The BLT Episode 22: Skip The Crap
From treasure to tragedy, art to the amoral, we’ve crammed a lot into this week’s BLT. It’s a sandwich Scooby Doo and Shaggy would be proud of.
As ever, we’ve done our best to season everything with a few references that popped into our heads. Find out more about the stories covered in this blog.
We’re pretty sure that every week we write at least one sentence that has never existed before, and this week we think it's, "I'm thinking of making the little turds dance in tutus."
Do you have some news that’s perfect for the BLT that we’ve missed? Tell us, and find out more about how we work by getting in contact today!
This place is a tip!
No longer is this only true of a teenager’s bedroom. Artist Harrison Marshall has converted a skip into a house, and plans to live there for a year to protest the cost of living in London. After initial building costs of £4000, the monthly rent will be just £50!
Known as ‘The Skip House,’ Harrison’s new home is part of the public art initiative Skip Gallery. By living in it, Harrison hopes to highlight ‘just how crazy it is to live in central London.’
Dammit, Thanet!
Last week we mentioned graffiti writer 10 Foot. This week, Banksy is in the spotlight. The new piece, “Valentine’s day mascara”, has made headlines for several reasons. Not least because within hours of appearing, part of it disappeared.
A freezer dumped in the Margate alley the new Banksy calls home was removed by Thanet District Council. The council has insisted that the freezer will be returned once it has been made safe. We couldn’t resist a quick reference to that infamous moment when Boris Johnson hid in a fridge to avoid an interview.
Guantanamo gives back
It’s not all loss this week, though. Detainees at Guantánamo Bay have won the right to exhibit artwork they made taking part in the Art from Guantánamo project.
Speaking about their art, the detainees explained, “it was born from the ordeal we lived through. Each painting holds moments of our lives, secrets, tears, pain, and hope. Our artworks are parts of ourselves.” And at one point, the UN even wrote to the State Department in support of the detainees.
Lost but not forgotten
It’s a difficult time for Lilt lovers. The iconic brand is being scrapped and rebranded as Fanta Pineapple & Grapefruit. While the ‘totally tropical taste’ isn’t going anywhere, fans of the brand are less than impressed.
One Lilt devotee tweeted that they will still call it Lilt, while another wished Lilt farewell. It won’t have been a surprise to everyone though; some keen-eyed fans noticed the Fanta font on rebranded cans last year.
Anyone wanting to get hold of Lilt before it’s too late needs to act quickly, however. One bottle recently sold for £100.
Give cats your crappy exes
Nothing says getting over being dumped by letting a pet dump on your ex. Well, their name at least. Thanks to Animal Friends Humane Society, based in Ohio, you can make this happen for just $5. So far, some 480 people have found relief in letting felines relieve themselves over the name of their ex-partners.
This approach is more common than you might think. San Antonio Zoo lets you name a cockroach after an ex, and then watch it being fed to another animal.
Review revenge
No one likes a bad review, but how far would you go to get revenge? German ballet director Marco Goecke is now under investigation on suspicion of bodily harm and slander after he smeared dog faeces in the face of critic Wiebke Huester.
Mr. Goecke says he acted in the heat of the moment, but Ms. Huester has said the attack was premeditated.
We’re always amazed at how many links form between the random selection of stories brought to the meeting each week, although you can guarantee there will be an animal story! Which story is your favourite? We’ll see you next week for another delicious visual sandwich.
We love using visual thinking and visual storytelling to create connected and layered whiteboard animations like this. We’re always here to talk to you about how your message could look as a whiteboard animation, contact us today!
A lot can change in 102 years and this BLT delves into some of the odder differences between those innocent days of 1921 and … now.
We all want to feel special. But this week’s news has us wondering if the lines separating humans from animals, and even machines, are increasingly blurring.
From Peru to China to Australia, here are the offbeat news stories that made it into our latest BLT.
As Bob Dylan said, ‘these times, they are a-changing’. This week, we’ve taken a look at the impacts of changes in the publishing climate and the planetary climate.
