Theres a common story in the marketing and advertising industry, with many variations. Whenever a member of that industry is at a party or on a plane, inevitably someone will ask what they do for a living. And as soon as they say advertising, that person immediately begins to tell them how good theyd be at working in advertising, how they should make this or that ad campaign better, or why that ad they saw during an NFL game is terrible. This probably doesnt happen to engineers and doctors.
The discipline of advertising, and the process behind it has always been up for debate and question. Well, starting on September 30th, NBCs new show On Brand with Jimmy Fallon is shining a bright, reality show light on that very process.
Brands like KitchenAid, Marshalls, Pillsbury, Samsung, SONIC, Dunkin’, Southwest, Captain Morgan, and Therabody, all signed up to have their briefs or brand challenges taken on by 10 contestants, guided through the process by Fallon and and Bozoma Saint-John.
Saint-John is a former chief marketing or brand officer at companies including Netflix, Uber, and Beats by Drewho also just happens to star on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. For this months episode of the Brand New World podcast, she joined me on stage at Fast Companys Innovation Festival, which was held in New York City in mid-September.
On how she became a part of the show: Jimmy had the idea and sold it probably a year before we had a conversation. The challenge that he was facing was that, of course, he’s a genius at what he does, commenting about pop culture and making creative partnerships. But what he would say he doesn’t have is the résumé, the professional corporate chops to back it up. So he needed a partner to add legitimacy to the show.
Then he saw me on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and his wife said, “What about Boz?” And he was like, “I dunno if a housewife is what I’m looking for.”
But of course, we got on a call together, and we talked about the idea and what it could mean, how much I love the concept . . . I told him that the concept of marrying those two thingsadvertising and marketingas an entertainment platform can engage an audience. I was like, “Shoot, you better sign me up. Otherwise, I’m just coming to set anyway.”
On the value for the brands: Some of the criticism that I’ve seen has been like, “Oh, it’s gonna be like one big infomercial.” And I guarantee you it’s not. I compare this to finding a new music star shows entered, whether it was American Idol or The Voice. All of us became experts. You sat on your couch, you watched somebody sing. All of a sudden you knew terms like “pitchy.”
Nobody had ever said pitchy outside of the studio. This is similar, which is that the audience who’s going to watch this, and I believe are going to be as invested as the contestants.
Taylor Swift sold 2.7 million copies of her new album The Life of a Showgirl on its release day Friday, and luckily for Swifties buying up multiple copies to help their idol on the chart, they didn’t have to pay any tariffs on their purchases.
U.S. consumers now face a 18.6% overall average effective tariff rate, according to Yales Budget Lab, and one music professor estimated that if tariffs were applied to physical music, they could have hiked the price of a vinyl record to as much as $40 to $50 a pop.
They’re not, though, thanks some recently relevant Reagan-era legislation. Instead, Swift fans have to cough up $35 for the Target-exclusive “Summertime Spritz Pink Shimmer Vinyl” version of the album, which is imported from Mexico, limited-edition, and comes with a poster (the standard version is $30).
[Photo: Target]
President Donald Trump tariffs were imposed under emergency economic powers that the Brennan Center for Justice say constitute a misuse of power, and they’ve faced legal challenges. The Supreme Court is planning to take up the case, but already, media like books, movies, and physical music are except from the extra cost because of the Berman Amendment.
Named for Howard Berman, a California Democrat who represented a district in the Los Angeles area in the U.S. House from 1983 to 2013, the law revised the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the same law that Trump used as justification for his tariffs. Berman’s amendment prohibits the president from directly or indirectly regulating or prohibiting the importation of an “informational materials,” including publications, films, posters, photographs, and records.
The Berman Amendment protects cross-border speech from presidential overreach, and it attracted new interest when Trump said in May he would impose 100% tariffs on movies and TV shows produced outside the U.S.
Passed in 1988, the Berman Amendment is welcome relief for companies that sell physical media across national borders, like book and magazine publishers, as well as the music industry, which saw vinyl sales grow from 13.1 million in 2016 to 49.6 million in 2023, according to Luminate Music Consumption Data.
Domestic vinyl record production in the U.S. is ramping up (in Tennessee, Nashville’s United Record Pressing, which is the nation’s oldest record maker, is busier than ever, and one local company that supplies vinyl makers announced a $10 million expansion in the state in January), but currently, supply can’t keep up with demand.
For Swifties whose fandom would otherwise be caught up in Trump’s trade war with the rest of the economy, the law protects their imported vinyl purchases from an extra fee courtesy the president.
