Word of the day
AuthenticityThe quality of being real, genuine, and true to one's own character or stated origins.
Agency Wiki
Concepts, people and vocabulary from the Agency editorials, each one linked back to the edition it comes from.
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These are the 5 themes that organize the topics and content inside this wiki.
Thought
Ideas about meaning, belief, the mind and the natural world.
Creation
How creative work is learned, made and expressed.
Society
History, collective life, culture, the planet and play.
Market
Brands, companies and the economy they operate in.
Technology
Machines, software and the life that happens on screens.
Notable people
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Franz Joseph HaydnView full profile
Isaac NewtonView full profile
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Highlights
Featured Entry
SynchronicityRead the full entrySynchronicity is the psychological concept describing coincidences of events that are meaningfully connected yet lack direct causal links. Formulated by psychoanalyst Carl Jung, it highlights moments where subjective mental states align with objective external occurrences.
Featured Genius
Christopher NolanChristopher Nolan is a British and American film director, known for films such as Inception, Interstellar and Oppenheimer. The Agency editorial names him once, as C. Nolan, in Creative.11: he is one of five directors Thiago Patriota lists when asked where his ideas come from.
- Director of Inception and Interstellar
Arts, Music & Media
Creativity & LearningDid You Know...?
- Where did the Western concept of romantic love originate?It took distinct cultural shape in 12th-century medieval chivalric narratives and the courtly love poetry of western Europe.
- Who introduced the psychological archetypes of anima and animus?Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung developed the concepts as part of his structural model of the collective unconscious.
- Who formulated the classic philosophical critique of value judgments?David Hume argued in the eighteenth century that evaluative and moral judgments derive from human sentiments rather than logical necessity.
- What are the primary roots of the word cosmology?The word derives from the Greek kosmos, meaning order or harmonious arrangement, and logos, signifying discourse or rational study.
Featured Agency Creative
Pedro SampaioRead the full entryPedro Sampaio, a product designer interviewed in Creative.7 of the Agency editorial, says he liked logos since he was little and even drew the logos of imaginary brands. A designer for 11 years, he describes product design as much more than interface skills: you have to know your user, your data, your team and your constraints, own your decisions and know how to communicate all of it. Outside work he collects music: a little over 300 albums, and he counts 58 bands seen live.
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Books
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BraveheartBraveheart is the lone hiker of The Finger and the Moon, the short story that opens Issue.4 of the Agency editorial. She is sitting on a rock at the top of the Andes, observing the moon, when the old monk Shifu arrives. Their conversation ends with his lesson about not mistaking the finger for the moon.
LeafcutterLeafcutter is an ant, one of the two characters of The Nature's Masterpiece, the short story the author wrote for Issue.12. The story introduces him as a "Tiny Art Critique": he travels on the head of the turtle Mr. Godspeed, speaks in capital letters and believes he has found nature's true and only masterpiece in a flower.
Mr. GodspeedMr. Godspeed is a turtle, one of the two characters of The Nature's Masterpiece, the short story the author wrote for Issue.12. The story introduces him as a "Chill Nomad Philosopher": he carries the ant Leafcutter on his head through the Amazon rainforest, at his own speed, and teaches him to look past the surface of a flower.
ShifuShifu is the old Buddhist monk of two short stories published in the Agency editorial. In The Finger and the Moon, in Issue.4, he meets the hiker Braveheart at the top of the Andes. In The Way, in Issue.8, he gives water and advice to Valor, a lost wanderer. The editions later return to his lessons to talk about leadership and courage.
WinstonWinston is the farmer of A Life in Tranquility, a short piece of fiction in Issue.6 of the Agency editorial. He plants corn, lives without screens and has time, because his life follows the slow cycle of his crops. The edition sets him against the reader, whose life runs at the pace of the information consumed.
Characters
See all characters (31)Characters of films, series, games and books named in the editions.
Doom MarineThe Doom Marine is the protagonist of the Doom video game franchise, a soldier who fights demons. The Agency editorial names him once, in Creative.3, the interview with Higor Gomes: the interviewer jokes that Higor is the Doom Marine and asks what is so therapeutic about slaying monsters.
KratosKratos is the protagonist of the God of War video game series. In the Agency editorial he appears once, in Issue.9, where the author lists the lives he lived inside games: slaying giants and meeting gods in ancient Greece in the skin of Kratos.
Jack TorranceJack Torrance is the protagonist of The Shining, the novel by Stephen King that Stanley Kubrick filmed in 1980. In the Agency editorial he appears in Issue.23, which quotes the sentence he types in the film, about all work and no play, to defend play and leisure in adult life.
Harry PotterHarry Potter is the title character of the seven fantasy novels by J. K. Rowling, a young wizard who studies at the Hogwarts school. In the Agency editorial the name appears in Creative.6, where the interviewee Suelen Viana says she has read Harry Potter many times.- GroguGrogu is a character of the Star Wars series The Mandalorian, a small child of the same species as Yoda. In the Agency editorial he appears once, in Issue.25, as the example of a cute mythological creature, in the edition's playful answer to a quotation of Carl Sagan.
- Carmela SopranoCarmela Soprano is a character of the television series The Sopranos, the wife of the mob boss Tony Soprano, played by Edie Falco. In the Agency editorial she is named once, in Issue.16, as the role that identifies Edie Falco in a list of tributes the cast paid to James Gandolfini.
