A New Version of Balance: Welcome to the Kamala Era

Back in May, we were all innocently searching for a man in finance. But, as the summer marched on, it became crystal clear that what we really needed was a woman in politics. Enter: the Kamala Harris campaign team and their seismic social media presence. 

Her campaign social is actively shaking up how people are engaging with politics online, and transforming us into a more balanced version of ourselves. This isn’t just any balance; it’s a kind of palatable-yet-punky, huggable-yet-mean-girl balance that rejects the rules and plays the game with a bratty, unbothered energy. It’s as if we’ve crossed into a new realm, where the noise fades, and we can confidently take in the chaos around us with a calm, grounded savviness. Maybe, just maybe, this is what life looks like beyond outrage. 

The Summer of Transformation

Summer 2024 was wild. Biden’s disastrous debate performance, Trump’s assassination scare, and the RNC convention marked the crescendo of the old era—a period marked by moodiness, grumbling, and an ever-present undercurrent of worry. By July, though, we were already teetering on the edge of something new. The shift wasn’t immediate, and there were weeks of back-and-forth debates about whether we could handle a late-stage candidate switch-up (eye roll).

But Kamala’s campaign? It took the “Kamala is brat” endorsement and kept trucking, completely unbothered by the chaos around it. Kamala’s social team tipped Trump’s playbook on its head, using memes, punchy taglines, and direct attacks laced with hilarious energy. It was a vibe we hadn’t seen before from a professional or corporate brand, let alone a political campaign. Suddenly, politics wasn’t just about facts, infographics, or carefully curated arguments. It was about memes, casual roasts, and captions as simple as “lol.”

What we’re seeing is a rejection of the heavy sincerity that dominated 2016 and 2020, a way to shrug off the pressure cooker of expectation and anxiety. But don’t mistake the chill vibes for not caring—we care a lot. We just care differently. We’re more weathered and less willing to sacrifice our sanity.

A New Kind of Balance

This coolheaded era isn’t just relegated to politics; it’s also pulsating through pop culture and the sports world too. Look at Simone Biles, prioritizing her mental health while being a literal queen in competition. She’s proven that balance is more than achievable—it’s essential. Simone isn’t sacrificing her well-being for success, and that’s what makes her the epitome of this new kind of balanced thinking. 

And it’s not just athletes. Chappell Roan set clear boundaries with her fans, a move that resonated with the rest of us who are fed up with people crossing the line. We can still stan our summer pop girlies, but we’ve been rightly called out for not having boundaries for decency.

Even brands are stumbling into this multifaceted mindset. Nike, for example, leaned into the “win-at-all-costs” mentality with their Winning Isn’t For Everyone ad series. And while that old-school narrative still has its appeal, it’s starting to feel... off. We’ve been running on millennial ambition and “lean in” energy for so long that we’re burnt out. This new era? It’s rejecting that overly simplistic way of thinking. A video of A’ja Wilson roasting her Olympic teammates in a game of UNO is more aligned with the 2024 vibes. That’s the kind of ruthless competitiveness we can fully get behind. 

Savvy, Cynical, and Done with Earnestness

What’s clear is that we’re too savvy for the earnestness of the past. We’ve grown cynical from the absurdity of internet life and we’re tired of pretending we should play by the same silly rules that got us here. It’s not about rejecting everything that came before, but rather pulling in the parts that make sense and waving off the rest with a knowing midwestern smile.

Dead King Bread, an awesome bakery in my corner of Northwest Philly, gets it. Their Instagram is a perfect example of this era’s tone: it’s random updates with a dash of ‘ugh, building a bakery is hard’ (*gestures vaguely to the raw electrical wires in the background*) thrown in. Plus: thirst trap shots of prepped scones, fingers tapping sarcastically on the branded mug like an influencer, and a chaotic mishmash of Seinfeld, cat videos, and Charlie Brown clips overlaid on top. It’s informative and concise for anyone who’s simply trying to keep tabs on their bakery, but it’s also funny, deadpan, and effortlessly cool. It’s a spot-on product of this era.

The Future: v balanced

This new version of balance doesn’t ask us to follow best practices or play into outdated expectations. Instead, it invites us to recognize the deranged systems around us and choose a better way—one that can be both bratty and intense yet grounded and chill. We’re navigating a world that requires us to be a million things at once, so we can now fully allow ourselves to be both laid-back and fiercely competitive, both huggable and kinda mean. It’s the era of Kamala, Charli, Chappell, Simone, and memes that say more than a thousand campaign ads ever could. At last, it feels oh-so-fun. 

Sources & Inspo

This was the article about Simone Biles that clued me in to her insane ~balance~ skills.

And this LinkedIn post from Scott Kirkwood connected the dots between the Nike campaign and Simone’s brand of balance / being more than one thing at once.

Ambition Monster by Jennifer Romolini was foundational. I always read books quickly (toooo quickly, like a coked-up plot monster, never stopping to enjoy things) but I had to whip through this book faster than ever because it was so so true. 

In July I wrote about the Brat phenomenon and Charli xcx’s branding brilliance, in case you missed it.

During the Olympics, a husband-wife real estate duo from South Dakota posted this epic mashup of what it was like for our parents to buy a house vs now. It went ridiculously viral — can you imagine? 

Nigella Lawson’s post about her everyday hair made me smile. She gets it.

I had a great conversation the day before I wrote this with my friend Sam, who also used to be my coworker ten years ago during the Facebook video / social video era. We talked about how deranged and algorithm-fueled everything was back then, how gross it was. She’s in the process of releasing music and building multimedia assets for her band, MAN LEE, and it felt unbelievably great to shoot the shit with her about how none of the dumb rules that we used to follow matter. Screw the rules. Have fun.

Thanks for reading. I’m Anne Marie, a designer and diy-er who lives in Philadelphia. I primarily work with large and small brands on their marketing/design but I also do video/motion graphics. You can see the work that I’m hired to create on my website. Connect with me on LinkedIn or Instagram and reach me directly at: annemarie [at] amlindemann [dot] com.