On sharing vs. promoting

I started watching this video about the development of the LoveFrom, Serif typeface the other night as it sounded interesting and I’ve been digging in to what LoveFrom, has produced. The talk was introduced by Jony Ive and his opening line stopped me in my tracks:

“It’s a real honour actually I think to be able to share work, not to try and sell work or market work but just very simply to show you what we’re doing.”

To me, that sums up everything that’s broken with social media these days. ‘Creating’ has become monetised to such an extent that I feel almost everybody is trying to sell or market something or to start the next viral hit-out.

‘Back in the day’ it felt like the social internet was a place where people shared ideas for the sake of the idea itself - not to further their own ambitions or standing or brand.

Maybe I’m pining after the days of early Twitter (yes, I was around when it was called Twttr!) and social networks as opposed to modern social media - they are different things. One of the reasons I started writing on my blog again is down to my perspective on social media.

Anyway, there’s an in-depth story on the creation of the LoveFrom, Serif typeface over on Wallpaper* if you want to learn more about it.