maker Hampton Creek.

In August, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ruled that vegan food startup Hampton Creek must change the name of its Just Mayo spread (which does not contain eggs) because, the FDA said, products labeled “mayo” or “mayonnaise” must contain eggs.

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The company’s sunscreen is also under fire for allegedly failing to prevent sunburn.

After complaints on social media that claimed its sunscreen was ineffective at preventing sunburn, Jessica Alba’s The Honest Company is facing a $5 million class-action lawsuit.

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