Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2019 i Fast Company

Whitney Wolfe Herd and Mark Parker might not seem to have much in common. Wolfe Herd, the 30-year-old cover subject of our October issue (“Herd Mentality,” page 68), is the founder and CEO of Bumble, a privately held company with a reported $300 million in annual revenue that’s best known for its dating app, in which women initiate contact. Parker is the 63-year-old CEO of Nike, an athletic shoe and gear leviathan that does $39 billion in annual revenue—and is Fast Company’s 2019 Design Company of the Year (page 40). But both have endured harsh criticism recently for high-profile business decisions. In March 2018, Wolfe Herd and her colleagues received threats of violence after she banned most images that contained firearms and other weapons from the Bumble app—a response to…

Beavis and Butt-Head 1993–1997 (WRITER, ACTOR) Judge had been considering becoming a math teacher when he conceived of his breakout MTV cartoon about a pair of sex-obsessed high schoolers: “I was thinking about why I would never want to teach high school, and they were it.” King of the Hill 1997–2010 (WRITER, ACTOR) Judge began developing this animated sitcom—and its hardworking Texan paterfamilias—after trying to fix a fence at his then home in Dallas. “My neighbors started to help,” he says. “And it just turned into them fixing the fence without me.” Office Space 1999 (WRITER, DIRECTOR) To create this cult comedy film satirizing office culture in the mid-’90s, Judge drew from his former life as a software engineer in Palo Alto. Idiocracy 2006 (WRITER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCER) Judge was in…

1 The British Are Coming RICK ATKINSON The first volume of a trilogy on the real American Revolution. It’s not the kind of fanaticized powdered-wig version we usually get. 2 The Souls of Black Folk W.E.B. DUBOIS Even though it was written over a century ago, it is still one of the most lucid explanations of the period we call Reconstruction. 3 The Underground Railroad COLSON WHITEHEAD I am reading it for the second time. It is still so startling, original, and surprising that it just wakes me up. 4 A Gentleman in Moscow AMOR TOWLES It is one of these great epic sweeps of a book, which takes place in a hotel, and nowhere else, in Moscow, over many, many decades. It is a wonderful, wonderful book.…

TV Show JACK WHITEHALL: TRAVELS WITH MY FATHER Jack is a comedic genius. In this show, he goes on a backpacking trip with his very British, at times inappropriate, father. Their chemistry is relatable and has me laughing to tears. It also sprinkles in some nuggets of sentimentality. Instagram @__NITCH This account offers beautiful black-and-white images of icons from Leonard Cohen to Patti Smith, with quotes. It’s inspiring and nostalgic. Twitter @CHRISSYTEIGEN I follow mostly for her replies. She is the person I don’t have the balls to be but fantasize about one day becoming. She brings light to issues, like the ongoing debate as to whether cold gravy should be TSA approved, and I love her for it. Website 1STDIBS.COM This website is the place for vintage Omega watches,…

A deeper way to engage Cool-looking shoes garner most of the attention when it comes to sneaker innovation, but Nike has nabbed Fast Company’s 2019 Design Company of the Year award for something else: a savvy retail strategy that blends analog stores and digital platforms to drive its business forward. At Nike’s House of Innovation store in New York, mannequins are fitted with QR codes so phones can identify each item on display, and reservable lockers are stocked with new shoes in your size if you’ve ordered in advance. Last year, Nike invested more than $1 billion in new capabilities and consumer concepts. Today, 170 million people are part of Nike Plus—the digital loyalty program behind Nike’s retail and fitness apps. After admitting in 2018 that the shoe industry still…

A Remedy for Single-Use Packaging The root cause of the global trash problem is our reliance on single-use packaging. That’s the premise behind a new platform called Loop that’s helping major brands shift to a new system of reusable containers for everything from ice cream to deodorant. “The overall idea is to try to solve this issue of disposability, but also match the convenience of disposability,” says Tom Szaky, cofounder and CEO of TerraCycle, the recycling company that started Loop. The system, which is already operational in the New York City area and Paris, is currently available only for online sales but will be available beginning next year for purchases in physical stores as well.…

A Simpler Approach to Affordable Home Goods The “adulting” millennial has champagne tastes and a beer budget. It’s a fact well known by Target’s head of product design, Stephanie Grotta. Data showed that as this cohort was moving into their first homes, Target was losing customers to the thoughtful, affordable minimalism of products from Ikea or Muji. Grotta, a former landscape architect who joined Target right after the company’s 2010 acquisition of the gardening lifestyle company Smith & Hawken, was tasked to lead 300 designers and 200 engineers in developing a new line of home goods called Made by Design. These 750-plus products, launched in June 2018, include wineglasses that can be stacked, sleek closet organizers with modular components, and pasta pots with the strainers built in. As Grotta explains,…

