Innholdsfortegnelse for Summer 2024 i Fast Company

THIS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IS ONE OF THE STRANGEST IN American history. It's the first rematch since 1956, when Dwight D. Eisenhower defeated Adlai Stevenson (again). The cognitive fitness of the candidates (yes, both) is a real issue. And the Republican candidate is a serial liar, a threat to our democracy, and a convicted felon 34 times over whose rap sheet may grow even longer before the Justice Department is done with him. And yet it's also the quietest presidential election year in memory. An April NBC News poll found that only 64% of voters said they were “very interested” in the election—a nearly 20-year low and down from 77% four years ago. In June, the Columbia Journalism Review ran an article about voter disengagement under the headline “The Least Important…

The artificial intelligence (AI) gold rush is on, driving feverish demand for this era's version of shovels and pickaxes: the semiconductors that make AI and data gathering possible. Graphical processing units (GPUs) are a prime example. These highend chips provide the massive computational power needed for AI models. Sales at Nvidia, which dominates the GPU market, have more than tripled in the past year. DATA CENTERS DRIVE CHIP INVESTMENT But GPUs are just one type of high-per formance semiconductor in demand as companies scramble to refurbish data centers and build new facilities. Microsoft, Meta, and Google spent more than $32 billion combined on data center infrastructure in just the first three months of this year. Semiconductor sales are expected to hit a record $611.2 billion in annual global sales this…

Design Company of the Year Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation A wide-ranging collab strategy including sneakers and furniture to promote historic architecture theory through hot product drops General Excellence Reddit Brand Evolution Pentagram A holistic rebrand of the social platform on the cusp of its IPO Accessible Design Whispp Whispp An AI-powered voice system for those who have trouble speaking that turns whispers into someone's natural voice over phone and video chat Advertising Skims Ultimate Nipple Bra Skims A stylish viral advertising campaign that spurred a 40,000 customer waitlist ahead of the product launch Apps and Games Da Vinci Eye Da Vinci Eye A modern spin on the camera obscura, allowing you to trace digital drawings onto paper using the Apple Vision Pro Artificial Intelligence Magic Studio Canva A suite of…

RICHARD DICKSON HIT THE PINK CARPET AT THE London Barbie premiere last July wearing a blushtoned suit and magenta pocket square. He smiled for cameras with producer-star Margot Robbie and writerdirector Greta Gerwig as fans—some of whom had been lined up in Leicester Square since 3 a.m.—looked on. The event was a capstone of sorts for Dickson, who as Mattel's then president and COO had helped transform Barbie from an outmoded feminist lightning rod into an icon of diversity, acceptance, and empowerment that attracted collaborations with the likes of Karl Lagerfeld and Balmain and sold $150 million in toys and consumer products last year. Now, here was the movie, which Dickson helped develop and executive produce. It would become the highest-grossing film of 2023. But as the rosé flowed that…

DESIGNS THAT INSIST ON BEING FIRST 1. Alphafly 3 2. Arc'teryx Alpha SV Jacket SHAPELIEST DESIGNS 1. Ember Cube 2. Squarespace Collection 3. Sphere DESIGNS YOU KINDA WANT TO SETTLE DOWN WITH 1. Cozy 2. Cherish Serenity 3. Magic Studio DESIGNS THAT NEED TO SQUARE OFF ON A REALITY TV SINGING SHOW 1. The Nursery 2. Sphere MOST DELICIOUS DESIGNS 1. Opus Conical Burr Grinder 2. Impulse Cooktop 3. SlimTech Insulation Technology DESIGNS THAT WOULD MAKE GOOD SONG TITLES BECAUSE THEY ARE ALSO IN FACT SONG TITLES 1. Dark Horse 2. Cozy 3. Sphere 4. Le Visionnaire EXPLICITLY DESCRIPTIVE DESIGNS 1. “1,374 Days: My Life With Long Covid” 2. Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru— Terminal 2 3. Skims Ultimate Nipple Bra VISIONARY DESIGNS 1. Braille-embossed cans 2. Da Vinci Eye 3. Le Visionnaire…

