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Orwell himself never envisioned a future so bright!

5:28am
Saint Paul, MN

I don’t want to be too alarmist here, but your phone has the potential to melt your brain.

If you’re holding it in just the right any-which-way, the visual stimulation can

overwhelm your understanding of reality!

You see, your phone’s visual power hijacks your prefrontal cortex and amygdala. That 200,000 year-old-brain doesn’t stand a chance!

It’s hard to look away when there is more information to be read or watched; more altered photos of a perfect life you’d like to lead; more outrageous headlines to glance at.

(A new study this week says that people who read Facebook news previews —not the full article— believe they’re more informed than they actually are. That doesn’t mean those articles are accurate of reality of course…)

When you’re poking at your phone, your sense of time changes. Minutes or even hours go missing from your day — precious time from your bank of life. And once that… time is gone…

you’ll never get back!

Your understanding of the world changes. You begin to see the hostilities of the semi-anonymous people on the other end of so many interactions. You wonder if everyone is so hostile, and you begin to keep to yourself in a crowded area. Why converse with the people around you if you can stare at your phone?

Stories and news feeds are customized to your interest; echos of your opinion are reflected back at you, re-enforcing your beliefs because, hey, everyone seems to feel this same way!

And the people that feel otherwise…

are wrong!
must be stopped!
don’t have a heart!
don’t believe in science!

Do you know who Alex Jones is?

He’s a right-leaning Texan with his own rant-filled “news show.”

On the show, Jones connects conspiracy dots across time and space from many different sources, painting an

alternate understanding of reality.

It’s all quite entertaining to watch, and his sources are all out there for you to find. I can’t say that he’s correct, but I can’t say that he’s not ever correct either.

But if you were to follow one side of the media, *|FNAME|*, you’re told that Jones is dangerous, or that he doesn’t believe that horrific school shootings happen.

Now, Jones has spoken out to say otherwise, to clarify his position in light of different evidence. He made an appearance on the Joe Rogan Podcast last week and his stance on horrific school shootings was one of the first things they discussed.

But for the media to cover that story (or make any corrections to their narrative) would give Jones credibility—

something the media cannot allow!

So the media keeps pushing their profit-driven agenda to divide people,
You willingly stare at the headlines on your phone,
Your brain is fed stories which override critical thought and creativity,

And everyone pays for this very privilege.

Orwell envisioned a future where we’re all being watched by devices that can’t turn off; where the powerful devise a storyline about current events and the people follow along.

Orwell never considered a future where we willingly refuse to turn off our devices, where we willingly carry tracking mechanisms in our pockets, where we willingly fight among ourselves and keep people divided.

And… it’s more profitable than Orwell ever imagined.

Jeffrey

PS. I try to reread Orwell’s 1984 every few years, and it’s been a while. I picked it up recently and it’s incredibly sad how much of current reality it seems to reflect. Check it out if you’re not familiar with the story or if it’s been a while. Find it here on Amazon, and I’m sure your local library has a copy.

If you’re interested to learn more about the divisiveness in the media, check out the movie Hoaxed. It’s all about the profit motive in media and how easy a narrative can be pushed. If you’re resisting this idea, the movie is all the more important.
http://hoaxedmovie.com/

Additionally, this Sunday, right-leaning political maverick Candace Owens has a conversation with the left-leaning leader of Black Lives Matter New York, Hawk Newsome. They’re looking for common ground; I can’t wait. Watch the trailer here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFUKLwzvA-s

Good luck out there.

Picking between two great options…

5:50am

Saint Paul

 

Good day, how’s it bangin?

My coffee’s cooling —just the way I like it— and I’ve spent too much time this morning on “news” instead of working on my Change State book. Ah well, time to connect with you.

Exciting news IMHO:

Recently my wife and I booked a vacation to Puerto Rico at the end of March! We’re pumped for some time in the sun… and a short break from our lovely kids ; )

What to do during those few days? Continue reading “Picking between two great options…”

This German restaurant advert could be so much… besser

5:24am

Saint Paul, MN

 

Yesterday I mentioned that burger joint’s weaksauce newspaper ad. It could be so much better.

Well it’s pretty early, but I had it on the brain all last night. I thought I’d write some more about the advert.

Continue reading “This German restaurant advert could be so much… besser“

The Failure of Science

6:12
Saint Paul, MN

Reader, this weekend I met with a PRL subscriber to discuss marketing emails that I am writing for his business.

Yep, my first paid copywriting gig!

