The ‘time is money’ mantra is a terrible starting point for planning and designing infrastructure

Business 2/27 10:15A Andy Boenau

It’s a serious mistake to overplay the economic claims. Productivity , and alleged lost productivity, has driven most of the conversation around traffic congestion and sprawl in the United States. While time is money is true in some contexts, it s...

Pokémon turns 30: What’s behind the media franchise’s enduring appeal?

Business 2/27 9:40A Associated Press

Heather Cole, who teaches game design at West Virginia University, says Pokémon offers a masterclass in character design. Benson Lu s life revolves around Pokémon . The 26-year-old has played the mobile game Pokémon Go every day for a decade,...

Anthropic is refusing to bend on AI safeguards as dispute with Pentagon nears deadline

Business 2/27 8:47A Associated Press

CEO Dario Amodei said his company ‘cannot in good conscience accede’ to the Pentagon. A public showdown between the Trump administration and Anthropic is hitting an impasse as military officials demand the artificial intelligence company bend its...

How Starbucks designed its new iconic cup and big comfy chair

Business 2/27 7:00A Mark Wilson

The coffee chain wants to revive hospitality with premium mugs and a plush chair that hearkens back to its ’90s heyday. Since taking over the coffee chain in 2024, Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol has been on a mission to go “back to Starbucks” and...

Axe just made it way harder to overuse its body spray

Business 2/26 6:00A Grace Snelling

Subtle design changes will have middle school teachers everywhere breathing a sigh of relief. There are a few odors from adolescence that are seared into the brains of most Americans who grew up after the 1980s: the aroma of freshly baked brick...

Coach’s new bag charms are literal books

Business 2/26 5:30A Grace Snelling

Bold colors and distinctive designs: Here’s how Coach and Penguin designed their coveted, teeny-tiny books. The devil might’ve worn Prada in 2006, but two decades later, the fashion elite are wearing books. Case in point: Coach’s hot new accessory...

Why your best-looking candidates often perform the worst

Business 2/24 12:22P Natasha Nuytten

Research shows top performers can be eight times more productive—yet most hiring systems are designed to filter them out.

Apple killed Dark Sky. Now its creators are trying again with a new weather app

Business 2/24 10:32A Chris Morris

Acme Weather brings back the team behind the cult-favorite forecast app, with new features designed to show uncertainty. Dark Sky was a rarity in the app world. Universally beloved, the weather app had an uncanny ability to tell you when to...

Listen to Oscar nominee Hannah Beachler on our By Design podcast

Business 2/24 9:53A Mark Wilson

For this month’s episode, we’re talking ‘Sinners’. The film—and everyone responsible for Microsoft Teams. “I want a space odyssey. I wanted Star Wars. I got close to that once.”

It’s time to rethink assessment for learning

Business 2/23 6:36P Tom Ap Simon

AI is reshaping classrooms and careers, and assessment design must keep pace. For decades, formative assessment has been a silent engine for learning—powering insights about student progress and worker readiness. But let’s be honest, in a world...

Why Gen Z is so obsessed with Depop

Business 2/20 5:00A Grace Snelling

Depop has hands-down the best design of any resale platform right now. The retail platform eBay is set to acquire fashion resale app Depop from Etsy in a $1.2 billion transaction. Ostensibly, the deal will help eBay to cultivate a new audience of...

Here’s how Elon Musk’s giant moon cannon would actually work

Business 2/20 5:00A Jesus Diaz

Musk says the key to his moon mission is a ‘mass driver,’ a giant magnetic catapult that was originally designed in the 1970s. I really want to see a mass driver on the moon that is shooting AI satellites into deep space, Elon Musk said last week...

The legal fight that could force Apple to rethink iCloud design

Business 2/19 3:00P Taylor Hatmaker

West Virginia’s attorney general alleges Apple failed to prevent child sexual abuse material from being stored and shared through iOS and iCloud. West Virginia’s attorney general filed a lawsuit against Apple on Thursday accusing the iPhone maker...

Lego’s new Monet-inspired set is full of hidden details

Business 2/19 11:00A Grace Snelling

Lego’s designers took a lesson in Impressionism to create this wall-worthy set. From afar, Lego ’s new set inspired by Claude Monet’s painting Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies looks like a slightly more vivid version of the original. Step a bit...

This clever ‘curling bowl’ is perfect for elite snackers

Business 2/18 6:00A Grace Snelling

Swedish designer Gustaf Westman’s new piece of functional dishware is ice rink-ready. If you’re tuning in to the Milan Cortina Olympics, you may be one of many spectators who’s suddenly invested in the sport of curling. You’re in good company:...