Elsewhere Issue 27
Everything is available, referential and increasingly everything is the same.
Hello - consider this a moment elsewhere. A weekly digest on career, culture and design.
“I’m almost 30 and my portfolio isn’t “rich”. Is it possible to find a job with little experience?”
Yes it is definitely possible. It may not be easy though. This is a feeling that I think is very common & widely felt. Either we’ve spent our twenties salving away at a career we realised we don’t like very much or that we have done a heap of different things or we were just going through life making things work. We all think that by our late twenties to 30s we need to know exactly what we want to do for the rest of our lives, when the case is that alot of us are figuring it out still. Especially at the moment.
The good news about this is that you still have an abundance of time. People start careers at 30,40, 50. It’s better to work out later what you want to do, rather than never at all. There’s a couple of things to think about at the stage you are at:
Do you still want to continue in the same industry/field/career type that you have been?
If not what are the gaps you need to fill to get to that next stage? It is formalised education, short courses, teaching yourself new skills etc.
How do I make my portfolio point towards where I want to go? Curate your work, explore putting together a mock case study to showcase your thinking, start personal projects.
You have to be ok with the fact you might need to start at the bottom again and rebuild. That could look like taking a pay cut initially or volunteering on projects outside of the job that you already have.
The main thing to think about is if your portfolio isn’t rich, what is the best way I can add to it to increase my hire ability? During this period you need to have a bias for action. Put yourself out there, cold email, experiment. Tell people what you want/are trying to do!
It won’t be easy, but it’s better to start now than to look back in 10 years and think, but what if I started 10 years ago?
-Remi
Submissions line: submit over on our IG stories every Friday or connect@ponnd.app
Death of the Finished State ft. Brent David Freaney, Config 2026
It would appear that anything Art Director Brent David Freany touches will have an enduring impact within culture. He is the mind behind creative tech company Special Offer and the genius responsible for delivering us Charli XCS’s Brat green moment that defined a summer, Madonna’s Confessions II album art as well as the design identity of Perfectly Imperfect. In this keynote he walks us through his journey, the tools he uses and process behind creating cultural resonance through design. A talk I have revisited many a time over the last month. MUST WATCH.
Great Concepts Don't Start With Moodboards by Zoë Akihary, Art Direction
Pulling on the above thread, it would be rude not to include this banger from Art Direction. Pinterest has convinced a generation of creatives that collecting references is the same thing as having an idea. Zoë makes takes the stance that concepts don't emerge from aesthetics, they emerge from observations, tensions and questions. Moodboards: great for communicating an idea but they are not an idea in and of themselves.
Read it → here
Oh My God, We’re in Template Slop by Brenda Hashtag
A dispatch from the increasingly homogenised frontlines of internet culture. Brenda examines what happens when every platform, creator and brand draws from the same visual libraries and “algorithm approved” design systems. The result is a completely saturated, aesthetic monoculture where everything feels polished. Instantly palatable, yes but also immediately forgettable. Digital sameness at scale.
Read it → here
How to build a portfolio 101 by Bella Cipolla, Elsewhere
A small act of self-promotion, if you’ll indulge us.
After spending the better part of two years researching how people are discovered, evaluated and hired online, I put together a practical guide to building a portfolio that actually reflects the breadth of modern work. Less “how to make it look pretty” and more “how to communicate who you are when your career no longer fits neatly into a CV.”
Read here → here
The End of Taste: How Algorithms Disrupted, Flattened, and Redefined Culture with Kyle Chayka
Elsewhere readers will know we're contractually obligated to mention Kyle Chayka at least once a month. Here, he revisits a question that sits at the centre of Filterworld: what happens when algorithms become our primary cultural intermediaries? The promise was infinite personalisation. The reality, Chayka argues, has been a strange standardisation of aesthetics, identity and attention.
Watch it → here
This week in events:
Sydney
Wed 12 Aug 6.00pm || MOODY Sydney Community Launch Party
Thur 13 Aug 5.00pm || Writing bodies & places
Fri 14 Aug 6.30pm || A Night in with NOIS x SES Radio
Melbourne
Fri 14 July 6.30pm || Night 003: Marty’s Supper Club
London
Wed 12 Aug 5.30pm || An AI x Design Evening
Thur 13 Aug 6.00pm || The New Standard: a talk with Raycast, Notion, and OpenAI
New York
Thur 13 Aug 5.00pm || Scientist to Founder by Fifty Years
Thur 13 Aug 5.30pm || The creative edge
Sat 15 Aug 2.00pm || new interfaces 005
Until next week,
Bella & Remi
About the authors:
Elsewhere is a Ponnd Publication, written by Bella & Remi; best friends of eight years and now co-founders of Ponnd World and Three Martini Lunch.
Bella is our CEO, a Leo, ex-ballerina, who’ has built businesses across design and technology, usually by following whatever felt interesting, urgent or slightly inconvenient at the time.
Remi, our CMO, an Aquarius, full-time woo girl, who specialises in positioning, narrative & distribution with a focus on how ideas move through culture to reach the right audience.
We founded Ponnd because the tools we use to represent ourselves professionally, nurture connections and attract opportunity feel outdated (kind) and a little bit fkd (honest). It is our mission to create spaces and tools that improve the lives of professionals. Honouring the fact that no two paths look the same.
You can join us over at:
Ponnd.World - All your work, in the one place. Beautiful, instantly.
We also offer 1-on-1 portfolio consulting. Feel free to book a call with us.