Gap just released an animated ad to promote its collection with designer Sandy Liang, and we need it to become its own TV show ASAP.
Created by animator Annie Choi, who has a history of illustrating campaigns for luxury fashion labels, the ad stars a young girl modeled after Liang herself. While dreaming up new clothing designs inside her childhood bedroom, the girl discovers that her closet has been imbued with magical powersand when she opens its doors, shes transformed, Sailor Moonstyle, into a new version of herself dressed head-to-toe in Gap x Sandy Liang.
The Gap x Sandy Liang ad, titled Sandys Dream Closet, is part of the roll-out for Liangs biggest-ever collaboration with Gap, launching online and in select Gap stores October 10. The collection includes jackets emblazoned with Liangs iconic bow symbols, structured-yet-feminine denim, and even a line of baby clothes. Everything ranges from just $15 to $268.
Chois fantastical animation embodies the sweet, youthful spirit of the collection, which, Liang told Fast Company, was made for your inner child. I love that we’re telling the story through animation, Liang says. I think it’s the perfect way to express the energy that I’m trying to convey with the collection.
“Creating universes that invite people to imagine more
Within Chois oeuvre, anything is possible. An ordinary loaf of bread can transform into a fashionable shoe; a Parisian office building can morph into a puzzle box; and the stars in the night sky are pretty enough to literally eat like candy. Over the past several years, her creative, surrealist animations have become a sought-after asset for fashion brands including Herms, Burberry, Dior, and Loewe.
When I started collaborating with fashion brands, it felt like a natural extension of what I already loved doing: creating universes that invite people to imagine more, Choi says. Fashion gives me a language of texture, form, and transformation, and animation gives it motion and life. Together they create something that feels both tactile and surreal, which is exactly the space I love to work in.
[Image: Annie Choi/Gap]
Bringing Sandy Liang’s fashion world to life
Before Liang even began designing the Gap collection, she says, she was already imagining an animation as a component of the campaigns rollout. Her initial moodboard included inspiration from favorite anime properties like Sailor Moon and the Studio Ghibli film Ponyo.
When Gaps marketing team told her that an animated video would be possible, she says, it was like a dream come true. Chois penchant for imagining designer brands through a playful lens made her the perfect compliment to Liangs perspective on fashion as a means of embracing her own girlhood.
Sandys Dream Closet is inspired by Liangs childhood in New York City. Its settingan apartment complex in the Lower East Side above a Cantonese restaurant called Congee Villageis pulled directly from Liangs own memories of her fathers restaurant of the same name. That backdrop is woven together with Liangs experience growing up wearing vintage Gap.
[Image: Annie Choi/Gap]
Growing up with a child’s sense of wonder
So much of Sandys world centers around imagination, nostalgia, and a sense of wonder, Choi says. I wanted the animation to carry that same feeling. I thought back to the shows I loved as a kid, especially the ones where transformation felt exciting and full of possibility, and used that energy as a guide. Since I also spent part of my early childhood in New York, the project felt personal to me, almost like layering my own memories on top of Sandys.
In the film, Liangs transformation represents, on a literal level, the idea of growing up. Symbolically, its also meant to capture the power fashion has to help us become who we are meant to be, Choi says. For her, bringing Sandys animated vision to life was an honor.
It was so fun to see her reaction to the animated Sandy for the first time, Choi says. I think the final product truly captures her essence and the Sandy Liang world in a way that her customers, and Gaps customers, can experience in a totally new way.