A Naturally Cleansed Public Pool Natural swimming pools, which eschew chlorine and chemicals for bio-inspired filtration systems, have taken off in Europe but are still uncommon in North America. So when Pat Hanson, founding partner and creative director at the architecture firm Gh3, set out to build Canada’s first natural outdoor public swimming pool, her team first had to convince their client, the city of Edmonton, that the water would be safe. When Borden Park Pool opened last year, locals lined up all summer to experience the water—and the elegant, stone-lined architecture—for themselves. What is going for a dip in a pool scrubbed by zooplankton really like? “It has a different feeling than being in a chlorine pool,” says Hanson. “The water feels a bit smoother.”…

A HIGH-FIDELITY SPEAKER THAT’S ALSO A LAMP In April 2019, Ikea and Sonos launched their highly anticipated Symfonisk collaboration, which includes a silver-colored lamp with a bulbous, fabric-covered speaker as its base. Part of Ikea’s foray into smart-home products (which, in addition to Symfonisk, includes other digitally controlled lighting as well as wireless chargers), the lamp helps Sonos technology blend easily into any room—at an affordable price of $179.…

Mirna Valerio would not describe herself as a beer person. The ultra-runner is more of a cabernet sauvignon drinker. But the beer cravings do kick in occasionally—namely, after a long day on the trail. Over the summer, for instance, Valerio competed in the Broken Arrow Skyrace, which involved running 26 kilometers nearly straight uphill in California’s Sierra Nevada, trudging “through snow and scrambling up rocks,” she says. It was a challenge that merited something cool and celebratory at the end. Happily, there was a cold can waiting for each of the roughly 3,000 runners: a pale ale made by Sufferfest, which quenched Valerio’s thirst and marked the occasion without impeding her training for the 50 kilometer dash through the Pacific Northwest’s Columbia River Gorge that she was competing in a…

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1 Waking Up “9 TO 5,” DOLLY PARTON Daily question—what would Dolly do? 2 Driving “NICE FOR WHAT,” DRAKE Hip-hop is the best driving music. 3 Working Out “FORMATION,” BEYONCÉ Beyoncé is a whole mood for every time of day, but especially during a workout. 4 Hard at Work “JUICE,” LIZZO Listen to the lyrics. 5 Getting Psyched “ALL I DO IS WIN,” DJ KHALED I chose this song for my walk-on moment onstage at Hammerstein Ballroom during Peloton Homecoming this past year—it’s the ultimate pumpup song. 6 Mellowing Out “SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED (I’M YOURS),” STEVIE WONDER Stevie Wonder is the greatest artist alive.…

A CREDIT CARD THAT MONITORS YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT Each time you use Mastercard’s new Do Black credit card, it tallies the carbon footprint of your purchase—and when you’ve exceeded your carbon budget for the year, the card will cut you off. “It’s about enabling financial activism for a more sustainable lifestyle,” says Matias Wikström, one of the founders of Doconomy, the Swedish think tank that released the card in partnership with Mastercard and the UN Climate Change Secretariat earlier this year. Made with bioplastic and printed with ink made from air pollution, Do Black uses data from Thomson Reuters and Sustainalytics (an Amsterdam-based firm that rates companies based on sustainability) to measure the climate impact of each purchase. It’s part of a new mobile banking service currently available in Sweden…

A STUDIO WITH A PURPOSE Can branding make a city more equitable? Can it get more people to the polls? Can it help amplify an artist’s voice? For Jennifer Kinon and Bobby Martin, who lead the nine-year-old New York City studio Original Champions of Design, branding can be wielded to help anyone—including clients like the WNBA and the Girl Scouts—speak more clearly to the world. As Kinon puts it: “If anybody thinks design can be a champion for them, we’re ready to take on that work right now and figure out how to get it done.” This year, that mission took them to Memphis, where they renamed and rebranded the riverfront parks, enhancing awareness of the city’s beautiful public spaces. Another recent project involved creating All Things Being Equal, a…

FROM 4,380 SUBMISSIONS, FAST COMPANY’S JUDGES SELECTED THESE 483 WINNERS AND HONOREES. TO SEE MORE OF THIS YEAR’S HONOREE ENTRIES, GO TO FASTCOMPANY.COM/IBD. WINNERS Design Company of the Year Nike An athletic-wear company that has expertly merged its digital and physical retail to create experiences customers love Apps and Games Insta Novels New York Public Library, Mother A new format for presenting literature in the social media age, with eye-catching, clickable Instagram Story versions of classic books Best Design Asia-Pacific (APAC) Kojimachi Terrace Nendo An office building that brings the outside in with adjustable open-air terraces and a three-story “sky forest” Best Design Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) Do Black credit card Mastercard, Doconomy A climate-focused credit card that shuts down when users’ purchases hit a “carbon emissions limit”…

