Tobias Frere-Jones: Break Things Deliberately

As one of the world’s leading typeface designers, and this year’s 99U Alva Award winner, Tobias Frere-Jones believes that the best way to learn a new skill is to “break things down deliberately” to understand how it’s really done.   

In this 99u talk, we learn to see the beauty in taking risks. Frere-Jones explains that in order to do our best creative work, we must not just permit moments of confusion, but actually go chase them. “When trying to figure out a problem, pause for minute, and see if you can make it worse,” he says. “A structure can really describe itself as it falls apart.”

3 Million LEGO Bricks in One Room

Wired visited Robbie McCarthy and Bill Gowdy, two of LEGO's Master Builders. They show us LEGOLAND's model shop packed with more than 3 million bricks in 70 different colors. Robbie also gives us an exclusive look at LEGO's proprietary 3D modeling software.

Pixar: What Makes a Story Relatable

A quick look at Pixar's approach to storytelling and character development. 

Everything is a Remix: The Force Awakens

Kirby Ferguson continues the Everything is a Remix series with a look at Star Wars. 

What Was the Greatest Era for Innovation? A Brief Guided Tour

The New York Times explores innovation:

The truth is, this isn’t a debate that can be settled objectively. Which was a more important innovation: indoor plumbing, jet air travel or mobile phones? You could argue for any of them, and data can tell plenty of different stories depending on how you look at it. Productivity statistics or information on inflation-adjusted incomes is helpful, but can’t really tell you whether the advent of air-conditioning or the Internet did more to improve humanity’s quality of life.

We thought a better way to understand the significance of technological change would be to walk through how Americans lived, ate, traveled, and clothed and entertained themselves in 1870, 1920, 1970 and the present. This tour is both inspired by and reliant on Robert J. Gordon’s authoritative examination of innovation through the ages, “The Rise and Fall of American Growth,” published this year. These are portraits of each point in time, culled from Mr. Gordon’s research; you can decide for yourself which era is truly most transformative.