53 Sources the Culturally Fluent Already Know
Introducing the new gen creatives fueling the industry’s best minds.
Gang gang… Let’s talk about bird watchers for a second.
Their khaki seventeen-pocket vests and their binoculars that cost more than your rent. Standing in a marsh at 5:47am in breathable waterproof trousers, completely still, waiting for something rare that everyone else will walk past without blinking.
Didn’t we used to laugh at them? Well, we were wrong and we are sorry.
Bird watchers are the most culturally ahead people alive. They woke up before you. They have an underground network sharing coordinates on rare sightings before anyone else knows to look. They’re not reactive nor algorithmic. They are in a field, in sensible boots, clocking something beautiful and obscure, completely unbothered by whether it trends.
Turns out, we’ve been bird watchers this entire time. Someone pointed out that what they liked about our very first SOURCE CODE was that we took a “true bird’s eye point of view” on culture when listing 91 names we believe you all should take a closer look at. So we’re rolling with it. From now on Dot Nation, call us the Triple-Dot Bird Watch Association. Scanning the tree-lines of our feed all day.
In a way it’s true. SOURCE CODE is an index of rare sightings. Let me be honest with you. This series was going to be called Blueprint when I created a folder on my Instagram early last year where I save interesting creatives for this list whenever I scroll IG. Then I changed it to Source Material BUT WE FUCKED IT when I by accident sent our glorious Creative Director Colin Doerffler the wrong name of the series and we ended up rolling with it.
Colin by the way nominated a number of the stellar names inside our rare sightings log below. None are ranked because there is no biggest bird, there is only who you spotted first.
So put on your big boy quick-dry Fjällräven G-1000 pants and be the bird watcher yourself. You don’t want to be the person who shows up after it’s fled and asks what they missed… right?
Now for those who know jack shit about bird watching (not us!!!), a brief and essential glossary:
Twitching | Urgently travelling to see a rare bird someone else already spotted. Originally a British thing. Now a global condition. In culture: arriving late to a name, acting like you didn’t. We see you.
Lifer | A species you’re seeing for the very first time ever. Serious birders keep a physical life list. Thousands of entries requiring years of dedication.
Dipping | When you travel to see a rare bird and it’s already gone. The cultural equivalent of googling someone the week after their Super Bowl ad drops and telling people you’re “a big fan.”
Jizz | The overall feeling a bird gives you before you’ve properly identified it. Gut. Instinct. Believed to derive from GISS (General Impression of Size and Shape) a term originally used by military pilots to identify aircraft before they could read the details. It migrated into birding and never left. We did not make this up. Please, please believe us.
Pishing | Making a “pssh pssh” sound with your mouth in a field to attract rare birds. It works because it mimics alarm calls. Birders do this in public, confidently. Respect honestly.
Armchair Birder | Someone who identifies birds purely from photos without ever going outside. Mildly offensive within serious birding circles. Culturally: the person writing a trend report without being part of the culture. I see you LinkedInfluencers… Not you. Never you. You’re outside. You have the trousers.
For our next volume of SOURCE CODE we want to hear from you. And so… send us your nominations to dotdottdottmedia@gmail.com
14 People Whose Visual Fingerprints Are Everywhere
Henry Goodfellow | Photographer
Charli Chops | Director & Photographer
Danica Arias Kleinknecht | Director
Khalik Allah | Photographer
Asher Hyde | Visual Designer
Giorgia Rose | Photographer & Videographer
Evan Swords | Visual Designer
Daniel Derro | Director & Photographer
Aus Taylor | Creative Director & Stage Designer
Cameron Strand | Photographer
Stephanie Stamatis | Art Director & Set Designer
Chloe Chippendale | Photographer
Yago Hunt-Laudi | Editor
James Brodribb | Photographer & Director