Geralt of RiviaGeralt of Rivia is the monster hunter at the centre of The Witcher, the books by Andrzej Sapkowski and the video games made from them. In the Agency editorial he appears once, in Issue.9, where the author says he slayed monsters from European folklore with a silver sword as Geralt.- Luke SkywalkerLuke Skywalker is a character of the Star Wars films, the young hero of the original trilogy. In the Agency editorial he appears once, in Issue.16, in a hypothesis: if someone claims that he is the true villain of Star Wars, the edition says, that opinion shall be respected.
- Darth VaderDarth Vader is a character of the Star Wars films, the masked villain who serves the Dark Side of the Force. In the Agency editorial he appears once, in Issue.16, where an imagined voice bursts in to declare him its hero, and the edition answers that each of us is entitled to our own heroes and villains.
TristanTristan is the knight of the medieval romance of Tristan and Isolde. Issue.13 of the Agency editorial retells the legend: the son of Blancheflor, orphaned at birth and raised by his uncle King Mark, is sent to Ireland to fetch Isolde, the king's promised bride, and falls in love with her after both drink a love potion by mistake.
Uncle BenUncle Ben is a character of Spider-Man, the uncle who raises Peter Parker. In the Agency editorial, Issue.2 quotes his line about great power and great responsibility as a warning before sharing a message.
Tony SopranoTony Soprano is the mob boss at the centre of the TV series The Sopranos, created by David Chase and played by James Gandolfini. Issue.16 of the Agency editorial, dedicated to the actor, has a section with the character's name: it presents Tony as the anti-hero who goes to therapy and as the legacy Gandolfini left.
Works, brands and places
69 entries
Artwork
- Löwenmensch FigurineThe Löwenmensch figurine, also called the Lion-man of Hohlenstein-Stadel, is a prehistoric ivory sculpture discovered in a German cave, determined by carbon dating to be between 35,000 and 41,000 years old. In Archetype.1, it is cited as one of the oldest-known examples of an artistic representation and the oldest confirmed statue ever discovered.
- Mona LisaThe Mona Lisa is Leonardo da Vinci's portrait that the Agency editorial uses as the ultimate semiotics exercise. The article says it can be interpreted from an infinite number of perspectives to get an infinite number of meanings unique to each viewer.
Films & Series
- Breaking BadBreaking Bad is a TV series. In Issue.16, it is named alongside The Sopranos, The Wire and Mad Men as one of the critically acclaimed drama series that pushed boundaries during the Golden Age of Television. The edition notes its finale garnered 10.3 million viewers.
- Leave the World BehindLeave the World Behind is a 2023 film directed by Sam Esmail and produced by Barack Obama. The film appears only in the Portuguese edition of Issue.0, where the character G. H. Scott is used to illustrate what it means to understand patterns in society, economy and culture.
- Mad MenMad Men is a TV series about the advertising industry in the 1960s. It appears in four editions. In Creative.11, the author says he binge-watched it before choosing advertising as a career. In Issue.16, it is named among the Golden Age dramas. In Issue.13, Don Draper is quoted. In Design.3, an image of Peggy Olson illustrates a section on creative directors.
Music
- Angels On My SideAngels On My Side is a song by Rick Astley recommended in Issue.14, in the music section of the edition. The edition prints its lyrics and then asks the reader whether they can quantify how optimistic these lyrics are.
- Carry on Wayward SonCarry on Wayward Son is a song by Kansas listed in the Chords music recommendation section of Issue.10. The edition presents the song with its title and band name, with no additional commentary.
- Connected Colors - Solo Piano VersionConnected Colors - Solo Piano Version is a track by Piano Novel listed in the Chords music recommendation section of Issue.6. The edition presents it with its title and artist name, with no additional commentary.
Company
Agency BrasilAgency Brasil is a global community of creatives and a bilingual research hub on creativity, marketing, and technology. Founded by Thiago Patriota, Agency operates as an editorial platform publishing long-form essays, interviews with creative professionals, and thematic series in Portuguese and English.- AppleApple is the American technology company behind the Macintosh and the iPhone, and one of the best-known brands in the world. In the Agency editorial it is the example of how far a designer's ideas can go: the author tells the reader that their ideas could give birth to the next Apple.
- RedditReddit is an American social platform where users share content and discuss it in communities organized by topic. In Issue.2, the author tests its algorithm with organic posts and calls it a gold mine of niched impressions.
Product
- Adobe IllustratorAdobe Illustrator is the vector drawing program published by Adobe and the standard tool for creating logos, icons and illustrations. In the Agency editorial it is the starting question of Design.1: why is a brand logo usually made in Adobe Illustrator rather than Photoshop?
- Adobe PhotoshopAdobe Photoshop is the image editing software that became the standard tool of digital design and photo retouching. In the Agency editorial it stands for the tools of the trade: the author warns that a designer's vocation won't start with a YouTube tutorial or inside Photoshop.
- ChatGPTChatGPT is a conversational assistant built on a language model and developed by OpenAI. In Issue.0, the author calls the announcement of its official public API huge, urges readers to try it right away and lists prompts and the ways he has been using it.
Series
Agency Dictionary
The vocabulary of the Agency editorials: definitions, origins and examples of use, linked to the editions where each word appears.