#HTE

The Promise of Airships, Team-Building Tips From Google and the Strange Art of America’s Secret Societies 

Core77’s editors spend time combing through the news so you don’t have to. Here’s a weekly roundup of our favorite stories from the World Wide Web.

Helium Dreams

Airships have long been the stuff of dreams. This look at the current international “airship race,” with players from, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin and private companies like Aeroscraft investing time, money and dreams on engineering a floating cargo ship—"magnificent amounts of trucking going on in the sky.“ The promise of airships means that goods can now be delivered (and removed) from places that have no access to paved roads.

—Linyee Yuan, managing editor

The Enigmatic Art of America’s Secret Societies

The fraternal organizations that had their heyday in America between 1850 and 1930 were built around elaborate, clandestine rituals—and of course they needed on brand visual representations to reflect their elaborate processes and beliefs. Bruce Lee Webb has been collecting all sorts of esoteric paraphernalia from the era for over 25 years, providing an alluring glimpse into an elusive moment in our history. 

—Alexandra Alexa, editorial assistant

Joe Cool: Why isn’t Trader Joe’s on Social Media?

"If choice is demotivating, can its absence encourage more consumption? Would a uniform generic option be a source of liberation, as the theoretical premises of normcore would have it?"—And if by reading this you discover the mechanisms holding you in thrall, you’re merely a more educated consumer; it is ok to continue for your eyes are clear. We give our blessing, see you there.

—Eric Ludlum, editorial director

How the Japanese Diet Became the Japanese Diet

A snacky read on how history has re-designed desire around food in Japan.

—Kat Bauman, contributing writer

What Google Learned From Its Quest to Build the Perfect Team

Today I’m catching up on my reading with this NY Times piece that looks at why some teams gel and others don’t. With their Project Aristotle, Google put its considerable data collection and number-crunching prowess towards studying the issue. Is it better to put introverts together? What two qualities make for a good manager? What is "psychological safety,” and how do you turn communication and empathy into an algorithm? It’s also got this great quote in it: “…The kinds of people who work at Google are often the ones who became software engineers because they wanted to avoid talking about feelings in the first place.”

—Rain Noe, senior editor

It’s a Bird, It’s a…err, Stegosaurus?

If you enjoy reading a good takedown, then this is your week! Santiago Calatrava’s World Trade Center Transit Hub has finally opened in New York to scathing reviews: On Monday, the New York Daily News declared it a “monument to waste”; on Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal called it an “inflated spectacle”; on Wednesday, the New York Times proclaimed it a “boondoggle” (and worse); and on Thursday, the Los Angeles Times quoted one critic of the hub as saying, “It’s in many ways kind of like an ambiguous tattoo. You don’t quite know what it means, but you better start to like it because you’re going to have it forever.” Hopefully, today will be just as juicy. 

—Rebecca Veit, columnist, Designing Women

Too Sensitive

I’ve had a few recent instances of microaggressions, but struggled to articulate just what I found so unsettling about these interactions—so was glad to read this very necessary post penned by Sara Wachter-Boettcher. It wonderfully articulates the small breaks in UX that can be insensitive to users and how we can work to make interfaces kinder. I’m eagerly awaiting the release of her book, Design for Real Life, co-authored with Eric Meyer, next week.

—Carly Ayres, columnist, In the Details 

How Snapchat Built a Business by Confusing Olds

A deep dive into the ever-growing and somewhat mysterious phenomenon of Snapchat—including why it’s UX is so counterintuitive (in short, so parents can’t embarrass their kids), the astounding rates at which millennials are consuming this micro-media and of course, DJ Khaled ??????.

—Allison Fonder, community manager