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There is a troubling trend spreading across some of todays most recognizable tech companies. Spotify, Shopify, Dropbox, and others are cutting training programs and significantly reducing entry-level hiring. At first glance, the decision might seem sensible: reduce costs, restructure teams, and prepare for a future driven by AI. In reality, it is a short-term move that will cause long-term damage. The numbers tell the story. The unemployment rate for recent college graduates has climbed to 5.8%, higher than the national average and the worst in a decade outside the pandemic. More than 40% of graduates are underemployed, working in roles that do not require a college degree. Entry-level postings in the United States have fallen by more than 40% since mid-2022. Even graduates in traditionally safe majors such as computer science or engineering are struggling to find jobs that match their training. Young professionals are not just looking for a paycheck. They want a chance to learn, to join a program, and to work with a team that believes in their potential. When companies dismantle these programs, they are not simply shrinking headcount. They are cutting off the future of their own talent pipeline. AI is advancing rapidly, but despite the hype, it cannot replace human intuition, creativity, and judgment. These are the qualities that truly differentiate companies. What we need now are people who can work alongside AI: analysts who know how to use machine learning to make smarter decisions, design better products, and deliver more personalized customer experiences. That kind of talent is not built overnight. It is developed through years of deliberate investment. The path forward is clear. We need a new model for workforce development, one that embraces what I call Human Digital Resourceshumans and AI working side by side, each playing to their strengths. Humans bring judgment, creativity, and empathy. AI brings speed, scale, and pattern recognition. Companies that design roles and training with this collaboration in mind will outperform those that treat AI as a replacement strategy. The Danger of Short-Term Thinking The labor market for new graduates is already challenging. Opportunities are shrinking. Unemployment among recent grads is high, and even industries once seen as secure are slowing their hiring. Cutting analyst or associate programs may satisfy investors for a quarter, but it leaves companies with a weakened leadership bench for years to come. These programs have always been launchpads for promising talent. They build business acumen, sharpen technical skills, and embed cultural knowledge that cannot be hired overnight. One financial services firm I know kept its analyst program during a period of layoffs. Today, it has a deep bench of AI-literate, future-ready leaders. Competitors that cut their programs are now scrambling to fill those same roles, paying more to hire externally and facing longer onboarding timelines. The downside is more than a temporary talent gap. It is the slow erosion of institutional knowledge, innovation capacity, and cultural continuity. These are elements that cannot be replaced by technology or by hiring quickly from the outside. Human Plus AI Is the Real Advantage AI is changing the game, but it is not replacing the players. It can process vast amounts of data in seconds, yet it cannot create culture, uphold values, or build trust within teams. Think of it as an open-book test. Without skilled humans who know how to use the book, it is useless. Even AIs own development proves the point. ChatGPT was trained by thousands of human reviewers, most of them college-educated, who provided judgment, context, and feedback to improve the tool. AI is powerful, but it still depends on human expertise to evolve. Forward-looking companies are already building Human Digital Resources. They are hiring and training employees to integrate AI into their daily work. At one firm, Gen Z analysts were given early access to AI tools. Within months, they became the companys internal AI experts, streamlining processes, improving efficiency, and teaching senior staff how to use the technology effectively. A New Shape for Organizations For most of the 20th century, companies were shaped like pyramids, with a large base of junior employees feeding into progressively smaller layers of management. More recently, some consultants have suggested a diamond model, with a narrower base, a wider middle, and a slim top. The future will likely be something else entirely: a fluid