If you're like us, caught up in the everyday of being a designer, bogged down with a packed calendar and to-do lists, you may have forgotten how to imagine, how to dream, and how to find the wonder in the world.

🫶 This issue is about bringing that back again - we take a look at Inventions by Little Inventors, how to revive your sense of wonder, and listen to John Hendricks's journey to launch The Discovery Channel.

🦋 In line with the theme of reinventing and rediscovery, we have a 2 min super-short-survey for you, on mindfulness. Help us understand the collective take on this deceptively simple word...

🍏 Today's Eye Candy showcases artists that channeled the difficulties of the world around them into magic and purpose.

📺 But first, a fresh look at how older consumers could be represented in media.

'In Our Minds, None of Us Are Old.' Tackling Ageism in Advertising — musebycl.io

A 2021 AARP survey showed consumers over 50 were disheartened by advertising today, as they tend to reinforce outdated stereotypes. Jose Miguel Sokoloff and Bronwyn Sweeney share insights on representing senior consumers, with some delightful results. #mustwatch

Inventions made real by Little Inventors — thekidshouldseethis.com

Little Inventors, a UK-based educational non-profit organization, provides children the opportunity to develop and showcase their creativity and problem-solving skills. The children then work with a team of engineers, designers, and artists, to bring some of the inventions to life, and present them to wider audiences. Check out the Worry Shredder (shown above), the Miracle Chair, and more! Chief inventor Dominic Wilcox says:

How to revive your sense of wonder — psyche.co

That childhood urge to ask ‘how’ and ‘why’ usually fades – but it doesn’t have to. Lifelong wonderers show that we can maintain the habit of asking questions and learn diverse ways of wondering.

Discovery Channel by John Hendricks — www.npr.org

In the early "Wild West" days of cable television, John Hendricks wanted to create a channel that would teach people cool things in an entertaining way. He left his comfortable job to lease a satellite, license content, and woo cable distributors, all the while trying to get the funding to finance it all. Listen to this podcast about his journey to make the Discovery Channel a reality and finally break even.

🥷 For Your Toolkit

Megaverbs and the making of a modern Adobe Acrobat

Rachana Rele shares the story behind the redesign of the widely used PDF app - how the team created a cohesive experience and a flexible framework that would solve the challenges of discoverability and differentiation across multiple surfaces.

UXR Maturity: Is your User Research team ready to move to a more advanced level in your org?

Research educator Nikki Anderson talks through UXR Maturity models and how to best use them to assess and improve your org’s research maturity.

🍏 Eye Candy

If Miyazaki Depicted War in Ukraine: Illustrations of Yulia Tveritina — birdinflight.com

The anti-war ideas in the films of Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki had always appealed to Ukrainian illustrator Yulia Tvertina. When war struck her country, art became her way of coping with the war and sharing with the world.

Influential Artworks Find Wearable Interpretations by Ariel Adkins — www.thisiscolossal.com

Ariel Adkins started this project as a way of responding to grief after the loss of her mother, an artist. Through the language of fashion, the project became an embodiment of joy and a unique way of kindling togetherness.

Brothers Jack (director) and Tom Hudson (sound designer) were going through sleepless nights of early parenting, and this film Subconscious Drool came about from those experiences as a form of meditation.

Your take on Mindfulness? Need your 2 mins...

Before you go... In line with the theme of reinventing and rediscovery, we have a 2 min super-short-survey for you, on mindfulness. Just 6 questions. 2 optional. Approx 20 secs per question. No right or wrong answers. Just what you think, feel, perceive. BTW, if you missed it, our issue 115 was all about Mindfulness, Self-care and Awareness.

🌿 Stay curious and stay inspired,

@soosixty & @jdallcaps