Kentucky’s attorney general claimed Tuesday that the online gaming platform Roblox has become a “playground for predators” as he announced a lawsuit accusing the company of lax child safety measures.The Kentucky suit, filed by his office Monday in a state court, is the latest action alleging that the wildly popular site isn’t doing enough to protect children on its gaming services.To bolster safeguards for children and teenagers flocking to the site, the company needs to install effective age verifications and content filters, Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman said. Added parental notifications also are needed, he said.Courtney Norris, a Kentucky mother of three who joined Coleman at a news conference, said she mistakenly viewed Roblox as a safe online gaming choice for her children.“I came to realize, later than I would like to admit, that it actually is the ‘Wild West’ of the internet, targeted at children,” she said.The company is facing a growing backlash. The Kentucky suit comes after Louisiana sued the company in August. A suit was filed in Iowa after a 13-year-old girl was allegedly introduced to an adult predator on the platform, then kidnapped and trafficked across multiple states and raped.Roblox on Tuesday pushed back against the allegations.“We have rigorous safety measures in place from advanced AI models to an expertly trained team of thousands moderating our platform 24/7 for inappropriate content,” the company said in a statement. “No system is perfect and our work on safety is never done. We are constantly innovating our safety systems, including adding 100 new safeguards, such as facial age estimation, this year alone.”Roblox says it has 111 million daily active users. The company said in an email Tuesday that it implements strict safety defaults for its youngest users. It said the platform’s users under 13 cannot directly message others on Roblox, outside of games or experiences, and cannot directly message others during games or experiences unless the default setting is changed using parental controls.The company said it has rigorous text chat filters to block inappropriate words and phrases, attempts to direct under-13 users off the platform and the sharing of personal information such as phone number or address. It does not allow user-to-user image sharing and prohibits sexual conversations, it said.The Kentucky lawsuit gives a starkly different portrayal of the platform.Despite assurances its site is safe, the company has failed to install basic safety controls, the suit said. Roblox also fails to inform its users and their parents about “dangers inherent” on the platform, it said.Coleman, a Republican, said the site’s “cartoonish figures and experiences” appeal to children, but he warned that “underneath this cartoonish, innocent veneer is something sinister. The platform has become a playground for predators who seek to harm our children.”The Kentucky suit alleges that children are exposed to “violent or sexual situations within the Roblox universe, with parents reporting children contacted by strangers using third-party chat apps that function as if they are part of the game.”Norris said that like many parents, she considered it a safe choice for her children.“I described it as a ‘fenced-in backyard’ for kids’ gaming,” she said Tuesday. “And that is the genius and the danger I found of Roblox the illusion of safety it gives parents like me.”“The reality is, Roblox makes it nearly impossible to police as a parent,” she added.The suit claims that Roblox’s lax protections violate Kentucky’s Consumer Protection Act and asks a judge to order the company into compliance. The suit seeks penalties of up to $2,000 for each violation of the consumer protection law.Coleman said his office is open to negotiating a settlement with Roblox.“Our goal is not to shut a platform down,” Coleman said. “Our goal is for Roblox to be safe.”Roblox said it shares the goal of keeping kids safe online, and said it would welcome discussions with Coleman’s office to “ensure they have a clear understanding of all Roblox is doing to keep users safe.”
Bruce Schreiner, Associated Press
Thirty paintings created by the bushy-haired, soft-spoken Bob Ross will soon be up for auction to defray the costs of programming for public television stations suffering from cuts in federal funding.Ross, a public television stalwart in the 1980s and ’90s, “dedicated his life to making art accessible to everyone,” said Joan Kowalski, president of Bob Ross Inc. “This auction ensures his legacy continues to support the very medium that brought his joy and creativity into American homes for decades.”Bonhams in Los Angeles will auction three of Ross’ paintings on Nov. 11. Other auctions will follow in London, New York, Boston and online. All profits are pledged to stations that use content from distributor American Public Television.The idea is to help stations in need with licensing fees that allow them to show popular programs that include “The Best of Joy of Painting,” based on Ross’ show, “America’s Test Kitchen,” “Julia Child’s French Chef Classics” and “This Old House.” Small and rural stations are particularly challenged.As desired by President Donald Trump, Congress has eliminated $1.1 billion allocated to public broadcasting, leaving about 330 PBS and 246 NPR stations to find alternative funding sources. Many launched emergency fund drives. Some have been forced to lay off staff and make programming cuts.The beloved Ross died in 1995 of complications from cancer after 11 years in production with “The Joy of Painting.” His how-to program was shown on stations around the U.S. and around the world. The former Air Force drill sergeant known for his calm demeanor and encouraging words enjoyed a resurgence in popularity during the lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic.Ross spoke often as he worked on air about painting happy little clouds and trees, and making no mistakes, only “happy accidents.”The thirty paintings to be auctioned span Ross’ career and include landscapes depicting serene mountain vistas and lake scenes, his signature aesthetic. He created most of the 30 on-air, each in under 30 minutes, which was the span of a single episode.Bonhams sold two early 1990s mountain-and-lake scenes of Ross in August for $114,800 and $95,750. The auctions of the 30 paintings soon to be sold have an estimated total value of $850,000 to $1.4 million, Bonhams said.
