The Subthread

Your Next User Is Probably a Robot: Web Design in the Agentic Era

The dawn of what is grandly titled ‘the agentic era,’ where AI does things instead of just saying things, creates a new set of challenges for anyone designing a website in 2025.

Max Ottignon

Nov 5, 2025 — 5 min read

Is Being Great at One Thing Still Enough in the Age of AI?

From agencies to global brands, a new kind of talent is emerging – people who are increasingly adaptable, curious, and fluent across disciplines.

Marketing

Rich Hewes

Nov 5, 2025 — 5 min read

When Brands Start to Speak

Voice is becoming the primary interface, forcing brands to define how they sound, not just how they look.

Branding

Hannah Bowler

Nov 3, 2025 — 4 min read

How to Build Brands That Stand the Test of Time

Three brand and marketing specialists from Skyscanner, Ancient + Brave and Veed, on making space for play, smart experiments, and fast failure so innovation lasts beyond the trend cycle.

Branding

Hannah Bowler

Oct 30, 2025 — 4 min read

Why Microsoft’s Clippy Comeback Says More About Brand Trust Than Nostalgia

Microsoft’s new Copilot avatar Mico hides a familiar face, and in doing so, reveals why familiarity still builds trust in a world obsessed with innovation.

Branding Culture

Rich Hewes

Oct 29, 2025 — 4 min read

Productivity

Make time for meaningful work. Simple systems, tools, and habits for focused teams, from deep work and calendar hygiene to automations that reduce busywork and amplify your best hours.

The Productivity Playbook: Notebook LM

Google’s Notebook LM turns your trusted sources into a private thinking partner. It’s taking the stress away from a real deep dive by surfacing patterns and compressing a week’s reading into usable insight for marketing (or other) teams.

Productivity Playbook Productivity

Rich Hewes

Oct 22, 2025 — 3 min read

The Productivity Playbook: Wispr Flow

Some tools feel like dashboards. Others feel like to‑do lists. Wispr Flow feels like something different, a place where you can just… talk. And, Wispr turns that talk into text you can use.

Productivity Playbook Productivity

Rich Hewes

Oct 1, 2025 — 3 min read

Confessions of a Serial Tabber: How Dia Became My Digital Wingman

I’m what a polite person might call a “tab enthusiast.” My browser window is less workspace, more archaeological dig – layers of half-read articles and product pages, abandoned Google Docs, and the occasional half-watched YouTube video.

Productivity

Alex Zeevalkink

Sep 24, 2025 — 4 min read

Explore our archive of articles, interviews, and creative projects

When Ritual Becomes Design

Gianni Tozzi, FutureBrand’s global chief creative officer, says brand spaces are learning to feel – moving from campaigns to rituals where adaptive tech and sensorial design turn everyday moments into emotional cues.

Branding Marketing

Gianni Tozzi

Oct 28, 2025 — 4 min read

Emotion First: How Tech Can Build Living Brands

At Future Makers Live, Doddz and Will Thacker showed how technology, used with intention, can deepen brand storytelling, sharpen audience understanding, and turn one‑off campaigns into living, evolving worlds.

Creativity Branding

Alex Zeevalkink

Oct 28, 2025 — 5 min read

Relevance Is a Two-Way Street

In a memified media world, Weber Shandwick's Tom Beckman says the brands that win stop interrupting and start participating – meeting audiences where they are and offering real, mutual value.

Creativity Culture

Hannah Bowler

Oct 23, 2025 — 4 min read