1. Nieman Lab shares insights about the progress and user adoption of Stela, the New York Times’ in-house analytics platform. As publishers adjust to living in a world of distributed content and to using analytics data to drive decisions, there’s value in more than aggregating the data: make it approachable, simple and fun to use.
2. Make your buttons look like buttons. Nick Babich takes a look at the evolution of the humble button user interface , and offers current best practices.
3. I’ve tried a bunch of analog and digital to-do solutions, and last year finally swapped Evernote for Google Keep. This article makes the case for cobbling together Google products — with their killer app, reminders — to become your go-to productivity tool.
4. As digital products proliferate in large organizations, it can be challenging to craft a cohesive design system. Nathan Curtis explains how starting with a product portfolio with a focus on flagships can set the stage for an attainable design consistency.
5. Digital businesses require leaders with exponential mindsets, according to Mark Bonchek in HBR. When people charged with digital initiatives focus on the incremental and fear of giving up control, they are missing the opportunity for true innovation.

Weekend fun: It was all DNC all the time this week, and Hillary Clinton’s team landed a digital hit with the “Trump Yourself” campaign. Also: David Attenborough fans might enjoy his narration of a new kind of fauna: Pokemon.

Every Friday, find five, highly subjective pointers to compelling technologies, emerging trends, and interesting ideas that affect how we live and work digitally. Try out the Friday 5 archive, or sign up for a weekly email.