Serena Williams The tennis superstar appeared in Bumble’s first Super Bowl ad, in which she made the argument for female empowerment. Williams’s Serena Ventures is also a partner in the Bumble Fund, whose mission is to back female founders. Priyanka Chopra Jonas The Bollywood star invested in Bumble in November 2018 and shortly thereafter helped lead its push into her native India. Karlie Kloss The model and founder of the not-for-profit Kode With Klossy helped Wolfe Herd launch the Bumble Bizz networking product in the fall of 2017. Rachel Zoe The fashion designer has been connected with Wolfe Herd since she was photographed carrying one of the totes Wolfe Herd had designed in college to raise money to help victims of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Today, Zoe serves as…

Jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard is one of Hollywood’s preeminent composers, having scored 20 of Spike Lee’s projects—including last year’s BlacKkKlansman, which earned him his first Oscar nomination—and Harriet, Kasi Lemmons’s upcoming biopic of abolitionist Harriet Tubman. Blanchard has also begun experimenting with opera, most recently writing the music for Fire Shut Up in My Bones (based on the New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow’s 2014 memoir), which premiered at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in June. “I’ve always been a believer that the universe will put things in front of you, and how you react will determine your future,” Blanchard says. Here’s how he’s channeled that improvisational spirit into a melodious career NEVER TURN DOWN AN OPPORTUNITY When Spike Lee asked Blanchard if he could help compose the…

WRITER, DIRECTOR, AND PRODUCER MIKE JUDGE HAS A TALENT for bringing an almost anthropological understanding to his subjects, from the vacuous teenage boys of Beavis and Butt-Head to the disaffected cubicle dwellers of Office Space to the proud Texans in King of the Hill. With Silicon Valley, now in its sixth and final season on HBO, he has turned his gaze to twenty-something startup engineers navigating the world-building narcissism of Big Tech. A former engineer himself, Judge somehow finds the real players of Silicon Valley—despite it all—rather decent. Season 5 of Silicon Valley ended on an optimistic note, with the show’s protagonists walking into this huge, amazing new office for their suddenly successful company. After years of letting viewers watch the team flail, why did you decide to conclude the…

Compelling data. Big ideas. New perspectives. Insights you want. Inspiration you need. Delivered to your in box. Only from Think with Google. thinkwithgoogle.com/subscribe Think with Google With each technological leap forward, there is a parallel rise in fear that humanity will somehow be displaced—by Karel Capek’s original android, by 2001’s HAL, or even by the Terminator. It’s easy to think of us in an epic face-off with these machines. But as advertisers in the age of machine learning and artificial intelligence, we do ourselves—and our work—a disservice with this “human vs. machine” mentality. There’s much more to be gained by embracing machine learning as an accelerant for our creative powers. To take advantage of these opportunities, it’s important to understand what machines do well. First, they identify patterns that can…

New York–based accessories brand Bee & Kin collaborated with technology company Flic to equip its bags with buttons that can be programmed to do a range of tasks, from calling a car to finding a missing phone. The honeycomb-inspired bags also include a light to help owners locate their keys. Founder Tracey Hummel, who previously worked at Tory Burch, says, “Users can customize their experience. We wanted to make the technology flexible because women have different needs.” (From $495) Lockjaw Knives (FROM $150, LOC KJAWKNIVE S.COM) “I always use my Lockjaw utility knife, which was handcrafted by an artisan in New Orleans. It has a great aesthetic and a solid weight.” —Ryan Turf, president, CB2 Hire Learning The Biggest Hurdles for Employees After Getting Promoted to Management, According to U.S.…

What is your best habit, and what is your worst? My best is that I check up on people. On a human level, I’m always asking, “How you doing?” My worst is that I’m too forgiving. If someone crosses me, I’ll keep them at a distance, but I still keep in touch with them. Do you have a work uniform or wardrobe staple? I like all black, but I like to liven it up with some color. I always wear a blazer. I’ll keep it trendy with the pants. I like Ralph Lauren Purple Label and Good Counsel, which I invested in. That brand is going to blow up. How do you unplug? Meditation. I use Headspace—it teaches you how to meditate. Sometimes I do it with my son. What’s…