blend of consulting-style apprenticeships, the flexibility of the gig economy, and AI-enabled work. Professionals will contribute to multiple projects across different companies, with AI acting as a force multiplier. This model rewards adaptable, multiskilled people who can work across ecosystems. Gen Z is well positioned to thrive in this environment. They are digital natives who grew up with technology and are already experimenting with AI tools. Instead of sidelining them, companies should tap into their curiosity and comfort with technology, reduce administrative work, and give them meaningful problems to solve earlier in their careers. One leading financial institution recently offered an example of getting this right. It has invested in both culture and technology, treating AI as a tool for empowerment rather than a threat. This approach strengthens talent pipelines while others risk letting theirs dry up. AI Changes Work, It Does Not Remove It History offers perspective. The industrial revolution created new kinds of skilled labor. The calculator replaced manual math, yet we still teach math, so people know how to use calculators effectively. The internet reshaped communications without eliminating the need for communicators. AI will follow the same pattern. It will redefine roles, raise the bar for human skills, and amplify those who are trained to use it well. Technology may become the baseline, but people will continue to create value in ways that are unique and hard to replicate. A competitor can match your tools, but they cannot match your culture, your innovation, your trust, or your ability to execute through people. Companies that continue hiring and training early-career professionals will be better positioned for this transition. They will have AI-literate teams with deep knowledge of the business. Those that do not will face leadership gaps they cannot fill quickly or cheaply. Competitive advantage Learning compounds over time and so does neglect. I have seen companies that invested in analyst programs years ago now benefiting from leaders who came up through the ranks. Those early investments paid off in loyalty, expertise, and competitive advantage. Cutting these programs today is like removing the foundation from a building to save on maintenance. It might hold for a while, but eventually it will collapse The future of work is not less human. It is more human. It is more mentorship, more learning, and more collaboration between people and machines. Companies that embrace Human Digital Resources now will lead the next decade. Those that do not will be left wishing they had thought furher ahead
Category:
E-Commerce
As social media users continue to spend more time in their direct messages than posting to the main feed, companies are beefing up their features for private chats. TikTok recently said it will soon offer users the ability to send pictures and voice notes up to a minute long in its direct messages (DMs) and group chats, while Meta announced filters to sort Instagram DMs by categories like “Story replies,” “Unanswered,” “Followers,” and “Verified Users” for professional and personal accounts with more than 100,000 followers. [Image: Meta] The intent is to make the DMs more engaging. TikTok’s DMs will soon be more media rich, while Instagram’s could see more engagement from bigger accounts that would otherwise drown in new message notifications. Both updates are part of wider push to reengineer social media apps for the way people use them now, which is more private and less posting. A 2023 Morning Consult poll found 61% of adults with a social media accounts were more selective about what they posted online, and 28% said they posted less on their preferred platform than the year before. It’s a change Instagram head Adam Mosseri called “a paradigm shift,” in May, and the implication for social media app design is a greater emphasis on improved messaging. Meta’s X-clone Threads, which launched without DMs in 2023, finally added them in July. Meanwhile, Instagram has made a flurry of improvements to its DMs since 2024, including editing messages, pinned chats, longer voice messages, location sharing, and scheduled messages. Spotify has added DMs, too, just in case you wanted to use yet another closed platform to connect with someone. Social media might feel far less social than it once did, but it seems a lot of the conversation is simply going on away from public view. As people spend more time chatting one-on-one than posting publicly, social media apps are becoming a lot more like messaging apps, too.
