The world’s most iconic pen is now a giant lamp

Business 1/18 6:00A Grace Snelling

You’ve never seen a Bic Cristal like this before. Almost everywhere you go, from the doctor’s office to the library to the car dealership, there’s one ubiquitous design gem hidden in plain sight: the Bic Cristal.

You’re banned from blocking Trump’s face on your national park pass—but there’s a work-around

Business 1/17 6:00A Grace Snelling

These designers found a clever way to keep the president’s mug off their America the Beautiful entry passes. The 2026 national park pass features a portrait of Donald Trump’s face , and the Department of the Interior (DOI) has threatened to...

NYC has a major delivery problem. These architects have a big vision to fix it

Business 1/16 5:30A Elissaveta M. Brandon

Nearly 90% of goods move through NYC by truck. KPF has a better idea. Every day, New Yorkers receive a staggering 2.3 million packages at their doorstop. Nearly 90 percent of those goods snake through the city on trucks that cause traffic...

Honda’s futuristic new logo is ready for a ‘Tron’ cameo

Business 1/16 5:00A Hunter Schwarz

Honda 2.0 is designed to look like it’s from the future. Honda says its refreshed H logo represents a “second founding” for the company. Honda 2.0, then, is designed to look like it s from the future.

Heinz’s clever new french fry box fixes a decades-old design problem

Business 1/14 9:00A Grace Snelling

The company is testing its patent-pending ‘Heinz Dipper” box in 30-plus restaurants and sports stadiums. Heinz’s newest product isn’t a ketchup, or a mayo, or some Frankenstein combination of the two. It’s a box—and it’s solving a problem that’s...

Saying ‘I don’t know’ might be the best leadership decision I’ve made. Here’s why

Business 1/14 5:00A Natalia Shahmetova

Being a new parent comes with a lot of uncertainties, and I can’t ignore that. Leaders typically spend January prepping for the year ahead. But that’s difficult when you’re eight months pregnant, and your baby has zero concern for your deadlines.

Fujifilm’s new camera has a ‘Gen Dial’ so Gen Z can get the perfect retro shot

Business 1/14 4:30A Grace Snelling

Taking aesthetic, vintage-inspired photos and videos has never been easier. Fujifilm’s newest camera model, the Instax Mini Evo Cinema , is a gadget that’s designed for the retro camera craze .

Why prediction markets may be bad for your wallet—and your mental health

Business 1/13 7:33A Nelson Chu

The parallels to casinos are drastically obvious. Prediction markets are all the rage right now. Weekly trading volume on prediction platforms just surpassed $2 billion , and apps like Polymarket are being treated as the “next big thing” in...

From Airbnb to the White House: Joe Gebbia is reshaping the government in Trump’s image

Business 1/13 6:00A Mark Wilson

Trump decimated the U.S. government’s digital design agencies and replaced them with a personal propaganda czar. During President Donald Trump’s first administration, he left hundreds of government designers, across half a dozen or more agencies,...

Algorithms killed taste. Lulu and Georgia wants to bring it back to life

Business 1/13 4:45A Elizabeth Segran

Algorithms and AI have led to an era of boring sameness in interior design. But a resistance is emerging. A cozy, neutral sameness defines our era of interior design. Velvet sofas. Bouclé armchairs. All-white living rooms. Beds layered with...

These super-insulating windows are as energy-efficient as walls—and could help save the power grid

Business 1/13 4:00A Adele Peters

LuxWall’s high-tech design lowers energy costs by making buildings more efficient. And less heating and cooling energy helps ease pressure on the grid. As utilities struggle to keep up with surging energy demand, they’re starting to turn to an...

Nearly lost, this famed sculpture gets a new life inside GM’s headquarters

Business 1/12 7:00A Nate Berg

A monumental metal sculpture by artist Harry Bertoia was thought lost in a mall demolition, but has been restored and reinstalled. Almost lost and nearly forgotten, a sculpture by one of the most noted mid-century modernist designers has been given...

Bold predictions and book recommendations from you, our readers

Business 1/12 6:00A Stephanie Mehta

We asked, and readers didn’t hold back. Here are their insights about what’s coming in 2026 and must-read books. Hello and welcome to Modern CEO ! I m Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter...

What 11 top designers want to redesign in 2026

Business 1/12 5:00A Diana Budds

From lookalike SUVs to AI interfaces, designers from Figma, Microsoft, Pentagram, and more reveal the objects, places, and experiences they’re working to improve this year. Yes, there are the New Year’s traditions of setting ambitious goals and...

Here’s how to design meetings around how human brains actually work, not how we wish they would

Business 1/12 4:00A Natalie Nixon

Stop stacking your meetings like dominoes. Build them like systems. Every organization believes it s in the productivity business. Every executive thinks faster, longer, more densely packed meetings equal better results. They re wrong.