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Have you ever wondered how the letter A got its shape? Or why some fonts instantly look psychedelic? Or where the word text even came from in the first place? Kelli Anderson, a graphic artist, author, and master of all things paper, has asked all of those questionsand shes answering them with a massive new pop-up book called Alphabet in Motion. The book takes readers through an interactive journey about the history of typography from A to Z, starting in ancient Egypt and moving all the way into the digital age. But it’s no ordinary history tome. Anderson hand-designed 17 different pop-ups, including light projections to colorful sliders and mind-bending illusions, that demonstrate how humans have painstakingly developed type technologies over time better than a stand-alone blurb ever could. [Image: courtesy Kelli Anderson] With that artful addition in mind, Alphabet in Motion is really a set of books, including the two-inch-thick pop-up book and an accompanying 120-page-long, coffee-table ready book of essays, each corresponding to one of the pop-ups chapters. (There’s one chapter for each letter of the alphabet.) The book retails for $85 and is currently available for preorder on bookshop.org and Amazon. It will also be available at local bookstores across the country upon its release on November 18. [Image: courtesy Kelli Anderson] How ‘Alphabet in Motion’ dives into the fascinating history of letters Anderson released her last pop-up book, This Book is a Camera, back in 2015, and shed been dreaming up a new concept ever sincebut it wasn’t until she started researching the history of typography and the craft behind it, she says, that something clicked. She began work on Alphabet in Motion, with that catalyst, in 2019. [Image: courtesy Kelli Anderson] We inhabit this typographic reality where letters make us feel things, and providing some kind of satisfying explanation helps bring more meaning to why people are feeling those things, Anderson says. When you see psychedelic blobby letters, why does it remind you of the 1960s, Andy Warhol, and Development Underground? When you see different kinds of mod letters, why does that remind you of the space race era? [Image: courtesy Kelli Anderson] These questions, Anderson says, led her to some really unexpected places. After combing through historical type collections from sources like Londons St. Bride Foundation, books, and academic articles on the subject, she began to build a massive wall, held together by masking tape, full of all the examples shed discovered. At the same time, she spent thousands of hours experimenting with different cut paper pop-up mechanisms to demonstrate each concept. [Image: courtesy Kelli Anderson] I had certain pop-up mechanisms where I was like, Oh, this is so cool. I have to include this just for the razzmatazz element, Anderson says. And then it was a matter of figuring out where, with any integrity, I could place it to support a conceptbecause I didn’t want it to just be dancing bologna for dancing bologna’s sake. I wanted people to, once they read the text, understand, Oh, this is actually a demonstration of a concept that will help me understand this particular era of typographic technology. [Image: courtesy Kelli Anderson] And how psychedelic fonts got their shapes One typographic era that most fascinated Anderson was the early 60s, which is explored in-depth through Alphabet in Motion‘s chapters on the letter “J.” Anderson was curious why this period produced so many whimsically blobby, puffy, and even flared-looking letters. During her research, she discovered that these iconic hallmarks of the era were all thanks to a new technology called phototypesetting. [Image: courtesy Kelli Anderson] Phototypesetting allowed type designers to set type by shooting light through pieces of film, then projecting it on a photo paper and arranging it like a magazine layout. This breakthrough made typesetting vastly easier, quicker, and cheaper, since the most common earlier method was to use molten lead. [Image: courtesy Kelli Anderson] You had all of this experimentation, which is in line with the psychedelic experimentation of the era, Anderson says. There was all of this interest in bending and projection of light. And so if you went to a concert at the Fillmore or with Andy Warhol’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable, you might see go-go dancers with light images projected on them warping space. People were actually doing that when they were setting type, too. [Image: courtesy Kelli Anderson] With Alphabet in Motion, readers can experience a taste of that process for themselves. On the books page dedicated to the letter J, a paper cut-out pops up to become a projector for your iPhone, allowing you to use your flashlight to create a 60s-style typographic light show. [Image: courtesy Kelli Anderson] Thats just one example of how Alphabet in Motion uses tactile experiences to place typographic innovations in context. Other pages in the book include a 3D model that explains the development of uppercase and lowercase letters in the Roman Empire and European Middle Ages, respectively; a mini pop-up that describes the creation of early video game bitmap fonts; and an interactive page that shows how the early practice of weaving actually shaped our modern lettersand served as the basis for the word text itself. For Anderson, her biggest goal is that this six-year passion project will help introduce a new generation to the world of type design. I hope some people buy it for their little kids thinking it’s just an A through Z pop-up book, and enjoy it on that level, Anderson says. Then stick it back on the shelf and have their kid in 12 years open it up and actually realize that design and typography are interesting and tie in with the larger world and culturethat they’re not a separate thing.
