BIG QUESTIONS
Are you rethinking everything you’re doing?
Our terrain has never changed this fast: AI, global tensions, trade policy shifts, inflation, mass migration, and on and on (you know the list). So much change is afoot that it’s hard to find our footing. To cope, some treat change as “noise” while clinging to the processes, systems, theories, and concepts that they know. Or they take a slow, timid approach to innovating. In this tumultuous environment, that’s a recipe for obsolescence. When you’re in the midst of rapid change, it’s wise to think more creatively and holistically. To leave your zone of comfort, clarity, and certainty and be voracious in your experiments. To hold opinions more loosely in your mind. To embrace the hazy gray void and play in it. To try on new ideas for size like you’re in the costume department of a Hollywood studio. To step back and reevaluate how you and your company do things given the new set of circumstances. Ask questions like, “How does this change what people fear, want, or value? How does it change competitive dynamics or supply chains? How can our brand solve, soothe, or reframe this?” Then take small steps to test new theories with a high tolerance for failure. Sponge the data, think structurally, act tactically, test relentlessly, and measure differently. Remember, you can either be part of this change or a relic of a bygone era.
TOOL JOY
Setapp: A panoply of “do”
Setapp gives you unlimited access to a treasure trove of apps for creativity and productivity. From writing tools like Ulysses to video downloaders, design utilities, focus timers, and system optimizers – there’s everything you need to brainstorm, plan, create, share, and manage your work seamlessly. 260 apps total, all under one affordable subscription, with no ads or extra licensing hassles. It’s a lot to sift through, we admit. But it could wind up being just the thing(s) you need.
DESIGN WE ❤️
50 Spins, 50 design trends for 2025
To celebrate our 50th issue of The Pinwheel Spin, we’re doing something a little different. If you’re on the design side of the industry, you know that keeping up with design trends is like chasing your own shadow – it’s a constantly moving target, and requires a significant amount of time and effort, and AI has only accelerated this effect. Instead of doing all that work yourself, here’s a curated list of 50 design trends to watch in 2025.
We thank you for coming along on this newsletter journey. We’ll keep spinning up content that will make your head spin (in a good way). Here’s to the next 50!
BEEP BOOP
Space is vaaaaaast: If you got a sec, you really should check out these legitimately mind-blowing photos from deep space of 10 million galaxies making up 0.05% of the 20 billion galaxies Rubin Observatory will capture during its 10-year survey of space and time.
Creative joy at work: A new study suggests there’s a mighty strong connection between creative cultures and employee happiness and well-being. Seems obvious, but good reminder.
Don’t fall into the suck: Writing with AI might feel easier, but new research shows that heavy LLM use in writing can dampen neural connectivity and leave you struggling to remember your own…uh, um… word things.
Speaking of joy: This new song from Cameroonian singer-songwriter Irma Pany is ?.
Unpolished gems: Seinfeld tested horribly. Star Wars was a script nobody would touch. “Just do it” was nearly killed in a conference room. People assume good ideas are bullet proof, but they’re actually quite delicate things when introduced to the rough and often-thoughtless machinations of today’s modern-day company.
WORD TO THE WISE
“It’s a terrible thing in life, I think, to wait until you’re ready. I have this feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do anything… There is only now. And you may as well do it now.”
—Actor Hugh Laurie (of House fame)
WHAT CLIENTS WANT
The future of human creativity
Using the example of ’90s grunge band Nirvana, copywriter Justin Oberman writes an astute take on what’ll happen to human creativity in the age of AI. It goes like this:
- Nirvana took the world by storm.
- Every guitar magazine rushed to decode Kurt Cobain’s secrets… the effects pedals, the amp settings, the strumming technique, and so on.
- They missed the point. The music wasn’t in the gear.
- Grunge had made authenticity the only currency that mattered.
- Suddenly, hair metal bands with $50K worth of gear sounded lame next to three guys who genuinely had something meaningful to say.
When everyone has access to the same tool, it’s the human heart that makes you stand out. When everyone can sound “smart,” it’s suddenly obvious when you don’t have anything worthy to say. That’s why regurgitators will soon exit the profession while thinkers and creative visionaries will use AI to stand out, be interesting, and bring their ideas to life. The music is in the musicians, not the instruments.
ICEBREAKER
If you had to fill a water bed with another substance besides water, what would it be and why?
Todd: My mind keeps coming back to the tiny rainbow-colored candy dots on the original Circus Animal Cookies from Mother’s. Super comfy and inviting. Fun fact: They’re called “nonpareils,” meaning “without equal” in French, or “hundreds and thousands” in Australia.
Laura: In the 1970s, my brother won a waterbed from a radio station contest. We thought it was so cool until it sprung a leak and ruined our floors, so I have to say I’d fill it with memory foam.
Melissa: I am gonna have to go with slime. It would be bouncy – and might work like memory foam.
Irene: Jell-O… duh. Ever since watching Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, I’ve dreamed of a Jell-O castle – Jell-O bed included.
John: The way things are going, I’d fill it with emergency rations, planting seeds and, well, water.
FALLACIES, PARADOXES & THEORIES…OH MY
The associative theory of creativity
This theory holds that creativity is the ability to form novel connections between seemingly unrelated concepts stored in memory. It’s what enables you to come up with an idea for selling Snickers that involves magically turning a vibrant young person into an agitated Betty White (“You’re not you when you’re hungry.”) Most people have stronger connections to common concepts and weaker connections to uncommon concepts. But creative people, the theory posits, have a memory hierarchy that is more “flat” – meaning the strength of connections between common and uncommon concepts are more equally balanced. Studies also show that creative people tend to have higher “forward flow” scores on free-association tasks, which reflects how far they are willing to move beyond their initial ideas. This helps them with real-world creative achievements in entrepreneurship, visual arts, acting, and, yes, marketing.