We bounced around with other conversation topics as well, including my wife’s newfound interest in Reiki energy healing.

<cue eye-roll>

My friends asked what I thought of Energy Healing, a topic that’s looked down upon by science and society as being unconfirmed.

My answer? Continue reading “The Failure of Science”

Mindset with Ed Latimore
(Persuasion Play Podcast 005)

Today’s episode of the Persuasion Play Podcast features Author, a former professional Heavyweight Boxer, and Master of Mindset Ed Latimore.

Listen as Ed discusses his career in boxing, his methods to grow his Twitter influence to over 65,000 followers, his methods to maintain a positive mindset, and so much more.

      • Learn Ed’s perspective on learning new information (and how you can apply it to your own learning) (1:50)
      • Ed’s experience with travel and the false expectation US Americans have when traveling (5:38)

Continue reading “Mindset with Ed Latimore
(Persuasion Play Podcast 005)”

How your beautiful (type) face is hurting your message

6:38am

Saint Paul

 

Good day dear reader!

Are you snowed in yet?

It’s snowing again here in the midwest. We have the snowiest February on record, and there’s another week ahead of us.

I almost had a day at home with the kids —not really a break at all— and I was hoping to edit the podcast.

Alas, it didn’t pan out that way today. I’ll be in the office today, all good.

While in the office yesterday I got an email:

font_choices

I have some thoughts on that.

My grandfather was in the printing business. He taught me a few things about fonts typefaces that echo true today.

One thing I’ll always remember is that using all-capital blackletter typefaces (also known as Old English) is a cardinal sin in the printing world:

font_choices_blackletter

I most often see this all-caps choice as a sticker on the back window of pickup trucks. It’ll read GONZALEZ or MARTINEZ or something.

The illegible message always makes me think of Grandpa.

Anyway, I’d like to share a few additional thoughts about typefaces that might improve your written persuasion and marketing.

If you’re interested, read on.

The first thing I noticed in yesterday’s email is the difficulty of reading the text, especially at the small font size:

font_choices

The email uses a serif typeface, which is almost certainly a choice of the author.

Serif typefaces have those little swirls (or hooks, or serifs) at the ends of letters.

The serifs exist to lead your eyes across the letters. They’re meant to improve legibility… on the printed page.

Yes, serif typefaces are designed for printed text, or for larger sized headlines where clarity isn’t as much an issue.

Sans-Serif fonts, however, are designed for computer screens. Like emails and blogs.

Sans-serif means the font has no serifs. In smaller sizes, those lovely serifs muddy the screen. Sans-serifs remove those hooks to improve readability.

Here’s the same message in a sans-serif font:

font_choices_sans_serif_small

And here it is again, in a larger size to further improve readability:

font_choices_sans_serif

Daniel Kahneman wrote in Thinking, Fast and Slow about the brain’s ability to understand a written message.

Kahneman created experiments that had fuzzy letters or low-contrast type, and would measure people’s pupils while they read these texts.

As participants’ mental loads increased, their pupils measurably expand.

(You can test this by looking at your eyes in a mirror and count downward from 200 by sevens, for example. Pretty cool, isn’t it?)

When the brain has to work harder to understand a message, two things happen:

  1. The reader gives up sooner because it’s mentally taxing to continue, and
  2. The message is more memorable, because the brain needed to use more logical reasoning to understand what it’s reading.

In persuasion and marketing, you often don’t want the message to be seen. Being memorable isn’t necessarily the goal.

(By the way, my current website header intentionally uses difficult-to-read text against that bookcase, to be more memorable. Scroll up and check it out. I’ll still be down here.)

Anyway, you want the message’s intent to have an impact. You want a clear pane of glass to see the possibilities beyond.

In other words, your fuzzy, fancy font…

might be a distraction!

Eugene Schwartz said you want to speak to the gut, to the monkey brain.

You want your message to bypass logic and skepticism, to help the reader feel what’s possible.

Now, if someone reads your message and they’re looking at the design, and not the product on the other side of that message, you’re doing yourself and your market a disservice.

font_vignelli-canon-57

Famed designer Massimo Vignelli suggested that designers limit their typeface choices to some very basic, readable options.

Garamond, Bodini, Century, Futura, Times Roman, and Helvetica were his suggestions.

Many designers might disagree, saying that a typeface helps to brand your company.

If you’re more worried about your brand than about helping your clients, well, I don’t know what to tell you.

Ok back to it.

Jeffrey