Associated Press
As the end of 2025 approaches, a viral TikTok trend is helping people achieve their wellness goals: “The Great Lock In” encourages participants to finish the year strong by fully focusing on their life goals from Sept. 1 through Dec. 31.Many people focus on exercise or eating healthier. But the trend can also help you achieve your financial goals.There are no set rules for “The Great Lock In.” The phrase “lock in” is popular on social media and it means to focus intensely on a task.“Something I like about this particular trend is that it’s like New Year’s resolutions’ little sister,” said Lindsay Bryan-Podvin, financial therapist and founder of Mind Money Balance, a financial wellness podcast and blog.For Julissa Mercedes, 28, one of her lock in goals is to build an $2,500 emergency savings fund.“Having some liquid cash will make me feel a little bit safer,” said Mercedes, a San Diego resident who works in finance. Aside from building an emergency fund, Mercedes has three other goals: making a new friend, creating a morning routine, and picking up a new hobby.“The Great Lock In” is meant to help people achieve New Year’s resolutions that might have fallen by the wayside. If you started your year planning to pay down debt by cutting unnecessary expenses, and have yet to follow up on that, this challenge might help you with that goal.“I think that’s appealing to a lot of people who are just tired of feeling stuck and like they haven’t been able to make any progress,” said Ben Markley, personal finance educator and host of Sketchy Advice by YNAB, a budgeting app.If you’re thinking of participating in “The Great Lock In,” or if you’re already doing it, here are some expert recommendations to make your financial goals stick:
Review your finances
To build a goal that will benefit you, it’s essential to review your finances, Bryan-Podvin said. She suggested that you review your bank account and spend some time figuring out how much you earn each month, as well as what you spend it on.If you made a New Year’s resolution around finances, this could be a good opportunity to check on your progress and see if you need to reassess your approach.
Set attainable goals
When participating in a challenge, it’s best to set attainable goals, Markley said. Sometimes online challenges inspire people to make significant changes, but they can also lead them to create unattainable goals.“A lot of people can’t sustain that at all, so they drop off,” he said. “Or, they do sustain it, but then they go back to their normal life after the challenge, and their spending habits haven’t fundamentally changed.”Setting a goal that is realistic in relation to your budget and lifestyle is the best way to make sure you can achieve it by the end of the challenge. Bryan-Podvin recommends looking at “The Great Lock In” as a 5K race rather than a marathon.
Focus on habit-building
To continue achieving your financial goals into 2026, Markley recommends centering some of your lock in goals around building new habits or skills.For example, if your goal is to stop spending on takeout, focus on building a habit that’s related to cooking.“Find easy meals that you could cook at home with your skill level so that when you want to eat out, you have that to fall back on,” Markley said.A great way to help create a habit is to use a habit-tracking tool. It can be as simple as setting reminders on your phone or downloading an app that sends you regular notifications, Bryan-Podvin said.
Create community and accountability
Social media can be a good place to find community support for achieving your goals, whether it’s joining a Facebook group, commenting on creators’ videos, or posting your own content.As she started “The Great Lock In” challenge at the beginning of September, Mercedes also decided to document her experience on TikTok. Sharing her journey with followers helps with accountability, she said.“Seeing that people are still watching and keeping up with my content makes me feel like they’re part of the journey too,” Mercedes said.
Reflect on your relationship with money
As you use “The Great Lock In” trend to achieve your financial goals, take a moment to reflect on your overall relationship with money.“Give every dollar a specific job so that you’re not going on autopilot when you spend, you’re being intentional with your money and making sure that it’s going towards the things you need and the things you care about,” Markley said.Sitting down regularly, either by yourself or with your partner, and reviewing your spending habits can help with your long-term financial goals.
It’s OK if it’s not for you
If you try this challenge and you find out it doesn’t work for you, that is OK, Markley said.“You can find something else that works, and it’s no reflection on your character if you don’t pull off ‘The Great Lock-In,'” he added.While social media challenges can help inspire people to achieve their goals, it’s not worth adding unnecessary stress to your life because of a challenge. Not every trend works for everyone, and there are many other ways that you can achieve your financial goals, Markley said.
The Associated Press receives support from Charles Schwab Foundation for educational and explanatory reporting to improve financial literacy. The independent foundation is separate from Charles Schwab and Co. Inc. The AP is solely responsible for its journalism.
Adriana Morga, Associated Press
Gold has been having a very good year.
That sentiment couldnt have been clearer on Tuesday, October 7, as the precious metal hit a new milestone: $4,000 an ounce.
As of early Wednesday, gold was up over 53% year to date.
