LSN : News : Students in Riga use Minecraft to learn urban planning

Flaus rebrands flossing as fun and planet-friendly

Flaus identity by Universal Favourite, US and Australia

US – This eco-friendly electric flosser brand has revealed a new trendy visual identity. Created by Australian design studio Universal Favourite, the result is a far cry from the dull or pharmaceutical ways that dental hygiene products are often marketed.

Launched in 2021, Flaus is a gentle electric flosser with solid sustainability credentials, founded with the intention to shake up the oral care industry by making the activity more aspirational and less of a chore. To that end, the brand enlisted Universal Favourite to create a brand identity that reflected both Flaus’s ‘cool factor’ and its environmental ethos, at odds with the outdated and dry messaging of many brands in the dental field.

The studio aligned the bold and modern ideas that Flaus stands for with a retro-futuristic brand language, consisting of funky visuals and a cheeky but down-to-earth tone of voice. Ultimately, the brand hopes that infusing flossing with fun will reconcile consumers with the not-so-loved activity and encourage more consistent use.

Flaus joins a new wave of brands redefining the dental sector and changing the narrative around oral hygiene, turning it into a form of self-care rather than a purely functional health habit.

Strategic opportunity

Take inspiration from Flaus, which has placed oral hygiene at the intersection of lifestyle, beauty, tech and environmentalism by using clever messaging and a cool factor

Students in Riga use Minecraft to learn urban planning

Latvia – Educators in Riga have turned to the virtual world of Minecraft to involve young people in urban planning.

A digital version of Latvia’s capital city was created through Minecraft Education Edition and made accessible to every student in Riga. Students were then set the task of redesigning and reconstructing 20 of the buildings in the city’s centre. The aim of the project was to help young people get to know their local neighbourhood, the city’s history and architecture, as well as to consider the challenges of building in urban spaces –including the demands of accessibility and effects of climate change. Because Minecraft is popular with young people and they understand the game naturally, the teachers believed it made lessons in urban planning less intimidating.

Multi-functional metaversal spaces are booming, from gaming to playing with new ideas, and can be used to enhance our understanding of real life. Riga's City Council is now looking for further ways to implement Minecraft into its schools' curricula, including in chemistry and biology, with the aim of spreading this method of teaching more widely throughout Europe.

Photography by Mika Baumeister

Strategic opportunity

Harness the skills of young digital natives; their comfort with emerging technologies can help us see the world differently and present new ways to solve old problems

Stat: Half of working UK adults fail to take full annual leave

Hôtel Amour. Photography by Gil Anselmi for Highsnobiety

UK – British Airways Holidays has launched a campaign to encourage Britons to holiday more after finding that 50% of UK working adults do not take all of their annual leave.

In a survey commissioned in association with YouGov, it found that 36% of Britons failed to use their full allocation of leave because they didn’t get around to it. While 79% of respondents agreed that taking a break is good for their mental health, many admitted they do not fully abstain from work on holiday; 48% have checked work emails while away and 39% have responded to work communications while on leave.

The British Airways campaign reflects the values of the recuperative tourism market by encouraging Britons to take holidays to meet their wellbeing needs.

To re-affirm the idea that leisure travel is necessary for good health, The Take Your Holiday Seriously campaign references a 40-year-old study by the European Society of Cardiology that revealed going on holiday can help people live longer.