- Yes I think it is definitely getting harder. I kinda feel like it's almost similar to the way we think about how algorithms can enable exponential/compound follower growth via network effects. In the same way, but reversed, those network effects bury us deeper and deeper into this hole of sameness/mehness
- Have you read Kyle Chayka's stuff? When I read his Airspace piece in 2016 it really crystalized this concept for me. It's interesting to see how it's just snowballed since then. I haven't read his recent book Filterworld yet, but heard great things, and would def be a must-read for this topic.
- Re: iteration vs innovation. I wrote my MA dissertation on cultural appropriation in contemporary fashion design. One of my key arguments was about how modern design processes relied heavily on moodboards - basically, images without context. This was further exacerbated with the rise of Tumblr and Instagram (I published in 2015). Previous to that, you may have still used reference images, but you had to pull them out of a magazine or book, which meant there was some sort of editorial writing aka context for the image. If it was a book from the library, you maybe could just make a b/w photocopy, or draw a quick reference sketch, or jot down some notes - you weren't looking directly at that image and reproducing it (which is part of what enables appropriation). The way technology has divorced image from context is definitely also part of what encourages iteration more than innovation, at least in design/visual fields.
- The point about Meta's admission of prioritizing "high engagement format-alignment" hit a chord for me. I was (unintentionally forced to) consult on social strategy for a DTC brand recently. They wanted to explore brand marketing and doing more brand-building things on social, but then they freaked out when their social engagement took a hit. The only thing that gets them the engagement levels they want is super basic product styling posts similar to what they started out doing 10 years ago. They get super worked up and refuse to do anything that doesn't perform on social, which leaves it at a dead end.
Thanks Anu, this is so brilliant. Your MA diss - that sounds like the most interesting read. Your decontextulised moodboarding, can't unthink that now you've said it. The implications - no wonder we are seeing what we are seeing in the industry. That was a real lightbulb moment for me, so thank you. It tracks back all the way to the design team, of course. I bet that was really really really interesting to write.
The DTC brand - yeah, I hear you. I also see this in my work, which sounds like v similar world to yours. That kind of short termism is killing these businesses, but some of them just won't have it. Despite the logic, some would prefer to keep feeding the beast. Kyle C - yes indeed, he's been doing the lord's work on this stuff. My fave: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll/why-the-internet-isnt-fun-anymore
Thank you! Yeah, like everyone else, I loveeee making moodboards, but unfortunately they can be problematic. It's often part of my job to create some version of them, and my main solve is ensuring provenance and context, even one line for each image, whenever I make one [for work].
to surface your own shit that isn't in the algorithm's clutches, the older among us have to do some digging and rely on our memories of the old internet - I use the Wayback Machine a LOT to revisit blogs and websites from the 00s. That or rely on physical archives and places that preserve them/aren't dependent on a like or follower count.
I can't believe there was a time when my teenage self (20+years ago) though algorithms were great because "it shows you what you would like!", so naive.
the algo's clutches - obsessed. Pleased to meet another Wayback Machine user. And agree...I think we all thought this tech was bloody awesome at the start :)
I've been digging up old street style blog (no longer up/domain lapsed) pics from the 00s to repost elsewhere - with credit ofc, I'm not tumblr - for a couple of years now and I'm still astonished by the number of people who have no clue about the wayback machine!
Love that word 'Meh-ocene', hope it catches on. And yes, it's absolutely getting harder.
I think one of the reasons is that AI is acting as a mediocrity multiplier, in conjunction with the homogenising effect of social media algorithms.
One thing I recently learnt about LLMs is that because they average out their datasets, that leads to output full of clichés. There's also the issue of the feedback loop when AI gets trained on existing AI-generated stuff. Matt Klein's Substack touched on this just today actually, talking about a 'cultural singularity': https://zine.kleinkleinklein.com/p/hyper-optimization-cultural-singularity
I pray that the Oxford Word of the Year 2025 isn't 'slop'...
Love that - the averaged-out average/source material referencing itself. Ha I think you called the word of the year already. That very same MK Zine piece is actually included in today's Pattern Rec send!
This is a great question. I agree that algorithm-fueled mass consumerism punished creativity and awards homogeneity. The answer for me is limiting my time online and spending more time IRL, whether it be creating (I love to draw) or consuming (spending an afternoon at a nice consignment store).
100% Adora. It's the answer. I've started turning my phone *off* for (little) parts of the day. Makes me sweat, but it turns out the world keeps on turning just fine!
