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The New York City subway is not a glamorous scene to behold. Between the grime, the crime, and the occasional scurrying rat, it is best experienced in small doses and only when the need arises. Unless, that is, you’re traveling through Grand Army Plaza. As of May this year, anyone passing through the Brooklyn transit hub will be stopped in their tracks by a 7-foot tall, papier-mâché T-Rex looming over what may well be New York City’s most outlandish bodega. Titled Rex’s Dino Store, the bodega is located inside one of the city’s defunct newsstand kiosks. It features newspapers with titles like The Maul Street Journal, Jurassic Park Slope, and various pun-laden products like a Steg-Yun poster and Snarlboro cigarettes, all purchasable with a Master-claw card. [Photo: Megan Armas] Alas, none of the items on display at the bodega are actually for sale, since it is an art installation more akin to a diorama. “We are also glad to bring some whimsy to MTA riders commute,” says artist Sarah Cassidy, who created the project with artist Akiva Leffert. “Even if youre having a bad day, its difficult to resist a good dinosaur pun.” [Photo: Megan Armas] Rex’s Dino Store is the culmination of the MTA’s so-called Vacant Unit Activation Program, which aims to breathe new life into the subway system’s long-empty retail spaces by offering them, rent-free, to artists. Since launching in spring 2024, the program has helped convert 12 previously vacant units across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronxwith half a dozen other locations set to open this summer. But according to Mira Atherton, a senior manager in the MTAs real estate department and the curator of the initiative, Rexs Dino Store marks a turning point for the initiative, which has primarily grown through word-of-mouth. Its in a very visible part of the station, and it’s such a fun and creative and loud activation,” she says. In the past month, Ive gotten so many inquiries from artists. [Photo: Megan Armas] The vacancy struggle The MTA has long struggled to fill its retail spaces. Of the roughly 195 retail units scattered throughout the subway system, only 52 are open for business, reflecting a staggering 75% vacancy rate that has worsened since the pandemic stalled foot traffic. [Photo: Megan Armas] Previous attempts to reinvigorate them have included leasing to coffee kiosks, and ATMs. Some have floated more radical ideas. Assembly member and NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has proposed transforming these unused spaces into crisis and drop-in centers to assist unhoused New Yorkers. His $10 million initiative would fund outreach workers stationed inside empty units, offering immediate care and connecting individuals to longer-term services. Meanwhile, the goal of the Vacant Unit Activation Program is to enchant the transit experience by bringing moments of unexpected delight into the city’s drab underground corridors. Might these art installations eventually attract paying tenants? Atherton says that hasnt happened yetbut its not off the table. And if a commercial partner does express interest in a location, the art installations dont necessarily have to go the way of the T-Rex. “The hope is it will inspire retailersbut that could work for an entire corridor rather than a single unit,” she says, noting that some subway stations have more than one vacant unit. [Photo: Megan Armas] A problem with a solution Atherto was entrusted with the project in January 2023. At the time, she says, the vacancies were “a problem with no solution.” First, she considered launching a design challenge for architecture and design students, or bringing on a master tenant to program the spaces, but ultimately, she landed on an open call for artists and cultural organizations. It launched in November 2023 with a purposefully non-prescriptive brief. “We don’t want to say ‘this is what you should do,'” says Atherton. “The point is that the MTA doesn’t know. I would have never thought of putting a dinosaur in a bodega.” (The program is entirely separate from the better-known MTA Arts & Design initiative, which has its own budget and commissions permanent mosaics, murals, and digital works across various subway stations.) [Photo: Megan Armas] The first installation opened in May 2024 and was created by artist Natalie Collette Wood, in partnership with the nonprofit ChaShaMa. Titled Urban Oasis: Nature in Transit, it was located at Fifth Avenue and 53rd Street, where Collette Wood transformed an empty store into a lush, plant-filled terrarium, granting New Yorkers an unexpected pocket of calm in Midtown Manhattan. At the time of writing, a total of eight stations feature active art installations, each with their own focus and flair. At 50th Street, in Manhattan, an installation titled Safe Space by artist Traci Johnson imagines a pink, plush interior designed to provide the comfort of a mothers womb. At 81st Street, near the Museum of Natural History, an interactive piece called SoundBooth invites passersby to plug in their instruments for a spontaneous busking session. And at Jackson HeightsRoosevelt Avenue, the Queens-based nonprofit Los Herederos has turned a former retail unit into a vibrant, community-inspired space that doubles as a home base for their web radio station, LH Radio. [Photo: Megan Armas] A play on the subway? This