Check out what has been bringing the UnderBelly team some extra joy this past month.

Olivia's Cool Shit

CEO

Inflation Reduction Act

It feels like the past several years have been an onslaught of terrible news after terrible news. Even when the news is good, it feels like it’s just good enough to slightly catch your breath. But the newest bill, The Inflation Reduction Act, that President Biden signed into law feels like a good, long, deep breath that we needed. This Hank Green video (who I must admit I fan girl out to) breaks down just HOW important this bill is, albeit not perfect, and why it should be something we are all excited about.

SHOWDOWN: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court Nomination That Changed America

Okay, I promise, I did not mean for this month's cool shit to be so blatantly political but then again, here we are! I can say with confidence that I had not intended to read this book. It has been sitting on our shelf for years and I was never compelled to read it. But holy moly did this book absolutely shake me to my core. The book beautifully and horrifically narrates the harsh realities of US history through the lens of civil rights and the nomination of Thurgood Marshall. It's so good. This book is now one of my top 3 favorite books of all time.

Liz's Cool Shit

Art Director

Youtube Channel: Johny Harris

Johnny Harris is a reporter that dives deep into world news, culture and foreign relations. While Johnny is the face of the channel (with a wonderful dry sense of humor that makes everything more approachable), his team is absolutely badass, and the content they put out is not just beautiful to watch, but also packed with research. The kind of research we all (or maybe just me) love to know but don’t have the time (or know-how) to decipher. You’ll learn everything from the history of bananas, to America’s body trading, to Russia’s influence on the the global economy. And one more time for emphasis, they’re beautiful to watch.

Sarah's Cool Shit

UX/UI & Web Designer

CAPS LOCK: How Capitalism to Cold of Graphic Design and How to Escape from it

I'm super excited to read from 6 radical graphic design collectives on how they are resisting capitalist thinking and exploitative graphic design practices. What is an exploitative graphic design practice? An example would be a pop-up with “20 seconds left to buy!” Or “100 other people are considering booking this hotel room!” When in fact, there is no manner in which this can be verified and this was created to encourage buying and buying quickly.

Laura's Cool Shit

Design Intern

Netflix Series: The Sandman

Such a beautiful and intriguing series based on Neil Gaiman's DC comic which is just a perfect fantasy story full of intrigue, family issues (of course,) friendship, and lots of fantastic creatures and scenes. In the story, we follow Morpheus, the king of the Dreams and part of The Endless (a group of immortal siblings) as he embarks on a mission to find his precious tools and save the world in the process. The actors delivered such a nice performance and the diversity was appreciated. The main actor's voice narration was chef's kiss, it felt as if you were listening to an ASMR video (music to my ears.) I will definitely be looking forward to the next season for sure!

UnderBelly Featured Design

Logo | Brand Identity

Laura's summer project was creating a brand identity and logo for a local architect, Michael Major. Michael was looking for a modern, parametric design that was simple, and clean but also fun and inspired by the natural materials used in his designs.

We are in love with how this project turned out and can not wait to see them used in Michael's future website and designs.