Facebook Logo Redesign

Facebook’s New Logo: Can You Spot the Difference?

(Facebook)

 Article by Deepa Seetharaman

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/07/01/small-tweak-in-logo-marks-a-deeper-shift-at-facebook/

1)  What evidence would convince you that this is a "huge change"?  What are the underlying assumptions of graphic artists?  

2)  Why might Mark Zuckerberg's employees feel differently than your cousin about this change?  Why might an investor feel differently than your classmate?

3)  In what ways is this connected to technology?  How is this connected to a geography?  Why might you study this in health class?

4)  What if this typeface is proven to be plagiarized?  How would this story be different if the creator was Mark Zuckerberg himself?  

5)  Is this important to you?  If not, to whom is it important?  Can someone ethically design a logo for a company that sells your data to other companies?  

Extended Activities:

1)  Students can research examples of re-branding through logo changes of an individual company or an industry and predict how a future logo would look in the future.

2)  Students can research typeface and fonts focusing on best practices and defend the much-aligned Comic-Sans on what they've learned.    

AOK:  The Arts 

WOK:  Intuition, Language

Attention Spans Comparable to Goldfish

Canadians now have shorter attention span than goldfish thanks to portable devices: Microsoft study

 (AP Photo/Peter Ponzio) 

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadians-now-have-shorter-attention-span-than-goldfish-thanks-to-portable-devices-microsoft-study

1)  What evidence is convincing in this article?  What might be the limits to surveying different populations?    

2)  Why might a Canadian view this differently than a Moldovan?  In what ways would a CEO and a worker have similar views on this issue?    

3)  How is this connected to the school day?  In what ways is this a science issue rather than a moral?
4)  In what ways would this study be different with a smaller sample size?  What if t was sponsored by Apple?  By the National Education Association?  By Wal Mart?  

5)  What is the significance of this study on new parents?  For future generations?

Extension Activities:

1)  Students can create a time log of their online and mobile activities.  Students can analyze their collected data and develop a plan of action associated with their attention and multi-tasking goals.  

2)  Students can study the Stanford Marshmallow Test and identify the characteristics they feel are necessary for improvement in this area on a personal or societal level.

What Happens When You Stop Checking Your Phone? (Video)

Creativity Happens When You Stop Checking Your Phone

http://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/385434/creative-ideas-happen-when-you-stop-checking-your-phone/

-The Atlantic

1)  How many times is "too many times" to check your phone in a day?  How do you know?  What other relevant numbers would help us understand this issue?  Is boredom good?  How could you prove boredom and creativity are correlated?

2)  Why might parents feel differently about this than students?  Why might Nigerians feel differently about this than Canadians?  Whose perspective is most relevant in instituting a school-wide policy on mobile phone use?

3)  How is this connected to science?  How is this connected to math?  In what ways is this issue similar to the rise in popularity of printed materials?  How is it different?  Are doodling and checking Instagram related?

4)  What would happen if your school instituted a policy of "no mobile phones" in your school?  What if parents were held legally responsible for their  child's boredom levels?  What would happen if a "pro-boredom" campaign was instituted at your school?

5)  In what ways is this relevant in your life?  Do you think about your own phone use?  Do others comment on your phone use?

Extension Activities:

1)  Students monitor, chart and present their mobile phone use.  They develop plans for increasing or decreasing their current use as they see fit.

2)  Students write "alarmist" articles about older technologies where where they warn users of the potential effects of over-use (i.e. microwave, automobile, internet)