On Hedcut and Doodles

by Bethany Stephens

Ever heard of hedcut?

It's a drawing - often of a person's head and shoulders - made primarily of dots and lines. You're most likely to be familiar with it from - well, paper money that we once exchanged regularly, or if you've ever glanced at the front page of the Wall Street Journal.

I knew someone in a past job who was riveted by hedcut portraiture, and that led me across an article several years ago about hedcut portraits in the WSJ, how they're made and how AI technology was reinventing the craft.

If you're prone to going down curiosity rabbit holes as I am, the article above is a fun read featuring Grumpy Cat and a handful of celebrities, and it will lead you to a spot where you can create a hedcut of yourself if you're a WSJ subscriber (even free, I think)!

So what's that got to do with real estate?

Stick with me.

You're familiar with Google Doodles, right? They're the fun iterations in the Google search bar - also a fun back story.

Well... each day when I log onto our excellent Engel & Völkers global platform (full of tools to serve our clients, market our listings and otherwise thrive in a world of mostly mediocre real estate brands), one of my simple pleasures is seeing the latest E&V doodle.

From a snowy, winter cabin with smoke billowing from the chimney to a skier navigating a steep slope, these cheerful animations always make me smile.

Put simply: very few global brands actually prioritize art forms in a world that values fast, impersonal and function over form.

I think it’s a nice analogy for many of the things I love about the E&V brand… and at the very least, it makes me smile and delivers a little boost of happiness before logging into systems and software each day.