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For most social media companies, getting users to doomscroll as much as possible is the name of the game. But Pinterest is now encouraging its young users to put their phones away during class. The mood board app is currently demoing a new pop-up for users aged 13 to 17 in the U.S. and Canada that will prompt them to stop scrolling and close the app during class, according to a report from The Verge. Focus is a beautiful thing, a screenshot of the prompt reads. Stay in the moment by putting Pinterest down and pausing notifs until the school bell rings. The pop-up is set to appear between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. on school days, and Pinterest plans to roll out the test to millions of young users. The new test feature comes as, just this week, a new report from Pew Research found that nearly half of teens think social media has a mostly negative mental effect on people their age. Over the past several years, the issue of social media regulation for young users has become a prominent concern both for lawmakers and for schools. More than 40% of Pinterest’s users are Gen Z. Now, in a small way, the company is taking matters into its own hands. Phones are increasingly distracting in the classroom, teachers say In a Pew Research survey this January, 72% of high school teachers and 33% of middle school teachers reported cellphone distractions as a major problem in school. And another study from the think tank, published this Tuesday, found that 48% of teens aged 13 to 17 think that social media has a mostly negative effect on their peers, up 32% from a similar study question back in 2022 (though most respondents in 2025 were ambivalent about social medias affect on themselves.) For years, experts have warned users of social medias addicting and often distracting algorithmic propertiesand the effects of these properties on school-age users is an increasingly widespread topic of discussion, as well as some potential legislation. Most recently, U.S. legislators have proposed two pieces of legislation to protect young social media users: the Children and Teens Online Privacy Protection Act, nicknamed COPPA 2.0, which would ban targeted advertising to minors and data collection without their consent; and the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which would make explicit a duty of care that social media companies have when it comes to preventing harm to minors using their products. Both COPPA 2.0 and KOSA passed in the Senate this July, but have been stalled since then. (COPPA 2.0 was reintroduced in the Senate earlier this month.) While these wide-reaching pieces of legislation have not yet passed, momentum around child internet health and safety has resulted in several major outcomes. In June, for example, New York State passed legislation limiting addictive social media feeds for children. In September, Instagram seemingly decided to get out ahead of potential changes by introducing a new account type for teens. And, according to the health policy organization KFF, nine states have passed statewide policies that ban or restrict cellphone use in schools as of March 2025. How Pinterest is implementing more proactive safeguards for teens Despite these trends toward safeguarding school-age students’ social media use, Pinterest claims its pop-up test will be the first time a tech company tries a proactive feature to keep kids focused in class. At Pinterest, we believe that schools can take advantage of all that technology has to offer students, while minimizing the harms and distractions, Wanji Walcott, Pinterests chief legal and business affairs officer, told The Verge of the pop-up. Tech companies need to work together with teachers, parents, and policymakers to build solutions that ensure in the hands of our students, smartphones are tools, not distractions. This isnt the first time that Pinterests leadership has expressed an interest in implementing more guardrails around young peoples social media use, nor is it the first instance of the app adding new safety features for teens. Pinterest CEO Bill Ready has led the company for nearly three years, during which time he has called for a national digital ID system to verify users ages and declared his support for KOSA. Back in 2023, an NBC News investigation found that adult men were using Pinterest to create mood boards of young girls. In response, the platform created new default privacy settings for users 16 and underincluding keeping all teen accounts private and undiscoverable, adding new limits to messaging functions, and making age verification more stringent. In addition, Pinterest doesnt allow content that might be perceived as promoting body-shaming (like weight loss ads, for example) and it has removed filters from its beauty testing features. Making Pinterest safer for teens seems to be something of a personal mission for Ready, who spoke in favor of phone-free schools at this years World Economic Forum. He shared in an interview at the time, Its so objectively clear that studnts will benefit from fewer distractions in the classroom. It will benefit their learning. A key difference between Pinterest and other platforms is that we do not optimize for time spent, but rather time spent welltime spent on joyful, inspiring experiences, Ready wrote in a January email to Fast Company. Were betting on hope, not hatred as the driver of engagement on Pinterest.
