STATE OF AMERICA
The Boomerang Generation – If there’s supposed to be a stigma attached to living with mom and dad through one’s late twenties or early thirties, today’s “Boomerang Generation” didn’t get that memo. Due to the rough economy of recent years, 29% of adults ages 25 to 34 have moved in with their parents. Among those who’ve returned home, 78% say they’re satisfied with their living arrangements and 77% report being upbeat about their future finances. The sharing of family finances appears to have benefited some young adults as well as their parents as boomerang children pay rent and help with household expenses. One reason young adults may be relatively upbeat about their situation is that this has become such a widespread phenomenon. A majority say they have friends or family members who have moved back in with their parents over the past few years. A quarter even note that their relationship with their parents has improved with the living arrangement.
BRAVE NEW CONSUMER
Alumni Invest In Students Through Loans – Student debt is now the second-largest segment of consumer debt in the United States after mortgages, with more than $1 trillion in loans outstanding. According to a former head at Wells Fargo, the current situation is unsustainable as students graduate with debt, face high interest rates and a challenging job market. San Francisco-based start-up lender SoFi, the name comes from “social finance,” has come up with a novel idea to disrupt the current student loan industry by getting alumni to ‘invest’ in their school’s students. Alumni would indirectly loan the students money. Through this process students get a lower interest rate, and alumni get a way to support their university while earning a financial return. Mike Cagney, SoFi CEO and Chairman, believes a school-specific alumni-based investment vehicle would make students less likely to default. “We are restoring the historical norms of community-based lending and essentially planting the seeds for lifetime engagement.”
SMART BRAND
Screenvision’s Pre-Show Before The Show – Audiences still frequently boo the ads that run in theaters before the movie starts. Screenvision hopes that a new pre-show and app will not only change audience sentiment towards those ads but entice viewers to get to the theater early enough to sit through a full 20 minutes of ads and interactive games. The new pre-show, called The Limelight, allows moviegoers to watch trailers, search for show times, check in at the theater, play interactive games and earn points toward free movie tickets and concession snacks through the app. The appeal for advertisers is that viewers are more likely to remember the ads they see before a movie if they are engaged with interactivity, prizes and points.
BRIGHT IDEA
The Happy Show – The Happy Show is an exhibit centered around graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister’s ten-year exploration of happiness. The exhibition presents typographic investigations of rules to live by culled from Sagmeister’s diary manifested in a variety of imaginative and interactive forms.
ON THE RADAR
Know This: @PenguinUSA – Penguin Group has launched a Twitter book club, offering book worms a chance to chat with each other about their favorite passages via hashtag chats and even hear from the book’s author. In order to participate, follow @PenguinUSA and use the hashtag #readpenguin in order to join the book club conversation.
Read This: Visual Storytelling takes a look at today’s design and aesthetics and explores a new visual language that is both informative and entertaining. Utilizing visual forms to depict information can help extract the most value from the daily flood of information available to us. This book should appeal to both designers who create infographics and anyone who wants to learn a more visually compelling way to share relevant stories.
Try This App: If you’ve been tracking your nutrition and health, it’s important to remember that mental health is just as important. MoodPanda is an interactive mood journal that measures and keeps tracks of your happiness, creating visual graphs and pie charts to show you how you’ve been feeling over time. If you could use a little more happiness in your life, give this app a try.
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