A LIGHTWEIGHT AND FOLDABLE KIDS’ CAR SEAT At a mere 8 pounds, the WayB Pico is a truly portable kids’ car seat. With an aluminum frame and minimal plastic, it meets all federal safety standards for passenger vehicles and commercial airlines.…

A New Sound-Enhancing Surface Performance spaces often feature elaborate acoustical systems that rely on appliques, such as fabric ceiling panels, to distribute sound. At the Kennedy Center expansion that’s opening in Washington, D.C., this fall, however, the acoustics are built into the architecture. Steven Holl Architects developed textured concrete, modeled on a wadded-up sheet of 10-by-4-foot aluminum, to create an uneven surface on interior, loadbearing walls, helping to spread sound evenly throughout the center’s new auditorium and three rehearsal studios. It’s the company’s first large-scale installation of Crinkle Concrete. “When sound hits a wall, you’re trying to break it up and diffuse it into as many directions as possible,” says Garrick Ambrose, the project architect and senior associate at Steven Holl. “The more random the texture, the better.” Ambrose says…

A CARBONNEGATIVE RAINCOAT The fashion industry is an infamous polluter, so for her graduate thesis at the Rhode Island School of Design, Charlotte McCurdy created an experimental raincoat that is both biodegradable and carbon-negative—and now on display at the Cooper Hewitt museum. Rather than using carbon-intensive petroleum to create the waterproof material, as most raincoat makers do, McCurdy employed fast-growing algae, which actively consumes carbon from the atmosphere.…

A New Way to Grow Vegetables on Space Missions As astronauts begin to spend more time in space, they’ll need better access to fresh fruits and vegetables to stay healthy. But growing plants on structures like the International Space Station is no small task: If you were to try to water them in the conventional fashion, droplets would go everywhere. To develop a new planter, NASA tapped Techshot, a company that develops equipment for human spaceflight, and Tupperware, a company with decades of experience in mass-producing foodsafe plastics. Harnessing the way plants naturally absorb water through soil (a process called capillary action), the new Passive Orbital Nutrient Delivery System (PONDS) requires astronauts to use a syringe to insert about 17 fluid ounces of water into the planter’s base. Then, feltlike…

A NEW MOUTH-OPERATED REMOTE CONTROL ChewIt, a lozenge-size, wireless “intraoral interface,” could offer a new way for people who can’t use their limbs to control their personal technology. ChewIt creator Pablo Gallego Cascón, a graduate student in the University of Auckland’s Augmented Human Lab, wanted to prototype a piece of assistive technology that “doesn’t draw the attention of others and doesn’t make [the user] feel weird.” A paralyzed person might control a wheelchair by blowing or sipping air through a straw mounted near the face, but “these interfaces are not as discreet and natural as they could be,” says Cascón. ChewIt, about the size of a large breath mint, remains undetectable to anyone other than the person using it. In addition to functioning as a physical button when bitten, ChewIt’s…

In July, members of the Fast Company community convened in Milan and Florence for three days of compelling discussions and experiences at the Fast Company European Innovation Festival, powered by Gucci, at which leaders in business, tech, science and entertainment explored the idea of humanity’s convergence with superintelligence.…

1950 THE IMITATION GAME Alan Turing introduces the Turing Test, which challenges a machine’s ability to display intelligent behavior indistinguishable from a human’s. 1956 THE BEGINNING OF AI The Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence popularizes the term. 1963 COLD WAR CONCERNS U.S.government agencies like the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) fund AI research at universities such as MIT, hoping for machines that will translate Russian instantly. 1968 “I’M SORRY, DAVE. I’M AFRAID I CAN’T DO THAT.” 2001: A Space Odyssey is released, featuring the autonomous and lethal AI, HAL 9000. 1974 THE WINTER OF AI With disappointingly small yields from AI investments, governments around the world pull back on funding and research. The winter lasts two decades, with just a few heat waves of progress. 1984 COMMON-SENSE…

For customers of Hims, the online retailer of hair loss and erectile dysfunction remedies, the promise of renewed youth and vigor arrives through the mail in a simple beige box. “Future you thanks you,” reads the sans serif type under the top flap. Nestled inside (depending on your order) are ivory-colored cloth bags and bottles filled with pills, gummies, ointments, sprays, shampoos, and—is that a whiff of sandalwood? “If we can make each point of the [medication] experience amazing and beautiful, hopefully the outcomes will be a lot better,” says Andrew Dudum, the CEO of the two-year-old company, which sells generic versions of prescription drugs like Viagra, Cialis, and Propecia, as well as over-the-counter cures, such as a spray that claims to prevent premature ejaculation. “As a Hims customer, you’ll…