That’s significantly higher than the growth seen by major stock indexes over the same period The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 9.93% this year, the S&P 500 is up 14.42%, and the Nasdaq Composite is up 18.19% as of the market close on Tuesday.
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As a so-called safe-haven asset, gold has benefited from a few things this year, including a weakened dollar and an unpredictable economy. The latter has been especially true since the U.S. government shutdown on October 1.
That Wednesday morning saw gold reach new all-time highs, with spot gold and U.S. gold futures reaching $3,894 and $3,922, respectively.
Gold has continued to trend upward over the last week, reaching a high of $4,050 today.
Yes, but will it last?
Clearly the U.S. government shutdown has, at least so far, been a coup for gold, but for how much longer? Of course, theres no guarantee either way, especially with no end in sight for the shutdown.
Financial experts have found themselves split on their predictions.
Goldman Sachs has taken a bullish approach, raising its estimated gold forecast from $4,300 to $4,900 per ounce for December 2026.
We see the risks to our upgraded gold price forecast as still skewed to the upside on net, because private sector diversification into the relatively small gold market may boost ETF holdings above our rates-implied estimate, Goldman stated during the Monday announcement, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile, Monday saw Bank of America take a much more bearish stance, Fortune reports. Bank of Americas technical strategist, Paul Ciana, warned of an elevated risk of correction. Ciana posited that factors like buying based on momentum and overbought signals mean that golds speedy rise could be coming to an end.
In my old banking job, where I worked for 12 years, I found myself frustrated with the slow pace of the work, the layers of red tape and approvals to get anything done. After all, banking was a highly regulated industry, and while there were many rules to follow, they were just simply being a good bank by following them. I felt tired, drained, and lacked energysimilar symptoms to burnout. While the organization was frequently voted a best place to work, I couldnt figure out why my great job felt so bad. I wasnt overworking or spending endless evenings logging in, so the typical paths to burnout didnt make sense.
What I was actually experiencing was rust out.
A COSTLY CONDITION
The literal definition of rust out is to decay and become unusable through the action of rust. Rust out is a type of burnout that comes from not using your unique skills and talents at work, lacking learning opportunities, and ultimately, dreading the repetitive tasks at work that sap your creativity.
Not only is this costly to an employees peace and mental health, but its costly to employers, too. According to Gallups 2025 engagement report, the global percentage of engaged employees was 21% in 2024. Its even worse for leadership. For young managers (under 35), engagement dropped by 5%, and female manager engagement dropped by 7%.
Here’s what to do if you suspect you may be experiencing rust out:
CONDUCT AN ENERGY AUDIT
One of the biggest contributors to rust out is spending your energy in places that dont align with your unique talents and skills. In my own experience, and in working with my clients, a simple way to uncover your unique talents is to notice your energy. I believe every work activity falls into one of three categories: energy suckers, energy stallers, and energy surgers. Energy suckers feel like they take heroic effort, even though the task wasnt all that large or difficult. Energy stallers are tricky because they throw your energy into neutral. You dont feel drained while doing them, but they dont ignite your energy either. Energy surgers are the sweet spot youre looking for. These projects bring a paradoxthey are challenging, but they make you feel amazing, in flow, and like your most creative self. When conducting an energy audit, assess what percentage of your time is spent on energy suckers, energy stallers, and energy surgers.
DUMP, DELEGATE, OR OUTSOURCE
After you conduct your energy audit, the next step is to ask yourself: What can I dump, delegate or outsource? You want to dump the things that drain your energy the most. They are likely tasks or projects that we said yes to months or years ago that we keep doing because were on autopilot. In my own experience, these were old reports I would review that no one was paying attention to. If you dont want or need to be there, and it doesnt align with your values and priorities, it may be time to dump it. If you cant dump it, can you delegate it? In a day of back-to-back meetings, I noticed that two of my team members were in there with me. They could handle the meeting and make the decisions, but because I was in the meeting as their leader, people would defer to me anyway. I decided to delegate that meeting. And by asking myself, Where does my presence subtract value for fellow team members? I found more meetings I could delegate. And finally, if you cant dump it or delegate it, can you outsource it? In my years of working at technology and consulting firms, I discovered the power of outsourcing: from office snack delivery to marketing activities to contractors.
