GOOD AFTERNOON!

This is the POP CULTURE CHEAT SHEET, your weekly intel to fuel your water cooler conversations, delivered to your inbox every Monday. If someone forwarded you this email, be sure and subscribe here. 

LUNCH BREAK

five consumption recs for the time between meetings

1. CLUB CLUB CHALAMET. How stan Twitter’s breakout star built a cult following of her own. 

2. KOGNITIVE ENHANCEMENT. Kim K’s brain scan came back with subpar results, and people expect this plotline to culminate in a Neuralink promo code. 

3. TOBAC EN VOGUE I have Don Draper on line one! 

4. NOT-SO-NEW YORKER. After 100 years in the city, the magazine can finally call itself a New Yorker.

5. GARTEN VARIETY HANG. Turns out Gerald Ford’s nuclear energy budget and policy analyst cooks a mean roast chicken. 

can canva kill the vibe?

Spare a thought today for Nick Jonas, whose next musical era is doomed to drown in a sea of supplements and meditation apps. 

Jonas was a victim of Canva design monoculture: a visual language that has been propelled over the shark by direct-to-consumer brands.

You know the look: muted pops of sage green, dusty rose, terracotta, mustard yellow. An elegant serif typeface with a hint of whimsy – maybe some gently bubbled lettering or a playful wiggle in the ascenders. Overlay a minimalist line drawing of a woman's face and you’re in business.

It’s meant to be modern and elevated, yet a little playful. It hits the viewer with a cheeky wink and the chummy assurance that “We’re not like most brands.”

Problem is: we’ve hit a point where those brands are, in fact, like most brands. Our feeds – unlike their color palates – are oversaturated. 

Leaning into this visual language is tempting: it’s algorithm-approved and low-lift. Get yourself a free Canva account and a moodboard ripped from the Pinterest home page, and you’re all set to sell prebiotics, probiotics, productivity software, therapy sessions, adaptogenic mushroom coffee, organic dog food, high-thread count sheets woven from eucalyptus fibers…or your new album. 

Too many brands are parroting this design language with no spin, and as a result, they’re all congealing into the same beige mush. Let Jonas be a cautionary tale with a long tail: audiences have an eye for the visual style of a Canva template. 

TREND RAPPORT

viral vocab of the week 

COOKED (adj.) – Done for; in a state of total ruin.

COOKED (v.) – Executed to perfection; got something exactly right. 

SEE YOU NEXT MONDAY!

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