Selectism | Around the Web

01. Do typefaces really matter?

“The typeface matters because of its power to create a sense of recognition and trust, (Strawson) argues: “Everyone recognises the BBC just from three characters in Gill Sans. It’s an icon. If you wrote BBC in a flowery font people wouldn’t recognise it.”" (bbc)

02. Twitter mood maps reveal emotional states of America (above)

“America, are you happy? The emotional words contained in hundreds of millions of messages posted to the Twitter website may hold the answer. Computer scientist Alan Mislove at Northeastern University in Boston and colleagues have found that these “tweets” suggest that the west coast is happier than the east coast, and across the country happiness peaks each Sunday morning, with a trough on Thursday evenings. The team calls their work the “pulse of the nation”.” (new scientist)

03. Iconic CITGO Sign Will Go Dark

“Boston’s iconic CITGO sign will go dark this Friday, as the oil company that owns it plans to change the light bulbs on the sign that overlooks Kenmore Square and Fenway Park. The landmark sign will remain dark for two months. The sign has stood high above the Boston skyline since 1940, when it was erected on what was then a regional office for the Cities Services oil company. In 1965, the lighted logo was changed to read CITGO. The building currently houses the Boston University bookstore.” (wcvbboston)

04. Renowned street artist Banksy tags Detroit, ignites controversy

“Says Luis Croquer, director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, “This may be unprecedented, because in most other cities, you wouldn’t be able to take a wall home… What does it mean to move a wall? And beyond legality, who does the wall really belong to, and now does the art belong to the gallery? To everybody? To nobody? We’re operating in this space where there’s this lawlessness that opens up possibilities that would be much harder to encounter in other cities.”"
(autoblog)