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You are what you launch: how software became a lifestyle brand

software used to be functional. now it’s personal. this is an essay about tools, taste, and the quiet ways we curate identity through what we launch.

now, with iOS 18 letting you recolor every icon to match your wallpaper, i’ve seen home screens so hideous that i’d never associate them with apple at all. i knew i wanted to write about software companies as lifestyle brands, but this was the clearest example yet: vibes over facts. it’s a perfect example of companies not just acknowledging their lifestyle brand status, but actively leaning into it as a recruiting and signaling mechanism.

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