Global creative company Buck has joined with LinkedIn to give a visual refresh to the platform's in-app milestone moments. Described as "a big glow-up" by LinkedIn's director of product design Audrey Davis, the redesign includes a new suite of animations that hope to make celebrating on LinkedIn a more expressive and engaging experience. Prioritising inclusive character representation, creative metaphors that "connect across cultures", and the blue of the LinkedIn brand, these new illustrations capture a range of milestones and emotions.
But the sheer volume of variants we're seeing right now feels not only calculated to maximise sales (imagine that), but it's also diluting the aesthetic identity of individual album eras. Whereas the best album art of all time is immediately recognisable, I couldn't tell you what the cover for Life of a Showgirl actually looks like. Same goes for Sabrina Carpenter's new album - just days after the provocative original variant prompted outcry, came the bait-and-switch, as Carpenter revealed a several safer versions.
Colin Smight critiques traditional agencies for disconnect between concept and execution, where designers are distanced from clients, leading to confusing feedback loops.
In design research and cultural foraging, the team came across these amazing old fisherman crates with handwritten type. Milano carried this spirit with its variable nature spanning five fun widths from compressed to extended, giving us the flexibility to mix and match and create a playful system with a new energy that's also rooted in tradition.