Gah I love DR. Thank you for linking that - 100%, the pockets of weird thing is this whole thing exactly. Except better expressed! I'm with you...Mocha Mousse is not my colour of the year. I resist. x
Fully agree with this. Have you listened to Ezra Klein podcast - how to discover your own taste episode? They talk about the algorithm flattening style and creativity. Sidenote, I call Instagram / athleisure wear the ‘uniform of nothing’. It’s depressing
Yes, it's definitely harder to find anything interesting right now. I suppose films are getting more interesting with the rise of A24 and such and some good TV with Severance. But I do feel like on the brand front, people are taking fewer creative risks which makes everything feel very same/same. But maybe they are risk-averse because of the rise of the orange one?
Oh yes, A24 is a great eg of putting up resistance to this stuff. Thank you. I'm also seeing what you are re risk aversion inside the brands. I mean I get it, I do empathise - it's very hard right now. But what might seem 'safe' isn't safe anymore. Not if you're aiming for something more than flat, incremental growth. Lol orange one.
Hard agree! Also, I wonder if AI is having an impact - creatives relying more on AI tools because it’s the flashy new thing, but getting mediocre results. Like Burberry’s recent cinema-graph-style social posts, which fell flat. I feel like they might have deleted any negative comments though https://www.instagram.com/reel/DExdoCWAZ9C/?igsh=dTJ5aTdtZHZpYWhn
Burberry ripping off 2011 Jamie Beck is.... a choice. Sad to think they once had amazing campaigns back in the 00s. And like someone said on the post comments, it can be done with a bootlegged copy of after effects - where's the creativity? Gimmicks just come across as so cheap, the opposite of luxury.
Absolutely!! In past roles as a content strategist we were ALL about relevant content. But what that realistically shows up as is a) create more of the same or b) something adjacent. (See: the volume of musk/farage-related content in existence) Introducing a truly new idea into the mix is only sticky if the 'right' social proof shows up to support it. Otherwise for a viewer, that new idea is yet another uncertainty [in these uncertain times etc.] - and it's easier to scroll on by than to be the weirdo that liked the weird thing. Compound that with algorithmic design for predictive engagement rates et voila! Buried ideas everywhere. There's probably something in that Anxious Generation book as well.
LOL puns keep giving. That is so interesting on the content development...same/adjacent v good way of thinking about it. I'm obsessed with the algorithmic design for predictive engagement thing right now too. Client is reading Anxious Gen and told me I must get on it. Two recommendations = a pattern and we know I like a pattern. x
Adding an eg that just occurred to me: LinkedIn, where the feed's over-run with loud, formulaic klout-chasing foghorns, with the smarter, more nuanced thinking more often buried (or leaving the platform altogether).
That is so wise. Given that it's known that overwhelm/over choice can make us retreat to what we already know/like/feel familiar with (choice architecture)...maybe this is a version of that, on a massive scale. I'd never thought of it like that. Thank you so much.
Listening to a recent episode of David Runciman's "Past, Present & Future" and I'm reminded of the people of Lagado in Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" who communicate by having servants carry massive bags full of objects around with them. From some quick AI summary: "The professors argue that people could carry items representing their thoughts or needs and use these objects to communicate. For example, instead of saying "table," one would simply show a table or an image of it. They claim this system would reduce misunderstandings and serve as a universal language, as most objects are universally recognized."
Since 2011 I've kept a "mood board" Tumblr page going with two express purposes: 1. for the basic, standard inspiration for creative projects and 2. to track what it is my eye is naturally drawn to over time. And over that time as the actual source of visual material has changed from blogs and disparate websites to almost solely Instagram, my attitudes and image needs have shifted. The things the algorithmic socialinternetbots are showing have become the product of my actively collaboration, and since I'm tracking the select things I'm saving and putting away for inspiration, I'm presenting back to myself a kind of narrowing, or at the very least shifting, of vocabulary. Hundreds upon hundreds of images, getting more and more homogeneous. Whereas in the beginning I would have assumed I was training my eye for taste and sensibility and fun, this process has become a squisher and a squasher of how and where I'm looking in the first place. Beyond subject matter (there are of course topics I simply like and for reasons that might be career oriented) it is a very weird self-fulfilling prophecy of visual standardization that is... concerning.
I've written a little also of the effect subtitles and captions may be having on our spoken vocabulary as well, as the need to be able to read things quickly creates a race to the lowest common denominator copy and script writing simply for legibility's sake. I wouldn't wonder if this isn't also the case with our photographic literacy. Big, nuanced landscapes and wide shots getting more and more easily parsable, and going out the window altogether in favor of a visual vocabulary that only has patience for cleanly graphic in our smalled-down world.
