After the conference, we took a short break. Explains the long gap between the last edition and this. It's a brand new month and the last 28 days of 2017 - so here's some brand new reading material + a bunch of links from DesignUp. 

Notable news is WeWork buying MeetUp - Why? Wired has the update.

Nearer home, social media has been abuzz: Designers up-in-arms on a rather lopsided Design competition from a new-age multi-billion dollar Indian brand. 

👊 But what made my week was this revenge-bot: aimed at email scammers. It certainly scores high on the list of unarticulated needs! In more heartening bot-related news, students Bhat & Phadte struck back at Twitter propoganda bots with high accuracy - wonder why wasn't it on Twitter's product roadmap? So over to this week...

The Visualization of Interconnected Global Issues

The bigger pic doesn't get bigger than this, or more interconnected. With topics from Ageing to AI, Peru, Faith, Robotics and 100s more, this is a "dynamic knowledge tool to understand the issues and forces driving transformational change across economies, industries, global issues." From the World Economic Forum.

Selling Products Is Good. But Selling Projects? — hbr.org

"In the beginning companies sold products. And then they sold services. In recent years, the fashionable suggestion has been that companies sell experiences and solutions..."

Selfies as a second language

A fascinating reflection (and a longish essay) on selfies - and on many generations, especially those "for whom selfies are not second nature but instead a second language."

Lists (gifts, courses, DesignUp talks, books)

10 things I wish every design student knew

A time-tested collection of things you may have read, re-read and heard. And a little reminder in December is always good! 

Wish List 2017: 60 Amazing Gift Ideas for Everyone in Your Orbit — www.wired.com

Nerdy and geeky in most parts, this list features the ultimate usefulness and drool worthy toys

Free Online Courses For Creatives Offered By Universities Around The World

200 universities around the world have released 560 courses online, so there’s always a new skill to learn at no cost.

🔔  🔔  🔔

DesignUp 2017 Talks & Book recommendations:

Justin from Meta, NYC, spoke about the art of being there, of creating hyper immersive environments that amplify the present. His 'hyperlinked' talk PDF is here and the books he recommended during the talk are:

• Ken Wilber, A Brief History of Everything

• David R. Hawkins, Power vs Force

• Jean Gebser, The Ever-Present Origin

Rasagy spoke persuasively on Designing with Data (Data and Design track, no surprises) and his slide deck can be found here

Raghunadh's talk (again, Data and Design Track) on Mapping Movies was fascinating, here's the link to his deck

DesignUp pics are all online - find (and follow) us on Instagram and on Facebook:

• Day one (Talks+Workshops and Networking Dinner)

• Day Two (Talks+Workshops)

Until next week,

@JDallcaps 

PS: Don't miss the DesignUp Recap video 👇