summer, new installations are coming to Jay StreetMetroTech and Sterling Street stations, both in Brooklyn. A new project will also replace Urban Oasis at 53rd Street, offering a fresh perspective on the same stretch of corridor. And later this year, if all goes to plan, Atherton hopes to unveil her most ambitious idea inside a long-abandoned unit at the Port Authority Bus Terminal. The idea? An as-of-yet-undefined collaboration with a theater group called Jewel Box, which already hosts plays in a speakeasy-style room. “There’s a ton of vacant space that’s difficult to program because the electrical systems are outdated and the power supply is very limited,” she says, but she’s determined to get creative. At Grand Army Plaza, the MTA had to undertake some construction to make the kiosk usable. Cassidy and Leffert faced several challenges and bureaucratic hurdles, from securing artist insurance to fireproofing the materialsincluding Rex himselfbut they say the delays only gave them more time to sculpt a better dinosaur. (The entire installation cost about $5,000 out of pocket.) Initially, the pair had proposed an immersive sound installation, but the MTA rejected the idea on safety grounds. Sound equipment, for example, would require live supervision, and there was no budget for that. So, they went back to the drawing board. The kiosk already had a newsstand with a countertop and shelving in place, so the cogs started turning. “A bodega on the moon? A bodega for cats? It was an old bodega. So how old was it? A bodega for dinosaurs?” From there, Cassidy says, “the puns started to write themselves.”
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Generative AIand the velocity of its evolutionis forcing every breed of designer to contemplate a future without them. Will Midjourney and DALL-E eliminate the need for graphic designers? Will Claude and Gemini obviate the UX lead? What happens to motion artists in a world where Sora supposedly becomes the newest auteur? We’re no sages. And were certainly not clairvoyant. But we can comfortably say that, even if an AI-driven design industry apocalypse is coming, it hasn’t arrived yet. Our second annual report on the state of the design industry draws from a dataset of 176,000 job listings weve gathered on Google Jobs (which consolidates listings from across the internet, including Indeed, LinkedIn, and regional job boards) from October 2023 to February 2025. They span several design disciplines: graphic, interior, game, urban, UX, product, and architectural. The clearest and perhaps most reassuring takeaway this year? Designers are still needed. Graphic and UX design job postings are flat from last year, game design postings are up, and urban design postings are way up. Only architects and product designers saw a dip, with postings for the latter down 24% from last year. So its not time yet to abandon that art or architecture degree in order to become a prompt engineer. Still, several things have definitely changed since our last report. Austin has become less of a magnet for architects and urban designers. Canva, software that had initially been met with skepticism among professionals in the industry even just a few years ago, is becoming a mainstay in the graphic designer’s arsenal. And UX designers arehallelujahgaining a bit more job security. Heres what Fast Company found. {"blockType":"immersive-block-embed","data":{"embedSource":"","backgroundColor":"","paddingTop":0,"paddingBottom":0,"paddingLeft":0,"paddingRight":0,"mediaType":"ceros"}} {"blockType":"immersive-block-embed","data":{"embedSource":"","backgroundColor":"","paddingTop":0,"paddingBottom":0,"paddingLeft":0,"paddingRight":0,"mediaType":"ceros"}} {"blockType":"immersive-block-embed","data":{"embedSource":"","backgroundColor":"","paddingTop":0,"paddingBottom":0,"paddingLeft":0,"paddingRight":0,"mediaType":"ceros"}} {"blockType":"immersive-block-embed","data":{"embedSource":"","backgroundColor":"","paddingTop":0,"paddingBottom":0,"paddingLeft":0,"paddingRight":0,"mediaType":"ceros"}} {"blockType":"immersive-block-embed","data":{"embedSource":"","backgroundColor":"","paddingTop":0,"paddingBottom":0,"paddingLeft":0,"paddingRight":0,"mediaType":"ceros"}} {"blockType":"immersive-block-embed","data":{"embedSource":"","backgroundColor":"","paddingTop":0,"paddingBottom":0,"paddingLeft":0,"paddingRight":0,"mediaType":"ceros"}} {"blockType":"immersive-block-embed","data":{"embedSource":"","backgroundColor":"","paddingTop":0,"paddingBottom":0,"paddingLeft":0,"paddingRight":0,"mediaType":"ceros"}} {"blockType":"immersive-block-embed","data":{"embedSource":"","backgroundColor":"","paddingTop":0,"paddingBottom":0,"paddingLeft":0,"paddingRight":0,"mediaType":"ceros"}} MethodologyWe extracted jobs from the Google Jobs search module monthly from October 2023 to February 2025, resulting in 26,624 jobs when duplicates were removed. We used a combination of Gemini and manual tech token search to extract information on salary, company type, and software tool usage. The categorization of jobs as full-time or contract/internship and their geographic locations were contained as separate structured fields in Google’s data. Monthly and hourly salaries were standardized to yearly rates by multiplying the rate by 12 for monthly salaries, and by 2,080 for hourly salaries.This article is part of Fast Company‘s continuing coverage of where the design jobs are.