I’d love to hear more about your convo with Ana on the pros and cons of PhDs, if you’re willing to share! As someone who’s internally battled against doing one and not, I still don’t know where I landed 😂
Thanks for the thought-provoking post, I’m a recent follower of your stuff, so this was new to me - I can definitely relate.
However, my lived experience through working in product design (tech/sports) is that the innovation isn’t slowing, it might actually be speeding up. It’s the fact that the ease of communication (social media) means we just see so much more ‘stuff’. You know, the stuff that you talk about here, the ‘meh’, and the real innovation either isn’t getting as many eyes, or is simply not being communicated about.
The creators making the truly innovative breakthrough tend not to be the ones with great communication or social media skills (a generalisation but one I’ve seen many times over). The innovation is there, it just might not be top of your social media feed.
That is such a good point. Thank you. And I agree with you re the generalisation (IMO too I think it's fair to say that often people who are excellent makers/thinkers/creators/innovators perhaps are not also always excellent at the dissemination).
It's as though the tech that could/should 'help' the most interesting stuff travel actually becomes an extra barrier - think of something great + then figure out how to beat the system to get it seen
e.g. tiny example...you will see better cases of this kind of thing all the time in your work I'm sure - I see people using a popular/algo-friendly content mechanic/format (to pick one randomly...the 'put a finger down' format video) to share an idea/thought that is not at all what the original format was created for - something big/deep, rather than the more 'light' stuff people originally used that video structure for.
Thanks for being here. Your area of work is v interesting to me!
- Yes I think it is definitely getting harder. I kinda feel like it's almost similar to the way we think about how algorithms can enable exponential/compound follower growth via network effects. In the same way, but reversed, those network effects bury us deeper and deeper into this hole of sameness/mehness
- Have you read Kyle Chayka's stuff? When I read his Airspace piece in 2016 it really crystalized this concept for me. It's interesting to see how it's just snowballed since then. I haven't read his recent book Filterworld yet, but heard great things, and would def be a must-read for this topic.
https://www.theverge.com/2016/8/3/12325104/airbnb-aesthetic-global-minimalism-startup-gentrification
http://npr.org/2024/01/16/1225002436/book-review-kyle-chayka-filterworld
Kyle also writes a great substack - One Thing https://onethingnewsletter.substack.com/
- Re: iteration vs innovation. I wrote my MA dissertation on cultural appropriation in contemporary fashion design. One of my key arguments was about how modern design processes relied heavily on moodboards - basically, images without context. This was further exacerbated with the rise of Tumblr and Instagram (I published in 2015). Previous to that, you may have still used reference images, but you had to pull them out of a magazine or book, which meant there was some sort of editorial writing aka context for the image. If it was a book from the library, you maybe could just make a b/w photocopy, or draw a quick reference sketch, or jot down some notes - you weren't looking directly at that image and reproducing it (which is part of what enables appropriation). The way technology has divorced image from context is definitely also part of what encourages iteration more than innovation, at least in design/visual fields.
- The point about Meta's admission of prioritizing "high engagement format-alignment" hit a chord for me. I was (unintentionally forced to) consult on social strategy for a DTC brand recently. They wanted to explore brand marketing and doing more brand-building things on social, but then they freaked out when their social engagement took a hit. The only thing that gets them the engagement levels they want is super basic product styling posts similar to what they started out doing 10 years ago. They get super worked up and refuse to do anything that doesn't perform on social, which leaves it at a dead end.
Thanks Anu, this is so brilliant. Your MA diss - that sounds like the most interesting read. Your decontextulised moodboarding, can't unthink that now you've said it. The implications - no wonder we are seeing what we are seeing in the industry. That was a real lightbulb moment for me, so thank you. It tracks back all the way to the design team, of course. I bet that was really really really interesting to write.
The DTC brand - yeah, I hear you. I also see this in my work, which sounds like v similar world to yours. That kind of short termism is killing these businesses, but some of them just won't have it. Despite the logic, some would prefer to keep feeding the beast. Kyle C - yes indeed, he's been doing the lord's work on this stuff. My fave: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll/why-the-internet-isnt-fun-anymore
Thank you! Yeah, like everyone else, I loveeee making moodboards, but unfortunately they can be problematic. It's often part of my job to create some version of them, and my main solve is ensuring provenance and context, even one line for each image, whenever I make one [for work].
to surface your own shit that isn't in the algorithm's clutches, the older among us have to do some digging and rely on our memories of the old internet - I use the Wayback Machine a LOT to revisit blogs and websites from the 00s. That or rely on physical archives and places that preserve them/aren't dependent on a like or follower count.