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E-Commerce
During an annual condominium meeting, at the end, the leader asked if anyone had any suggestions or questions. I spoke up: How about we convert a portion of our common storage into a small gym? My idea was met with uncomfortable silence, and eventually the leader responded hesitantly: I honestly dont know how to address that, before promptly closing the meeting. In that moment, I began doubting myself, wondering, Was my idea really that bad? Was it stupid? Years later, small gyms in condominiums became a popular trend, adding real value to properties. My idea wasnt rejected because it lacked merit. It was dismissed because the environment wasnt open to new suggestions. The silence in that room wasnt personal. It was systemic. And that same silence echoes through boardrooms, project teams, and innovation labs worldwide. History is filled with organizations that silenced ideas before the market did: Kodak dismissing digital photography, Nokia resisting smartphones, Volkswagens culture muting concerns about CO emissions. Their failure wasnt a lack of intelligence or resources; it was a lack of psychological safety. Every innovation process, from idea generation to prototyping and implementation, depends on people talking to each other, challenging assumptions, and learning together. When psychological safety is low, people hold back, stay silent, or play it safe. When its high, they question, debate, and experiment. Thats why psychological safety is the oxygen of innovation. Innovations invisible condition In innovation, fear works like carbon monoxideodorless, invisible, but deadly. It seeps into meetings, decisions, and projects, making people stop breathing out ideas. Lets look at high-risk industries or R&D projects. They are filled with uncertainty, time pressure, and costly mistakes. In such environments, psychological safety becomes even more critical. High autonomy combined with high uncertainty often leads to psychological isolation, where people hesitate to share concerns or collaborate openly. Pressure to deliver results discourages experimentation, unclear authority structures create confusion about decision-making, and fear of criticism drives risk-averse behavior. These are all symptoms of low psychological safety and they quietly suffocate innovation. Organizations like Pixar or Toyota show that when leaders build environments where errors are seen as learning opportunities rather than liabilities, innovation flourishes even under intense pressure. Its not about removing accountability but about balancing it with openness and trust. The leader sets the tone Its tempting to think psychological safety is a company-wide culture that HR can build. But in reality, psychological safety is a property of a leader, not of an organization. Every teams climate is a reflection of its leaders behavior. People will only speak up if they believe theyll be heard and that their voice will lead to change. If, in the past, speaking up led nowhere, silence becomes the safer option. I often remind leaders: silence is not laziness, its learned futility. I once ran a workshop for a company whose CEO proudly announced, We have strong psychological safety here. At the end, I asked a quiet participant, one of the sales directors, what he thought about the issues we had discussed. He sighed and said, What does it matter? They never listen anyway. That single sentence said more about the company culture than any engagement survey ever could. Building psychological safety means walking the talk. Its not what you declare in values statements, but what you do consistently: how you listen, how you respond, how you follow through. Consistency builds trust, and trust keeps dialogue alive. Trust builds performance At Sparebanken Norge, a 200-year-old Norwegian bank, leaders decided to make psychological safety measurable. Employees were encouraged to lift each other up, even across departments, and mistakes were treated as learning opportunities. Directors were evaluated on how they spoke about peers, both publicly and privately. That shift helped the bank become one of Norways top performers. Their lesson: innovation isnt about tools or technology, its about trust. Many companies celebrate diversity, but few realize that diversity without psychological safety leads to fragmentation. Having different perspectives in the room doesnt help if people dont feel safe enough to share them. Diversity brings sunlight and rain, but psychological safety is the fertile soil where ideas grow. What leaders can do To create that fertile ground, leaders must replace fear with curiosity and control with clarity. Model vulnerability. Admit when you dont know. When leaders say I might be wrong, others start contributing. Encourage open dialogue. Ask for dissenting opinions. Silence in a meeting is never a sign of alignment. Its a sign of fear. Empower and clarify. Give people autonomy but clear expectations: freedom with direction builds confidence. Celebrate learning, not perfection. Reward smart risks and small experiments, not just flawless results. Remember: psychological safety isnt about comfort. Its about courage. The best teams pair high trust with high accountability: they debate, disagree, and still leave meetings energized rather than exhausted. If I could go back to that condominium meeting, Id still suggest the gym. Innovation doesnt die from bad ideas. It dies from silence.