Category:
E-Commerce
More than a decade ago, the real estate developer Woodbury Corporation took stock of a site in Vineyard, Utah, that had been home to a WW II-era steel mill. Surrounded by mountain views and overlooking Utah Lake, they saw possibility and a blank canvas, so they began studying growth patterns and infrastructure needs in the area. They quickly realized it would be the perfect site for a new developmentand not just a plot of houses. Woodbury bought 700 acres of land and partnered with Flagship Homes to build a city from the ground up.We had the right land in the right location at the exact moment Utah was experiencing unprecedented growth, says Nate Hutchinson, a partner on the project.[Image: courtesy Pentagram]What they didnt have was a name for the new city they were building.So they made a call to Pentagram partner DJ Stout, who was tasked with creating an identity for a city that was still just an idea.There are 23 Pentagram partners, Stout says. And in our storied history, I don’t think anybody’s actually named a U.S. city before.Cities get their names in various ways. Oftentimes, a community is named for its founder, or to highlight a local geographic feature. Modern developments tend to take a more marketing-centric approach. For every unnecessary e deployed to class up a place (think Wolfes Pointe), theres a vague gesture at historical lineage (Views at the Old Mill) or a moniker so watered down that the branding exercise becomes obsolete (Waters Edge).At the outset, Stout says the Woodbury team was clear that they didnt want their project to sound like a gated community. For one thing, the scale of Woodbury’s ambitions was much bigger. The development was conceptualized as a walkable community that could cater to Utah’s rapidly expanding population, which is slated to surge by 58% to 5.2 million by 2060. Some 30% of that is in Utah County, where the former steel mill sits. Woodbury decided its new city would feature complete neighborhoods with multiple types of housing; shopping, dining and entertainment; a range of business, civic and cultural spaces; plazas, parks; transit connectivity; and an overall focus on walkability. [Image: courtesy Pentagram]Were building an entire urban district on the front door of a transit station, along a lakefront, with healthcare, education, retail and residential all integrated from the start, Hutchinson says.The breadth of the vision gave Pentagram a lot to play with. Stout says his team started with research: Given the nearby Wasatch Mountains, which, like Utah, derive their name from the indigenous Ute people, Pentagram explored similar elements before deciding to avoid plumbing the culture for nomenclatures sake. The area also had a significant railroad history, so coupled with the transit plans for the development, Stouts team ideated some names around that; they explored names tied to Mormon settlers and the Mormon population in the area; they probed nature themes tied to Utah Lake, which is the states largest freshwater body.Stout says they wound up with more than 100 potential namesbut then he had a thought. Texas has a Texas City. Colorado has a Colorado City. Theres Kansas City. Oklahoma City. Hell, New York City. Was there really no Utah City?In Pentagrams first call with the developers, Stout says, they had mentioned that they wanted to some day be as well-known as Salt Lake City or Park Cityand, well, when it came to Utah City, I was like, I can’t believe this. I can’t believe nobody has it.[Image: courtesy Pentagram]THE OBVIOUS SOLUTIONAt the pitch meeting, Stout says his team presented around 50 names. When they got to the end of the list, he recalls saying, I think I have your name. And here it is: Its Utah City.He says he received a quizzical, unconvinced reaction from the head of Woodbury. And then I made the case that if you really want to be that well-known of a city, if that’s your ambition in the state of Utah, just like Oklahoma City or Kansas City, you should grab this name. Nobody has it.That initial reaction wasnt entirely isolated. When the name went public online, it took some hits on Reddit and elsewhereand Stout has seen it. But here he cites Pentagram legend and friend Michael Bierut.