The Tremendous 10 link roundup, #49

1. Constrained by the Limitations of Soviet-Era Architecture, Brodsky & Utkin Imagined Fantastical Structures on Paper | “To be an architect with vision in the Soviet Union during the 1970s and 80s, was to witness a near complete loss of Moscow’s historical architectural heritage. Restrictions on aesthetics, quality building materials, and access to skilled labor resulted in poorly designed structures void of inspiration that were practically destined to crumble. Architects with any shred of ambition were severely limited by communist bureaucracy and were often outright penalized for their ideas. Desperately seeking a creative outlet, these constrained artists and designers turned instead to paper.”
2. My unconsciously biased address book | “Earlier this year, I cleaned up my contacts and became interested in what the gender split would look like for my address book. Not only was it no better than my Twitter experiment from last year, the numbers were exactly the same. Of the just over 1,900 contacts in my primary address book, 399 are women. Last year, people I followed on Twitter were 79.7% men; today my address book is 79.9% men.”
3. What are Optotypes? | “My graphic design students love to design posters using the classic eye chart composition, and they frequently ask “What typeface should I use for this?” Not having a definitive answer has always been frustrating, so I decided to investigate to find out what typeface is used on eye charts.”
4. Scaling the magic | “In the early days, a small group of founders and early employees finds a ‘way of working’ that is fluid, organic and natural, like a sports team. People in small organizations naturally find this kind of rhythm. If you’re doing this well, it feels like magic. If you’re successful at that stage, you will start to grow. And if you’re really successful, that growth accelerates and you come across one of the biggest challenge any startup will face. I call this one ‘scaling the magic.’ My company hit that stage in the 1990’s.”
5. BoxBox: A modern design tool | “UI/UX design is closer to industrial design than graphic design. User interfaces are not pixel perfect images — they’re complex systems that must be designed for use, documented for engineering, and continually improved. We think a modern UI design environment should look more like CAD than Photoshop. We want to empower designers to express the intent of their designs and maintain product integrity from conception to production. This is what we have so far. Let us know what you think.”
6. LUNA – Bring the Moon along with You | “Transform your space into a magical world with this moon lantern. Comes in 7 sizes.”
7. Gun violence in America, in 17 maps and charts | “America is an exceptional country when it comes to guns. It’s one of the few countries in which the right to bear arms is constitutionally protected, and presidential candidates in other nations don’t cook bacon with guns. But America’s relationship with guns is unique in another crucial way: Among developed nations, the US is far and away the most violent — in large part due to the easy access many Americans have to firearms. These charts and maps show what that violence looks like compared with the rest of the world, why it happens, and why it’s such a tough problem to fix.”
8. Evernote, The First Dead Unicorn | “The first dead unicorn is already here, you just don’t know it yet.”
9. Why I Fucking Hate Unicorns and the Culture They Breed | “Somebody posted too many party fliers. The uninvited crowds have all turned up. The people here don’t respect your parents’ furniture, are throwing beer cans in your back yard and there’s a dude passed out face down in your sister’s bedroom. About an hour ago he thought he was invincible. That he defied the laws of gravity. He turned up for the fun but went too hard, too early. There’s no one sane I know any more who doesn’t privately say that things have gotten out of hand. Few like to say so publicly. And I blame unicorns.”
10. Have donut holes gotten smaller? | “This compelling vintage chart says yes.”

Image: artwork by Alexander Brodsky and Ilya Utkin.