THE BASIS POINT

The Basis Point’s Best Artwork: February 2019 edition

 
 


Here at The Basis Point, we’re spending the first few months with our new team changing our voice to speak to directly to you instead of financial and real estate companies that serve you, and we just completed month 2 of our sound check.

This is harder than it looks because financial media that speaks to consumers either lacks subject matter expertise and glosses over what matters, or it’s done by wonks used to speaking to a business audience so the lessons go over the heads of consumers.

Our approach is right down the middle: accessible wonkiness. This gives you what you need to understand and make decisions about financial and housing matters. And it gives financial companies who serve you a creative and credible approach they sometimes struggle to come up with while balancing complex messages with regulatory compliance.

Artwork is a huge part of how we do this, and like we did in January, we wanted to highlight selected artwork that helped us teach you about critical consumer finance and housing concepts in February. Once again, massive props to our creative director Dennis.

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Hipster Millennials Don’t Have To Sell Out To Own A Home

THE POST: Spencer had a big realization about what it actually takes to own a home—millennials don’t have to compromise on where they want to live if they understand how to balance their financial lives.

WHY WE LOVE THE ARTWORK: Dennis’ millennial rendition of American Gothic, which we call The Youngs, belongs in a museum. Drink in all the painted details, from Mr. Young’s knuckle tatts and startup buttons to Ms. Young’s AirPods and nose ring. Stay tuned as we build out our American Gothic generational collection.

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Gen Z Housing Headlines Already Blowing Smoke

THE POST: The oldest millennials will be 39 this year, so with this gen approaching middle age, it’s time to start understanding Generation Z, which are ages 4 to 24. They’re just making their first real banking, homebuying, investing, and other financial decisions. Like with millennials, early Gen Z headlines are a stereotypical joke, so we’ll be debunking that early and often from here out, starting with this one.

WHY WE LOVE THE ARTWORK: Even as we defended Gen Z against mean headline writers, we had to poke fun at them for their love of vaping. Check out the TBP logo graffiti’d in the corner, too. You’ll see our team tagging that around, and if you need stencils, please reach out.

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You Won’t Find Keys To Your Dream Home In A Chart

THE POST: Spencer figured out that looking at housing data from a super high level (which is how most headlines and stories on housing are written) really doesn’t help homebuyers—you have to look local. This post is about how you can read and interpret data to stay informed without getting bummed out.

WHY WE LOVE THE ARTWORK: One of our themes here at The Basis Point is that you should chill out and get the real story when headlines tell you to worry, and this piece captures that vibe perfectly. Also this is an example of not just mailing in a meme style image. Click image to enlarge and see how text and TPB logo are done in style of the water, and the boats are actually on top of the text/image.

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Home buying & selling cruises toward car trade-in model with Opendoor in driver’s seat

THE POST: The way we’ll buy, sell, and finance homes in the future is coming into view—soon it’ll be like trading in a car for the newer model. Companies like Opendoor are driving the transformation and you homebuyers and sellers need to stay on top of the changes so you can have an easier time in a convoluted process.

WHY WE LOVE THE ARTWORK: While it might be a little far-fetched to imagine a Tesla-style home dealership right now like we did for this artwork, but this is the kind of experience we should demand in home buying and selling. The auto industry makes it like this, so why can’t the real estate industry do it too? We think this image will prove prescient.

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The State of Work 20 Years After Office Space

THE POST: 20 years after Office Space nailed cubicle culture, everything has changed and nothing is different. Spencer and Julian dive into Gen X and millennial perspectives on the most important work movie ever made.

WHY WE LOVE THE ARTWORK: Saying “Thank God It’s Monday” is the 21st century “Somebody’s got a case of the Mondays” and it is just as much of an ass-kickable offense.

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Zillow just told us what the future of buying a home looks like

THE POST: Zillow’s Q4 earnings were the biggest real estate story so far this year. The site is most peoples’ first step on the homebuying journey and wants to be able to take you the rest of the way with financing, and even selling your existing home to them. This story takes you inside Zillow’s crystal ball to see the future of homebuying.

WHY WE LOVE THE ARTWORK: We love it because it inspired us to add the TBP golden necklace to our upcoming merch line. Drop us a line to pre-order.

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Zillow Is Now The Netflix Of Homes

THE POST: Zillow’s vision for the future of real estate is so huge you can’t fit it all into one post. Like Netflix owns our attention in entertainment, Zillow owns our attention in housing. Also turns out Zillow’s management team has close ties to Netflix and this piece explains how the business model similarities are no coincidence.

WHY WE LOVE THE ARTWORK: Since Zillow was born with Netflix DNA, we had to show how the Zillow experience could be just like browsing Netflix. Also notice how ZillowFlix could promote homes from different agents—this piece also describes how they’re working WITH agents not against them, just like Netflix works with other studios.

 

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