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E-Commerce
My aha moment about how to use artificial intelligence effectively came from an engineering group that built an operating model for experimenting with AI. They didnt pilot AI once and move onthey built lightweight checklists and safety rails so teams could try, learn, and scale, week after week. Some guidance was deeply technical, but the lesson was universal: Make continuous experimentation part of how the team works. Not a side project. Thats the job in front of every leader now. AI is changing work at two levels at once: Individuals capabilities are being augmented, and teams are collaborating differently. The best results dont come from isolated power users. They come when managers redesign how the whole team gets work done together. In practice, that means every manager becomes the teams chief experimentation officer. Because the technology will keep improvingand the way its embedded into processes will keep changing. In this piece, premium subscribers will learn: The four key principles for designing a workplace that experiments continuously The new KPI managers should focus on Why you dont need a reorg, and what to do instead 1. Dont just roll out AI. Redesign the work. Start with the work itself. Not just the tool set. As AI takes on tasks, dont let the freed-up time quietly refill with more of the same. Decide, explicitly, how youll reinvest that capacity into higher-value activities: coaching and peer learning, deeper customer engagement, or structured ideation. Write those shifts into roles and goals so people experience the upside of adoption, not just another layer of obligations. Then, treat adoption as a managed habit. The technology improves every few weeks; norms should evolve with it. Make experimentation part of the operating rhythm: Embed tools into real workflows, coach individuals on where and how to use them, and revisit the playbook as capabilities change. Pair that flexibility with simple guardrailswhat to try, what to avoid, and how youll check qualityso the team can move quickly and securely. Momentum has to be top-down and bottom-up. Senior leaders set a clear direction. Managers create the flywheel by curating grassroots experiments, codifying whats repeatable, and sharing wins across teams. Frontline teams surface new ideas. Finally, keep the team inclusive as you evolveand be clear. Many groups will add agents alongside people. Early lessons from implementation at Microsoft suggest the best guidance for agents looks a lot like good human management: crisp goals, scope, guardrails, and quality checks. Bring everyone into the process so the benefits of whats newly possible are broadly shared, and your team gets more productive, more effective, and more resilient with each iteration. 2. Your new KPI: learning velocity. Heres the tension: Leaders want certainty. AI rewards speed of learning. The companies pulling ahead are the ones that learn faster than the problem changes. Because products and models improve quickly, a tool that didnt help two months ago may be essential today. Your cadence of experiments becomes the competitive edge competitors cant see and cant easily copy. And as AI replaces parts of a job, managers should deliberately change roles and expectations. Dont treat AI as a sidecar. Build it into how your team actually works: the meetings you run, the documents you draft, the research you do. Coach each person on where AI helps in their role, and revisit often. If a tool didnt work two months ago, try it again as models and products improve. Be clear in your guidance (goals, scope, guardrails, quality checks) for people and agents. 3. Guardrails arent brakes. Theyre speed rails. Simple, transparent guidelineswhats inbounds, whats out, and how results get reviewedlet people move fast without inviting risk. Those sales checklists, for example, arent bureaucracy; they are the mechanism that makes speed repeatable. As systems and workflows change, update the playbook in ways that expand participation, build skills, and keep risk proportionate to the reward. Run a steady cadence of small, team-level experiments, and pair speed with safety rails (checklists, inbounds/out-of-bounds, review steps). Capture what works, scale it, and sunset what doesnt. Measure managers on ongoing adoption and innovation, not a onetime rollout. 4. Close the gap between whats possible and what you practice. Managers still own outcomes, talent, and culture. In an AI-driven workplace, they also own the system that learnshow the team tries, measures, codifies, and scales better ways of working. You dont need a reorg to begin. You need a charter, a plan for the time AI frees up, and a cadence that keeps learning alive. Start small and real. Make the next experiment easier than the firstbecause youve built the rails. As the tech keeps improving and embedding deeper into processes, the leaders who treat experimentation as a discipline, not a one-off, will unlock the most value for their teams and their customers.