IF YOU HAPPEN TO DROP A KID OFF AT COLlege this fall, you may be surprised to encounter representatives from assorted sportsbooks handing out free branded swag to returning students. Then again, you may not be the least bit surprised: In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 2018 decision that opened the door for states to legalize sports betting, even the most casual fan is aware of the growing ubiquity of sports betting messages. One recent study determined they now occupy about 21% of broadcast time. Students love free stuff—who doesn't?—but the baiting tactics being deployed by the gambling industry are straight out of the drug dealer's playbook: the free taste. The plan has two parts. One involves funneling people to gambling apps that feature all the psychologically…

AFTER A CAREER IN ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT at Goldman Sachs, in 2014, Reham Fagiri cofounded AptDeco, a peer-to-peer marketplace for buying and selling new and used furniture. She came up with the idea after struggling to sell furniture on Craigslist, finding that transporting items and negotiating with buyers was cumbersome. The private company was incubated at Y Combinator and has raised more than $70 million. What's your best habit, and what's your worst? My best is being thoughtful and considerate of others. My worst is not staying consistent with exercise. What do you do when you're creatively stuck? I love strolling through the Conservatory Garden in Central Park. It's the perfect place to get those creative juices flowing. Is there a businessperson you admire? Steve Jobs. He changed the meaning…

Experience Design Sphere ICRAVE Retail SMART SHOPPING CART Caper Cart INSTACART STANDING IN THE checkout line is nobody's idea of a good time, which is why Instacart is making it a thing of the past. In dozens of grocery stores around the country, shoppers can now put items into a high-tech cart, tap their credit card on a payment pad on the cart's handle, then leave the store with their purchases. The Caper Cart looks like a typical plastic grocery cart but is equipped with five cameras and a scale that recognizes every item you place in it. A computer screen near the cart's handle provides a running tally of every item in the cart. “People like knowing exactly how much they are spending,” says David McIntosh, who leads Instacart's…

Ti Chang Cofounder and chief design officer, Crave Eran Chen Founder and executive director, ODA Brian Collins Cofounder and chief creative officer, Collins Marcus Engman Creative director, Ingka Group, Ikea Retail Sharon Gauci Executive director, design, Global Buick and GMC Mara Hoffman President and creative director, Mara Hoffman Giorgia Lupi Partner, Pentagram Lara Marrero Retail and consumer experience leader, strategy director, and principal, Gensler Ali Mize Senior director, ESG, belonging, and corporate philanthropy, Neiman Marcus Group Ivy Ross VP, design for all hardware products, Google Todd Snyder Founder and creative director, Todd Snyder Dori Tunstall Design anthropologist, author, and educator Forest Young Executive director, design, FundamentalCo Zipeng Zhu Founder, Dazzle Studio…

GRETCHEN CARLSON IS SEATED AT A TABLE IN A BLUE SUIT, WITH A camera pointed at her. She looks serious, but comfortable: After a career in broadcast media, she's used to being filmed. But on this April morning, there is no hair and makeup person hovering just out of frame. No teleprompter or camera crew. No Bill O'Reilly talking over her or coanchors cracking sexist jokes. She's sitting in front of a panel of politicians, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee in support of workers’ rights. “In 2016, I found the courage to sue one of the most powerful men in the world, former Fox News chair and CEO Roger Ailes, for sexual harassment,” Carlson begins. When Carlson came forward with allegations against Ailes back in 2016, the decks were…

