LSN : News : Need to Know 26 : 01 : 18

1. Caricom magazine addresses diversity in sports media

Caricom magazine

Caricom, London

Caricom magazine

London – Caricom is a new print publication that addresses the diversity discrepancy in football reportage. Editor Calum Jacobs explains that while 35% of Premier League players are black, less than 1% of the people paid to talk about it come from a similar background. His aim is therefore to create ‘a platform from which black writers, designers, photographers, illustrators and fans are able to gain a sense of agency over the way they, and those that look like them, are perceived’.

‘Football is one of the few industries in which meritocracy and multiculturalism both function and enrich the spectacle,’ Jacobs tells LS:N Global. ‘However, the reportage of it is largely mediated by white, middle class males. And while this coverage may generally be great, it can't help but lack the perspective and nuance that minority writers would offer it.’

With traditional modes of masculinity undergoing greater scrutiny, we will be exploring the social and cultural shifts that are defining New Masculinity later this year.

2. Reebok imagines the city post-autonomous vehicles

Get Pumped by Reebok and Gensler, US

US – Reebok has worked with architecture firm Gensler to re-imagine petrol stations as the fitness hubs of the future. Named Get Pumped, the project is inspired by the idea that more than 71m autonomous vehicles are expected to be on the road by 2030, rendering petrol pumps useless.

The brand wants to use the location of these pieces of property to its advantage, with one of the three concepts, The Oasis, proposing that larger petrol stations on small, local highways being transformed into recharge zones for weary commuters. It proposes a farm-to-table eatery and a juice bar, as well as yoga and meditation pods, while outdoor exercise wheels allow people to stretch their legs after a long journey.

In line with Wellness Architecture, as wellness becomes ingrained as a mainstream mindset, there is a growing interest in the influence that architecture has on wellbeing.

3. Apple provides users with a full picture of health

US – Apple has introduced a new feature to iPhones, which enables users to store their medical records on the Health app. The new feature will allow people to upload their health history, immunisation records, allergies, prescription drug lists and test results.

In offering the service, Apple hopes to both streamline existing medical data and offer consumers a more complete picture of their overall health. Johns Hopkins Medicine, Cedars-Sinai, Penn Medicine are among the medical institutions that have participated in the service so far.

The records are both encrypted and password-protected for security reasons, although collating this data within the iPhone's eco-system has raised questions about the brand’s access to this data. Earlier this year, Apple introduced its Apple Heart Study app, demonstrating its move into the health sector, a path that it seems increasingly interested in following.

Health Records by Apple

4. Montamonta closes the loop on coffee culture

Montamonta, London

London – Montamonta is a luxury skincare line that collects coffee grounds from Ozone Coffee Roasters to create a sustainable body scrub. Coffee culture is by nature largely unsustainable as the grounds are often dumped in landfill sites where they emit methane, but by repurposing them as a beauty product Montamonta is helping to close the loop.

The scrub is produced at Montamonta’s lab and then delivered back to Ozone’s cafe + roastery where it is then sold to customers. Further demonstrating its commitment to sustainability, the brand, which also produces hand wash and soaps for bars and restaurants around London, supplies them in refillable glass bottles.

5. Automation can provide workers with better career opportunities

While the World Economic Forum (WEF) predicts that 1.4m US jobs will be affected by technology disruption between now and 2026, a new report from WEF shows that retraining will mitigate job losses, allowing the majority of the population to gain higher-salaried employment. In The American Middle, we examine how, contrary to popular belief, automation will not desecrate the working population but can instead provide new job prospects.

6. Thought-starter: Why fashion magazines need to evolve

We spoke to Katy Lassen and Simone Konu, founders of London-based digital platform Also Journal, on challenging current beauty ideals and their ambition to be an antidote to mainstream fashion glossies.

The duo are driven by the belief that the role of the fashion magazine must evolve as consumers’ aspirational ideals shift away from traditional notions of beauty and style.

‘Aspiration is not a fixed entity,’ explains Lassen. ‘It changes over time, and therefore how fashion magazines reflect aspiration should also change. It feels insincere to hold only one view on women and femininity as the ideal, when clearly we can’t all fit into this category.’

‘In the end, we buy things mainly to tap into a feeling of being someone or somewhere better or different than we feel we are,’ continues Konu. ‘We should not be encouraging grown women to aspire to the appearance of skinny teenagers. The fact that this is how most big brands sell to women is maddening. I think women are interested in reading about complex, successful and creative women and taking inspiration that way.’

Read the full Viewpoint here.