As Bob Dylan said, ‘these times, they are a-changing’. This week, we’ve taken a look at the impacts of changes in the publishing climate and the planetary climate.
From treasure to tragedy, art to the amoral, we’ve crammed a lot into this week’s BLT. It’s a sandwich Scooby Doo and Shaggy would be proud of.
We are back with more fresh cuts and unlikely combinations that take us from pest control all the way to the potential resurrection of the dodo!
A puzzling week indeed. If our BLT left you bewildered or whet your appetite for more detail about the week's stories, this blog is for you.
Your visual news sandwich is back. This week it includes the Public Order Bill, an increase in Satanism members and energy bills.
Get your wet suit on and join us as we take a dive through through the stories and easter eggs in this weeks BLT!
2023: Back to porridge, back to the commute, back to the gym (if you're so inclined), and back to the BLT.
This week’s BLT reimagines the poster for Apocalypse Now, replacing Colonel Walter Kurtz with a crying dog. To find out how it all connects to the real world, read on.
The news this week has given us plenty to get our teeth into. From cat cameos to magnetic slime, all with unexpected links and crossovers.
Beginning with a moral dilemma, this week’s BLT touches on some ham-related scandals, the future of tattoos, and some of the lesser-known, more bizarre implications of our warming world.
Surprise surprise, animals featured heavily in this week’s BLT: from those caught up to no good to those that help maintain law and order.
Things got heated this week in more than one sense. Let’s unpack some of this week’s news stories and curiosities, plated up and delivered hot off the press in this week’s BLT.
There are a few things certain in this life. The classics include death and taxes, but if this week is anything to go by we can discoveries and consequences.
The BLT often includes animal content, and this episode is no exception, as we weave through the news stories that piqued our interest this week
This week’s episode takes us from old English woods to orbiting satellites as we tune in to the natural world’s response to climate change and create ways to reduce pollution and live more sustainably.
Of course, this week's BLT had to be themed around Glastonbury festival as it kicks off for the first time in 3 years.
Read on for more details about the festival and the other hot topics that made it into the BLT.
It’s been an exciting week for discoveries! Some have brought hope and sadly, some have reminded us of the impact we are having on this marvellous planet we call home. There have been a few losses this week, however.
Our national treasure, Sir David Attenborough has been knighted for the second time! We take a look at some positive climate updates in his honour.
It’s not every week that there is a Platinum Jubilee! We’ve chosen to focus this week’s BLT on Her Majesty, looking into some of the curiosities of the crown.
This week we tackle the virtual and the real, taking you below the sea and back to dry land.
Your weekly sandwich of visual news. This week it features other universes, Elon Music, mutant bacteria, pink pigeons and much much more.
The BLT combines our passion for visual thinking, the week’s news and our creative team to create a delicious visual treat for your feed every week!
Let’s face it, presenting isn’t just about showing up with slides and stats. It’s a performance. A dance. A chance to make ideas leap off the screen and stick. But how do you know if you’re nailing it? That’s where the Presentation Pulse Check comes in.
The familiar feels safe, even when it’s clearly sinking. Here’s the harsh truth: in a world that moves as fast as a TikTok trend, being slow to adapt is a recipe for stagnation.
Over-complication isn’t just tedious—it’s the nemesis of efficiency. Enter the KISS principle: “Keep It Simple, Stupid.”
Here’s the thing about getting comfortable – it’s the silent killer of real growth, and I am not talking about bottom-line growth – I’m talking about the type of growth that is far more valuable.
Ah, the Inverted Pyramid—It sounds like a tragic prog rock album you might find at a car boot sale, but it’s a concept that’s as intriguing as it is practical.
Sometimes it’s bloody tempting to focus on fighting today’s fires while forgetting the bigger picture, isn’t it?
Affordance is how something shows you what it can do, like a door handle that makes you want to pull the door open or a button that looks like it should be pressed.
