Here are the things that I think are worth reading and checking out this week:

Designing a New Look for Instagram, Inspired by the Community

This week Instagram announced a new look, inside and outside the app. We created a new Instagram app icon and a set of unified icons for Hyperlapse, Layout, and Boomerang. They’ve also refreshed the user interface with a simpler, more consistent design that helps people’s photos and videos shine. I know it has been all the rage to bash this new work but I like it. I think it is clean, needed and pops on the screen of your phone. This article is from the Head of Design at Instagram and walks through all the work they did on this redesign.
Read the article here

7 Steps to Building a Recognized Personal Brand

The concept of building a brand is not new. While we normally think of brands as companies or products, people are brands, too. In fact, you’ve been cultivating your personal brand since childhood in the form of word-of-mouth reputation and your digital footprint. Today, the stakes are higher than ever: when people make incorrect assumptions about who you are,it impacts the sales of your products, services, and opportunities for career advancement. Your personal brand is an extension of the reputation and relationships you have built over time. This includes your conversations, daily actions and interactions, and of course, all of the special sauce that makes you, well… you.
Read the article here

The Minimalist Animation of ‘Archer’

With a move to Los Angeles and seemingly ill-fated shift from bumbling spymasters to bumbling private detectives, the dysfunctional crew of FX’s hit animated series Archer has stumbled into their new season needing completely new headquarters, sets, costumes, vehicles, gear and most importantly, a fresh cast of shady and otherwise obnoxious characters. And a baby. Leaders on the show’s Floyd County Productions animation team are producer Neil Holman and art director Chad Hurd, together responsible for turning series creator and executive producer Adam Reed’s scripts into the finished gems we watch in giddy admiration in what is now the show’s seventh season. This article talks with the pair right before this season’s March 31st premiere. They spoke at length about many key production details and overall pipeline challenges, sharing their insights about how they keep the show looking fresh, doing justice to Reed’s creative vision, while making sure they stay on time and on budget.
Read the article here

Apple R&D Reveals a Pivot Is Coming

People are focusing on the wrong thing when analyzing Apple’s path forward in the face of slowing iPhone sales. Instead of debating how much Apple will try to monetize the iPhone user base with services (not as much as consensus thinks), the company is instead planning its largest pivot yet. There are only a handful of logical explanations for Apple’s current R&D expense trajectory, and all of them result in a radically different Apple. In a few years, we are no longer going to refer to Apple as the iPhone company.
Read the article here

The 5 Types of Personal Projects (And How You Can Justify Pursuing Them)