ADVOCATE FOR YOUR TALENTS
Once you are clear on what your energy surgers are, it is up to you to communicate clearly to your boss and peers what your strongest talents are and what type of work youd most like to take on. Leaders cant read minds, so the more you communicate the work you value and ask them to think of you when opportunities come up, the more likely they are to share your name and talents when you are not in the room. This may not happen overnight but through consistent conversations it can work. The good news is that several of my clients have stayed at a company they loved and redesigned their roles into something more enjoyable simply by having this energy and talents conversation with their leader.
DECIDE IF A CAREER CHANGE IS NEEDED
Sometimes, all of this reflection, advocacy, and self-awareness can bring us to an unexpected place: wondering if we are in the right career and if a change is needed to overcome rust out. While I always encourage folks to advocate and change their current environment so we dont bring the same issues into a new role, there are some questions you can ask to help you determine if its time to stay or go, such as:
Does this organization align with my values?
Do I agree with the way leadership makes decisions?
How have I advocated for the changes I want?
Have I set and communicated necessary boundaries for how I spend my time and energy?
If you determine that there isnt values alignment and no changes have been made despite your advocacy, it might be time to look elsewhere.
The results of beating rust out can boost an employeesand their employer’s peace, potential, and paychecks and profits through improved productivity, well-being, and engagement.
Libbie Bischoff didn’t set out to reinvent the signature.
Really, she was just flipping through a vintage knitting magazine from the 1950s. The Minneapolis-based type designer collects the mags, partly because her grandmother taught her to knit, and partly because she finds incredible typography hidden within their pages. It was in one of these magazines that she found the casual, flowing script that would become one of Docusign’s new signature styles.
Together with Lynne Yuna New York-based type designer, calligrapher, and founder of the studio Space TypeBischoff is responsible for the first major update to the platform’s signature options in more than 20 years. For Docusign, a company that has processed a billion-plus digital signatures, changing the look of a digital John Hancock is no small decision. Its a move that reflects a quiet but significant cultural shift: Cursive is fading, as is the traditional idea of what a signature should be.
[insert paywall]
Reviving history
A Docusign survey found that only 51% of Gen Zers sign their name in cursive, compared to 80% of boomers. As a lover of cursive and calligraphy, I feel depressed when I read that, but facts are hard to dispute. As our most important life moments move online, its logical to expect that the digital signature would become a new form of self-expression.
[Image: courtesy Docusign]
Bischoff and Yun were tasked with injecting personality into a digital interaction that can often feel sterile. Their work explores how a signature can be authentically digital by moving beyond traditional cursive to reflect a user’s personality in an era when fewer people write by hand.
[Image: Libbie Bischoff (design)/Docusign]
For Bischoff, the process of creating the new signatures was an act of revival. She wanted to breathe digital life into historical handwriting. The script from the knitting magazine became “The Vintage Enthusiast,” a friendly, flowing cursive with printed, upright capital letters.
[Image: courtesy Docusign]
“The capitals are all printed, but then the cursive lowercase element of it is very fast and kind of casual and more similar to . . . how [somebody] would write their signature,” she tells me. The style carries a sentimental weight for her, evoking the era when her grandmother would have been knitting.
[Image: Libbie Bischoff (design)/Docusign]
Her other creation, “The Letter Writer,” came from an even older source: a beautifully inscribed book from 1916 she spotted in an antique store. Bischoff was so struck by the penmanship that she snapped a picture. From there, she built the complete typefacea clean, upright script with a professional feel, featuring bold caps and quirky lowercase letters. “The writing is very beautiful and just very professional,” she says. “That level of care going into a gift as simple as a book is, I dont know, I just thought that was so nice.”
[Image: courtesy Docusign]
Calligraphy for a digital age
While Bischoff looked for inspiration in found artifacts, Yun got deep into the craft of calligraphy itself, exploring how the human hand could be felt in a digital format. Her four typefaces for the Docusign project push the boundaries of what a signature can be.
[Image: Lynne Yun (design)/Docusign]
“The Overachiever” is a sharp, confident script born from Yun’s study of 20th-century Czech calligrapher Oldøich Menhart. Menhart’s work is characterized by earthy, bold, and expressive calligraphic forms. For Yun, his work was the inspiration she needed to craft a modern digital typeface that would bridge the gap between traditional and contemporary design.
[Image: courtesy Docusign]
As a calligrapher herself, she believes Menhart provided a foundation for a new style that feels personal and expressive without falling into the common traps of being either too gimmicky or overly formal. “I wanted to embody that era of calligraphy where it’s about personal expression, but you want to express yourself, like not in a way where it’s full-on goofy or full-on like Here is my crown, she tells me.
