Nutritix

Tag: World

  • BBC unveils Eurovision Song Contest 2023 visual identity

    BBC unveils Eurovision Song Contest 2023 visual identity

    One of the first steps in bringing each Eurovision Song Contest to life is the reveal of its visual identity and slogan. The BBC can today announce the 2023 Contest is set to be truly ‘United by Music’.

    The new slogan demonstrates the unique partnership between the UK, Ukraine and host city Liverpool to bring the 2023 Contest to audiences across the globe and the incredible power of music to bring communities together. It also reflects the very origins of the contest, developed to bring Europe closer together through a shared TV experience across different countries.

    With over 160 million viewers watching last year, the look of the vibrant, wider identity celebrates this shared cultural experience as ‘millions of hearts beat as one’. Inspired by the Ukrainian and UK flags, the colours used are designed to reflect the joy and diversity of the contest.

    The typeface used is called ‘Penny Lane’, inspired by the twentieth-century cast-iron signs displaying Liverpool street names and a nod to the city’s rich musical heritage.

    Designed through a creative partnership between Superunion agency in the UK and Ukrainian creative studio Starlight Creative, the new brand will first be seen by viewers during the Handover and Allocation Draw programme on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer on 31 January from 7pm. This partnership demonstrates how the show will be made by collaborations on and off camera.

    In Liverpool, the iconic St George’s Hall and the Liverpool sign at Liverpool ONE will be dressed in the brand this week before it’s rolled out wider across the city in April.

    Martin Green CBE, Managing Director, Eurovision Song Contest 2023, BBC says: “The 2023 Eurovision Song Contest will be a truly special event and the creative look is a big part of creating that magic. This year’s identity sums up perfectly the amazing partnerships across the Contest and more importantly the power of music to bring people together across the world.”

    Superunion’s Executive Creative Director, Stuart Radford and Creative Director, Katherina Tudball says: “We are thrilled to create the 67th Eurovision Song Contest visual identity in partnership with Ukrainian agency, Starlight, and the BBC. For this year’s theme, United By Music, our solution was inspired by research showing that when experiencing live music together, human hearts synchronise to beat in unison. This insight led to the creative concept of 160 million hearts beating as one, an idea that captures the universal spirit of Eurovision.”

    Olena Martynova, CEO, Starlight Creative comments: “Creativity and music both have the power to unite and inspire. We are so proud to be part of the creative concept for such an important musical event when more than ever, we need to come together as a global community. For Starlight, it is an opportunity to represent Ukraine on an international stage, showcase our creative and musical ability, and create something that honours our strength and the power of unity.”

  • The Secret Behind Babbel: Our Language Learning Approach Is Built On 3 Pillars

    The Secret Behind Babbel: Our Language Learning Approach Is Built On 3 Pillars

    Berlin is an international city where you’ll hear snippets of conversations in dozens of different languages on a daily. This is one reason why it’s the perfect city for Babbel’s headquarters — we are 600 language enthusiasts piling into one five-story building in the heart of Berlin. Babbel has employees from over 60 countries, speaking more languages than you can imagine, all working on one popular product in this space.

    Working here, I’m often asked how Babbel is so good at teaching people new languages. To answer this question, I decided to sit down with our own multilingual Belen Caeiro. She leads our Product Marketing team here at Babbel and knows the app inside and out. Here’s what she said about why learning a language with Babbel is so effective.

    Belen explained that she was lucky because her parents helped her get an international education. She lived in Spain, Singapore, the Philippines, the United States, and the Netherlands before coming to Berlin. Her life experience confirmed that Babbel is the right place for her:

    “I know that all the good things that have happened to me in life were possible thanks to a new language.”

    For Belen, there’s absolutely no doubt that today, probably more than ever, we must learn new languages in order to understand each other and integrate new perspectives into our way of thinking. Making this possible is the first pillar that Babbel’s learning is based on.

    “We learn a new language in order to speak it with other people. To make that possible, our product has a few special features,” explains Belen. She opened the Babbel app on her laptop and pointed to the overview of the available courses. “We categorize language learning content in Babbel into relevant topics.” Depending on the language, you’ll find cultural traits and the most common conversation topics right at the beginning. Using public transportation, ordering food, and expressing what you want —are all at the top of the list. 