I can't believe there was a time when my teenage self (20+years ago) though algorithms were great because "it shows you what you would like!", so naive.
the algo's clutches - obsessed. Pleased to meet another Wayback Machine user. And agree...I think we all thought this tech was bloody awesome at the start :)
I've been digging up old street style blog (no longer up/domain lapsed) pics from the 00s to repost elsewhere - with credit ofc, I'm not tumblr - for a couple of years now and I'm still astonished by the number of people who have no clue about the wayback machine!
Yes!!! I’ve been calling this The Great Flattening :(
YES. So so great, yet so def not great!
Love that word 'Meh-ocene', hope it catches on. And yes, it's absolutely getting harder.
I think one of the reasons is that AI is acting as a mediocrity multiplier, in conjunction with the homogenising effect of social media algorithms.
One thing I recently learnt about LLMs is that because they average out their datasets, that leads to output full of clichés. There's also the issue of the feedback loop when AI gets trained on existing AI-generated stuff. Matt Klein's Substack touched on this just today actually, talking about a 'cultural singularity': https://zine.kleinkleinklein.com/p/hyper-optimization-cultural-singularity
I pray that the Oxford Word of the Year 2025 isn't 'slop'...
Love that - the averaged-out average/source material referencing itself. Ha I think you called the word of the year already. That very same MK Zine piece is actually included in today's Pattern Rec send!
Oh snap! Can't wait to read that
This is a great question. I agree that algorithm-fueled mass consumerism punished creativity and awards homogeneity. The answer for me is limiting my time online and spending more time IRL, whether it be creating (I love to draw) or consuming (spending an afternoon at a nice consignment store).
100% Adora. It's the answer. I've started turning my phone *off* for (little) parts of the day. Makes me sweat, but it turns out the world keeps on turning just fine!
I agree with you, and uuh do I hate Mocha Mousse (and what it’s supposed to signify). This article came to mind https://rushkoff.substack.com/p/pockets-of-weird-the-fight-over-reality?publication_id=2058212&post_id=153316492&isFreemail=true&r=1j926&triedRedirect=true
Gah I love DR. Thank you for linking that - 100%, the pockets of weird thing is this whole thing exactly. Except better expressed! I'm with you...Mocha Mousse is not my colour of the year. I resist. x
“Is it getting harder to find (or surface your own) unexpected/weird/remarkable shit?
Are you having to dig deeper to get yours?”
Nope, I keep finding weird shit in secondhand stores-it’s still out there, but it’s about the time needed to find it 💕
Haha I completely agree with this, Sheila. You are absolutely right.
Thank you for the shoutout :)
xx
Fully agree with this. Have you listened to Ezra Klein podcast - how to discover your own taste episode? They talk about the algorithm flattening style and creativity. Sidenote, I call Instagram / athleisure wear the ‘uniform of nothing’. It’s depressing
Uniform Of Nothing - oh, love that. Yes thanks re Ezra! His explorations of this stuff are so good.
Yes, it's definitely harder to find anything interesting right now. I suppose films are getting more interesting with the rise of A24 and such and some good TV with Severance. But I do feel like on the brand front, people are taking fewer creative risks which makes everything feel very same/same. But maybe they are risk-averse because of the rise of the orange one?
Oh yes, A24 is a great eg of putting up resistance to this stuff. Thank you. I'm also seeing what you are re risk aversion inside the brands. I mean I get it, I do empathise - it's very hard right now. But what might seem 'safe' isn't safe anymore. Not if you're aiming for something more than flat, incremental growth. Lol orange one.
Hard agree! Also, I wonder if AI is having an impact - creatives relying more on AI tools because it’s the flashy new thing, but getting mediocre results. Like Burberry’s recent cinema-graph-style social posts, which fell flat. I feel like they might have deleted any negative comments though https://www.instagram.com/reel/DExdoCWAZ9C/?igsh=dTJ5aTdtZHZpYWhn
Burberry ripping off 2011 Jamie Beck is.... a choice. Sad to think they once had amazing campaigns back in the 00s. And like someone said on the post comments, it can be done with a bootlegged copy of after effects - where's the creativity? Gimmicks just come across as so cheap, the opposite of luxury.
