Signals & Moves
Attention, Alumni and the Need for Speed.
Wednesday 26 August
1
Move: Willy Chavarria calls the idea of his own voice clone “very weird”.
In an interview with Glossy, Chavarria, an influential American fashion designer, shared his thoughts about adding a version of his voice to his AI powered shopping agent, saying: “At some point, you may even hear my voice talking. It would sound just like me and speak just like me.” He continued: “It’s very weird. That’s why we haven’t done it yet – I still need to put more thought into it.”
Signal: Attention can scale. Intimacy may not.
During the same interview, Chavarria also says AI can “communicate more personally without being there” because it listens to what clients need to know, and turns that into an insight. A cloned voice could make that interaction feel more personal, but personal is not the same as intimate. If the same voice can speak to everyone, is it really speaking to anyone?
Can intimacy exist without presence?
I don’t believe any designer has yet cloned their voice into a digital store environment. There is no blueprint, only a judgement call on whether the line should be crossed. Technology can make Chavarria available to everyone without him being there. Whether it can make anyone feel closer to him is another question.
2
Move: Trinity University pauses its new logo following alumni backlash.
Trinity University, an arts college in San Antonio, Texas removed a tower from its logo and replaced it with an abstract sunburst, in an attempt to shift its identity from a local campus institution to a national one. Alumni backlash was immediate. Within a week the university paused the rollout.
Signal: Abstraction does not beat inherited meaning.
The tower removed was Murchison Tower, a campus landmark. Trinity says the sunburst is actually the older symbol and part of the university’s original 1869 seal. Whilst the sunburst has the older claim, nobody alive walked past it, ate lunch next to it or watched it light up at night. Trinity tried to claim an older legacy, but the sunburst had not earned the meaning alumni lived with.
Should the past get a vote on the future?
It's true that Trinity’s future depends on attracting people who have not yet formed an attachment to the campus. But alumni are not just former students. They carry its reputation, becoming the greatest legacy engine a small college has. For any institution, the people it needs tomorrow will be influenced by the people who were there yesterday.
3
Move: A robot outran the fastest man on Earth.
On 17 August, a Chinese robotics company called Unitree posted a video of its humanoid robot sprinting at a claimed 28.3mph, faster than the peak speed Usain Bolt reached during his 100m world record of 27.8mph. The video was posted one day before Unitree went public on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, opening 629% above its offer price.
Signal: Performance needs a reference point.
28.3mph means very little. Faster than Usain Bolt means a lot. New technology only holds meaning when we can compare it to something we already understand. The sprint didn’t just prove speed, it proved Unitree’s capability. That’s what people invested in.
What else happened that week?
I’m glad you asked. There was another video, in which the robot lost control and crashed. Perhaps the most interesting part of a demonstration is what happens after the demonstration ends. Keep watching.
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Image reference: Willy Chavarria FW25.
Sources: Glossy, San Antonio Report, Trinity University, Wikipedia, Fast Company, Tech Times, Bleacher Report