[Image: Lynne Yun (design)/Docusign]
For “The Renaissance Soul,” she took a more experimental approach. “If The Overachiever is like, Ooh, I cross my Ts . . . I think The Renaissance Soul is the other way, where I do what I want,” Yun says with a laugh.
[Image: courtesy Docusign]
She started by writing letters over and over with a calligraphy marker, then moved to a square brush and ink to explore how expressive the forms could get without losing legibility. The result is a bold, dramatic typeface with voluptuous curves and expressive, sculptural forms designed to command attention.
Not all of Yun’s new typefaces are based on traditional script, though. For “The Curator,” a slanted, geometric sans serif, Yun says she wanted to create a hybrid that feels modern yet personal. The challenge was to infuse warmth into a typically clean and cool style. “I purposely wanted it to feel like a very modern version of handwriting, although it is nothing like handwriting at all because it is a very sans-serif feeling,” she explains.
[Image: Lynne Yun (design)/Docusign]
The creative process was about playing with perception. She started with “the structure of a modernist sans serif” and then worked to give it “warm, handwritten . . . vibes.” The key to this, she says, was creating the illusion of a connected script without actually connecting the letters. “It has that notion of like, ‘Oh, it would connect if it was like a handwritten scribble,’ but it’s not,” she tells me. Indeed, its clean-cut but still representative of a digital-native style rooted in a personal, human feeling.
[Image: courtesy Docusign]
Finally, “The Party Starter” is a bold, high-contrast typeface with a playful attitude, as Yun describes it, noting the inspiration for it began with a French specimen from Constantine in 1834 that she wanted to combine with the spirit of 19th-century American woodcut type.
[Image: Lynne Yun (design)/Docusign]
“I think that in mid-century America we had a lot of big personalities. No matter what they look like, that was the vibe I wanted to capture,” she says. Yun made initial sketches that were faithful to the historical source but then intentionally deviated for a more refined, modern feel. She says she identified the “inconsistencies and quirks in the original that worked against a harmonious texture and updated them for a modern aesthetic.
The goal was to create something with a “slightly wilder, playful appearance” that wouldnt look out of place at a formal function. The result is a typeface defined by what Yun calls “huge contrast, like big, bold, bulk terminals”a visual representation of packing the biggest personality possible into a small space, which feels appropriate given how small signature spaces can be in so many documents.
Beyond cursive
I still question whether people are really ready to sign a legal document with something that doesn’t look like, well, a signature.
Bischoff believes the reaction will be positive, if generational. “I think younger people dont care about cursive-style things. I think older people will gravitate maybe towards those,” she suggests. Which is why Docusign wanted this new generation of typefaces, of course.
Yun sees it as a natural evolution. For years, the digital world was stuck between the “super formal” and gimmicky Comic-sansy “marker writing. This project, she feels, allows signatures to be “authentically digital” rather than just mimicking analog tools. “I think weve evolved past the point of wanting to fake pens in the digital space,” she says. “And now were just like, ‘Hey, this is a typeface and it has a personality.
Docusign claims this is all about acknowledging that in a 99.9% digital world, your digital signature should still feel like you. Yun and Bischoff tell me that it was a chance to expand the definition of digital identity. To me, being neither a boomer nor a millennial or a Z but a Gen Xer, the answer to my rhetorical question is really much simpler: Sorry, Docusign, but your previous signatures really sucked. These new ones? They are pretty cool, even if I still hate the end of calligraphy and the actual bloody pen.
For many stars, writing a children’s book is a fun side project they do to capitalize on their fame. Kate McKinnona Saturday Night Live alum who has starred in recent movies like Barbie and The Rosesis certainly famous. But the truth is that she had dreamed of writing a novel for middle schoolers since her mid-twenties, years before she even auditioned for SNL.
As a child, McKinnon had loved books about slightly oddball characters, like those found in Roald Dahl books. Her favorite heroine was Pippi Longstocking, whom she played in a kindergarten performance. She loved the character so much that she would show up at school for years in a full-on Pippi costume, complete with pipe cleaners in her hair to mimic the heroine’s iconic protruding red pigtails.
After graduating from Columbia University, between auditioning for sketch comedy roles, McKinnon sat down to write a middle-grade novel of her own. Holed up in her apartment, she plotted out a story about a trio of sisters in the Victorian era who don’t fit in in their stuffy town, where girls are meant to be prim and proper.