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E-Commerce
Crocs have taken a lot of forms over the years. From collaborating with Balenciaga to send 10 inch platform clogs down the runway to collaborating with Taco Bell to make a sold-out Mellow Slide together, Crocs is no stranger to whimsy. Now, Cros is partnering with the happy-go-lucky Finnish design house Marimekko to produce a line of shoes that feature the brand’s signature prints. Marimekko and Crocs both have a very similar brand philosophy to bring joy, positive energy and playfulness to the world, says Rebekka Bay, Marimekkos Creative Director. Our lifelong mission at Marimekko is to bring joy and color to peoples everyday lives, and collaborations with global brands such as Crocs are one of the ways in which we can execute this mission. [Illustration: Ellen Porteus/Marimekko x Crocs] Marimekko is a brand known for its bold colors and patterns adorning clothing, home furnishings, accessories, and bags. Over its almost 74-year-long history, Marimekko has developed an impressive library of over 3,500 print designs. I feel that in order for us to look forward, we also need to look back, so we are especially focused on the ways that we can reflect on our rich heritage whilst creating something forward-thinking, says Bay. [Image: Marimekko x Crocs] Starting from April 23, Crocs classic clogs and sandals will don Marimekkos iconic Unikko print, which traces its origins back 60 years. For this collaboration, Marimekko wanted to explore new ways to interpret the flower design, from playing with the sizes to reducing it to just the patterns outlines. What was cemented during that process is that Unikko is an extremely strong print that can be applied into different forms or onto different surfaces and it is still recognizably Unikko says Bay. That is why it was also the perfect pattern for this collaboration: it brings as much joy as a larger black and white print as it does as a very small multicolored print. [Illustration: Ellen Porteus/Marimekko x Crocs] The Marimekko x Crocs collection will also include socks, a 5-pack of Jibbitz charms, and the first ever printed tote bag released by Crocs. Our partnership with Marimekko highlights the shared values that define both of our brands bold self-expression, unwavering authenticity, and unapologetic individuality, said Matias Infante, Vice President of Global Marketing at Crocs. You can find the collection for a limited amount of time on the Crocs website, at select Crocs stores, and wholesale locations.
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E-Commerce
In 2020, designer and brand strategist Kim Berlin got a call she was not expecting. Her small New York firm was invited to help create the visual identity of a new budget airline being formed from the bones of a former charter airline. The new airline, Avelo, would focus on bringing low-cost flights to underserved regional airports like those in Burbank, California, and New Haven, Connecticut. Berlin worked with the company to develop everything from its logo to its airplane livery to the clothes its flight attendants would wear. It was actually a huge deal for me because I’m a one-person operation over here,” Berlin says. “I was selected to create an entire airline from scratch. It’s something that not even some of the largest design firms ever have the privilege of being able to do. The bright and cheery design she created has won her numerous awards, including the American Graphic Design Award, and an honorable mention in Fast Company’s 2022 Innovation by Design Awards for graphic design. It’s become a kind of calling card project for Berlin and her firm. [Images: Avelo] But then the business behind the brand made a controversial decision that Berlin is still trying to wrap her head around. Earlier this month it was reported that Avelo had signed an agreement to begin operating charter deportation flights out of Arizona for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. It’s a process the Trump administration has already begun implementing with other partners, including the U.S. military. Some of these deportations have been conducted without the due process of law, a violation of the U.S. Constitution. The Supreme Court unanimously stated recently that targeted individuals must be granted time to contest their removal. Protesters in front of Tweed Airport in New Haven, Connecticut, on April 17, 2025 [Photo: Roy De La Cruz/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images] Avelo’s agreement to participate in these actions has prompted a backlash, including a growing petition to boycott the company. In a statement, Avelo CEO Andrew Levy defended the partnership. We realize this is a sensitive and complicated topic, he said, noting that the airline’s flights would be part of a long-term charter program with DHS that would help with expansion and protect jobs. Berlin learned about the partnership via a Google Alert she had set up to track the company. In contrast to previous alerts about positive news like route expansions or growing revenues, the ICE partnership came as a shock. Historically I’ve been celebrating them all along and then this shows up and I’m like, oh my God, she says. It sounded so different from the initial objectives of the [company] when we started . . . five years ago. These actions have put Berlin in the awkward position of being so closely connected to a brand that has done something she neither expected nor wanted. It’s forced a kind of reckoning over how she should respond: whether to distance herself from the brand and her own work on it, to look beyond the politics of the decision, or to find some other way of celebrating the work while also opposing the decision of the company she once served. That is the question I have been chewing on ever since I found out about a week ago, she says. Avelo’s involvement in the deportation effort came as a surprise to Berlin because her experience working with the company’s leaders was such a positive one. I love everyone I worked with on this project, she says, noting that the company’s founding effort was driven by community and idealism. It was great. It was like the little guy for the little guy. Everybody was so family-oriented. Even through the design process, some of the families got involved. We were fielding comments from wives and children. Avelo did not respond to a request for comment by time of publication. Berlin’s processing is ongoingI’m still circling,” she saysbut she’s found herself leaning toward a set of principles she believes other designers may find helpful should they ever encounter a similar situation. “As designers we’ve got to recognize that these babies have a whole life of their own once they’re out in the world. And what our clients decide to do with the work is entirely their prerogative. That’s the way business works,” she says. “I also feel like now more than ever is a time when we need to ask whether the way business works is actually working for us.” The experience has led her to reevaluate how she will interact with clients going forward, allowing herself more time to decide whether to take on new projects. It’s also led her to a place of acceptance about what she can and can’t control. “I’m really proud of this work. And just because they’ve made a particular decision that I don’t necessarily aree with doesn’t necessarily mean that the work I’ve done has no value,” she says. “It was really a dream to do.” Her main piece of advice to designers is to not conflate one’s work with their identity. “You are not your projects,” she says. “If you did your best, then you did your best. Don’t let somebody else’s actions or decisions take that away from you.”
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E-Commerce
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