Biodesign Fab Tree Hab TERREFORM ONE IN A PATCH OF FOREST NEAR THE STORM King Art Center, about 60 miles north of New York City, a building is growing. Clusters of living native willow trees form the structural pillars of this tent-shaped edifice, which is gradually expanding around a wooden scaffold that's guiding the tree trunks’ growth. Over the course of just a few years, these trees will form walls and a roof that are just as stable as a conventionally constructed building. Looking a bit like the hull of an upturned Viking ship, this experimental structure is called the Fab Tree Hab, and it was created by Terreform ONE, a nonprofit art, architecture, and urban design research group. Cofounder Mitchell Joachim says the 1,000-square-foot pavilion is the product of…

Finance Where to Settle MCCANN WORLDGROUP Packaging REINVENTING A CLASSIC Bambox BAMBOX THE HUMBLE toilet paper roll may be a household design icon, but its bulky packaging hogs space on delivery trucks and grocery store shelves. Instead of bulky rolls, Bambox founder Roy Shihor wondered, why not compress stacks of paper into a box that takes up far less space, using paper derived from highly renewable bamboo. Based in hightech Tel Aviv, Shihor was unable to find a local designer who wanted to focus on his low-tech challenge, so he turned his living room into a toilet paper folding and compression laboratory—undergoing what Shihor calls a “design and entrepreneurial crash course”—to invent an accordion fold that fits four rolls’ worth of TP into a small box that hangs from any conventional roll dispenser.…

Home SlimTech Insulation Technology WHIRLPOOL Transportation GARDEN TERMINAL Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru— Terminal 2 SKIDMORE, OWINGS & MERRILL THE NEW TERMInal at Bengaluru's airport, designed by global architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) and opened in September 2023, is now a worthy destination in its own right: The 30-acre public outdoor space includes shops, restaurants, and concert venues. Passengers check in for flights in what feels like a hanging garden and traverse Terminal 2 via openair bridges hovering over a forest canopy. Travelers with time to kill can wander through that forest, where SOM, in collaboration with landscape architecture firm Grant Associates, has designed a network of winding paths, leading to a pair of two-story bamboo performance pavilions. Air India recently chose Kempegowda International Airport as a connecting aviation hub. According to SOM…

Data Design “1,374 Days: My Life With Long Covid” GIORGIA LUPI, PENTAGRAM Fashion HONORING NATIVE DESIGN Artist in Residence: Polo Ralph Lauren x Naiomi Glasses RALPH LAUREN RALPH LAUREN brought on Naiomi Glasses, a seventhgeneration Diné (or Navajo) textile designer, as its inaugural artist in residence last year. Glasses collaborated closely with the Polo Ralph Lauren design team to create three collections that reflected various aspects of her heritage. The first 32-piece capsule features crosses, diamonds, and dragonfly motifs that were commonly used in Diné fabrics before trading posts arrived on their territory and introduced Western influences. “I learned how to weave from my grandmother,” she says. “Customers who wear these pieces are honoring a craft our community has honed over centuries.” Although Ralph Lauren has previously incorporated aspects of Indigenous design into its…

Design Company of the Year Canva Metalab General Excellence “1,374 Days: My Life With Long Covid” Giorgia Lupi, Pentagram ArtBridge ArtBridge Projects Pradasphere II 2x4 Accessible Design Access controller Sony Interactive Entertainment Adaptive Intimates Even Adaptive Find My Things Microsoft Monarch American Printing House for the Blind Neural Sleeve Cionic Apps and Games Dojo Islands ClassDojo (Not Boring) Vibes Not Boring Software PGA Tour Vision app Work & Co Artificial Intelligence Dot New Computer Find My Things Microsoft FitForm Bras Institute of Design Volumental Volumental Automotive Enventur inflatable travel kennel Pensa GEM Waev Biodesign A breakthrough conditioning ingredient that's easy on the ocean Inolex RE/8 Bio-Circular Architectural Mesh Kaynemaile Vegan Goat Milk Skincare Products Beekman 1802 Branding Feeld Made Thought New York Botanical Garden Wolff Olins Reddit Brand Evolution Pentagram…