HITTING REFRESH
For more than two decades, Fast Company has chronicled innovators, risk-takers, and companies that embrace change. This month, we’re following their example by unveiling a reinvigorated look, lively new content, and some unexpected stories—all aimed at making our print, online, and live journalism even more accessible and indispensable to you, our valued readers. We hope to win some new fans, too.
Fast Company loves to cover technological advancements, but it’s the people fueling them who have always been the force behind our best-loved franchises, such as our annual list of the Most Creative People in Business or our yearly look at the Secrets of the Most Productive People. So it isn’t surprising that creative director Mike Schnaidt approached our reboot with a human-centered design ethos. He’s incorporated a broader, bolder color palette, elegant new typefaces, and a welcoming vibe. Schnaidt notes that, increasingly, tech-driven companies themselves are embracing a friendly aesthetic over a futuristic one. “Just look at Casper, Airbnb, and Dropbox, to name a few,” he says. “Their branding is empathetic, and it doesn’t aim to flaunt the complex technology on the back end of their products.”
Creative and productive people also are at the center of the Recommender, an expanded section that highlights the places, objects, travel tips, and work hacks that Fast Company’s community swears by.
If you look closely, you will notice that we have a different logo, designed by Rui Abreu. We’ve kept the playful small-cap letters A and O, which date back to 1995, but the contrast between heavy and thin lines is more pronounced, for a more updated feel.
What hasn’t changed? Our passion for and commitment to telling insightful and richly reported business stories that you won’t read anywhere else. Technology editor Harry Mccracken’s cover feature on the return of device-maker Palm is enticing because of Fast Company’s exclusive access to investor Stephen Curry, but the story also digs into the challenges and stakes any upstart company in this arena faces today, offering history and context that Mccracken brings from his 30year reporting career. Others have profiled artist Tyler, the Creator, but only senior writer Mark Wilson explores why this loose cannon is coveted as a partner by big media and apparel brands. You may be surprised to see a photo essay in our pages on the Los Angeles Rams cheerleading squad—until you read contributing writer Karen Valby’s report on its pioneering new male cheerleaders and the team’s long-standing commitment to creating an inclusive and fair workplace.
We hope you like what you see and read, and we welcome your comments. You can write to me at editor@fastcompany.com or find me on Twitter @stephaniemehta. In all those years of covering innovators and change, we’ve also learned that the most successful companies listen to their customers.