The problem was that she could not get past the first chapter; she just wrote and rewrote it, frustrated that it wasn’t quite hitting the right notes. Then, in 2012, at the age of 28, McKinnon snagged a spot on SNL and quickly became one of the show’s biggest stars, leaving very little room for her novel. “It was very much at the backand the middleof my mind,” McKinnon recalls. “Every time I had a week off, I would work on it.”
[Cover Image: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers]
In 2022, McKinnon departed SNL and finally had time to devote to the novel. After marinating on it for more than a decade, it came together, and she landed a book deal with Hachette. Her book, The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science, debuted in 2024 and became an instant New York Times bestseller. She’s just released the second book, called Secrets of the Purple Pearl, in what will eventually become a series.
I sat down to speak with her about her creative process, and why we should feel free to pursue several dreams at the same time. Here are three things I learned.
[Cover Image: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers]
She Didn’t Let A Lack of Expertise Stop Her
McKinnon studied theater in college and had spent years training as an actress and comedian. She had never studied creative writing, but she didn’t let that stop her from taking a stab at writing a novel. “I didn’t know anything about writing,” she recalls. “I didn’t know you’re supposed to write a whole draft before going back and fixing the first chapter. So I just fixed the first chapter, probably 500 times.”
Many writing instructors urge their students not to get hung up on the details so early on. But McKinnon’s approach was actually helpful because it allowed her to figure out many aspects of the plot and the characters. It was an unconventional approach to character development, but it helped her create her first three characters, the sisters Gertrude, Eugenia, and Dee-Dee.
[Image: courtesy Little, Brown Books for Young Readers]
But after writing several drafts of the first chapter, she felt like something was missing. “My big problem was that I was writing about three oddball girls who had no adults in their life validating them,” she says. “It ended up being sad every time I wrote it. Then I felt there needed to be a mentor figure who recognized the good in these girls.” This figure ended up being Millicent Quibb, the title character of the series.
McKinnon was also noodling through the broader themes of the book she wanted to communicate. While she was very interested in painting these quirky characters, she also wanted to say something more profound about identity, and how hard it can feel not to fit in. “The themes eluded me for the longest time,” she says. “I needed to know what I am actually trying to say here.”
Ultimately, McKinnon didn’t let her lack of formal training prevent her from throwing herself into novel writing. In fact, it’s the process of trial and error that has allowed her to hone her craft. Now, McKinnon has novel writing down to a science. It took her more than 12 years to write the first Millicent Quibb book, but she wrote the second one in a matter of months. “Left to my own devices, I would never complete anything because I am so hard on myself,” she says. “But being under a deadline is what allowed me to complete this.”
[Image: courtesy Little, Brown Books for Young Readers]
She Wove Her Other Passions Into This Project
While McKinnon hadn’t trained as a writer, she did have other skills that most writers don’t have: an ability to build quirky, complex characters from the ground up.
To create the characters in her book, McKinnon would pace around her room speaking in funny voices, which is something she’s enjoyed doing her whole life (and that eventually became her full-time job on SNL). “In my mid-twenties, before getting on SNL, writing this book was almost like doing sketch comedy, without anybody there to watch you,” she says. “I was just doing it alone in my room.”
It’s been a very effective strategy. All of her characters are memorable and hilarious. Eventually, she was able to bring all of these characters to life in the audiobook of the series, which she voices along with her sister, Emily Lynne.
[Image: courtesy Little, Brown Books for Young Readers]
It’s Important For Her To Speak To Children
Most of McKinnon’s career has targeted adult audiences. Her first acting jobs were in comedy, starting with The Big Gay Sketch Comedy Show and then SNL. And much of her acting has been in movies targeting adults, like The Roses, Bombshell, and the TV series Joe vs. Carole on Peacock.
But McKinnon is also eager to reach children, particularly at this moment when the world feels so volatile. Writing the Millicent Squibb books has been meaningful to her because it has allowed her to connect with children and give them hope. Indeed, the Squibb character is inspired by the many mentors in her own life who believed in her and helped her find her path. But looking back, her childhood seems idyllic compared with what children are dealing with today. “Young people today are up against a whole host of problems I could not even conceive of when I was in middle school in the 90s,” she says.
Her hope is that her voice gives children some joy in a stressful time, but also empowers them to act to make things better for themselves and others. “I think this genre is not just fun, but hopeful, because it focuses on questions of identity and moral engagement in society,” McKinnon says. “It’s about figuring out who you are so that you can help other people. That’s something young people today can’t ignore the way I could.”