Have you ever been in a meeting where you could just feel your team's energy slipping away? Sometimes meetings drag on, and fresh ideas are as rare as a decent cup of tea, well, in the whole of America!
This peculiar proportion, approximately 1.618, has been lurking in the shadows of human creativity for millennia, like a mathematical James Bond, seducing architects, artists, and designers with its promise of perfection.
Have you ever been in a meeting where you could just feel your team's energy slipping away? Sometimes meetings drag on, and fresh ideas are as rare as a decent cup of tea, well, in the whole of America!
Why do we see faces in clouds, cars with expressions, or even attribute human emotions to our household appliances (admit it, your Henry Hoover has feelings)? The answer lies in the ancient concept of anthropomorphism—a principle as old as humanity itself, born from our inherent need to understand and relate to the world around us by projecting our own characteristics onto it.
Picture this: You walk into a diner with a menu the size of a small novel. You’re hungry, but now you’re stuck—overwhelmed by choice, paralysed by indecision. Welcome to Hick’s Law in action, a psychological principle that’s been quietly dictating human behaviour since the 1950s...
We’ve all been there, haven’t we? That frantic rush, always trying to keep up with the latest trend. Blink, and it’s gone—again. It’s like standing on a moving walkway, but it’s speeding up, and you’re dragging along a suitcase packed full of never-ending to-do lists.
Understanding the Scaling Fallacy isn't just for philosophers or over-caffeinated academics. It's vital for anyone who wants to make an impact with their ideas, especially in creative fields where size does not always equate to success.
Here’s the thing—staying in your comfort zone isn’t just boring; it’s risky. You know what they say: “If you’re not growing, you’re dying.”
Performance Load teaches us that less truly is more. Visual thinking is about distilling complexity into clarity, turning a tangled web of ideas into a neat, navigable roadmap.
You know that feeling when you’ve just nailed a quick win? The rush, the thrill, the sense of accomplishment—it’s like a hit of dopamine, making you feel like you’re on top of the world. But here’s the thing no one tells you...
Ever heard of the phrase, ‘necessity is the mother of invention’? Turns out, constraint is its often-overlooked sibling—perhaps the unsung hero of creativity.
Ignoring burnout doesn't just impact outcomes; it gradually wears down the very essence of team connection and effectiveness. But here's the encouraging part: there's a way forward that is both within reach and within our control.
In the chaotic symphony of modern life, where every ping and notification competes for our limited attention, the concept of ‘signal to noise’ has never been more relevant. But before it became the buzzword of the digital age, it had its origins in the dry and dusty world of early telecommunications.
It is more than just rounding off; it is a psychological experience where the brain concludes what remains hanging in the balance.
Have you ever wondered why certain stories just hit us in a different way? Chances are, you're in the grasp of something archetypal; those universal, almost sneaky patterns of theme and form that are hardwired into our very being.
When we design, whether that be a piece of graphic design, a software integration or a whiteboard animation, we should strive to minimise errors and make them easy to correct.
Today, I want to explore a theme that is as ancient as it is perpetually relevant, failure. It’s a concept that shapes our very DNA, prompting where we go, helping us grow in our personal and our professional lives.
Bridge the knowledge gap by exploring the role of advanced organisers in visual thinking and comms.
It gives us great pleasure to have you join me for this issue, as we explore the fascinating and always relevant subject of "The Medium is the Message."
This week's theme is a topic that is close to my heart: visual metaphors. Visual metaphors are at the core of visual thinking, and I'm excited to investigate them with you in this issue.
Mind mapping is a powerful tool for visual thinking that can transform the way you organise information, brainstorm ideas, and enhance creativity.
When done well, the ingredients in an explainer video combine to create powerful animations that inform, entertain, inspire and stay with viewers. In this post, we look at how they are made.
Explainer videos take your vision, message and story and transform them into a feast of storytelling, visual thinking and inspiring communication. This feast is served in the perfect way to capture your complexity and depth, and serve it up to your audience.
Give us the week’s offbeat news stories, and we’ll sum them up in an image, bringing them into the same universe.