[Image: courtesy Pentagram]He’s really good at just basically looking at something and saying, This is the obvious solution. A lot of times the best solutions are right there in front of your face, and they’re obvious, Stout says. And I think sometimes creatives or designers in general wouldn’t even look at that name because it seems too obvious; there’s this thinking that we’re being paid to do a fancy logo or to come up with a fancy name. He notes Bieruts work with United Airlines. When the company was on the hunt for a new logo, Bierut suggested they hold on to the Saul Bass original. There’s this kind of lack of ego of that kind of ownership . . . and so I’m not afraid to think about things that just seem obviousbecause that’s the best solution.At the pitch presentation, the team snapped up the Utah City URLs in real time. Ultimately, says Hutchinson, Pentagram helped us distill the projects ambition into something clear.[Image: courtesy Pentagram]VISUALIZING A BRAND (OR NOT)Pentagram usually delivers a comprehensive identity system, but Stout says the Utah City team didnt want that because they still had a long runway to the project being realized. Nevertheless, Stout and his team created a logo. The team pondered the idea: If this really was a city that could end up on a U.S. map, what would stand the test of time and not look like a mere trend blip?Stout says they played with a few ideas that nodded a bit at the vernacular, but eventually seized on the ubiquitous Us found across the state, with the University of Utah being dubbed the U, the Utah Utes, and other cultural touch points. [Image: courtesy Pentagram]For the logo, Stout took a U and modified it into the shape of the state itself.Again, it’s just a simple solution, he says. If they’re going to own the Utah in their name, then they might as well own the state.Given the intended city emphasis, Stout added the typeface Gotham, owing to its roots in one of the most famous cities in the worldand the branding was complete. Until it wasnt. While the mark can still be seen on the Utah City website, a new logo has emerged on its social channelsa “C” somewhat awkwardly nestled within a “U.”[Image: courtesy Pentagram]After years of development, Utah City has just opened the projects first residential building, a 40,000-square-foot market is nearly complete, and the Huntsman Cancer Institute has broken ground on a 20-acre care and research center. According to Hutchinson, the first phase of Utah City is on track to deliver within the next couple of years, featuring additional housing, a promenade, retail village, wellness center, and miles of bike and walking trails.As the project shapes up, the team behind it says the identity will also shift. A representative for Utah City said they have been working with a local team to refine and expand the brand with a new monogram and wordmark, noting, We saw the need to evolve from an East Coast font and view of what Utah is and can be, and moved into claiming our Western roots.And, well, heycities are by nature amorphous, living things. Perhaps branding one is, too.
Category:
E-Commerce
The Fast Company Innovation Festival returns to New York City this September 1518. Hosted at Convene Brookfield Place in lower Manhattan, attendees can expect four days packed with informative panels, interactive networking sessions, engaging workshops, signature Fast Tracks that offer a behind-the-scenes look at the citys most cutting-edge companies, and intimate dinners at the city’s buzziest restaurants. It’s a lot to take in. So we’ve compiled the top 11 reasons you should attend the 11th annual Innovation Festival. 1. Candid conversations with leaders Headliners hitting the Innovation Festival stage this year include: Jimmy Fallon, Executive Producer and Host, On Brand With Jimmy Fallon; Host, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Bozoma Saint John, Chief Marketing Officer and Mentor, On Brand With Jimmy Fallon Brené Brown, Research Professor, The University of Texas at Austin; Author, Strong Ground Tracee Ellis Ross, Host, Solo Traveling With Tracee Ellis Ross; Founder and CEO, Pattern Beauty Damian Kulash, Lead Singer, OK Go Jonathan Haidt, Author, TheAnxious Generation Norma Kamali, President and CEO, Norma Kamali Justin McLeod, Founder and CEO, Hinge Myechia MinterJordan, CEO, AARP Shay Mitchell, Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Béis Travel Brian Niccol, Chairman and CEO, Starbucks Coffee Company Ego Nwodim, Actress, Comedian, and SNL Cast Member Artemis Patrick, President and CEO, Sephora North America Joy Reid, Journalist, Political Analyst, Best-selling Author Hailee Steinfeld, Cofounder, Angel Margarita Luis von Ahn, Cofounder and CEO, Duolingo 2. Field trips for adults Our signature Fast Tracks offer attendees an behind-the-scenes look inside some of New York City’s most innovative companies. There are over 50 Fast Tracks this yearhere’s just a glimpse: A brownie baking class with Tonys Chocolonely Playing Pickleball at Life Time An office tour and pop-a-shot tournament with TNT An intimate gallery walkthrough highlighting Harlems economic and cultural impact on the arts at GPGallery A look at the art of hiring and understanding when to kill a product with Ramp executives. 