Strands of Genius: A curated directory of distinctive applications and games for iOS, The Cabinet of Wikipedian Curiosities, Standards

Guest curated by Alex Morris, Freelance Strategy Director

Mar 30, 2023

:: A BIT MORE ABOUT GUEST CURATOR, ALEX MORRIS::

LOCATION: Tacoma, WA

Hi. I'm Alex. You might know me from underground hits such as "Strategy and Planning Scrapbook" or "Stratscraps: a newsletter."

I'm a compulsive maker of stuff and fascinated by novel things. Like alternative web design, aphorisms and salvage yards.

After a series of cosmic triggers, I've gone full-time freelance. I've been fortunate enough to be busy off the bat, but I am likely open come April. I am especially good at working with creative teams and pitching. My decks are often visually unusual, but I can try to make them normal if that's important to you...

Contact info at the end of the email. So you have to read it all first.

Editor’s Note (Rosie): We love everything that Alex does with Stratscraps: from his strategic thinking to what one of our teammates referred to as “his wicked awesome art.” (We agree!) We had so much fun skimming through the list of unusual apps and reading probably the craziest articles that exist on wikipedia. Alex, we’re so glad to have you back and we hope to meet up with you IRL in Seattle this summer!

:: THE LINKS ::

A CURATED DIRECTORY OF DISTINCTIVE APPLICATIONS AND GAMES FOR iOS

This is the kind of thing I absolutely love. quirky, different, beautiful apps that are different than the norm – not in search of better function but in pursuit of novel pleasure. I'm especially a fan of the weather app. (Unusual)

THE CABINET OF WIKIPEDIAN CURIOSITIES

A collection of links to curious and interesting wikipedia articles – curated as a part of a person's portfolio website. As someone currently re-doing my portfolio, I am inspired while also full of envy. One highlight is Carl Sagan's plan to nuke the moon simply to improve national moral. (Falling Forward)

STANDARDS

A platform made by an agency here in Seattle called Shore. Standards is essentially a site that lets anyone build, host and continually edit brand guidelines docs. I'm a huge believer in leveling the playing field when it comes to making stuff. And the fact that a design studio put out something that is at odds with a very common type of design project is cool – Hell yeah, public access over personal profit! The creator also mentioned they've noticed it being used to build out campaign frameworks. "At its core, it's a very design-focused website builder. Anywhere where it's imperative to demonstrate a visual/verbal playbook with exacting aesthetic control, ability to collaborate and download assets..." Hell yeah, misuse of creative tools! (Standards)

Looking for more from Alex Morris? Those enrolled in The School of Stolen Genius will receive a deep dive from him in their inbox shortly! You can access all our expert interviews for SOSG here.

:: AND NOW… SOME FAST FAVORITES ::

:: Game :: whatever my daughter is playing at any given moment. Even though I always apparently play it wrong.

:: City :: Probably one I haven't been to yet.

:: Book :: "Probes" by Marshall McLuhan and David Carson

:: Podcast :: On the Media, Throughline, Quartz Obsession

:: Album :: Ok Computer

::SPACE COWBOY::

Here's a painting I did for a friend's new apartment.

Nothing is real,

Alex.
alexmorris.co | substack

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It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.

Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. Our Director of Operations is nomadic like us, our accounting team is based out of Washington, our company is registered in Tennessee, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.

Hit reply and let’s talk about how we might be able to work together :)

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