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Believe it or not, first impressions are biological. When meeting someone for the first time, well before your résumé or title is considered, your brain and body are sending and receiving subtle signals that influence trust. In todays workplaces, where hybrid teams and digital interactions dominate, those signals matter more than ever. The good news is that you can learn to send them more intentionally. In my work developing Leadership Biodynamics, a biology of behavior approach to executive presence, I help leaders become more aware of how trust and connection are built at the behavioral level. The signals that trigger trust are not abstract: theyre cues the human brain is wired to read quickly and deeply, because in evolutionary terms, deciding whether someone was safe to approach was once a matter of survival. Thats still true in the modern workplace. Whether youre onboarding to a new team, pitching an idea to executives, or building rapport with clients, the signals you send, especially those of warmth, create the foundation for influence. Here are five warmth signals, rooted in behavioral science, that can make you instantly more trustworthy at work. 1. Listen With Full Attention In any conversation, your body gives away whether you are truly listening. Direct eye contact, open posture, leaning slightly forward, and subtle nods all signal active attention. These cues calm the other persons limbic system, reducing social threat and increasing openness. Research on neuroception, the brains unconscious scanning for cues of safety, shows that listening behaviors have an outsized impact on trust. When someone perceives you as fully present, they are more likely to see you as trustworthy. 2. Acknowledge and Validate Others Warmth is not just about being friendly. Its about making others feel seen and valued. Small behaviors, such as verbally acknowledging good work, validating concerns, or thanking colleagues meaningfully, send powerful signals. In Leadership Biodynamics, I teach that validation is a key biological mechanism of social bonding. When you acknowledge anothers contribution, you activate neural circuits linked to oxytocin release. This reinforces affiliation and trust. 3. Focus On Others In Conversation Its easy to let a conversation drift back to your own experiences or ideas. However, warmth signals are amplified when you keep the focus on the other person. Ask questions. Draw them out. Let them shine. Behavioral science research supports this. Studies show that people rate conversations more positively when the other person shows genuine interest and curiosity about them. This behavior is linked to increased perceptions of trustworthiness and likability. 4. Be Approachable and Easy To Relate To Approachability is a behavioral signal with deep biological roots. From a neuroscience perspective, a smiling face, relaxed tone of voice, and nonthreatening posture lower others cortisol responses and increase approach behaviors. Even small shifts in physical demeanor can change how others regulate their own behavior in response to you. Warmth cues such as smiling when greeting colleagues or using humor appropriately make you easier to approach. As a result, you are more trusted. 5. Show Thoughtfulness In Small Actions Trust is cumulative. Seemingly minor actions, like following up after a conversation, remembering a colleagues birthday, or offering help without being asked, signal consistency and care over time. Behavioral scientists have shown that such acts trigger reciprocal altruism mechanisms in the brain. This strengthens relational bonds. In leadership terms, they contribute to what I call a positive relational “microclimate,” a state in which trust, loyalty, and collaboration flourish. Why These Signals Matter Now In hybrid workplaces, where informal trust-building moments are fewer, warmth signals become even more important. They help compensate for the missing relational glue that office proximity once provided. The latest research on team trust and psychological safety confirms this. Teams that build trust quickly perform better, especially under uncertainty. Warmth signals are often the fastest path to that trust. It is not status or credentials, but behavioral cues that others can feel in the moment. Trust is not built by charisma. It is built by signals your biology already knows how to send. The opportunity is to send them more intentionally. The bottom line is this: if you want to become more trustworthy at work, start small. Tune your warmth signals. Listen fully, validate openly, focus on others, be approachable, and act thoughtfully. In the biology of behavior, these are the cues that connect. And connection is what drives trust and influence.
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E-Commerce
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