    Belen points out that the learning content builds on itself, so it’s easy to stay oriented. But if you just want to refresh a few topics, you can also jump right in! Belen clicks “next” on a lesson and then on the microphone symbol: “We use our users’ feedback to continually optimize our product. Thanks to our customer service team, but also the feedback we collect in meetups, we know that our users want to practice their pronunciation. Our speech recognition feature in the product supports them in that.”

  • Green projects are boosting UK growth

    Green projects are boosting UK growth

    The transition to a greener economy is worth £71bn and has brought jobs and investment to parts of the UK experiencing industrial decline. 

    Those are the key findings of a new report written by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).

    The drive to reach net zero emissions involves more than 20,000 businesses, it calculates. 

    Some 840,000 jobs are linked to sectors ranging from renewable energy to waste management, it adds.

    Titled Mapping The Net Zero Economy, the report looked at the parts of the UK that have benefited most from policies aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions. 

    Scotland and English regions, such as Tyneside, Teeside, Merseyside and the Humber, had all done better than average, with the green economy being stronger and contributing more to growth than in London and the South East. 

    Green jobs also pay significantly more, the report says, with the average wage (£42,600) significantly above the national average (£33,400).

    “The net zero economy is addressing levelling up and the UK’s productivity problem,” says Peter Chalkley, the director of the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) who commissioned the research.

    “But if the UK doesn’t build on the good work that has already been done, we will lose out and lose jobs.”

    The UK has long been seen as a leader in green technology, in particular offshore wind, but this position is at risk. 

    “Other places (in the world) are really setting out their stalls for how they’re going to capture that investment,” says Tom Thackeray from the CBI who carried out the analysis, adding that there is now a “global competition” for green funding. 

    The passing last year of landmark legislation in the United States called the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has, analysts say, changed the global dynamic for green investment. The Bill puts aside $369bn (£297bn) for action related to tackling climate change and many companies now see America as the best destination for their money. 

    “There’s an excitement [about the US since the IRA], so the challenge for us is to reignite the excitement back in the UK,” says Chris Stark, the chief executive of the Climate Change Committee, a public body that advises the UK government on its green policies.

    The view that the UK is losing momentum was also in Tory MP Chris Skidmore’s Mission Zero report last month in which he said the UK was falling behind in the net zero race.

    Restrictive planning regulations for onshore wind and solar, and a lack of consistency in policy were among many issues Mr Skidmore cited as holding back investment from the private sector.

    “We need to really speed up planning and consent for renewables and for network connections and for vehicle charging,” says Emma Pinchbeck, the chief executive of trade association Energy UK. 

    “It takes 12 years to build a wind farm in this country, when it should take one.”

    Responding to the report and the criticism of policy, a government spokesman said the UK was leading the world on tackling climate change.

    “Our plans will support up to 480,000 jobs by 2030,” they said. “We are driving an unprecedented £100bn of private sector investment by 2030, backed by around £30bn in funding from the government since March 2021 to achieve 

  • Montessori: The world’s most influential school?

    Montessori: The world’s most influential school?

    Tech geniuses, nation builders, and famous artists have praised the benefits of a Montessori education – but does it hold up to scientific scrutiny? David Robson and Alessia Franco investigate.

    When considering the lives of the rich and famous, it is always tempting to look for the secrets of their successes. So here’s a brain teaser: what do the cook Julia Child, the novelist Gabriel García Márquez, the singer Taylor Swift, and Google’s founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin all have in common?

    The answer is that they all attended Montessori schools as young children. In the US, the schools’ influence in the art and tech world has long been noted. But the reach of the educational method goes far beyond that. Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi was a fan, and described how children taught with it “felt no burden of learning as they learned everything as they played”. Rabindranath Tagore, the Nobel Prize-winning poet, set up a network of Montessori schools to free children’s creative self-expression. 

    But does the method actually work?

    It is more than a century since the Italian doctor and educator Maria Montessori designed her famous principles, which encouraged children to develop autonomy from a young age. Her life offers an inspiring story of an early feminist who dared to defy the Fascist regime in the pursuit of her dream. And according to some estimates, there are now at least 60,000 schools across the world using the Montessori method.

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