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E-Commerce
Being laid off is bad enough. Falling victim to strategic realignment or the growth playbook? Thats just adding insult to injury. Last week, Amazon shared a memo sent to staff as the company implemented mass layoffs. The post detailed the overall reduction in its corporate workforce of 14,000 roles (about 4% of its white-collar workforce). While news of the layoffs attracted media attention, the focus across social media wasnt so much on the contents of the memo as the headline itself: Staying nimble and continuing to strengthen our organizations. Corporate buzzword masterclass, Morning Brew wrote in a now-viral post on X. You werent fired, you were part of our ongoing nimblization initiative, one X user responded. It’s the type of corporate-speak that weve come to expect as companies continue to lay off sizable numbers of employees. I thought restructuring was a good one, staying nimble is an even funnier way to say mass layoffs, another quote tweeted. POV: you are about to get nimbled, one joked. On November 3, Amazon announced a multiyear strategic partnership with OpenAI to the tune of $38 billion. The layoffs are part of a restructuring meant to reduce bureaucracy and remove organizational layers, according to the memo. Amazon is not alone. UPS, Target, Nestlé, and Paramount joined the growing list of companies laying off employees this year. YouTube also quietly introduced voluntary exit packages for employees who are willing to take the first hit, according to an internal memo first reported by Alex Heaths Sources AI newsletter. The impressive linguistic gymnastics when announcing job cuts are intended to assuage those on the receiving end. But more often than not they have the opposite effect. Sometimes, you just have to laugh at the absurdity, a Reddit user posted back in 2023 in the popular subreddit r/Layoffs. I lost one job to Enabling our future. I lost the next one to The Growth Playbook. A report from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas showed almost 950,000 U.S. job cuts this year through September, the highest levels seen since the pandemic. At the same time, more than one in four workers without jobs have been unemployed for at least half a year. Whether it’s a “streamlining processes,” “rightsizing,” or “realigning,” the end result is the same: Another influx of workers added to the stagnant pool of unemployed. Times are tough. Stay nimble out there.
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E-Commerce
In President Donald Trump’s ongoing second-term White House remodel, even the typography is getting the Mar-a-Lago treatment. New signage has begun rolling out at the White House this fall. First, the words “The Presidential Walk of Fame” appeared in September in the gold Shelley Script on the West Colonnade. The signage appears above the presidential portraits Trump installed to troll former President Joe Biden. Now new images show lettering that reads “The Oval Office” written in the same font, and which appears to be going up on its exterior wall. The White House press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether more signage will be going up. An auto-reply to Fast Companys inquiry included text that blamed Democrats for staff shortages due to the ongoing government shutdown. President Donald Trump departs the White House on November 5, 2025. [Photo: Celal Gunes/Anadolu/Getty Images] Shelley script goes off-script Trump’s new, gold White House signs are aesthetically aligned with other recent redecoration efforts, including his planned ballroom. To critics who find it tacky, though, it’s not necessarily the type choice that’s off. “Shelley is one of a handful of long-standing, go-to formal script fonts,” Charles Nix, senior executive creative director at Monotype, tells Fast Company in an email. “Its testimony to the quality of the design (and the skill of the designer) that it perseveres as visual shorthand for formal or fancy. Famed type designer Matthew Carter designed Shelley Script for Linotype in 1972. It’s been used for everything from winery websites to book covers, according to Fonts in Use, and it’s a go-to choice for wedding invitations. “The typeface is perfectly fine, and it does seem in keeping with the dignity of the White House,” type historian Paul Shaw says. “The problem is not the fit, but the idea of even slathering the phrase The Oval Office on the exterior. It looks like part of a theme park.” Further, Shaw says, “The Walk of Fameis this Hollywood or Las Vegas?cements that tacky association. Fortunately, this is one of the least egregious things that this short-fingered vulgarian has done in the past 10 months.” [Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images] Mar-a-Lago North Script fonts also seem less the domain of the West Wing than the East (RIP), before Trump had it torn down to make room for a 90,000-square-foot ballroom. The fonts of the West Wing are the fonts of the state, like Courier New, which is used in executive orders. While the West Wing is for government functions of the executive branch, the East Wing, where the offices of the First Lady were once located, was for soft power. Before it was destroyed, the East Wing housed the White House Calligraphy Office, which produces the White House’s most famous script lettering on social documents like invitations and state dinner menus. Trump has already added gilded embellishments to the Oval Office and turned the Rose Garden into a concrete patio that resembles the one at his Florida home and club. Now it seems he’s cribbed its typography as well, with each detail making the people’s house appear much more like Mar-a-Lago North.
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E-Commerce
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