agreeee
Absolutely!! In past roles as a content strategist we were ALL about relevant content. But what that realistically shows up as is a) create more of the same or b) something adjacent. (See: the volume of musk/farage-related content in existence) Introducing a truly new idea into the mix is only sticky if the 'right' social proof shows up to support it. Otherwise for a viewer, that new idea is yet another uncertainty [in these uncertain times etc.] - and it's easier to scroll on by than to be the weirdo that liked the weird thing. Compound that with algorithmic design for predictive engagement rates et voila! Buried ideas everywhere. There's probably something in that Anxious Generation book as well.
p.s. I'm SO here for all the meh-related puns
LOL puns keep giving. That is so interesting on the content development...same/adjacent v good way of thinking about it. I'm obsessed with the algorithmic design for predictive engagement thing right now too. Client is reading Anxious Gen and told me I must get on it. Two recommendations = a pattern and we know I like a pattern. x
Adding an eg that just occurred to me: LinkedIn, where the feed's over-run with loud, formulaic klout-chasing foghorns, with the smarter, more nuanced thinking more often buried (or leaving the platform altogether).
I think since the world itself feels so absurd, there is some solace in the things that feel familiar.
That is so wise. Given that it's known that overwhelm/over choice can make us retreat to what we already know/like/feel familiar with (choice architecture)...maybe this is a version of that, on a massive scale. I'd never thought of it like that. Thank you so much.
Listening to a recent episode of David Runciman's "Past, Present & Future" and I'm reminded of the people of Lagado in Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" who communicate by having servants carry massive bags full of objects around with them. From some quick AI summary: "The professors argue that people could carry items representing their thoughts or needs and use these objects to communicate. For example, instead of saying "table," one would simply show a table or an image of it. They claim this system would reduce misunderstandings and serve as a universal language, as most objects are universally recognized."
Since 2011 I've kept a "mood board" Tumblr page going with two express purposes: 1. for the basic, standard inspiration for creative projects and 2. to track what it is my eye is naturally drawn to over time. And over that time as the actual source of visual material has changed from blogs and disparate websites to almost solely Instagram, my attitudes and image needs have shifted. The things the algorithmic socialinternetbots are showing have become the product of my actively collaboration, and since I'm tracking the select things I'm saving and putting away for inspiration, I'm presenting back to myself a kind of narrowing, or at the very least shifting, of vocabulary. Hundreds upon hundreds of images, getting more and more homogeneous. Whereas in the beginning I would have assumed I was training my eye for taste and sensibility and fun, this process has become a squisher and a squasher of how and where I'm looking in the first place. Beyond subject matter (there are of course topics I simply like and for reasons that might be career oriented) it is a very weird self-fulfilling prophecy of visual standardization that is... concerning.
I've written a little also of the effect subtitles and captions may be having on our spoken vocabulary as well, as the need to be able to read things quickly creates a race to the lowest common denominator copy and script writing simply for legibility's sake. I wouldn't wonder if this isn't also the case with our photographic literacy. Big, nuanced landscapes and wide shots getting more and more easily parsable, and going out the window altogether in favor of a visual vocabulary that only has patience for cleanly graphic in our smalled-down world.
I’d love to hear more about your convo with Ana on the pros and cons of PhDs, if you’re willing to share! As someone who’s internally battled against doing one and not, I still don’t know where I landed 😂
Ofc. What would you do yours in (if you in fact decided to)? You are def not the only one mulling this!
Thanks for the thought-provoking post, I’m a recent follower of your stuff, so this was new to me - I can definitely relate.
However, my lived experience through working in product design (tech/sports) is that the innovation isn’t slowing, it might actually be speeding up. It’s the fact that the ease of communication (social media) means we just see so much more ‘stuff’. You know, the stuff that you talk about here, the ‘meh’, and the real innovation either isn’t getting as many eyes, or is simply not being communicated about.
The creators making the truly innovative breakthrough tend not to be the ones with great communication or social media skills (a generalisation but one I’ve seen many times over). The innovation is there, it just might not be top of your social media feed.
That is such a good point. Thank you. And I agree with you re the generalisation (IMO too I think it's fair to say that often people who are excellent makers/thinkers/creators/innovators perhaps are not also always excellent at the dissemination).
It's as though the tech that could/should 'help' the most interesting stuff travel actually becomes an extra barrier - think of something great + then figure out how to beat the system to get it seen
e.g. tiny example...you will see better cases of this kind of thing all the time in your work I'm sure - I see people using a popular/algo-friendly content mechanic/format (to pick one randomly...the 'put a finger down' format video) to share an idea/thought that is not at all what the original format was created for - something big/deep, rather than the more 'light' stuff people originally used that video structure for.
Thanks for being here. Your area of work is v interesting to me!