3. Food for thought Taste of Innovation is a unique dining experience showcasing powerhouse chefs and restaurant executivesnot to mention some of the best food in the city. At each Taste of Innovation experience, youll dine, drink, and mingle with fellow attendees and Fast Companys editorial staff, as well as hear intimate conversations with leaders in the food space. This year’s Taste of Innovation lineup features: Sofreh Cafe Metropolis by Marcus Samuelsson Manhatta The Bazaar by José Andrés Naks 4. Workshops to solve work’s biggest problems Another signature of the Innovation Festival are our workshops. These are sessions that create space for a more hands-on approach to problem solving. Just some workshops this year include: What Does Your Brand Sound Like? The Return of Creative Craft If Your Brand Isnt Awake, Its Dead Unscrambling the Productivity Paradox Humans, Machines, and the Art of Teaming 5. New experiential moments There’ll always be a place for informative panels and one-on-one conversations at the Innovation Festival. But we’re making room for something to really engage your senses and emotions. New this year are our experiential sessions. From using sound to reset your nervous system to reconnecting with play and self-celebration through confetti, these sessions are designed to be highly interactive and deeply personal: Why Intuition Is the Leadership Advantage AI Cant Replace The Celebration Lab Discover and Design Your Personal Sound Care Ritual 6. New breakout sessions Sometimes 30 minutes isn’t long enough to dig into the topic at hand. Also new this year at the Innovation Festival are breakout sessions which are an extension of our workshops created to give attendees more access to workshop hosts and more time work through their questions and gain deeper insights: A Deeper Dive into Bettering Your Brain Networking That Works Turn a Burning Question into a Bold Next Step 7. Celebrating good times It wouldn’t be the Innovation Festival without celebratory moments! In addition to our Kickoff Party and Closing Night Party, we’re having exclusive parties for honorees on our recognition lists Innovation by Design and Best Workplaces for Innovators, as well as a dinner for our Impact Council members. 8. Activations and giveaways Throughout the Innovation Festival Hub are activations including custom bandana embroidery from Teton Ridge and an AI-powered racing simulator powered by IBM. There are also several giveaways at different sessions. On the Innovation Festival schedule page, click the “filter by feature” option and then “giveaway” to make sure you’re in the right place at the right time! 9. Insights on today’s biggest topics The Innovation Festival is all about exploring the driving forces of business, technology, and creativity. While there’s ample choices in programming, here are some topical sessions worth putting on your radar: Will AGI Be a Realityand Are We Ready? From Automation to Autonomy: Navigating the Rise of Agentic AI On the Front Lines: Inside the ACLUs Fight for Civil Rights Digital Defense: The Battle for an Open and Secure Internet How Workforce Inclusion Sparks Innovation More for Less: Maximizing Social Impact with Minimal Resources The Changing Face of Aging 10. Networking with your fellow attendees One of the main attractions of the Innovation Festival is how widely you can expand your network. Year after year, attendees have said this is one of their most valuable takeaways from the event. We have sessions that are specifically catered to networking. However, just hanging out and working in the Innovation Festival Hub is the perfect place to meet someone new. 11. Becoming a better you The Innovation Festival is a place for you to learn. We pack in a lot during the event, so you can create a robust agenda that’s tailored to your interests, whether that’s in leadership, creativity, branding, technology, or beyond. We hope you take the insights and knowledge you’ll gain over the week and apply it to your work lifeor even your personal life. Visit our event page to buy your Innovation Festival passes and to stay up-to-date on our session agenda and speaker lineup.And a special thanks to this years Innovation Festival sponsors: IBM, Lilly, NYU Langone Health, Texas A&M University, Delta, Esri, Fetch, GS1 US, Huge, Hyland, Innovate Alabama, Maven AGI, Penske, PepsiCo, Project Management Institute, SAP, Synchrony, Teton Ridge, Uber for Business, Virginia, The Weather Company, Webtoon, Wellhub, and Williams.
