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When was the last time you identified as human? Typically, we identify with who we are as it applies to our career (accountant!), family dynamic (mom!), sports (Pacers!), and arts and culture (deadhead!). Rarely have we ever felt or had the need to make the distinction between human or . . . not. But in the age of AI, its increasingly become a priority. Back in April, Tools for Humanitya start-up cofounded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altmanunveiled its solution to this problem. Its a brand called World, an identity and financial network that includes a cryptocurrency called Worldcoin and an unprecedented piece of hardware: The Orb. The volleyball-size spherical device uses a retina scan to authenticate users as a human, and then provides a digital verification code. [Image: courtesy World] So far, World has more than 27 million participants and nearly 13 million verified humans across more than 20 countries. Its goal is to verify 50 million people by the end of 2025, and eventually sign up every single human being on the planet. The company hopes the biometric verification code it creates will essentially be our digital passport, to ward against fake AI-driven content, and needed for everything from online banking to dating apps. Altman told Time, If this really works, its like a fundamental piece of infrastructure for the world. But first, it needs to convince us all to use it. Now, to mark its U.S. debutwith the opening of World retail locations and Orb installation in six U.S. cities (Austin, Nashville, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami, and Atlanta) World has launched a new ad campaign to establish its own brand identity with the humans it hopes to attract. Set the tone Created with ad agency BBDO New York, Human and You Know It is an earnest, peppy jingle ad that positions the Orb as an invaluable tool for, and ally in, our AI-driven future. We see cavemen lighting fires, Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling, one of the Wright Brothers flying an early aircraft, all singing this peppy ode to human ingenuity. World was created so that everyone could benefit from what’s happening around the age of AI, says Tools for Humanity chief marketing officer John Patroulis. What we’re hoping to do with a piece like this is celebrate what it is to be human, the vulnerabilities. So we were trying to capture the feeling of who we are and what we’re trying to accomplish. Its a similar message to what OpenAI CMO Kate Rouch told me earlier this year on Fast Companys Brand New World podcast. Her goal with work like the brands Super Bowl ad was to show what the product can do for us, while expressing the company’s values. In all of our advertising, we’ll really try to show and lead with the technology, what it can do for people and how it can benefit people, Rouch said. Again, the people part is key. BBDO executive creative director Jimm Lasser says that the tone and personality here is perhaps the most important part. Theres a reason they used a familiar song in a familiar advertising context. For an unprecedented product and brand, there were a lot of questions to answer to get to that tone. Should it be earnest? Optimistic? Funny? All of that? Then they had to figure out how much of it needed to explain the Orb technology and how it works. It was a challenge, I’m not gonna lie, says Lasser. I told my wife I think this is the weirdest thing Ive ever worked on. It took a lot of unpacking. First, you have to understand the technology, and then you have to believe. You have to put your cynicism asidewhich you’re naturally going to haveand really look at it, at what this could do for humans. This isnt a product demo. Its a personality test. The World brand is telling us who it is and why we should trust it if its to be, as Altman says, a fundamental piece of infrastructure for the world. It needs to be friendly, nonthreatening, somewhat inspiring, and yes, optimistic. Tone matters in all advertising, but within the context of our AI-driven existential instability, even more. Just ask Apple Crush or Google Dear Sydney. Amid all of our AI fears and concerns, World knows it needs to feel more like Peppa Pig than Emperor Palpatine. It wouldnt quite hit the same if they were all singing, More Human Than Human by White Zombie. [Image: courtesy World] Brand spirit One of the keys to hitting that tone was director and ad legend Jim Jenkins, who is perhaps known more for big, funny Super Bowl ads like State Farms 2024 Arnold Schwarzenegger spot, and Uber Eats big game ad this year with Matthew McConaughey. The World spot is light and juuuust goofy enough. Sure, it’ll make some people cringe but it’s not going to scare anybody. While the bulk of the ad is simply shows good ol humans singing the jingle, at the end, a woman uses The Orb to show us what all the fuss is about, tying the spirit of the brand to its product. Lasser says this was also a crucial part of the tone. Having worked on car advertising for a long time, it’s always important to see how people interact with the car, says Lasser. Here, we really thought through how that interaction with the Orb takes place, that you can see the scale. You need to see the scale of it in comparison to a human, her gaze slightly down, all these things make it feel nonthreatening and something that is a tool. The goal is clear, but the cultural context is much more murky. Despite the reassurances of its use as just a tool, AI is threatening very real jobs, andif you subscribe to the predictions of the AI 2027 report, written by former AI researchersthe very fabric of society, in an incredibly short period of time. Thats quite a brand challenge. Still, Patroulis says that World has the best tool to take on this challenge: An actual purpose. Many brands struggle with why they exist in the first place, which ultimately impacts their ability to convince you and I to buy in. For World, the goal is clear: To help humans make the most of this AI moment. When you’re true and authentic to what it is, you’re always in the right place, says Patroulis. That guides everything we’re doing and we wanted this piece to express that. We do a lot to make sure that people are very empowered with information. And the more time you spend with it, and the more you understand it, the better it is, frankly, for the project. That wasn’t the goal here. This piece was about capturing the spirit.
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E-Commerce
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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E-Commerce
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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E-Commerce
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