Category:
E-Commerce
Blank Street started in 2020 as a coffee shop operated out of a single cart in Williamsburg. Just five years later, its a chain with more than 90 global locations thats become almost more well-known for its over-the-top matcha drinks than its actual coffee. Now, its getting a subtle rebrand that makes the whole identity look like an ice-cold glass of green tea latte. The new branding, crafted by the agency Wolff Olins, includes a new logo symbol inspired by that original coffee cart, new custom fonts, and a greater focus on green. It stays true to the brands quintessential neutral aesthetic while adding a few original touches to be just a bit more distinctive. George Lavender, creative director at Wolff Olins, says that, given the brands massive growth, Blank Street was due for a visual touch-up. [Image: courtesy Wolff Olins] The company currently operates locations in New York, Boston, D.C., London, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, and Edinburgh, and is gearing up to expand into L.A. soon. According to a June profile in the The Wall Street Journal, Blank Streets current valuation is around $500 million, and it earns an estimated annual revenue of $149 million. A large chunk of that income is thanks to the monumental popularity of Blank Streets matcha creations, which includes flavors like its best-selling strawberry shortcake matcha, blueberry matcha, and cookies-and-cream matcha. Matcha’s popularity has exploded in the U.S. in recent years, with some reports estimating that the beverage’s sales have reached beyond $10 billion over the past 25 years. [Image: courtesy Wolff Olins] Mohammad Rabaa, Blank Streets global creative director, says that matcha now accounts for more than 50% of the business. It started as a coffee cart in Williamsburg and snowballed, becoming this thing that was much bigger than they ever thought it might become, Lavender says. I think it was a good moment for them to stop, reflect, and try to reestablish who they are. [Image: courtesy Wolff Olins] Refining a brand designed to be neutral Blank Streets former branding centered around the idea of its identity being almost an empty vessel, Lavender saysa metaphorical blank space that customers could fill with whatever drink they like best. To that end, their logo was an ultrasimple sans-serif wordmark, complimented by a palette of black, white, and fern green. With Blank Street, you have a company that’s highly creative and expressive in their creations, Lavender says. In order to have a sense of balance to that, their own identity needs to be so neutral, because every seasonal campaign is so wildly different. [Image: courtesy Wolff Olins] He adds that the existing identity was clearly working, but it was veering into a territory that was almost too neutral. That’s why, through this process, we really wanted to make the evergreen Blank Street brand just a little bit more special. Lavenders team started by adding a literal blank space as an added symbol in the logo. It’s a plain rectangular box thats designed after the dimensions of the window on Blank Streets original coffee cart, and it will start to appear on the brands cups, signage, packaging, and socials this fall. [Image: courtesy Wolff Olins] Alongside the box motif, Wolff Olins also swapped out Blank Streets former public domain fonts for two custom sans serifs, developed in partnership with the type foundry Due Studio. The refresh also includes a warmed-up version of Blank Streets signature green hue, paired with a palette of various other greens that the brand can use in secondary applications. The goal is to eventually phase out any former black and white branding (which still remains on the outside of some small format stores) in favor of the new green and cream logo. [Image: courtesy Wolff Olins] A more matcha-forward brand Blank Street, which used to be called Blank Street Coffee, is also in the process of dropping the coffee from its name, including by moving the word to a secondary position on signage. The branding changes, alongside the name edit, seem to point to the idea that Blank Street is embracing a new identityperhaps one that emphasizes its fan-favorite matcha over its coffee beverages. They are shifting away from Blank Street Coffee to Blank Street, and I’m sure that’s a very conscious move based on the strawberry shortcake matcha being their most popular seller ever, Lavender says. [Image: courtesy Wolff Olins] Lavender adds that the companys creative direction was never to explicitly mimic matcha, but the drinks growing popularity was more of an unspoken thing throughout the process. According to Rabaa, green was the company’s core color even before introducing matcha, and any similarities between the new branding and the green tea drink itself are not a nod, but more like a happy coincidence. Either way, Blank Street’s sales numbers show that matcha is definitively its stand-out productand now, it has an identity that looks the part.
Category:
E-Commerce
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