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He just put it in bold! exclaimed Ryan Goslings character in a Saturday Night Live video that attracted a cult following in the world of graphic design last year. The follow-up to a 2017 SNL bit in which Gosling played a man haunted by his realization that the logo for the 2009 blockbuster Avatar was expressed in the gauche Papyrus typeface, the newer video centered on his fresh horror of discovering that the same graphic designer responsible for the first logo had updated the wordmark for the movies sequel by simply setting it in bold type. A year later, it seems that life is imitating satire, as, following last weeks announcement of Amazons brand refresh, 2025s three biggest rebrands to dateincluding those of Walmart in January and OpenAI in Februaryhave, to the untrained eye, more or less involved hitting Ctrl+B on the companies wordmarks and logos to put them in bold. [Images: Walmart] All three of these corporate behemoths updated wordmarks are somewhat heavier than their predecessors, while not representing radical changes. Unlike Walmarts brutalist look of a generation ago, with its massive and intimidating all-caps, sharp-cornered letterforms projecting its retail dominance, these new marks are all clean, respectable sans-serifs with enough roundedness to signal a degree of friendliness and approachability. Perhaps this style might be dubbed Blanding Bold. [Images: Amazon] Their associated symbolic elements have undergone a similar transformation. While OpenAIs blossom, Walmarts spark, and Amazons smile all look basically the same as they did before, much to the consternation of some social media users who feel personally affronted that these expensive rebrands did not result in more noticeable changes, the differences are there. [Images: OpenAI] The blossoms strokes have thickened and evened, improving its overall composition while still allowing it to evoke an unfolding flower, a foreboding whirlpool, or imagery of a more alimentary nature. The new spark met the approval of logo guru Armin Vit, who called it softer, warmer, and more friendly while being so much better executed, and noted that the bolder weight of the segments gives the icon more presence and strength to stand on its own as it moves forward as the companys primary logo. And the Amazon logo received an injection of lip filler, resulting in what the design agency Koto calls a deeper and more emphatic smile (to the extent that a smile can be emphatic). [Images: OpenAI] While the rebrands of these three giants, with their estimated combined value of $3 trillion, have attracted the most attention, this bold new trend in corporate graphics has been spotted in many other quarters over the past year or so, including PayPal, ABC, Reddit, the CW network, Workday, the Guggenheim, Herman Miller, Eventbrite, Crumbl, New York City Football Club, New York Botanical Garden, and even Fluz. Patient zero in this outbreak might be the 2019 Slack redesign, in which the wordmark was Ctrl+Bd and the logos hot dog shapes plumped just like Ball Park Franks. What accounts for all this boldness? Companies have long expressed the desire to get more bang for their branding buck; Make the logo bigger is a common refrain among design clients (and one that designers tend to dread hearing). It would seem that making the logo bolder is the next best thing, allowing for more logo per square inch, a denser deployment of general logo essence, and a symbol that, like Amazons, is more emphatic overall. For what brand would not want its logo to be emphasized? And if a companys goal is to use its logo to communicate boldness as a brand attribute, the single most obvious, literal, no-brainer way to do so is to just put it in bold.
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E-Commerce
Remote work is going mobile. Starting today, the Florida-based high-speed rail service Brightline is launching a partnership with the shared workspace provider Industrious to turn parts of its stationsand even entire train carsinto coworking spaces. Industrious coworking spaces are now open in Brightline’s stations in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, and Orlando, as well as a bookable train car for business meetings or private events on the move. “If people can work from anywhere, then anywhere can be a workplace,” says Jamie Hodari, cofounder and CEO of Industrious. “I think that’s something that’s been underdeveloped.” [Photo: courtesy Brightline] Brightline sees the addition of formal workspaces as a way to build on its high-speed connections between cities across Florida, giving riders more ability to use its network for both leisure and business travelsometimes simultaneously. “It’s a solution for modern professionals where we’re enhancing productivity through mobility,” says Megan Del Prior, Brightline’s vice president of corporate partnerships. “A lot of folks are riding for business. With our long-haul offering going from Miami to Orlando people are traveling during the workday and still need to work within the station spaces as well as on the trains,” she says. The coworking spaces are built in underutilized conference and meeting rooms inside Brightline’s stations, according to Del Prior. The bookable train cars available through the partnership have no special features, but do include Wi-Fi and charging ports like all Brightline train cars. [Photo: courtesy Brightline] Hodari says the idea for the partnership grew from Industrious’s previous experience building out workspaces in unconventional locations. In 2018, the company partnered with the outdoor apparel brand L.L. Bean to create a pop-up outdoor coworking space in New York City’s Madison Square Park. “The whole thing sold out within five minutes,” Hodari says. “It was such a sign that people are really curious about trying working and being productive in unfamiliar or new settings.” [Photo: courtesy Brightline] According to Hodari, the addition of coworking spaces to train stations is a recognition that people are already doing work in these spaces, either taking calls while waiting for their train or working on projects once their train is in motion. The experience of working like this, though, can be less than ideal. “Oftentimes it can be this really unpleasant, highly unproductive thing,” he says. “And it can be kind of painful for the people around you, where you’re talking loudly and you’re in your earphones and you’re unwittingly a nuisance.” Having dedicated spaces for meetings or focused work will enable people to make more of their travel time, Hodari says, noting, “You don’t stop being productive or engaging with your colleagues or other people because you’re in movement.
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E-Commerce
If youve gone shopping for a home appliance sometime in the last 30 years, youve probably noticed a blue Energy Star label on certain water heaters, stoves, light bulbs, and even windows. The program, launched by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1992, helps consumers identify energy-efficient products. But now the Trump administration is planning to shut it down. President Donald Trump has been attacking energy-efficiency measures since his return to office. In February, he said he would call on the EPA to revert to older efficiency standards for light bulbs, toilets, showers, and more. In his Unleashing American Energy order, Trump promised to safeguard the American peoples freedom to choose from a variety of goods and appliances, including but not limited to lightbulbs, dishwashers, washing machines, gas stoves, water heaters, toilets, and shower heads. Experts say the Energy Star standards are meant to help the environment by reducing water and energy consumption; they also lower U.S. households energy bills. And though Trump has framed standards as limiting to consumer choice, the Energy Star program itself is voluntary, and doesnt narrow what manufacturers can produce. To earn the Energy Star label, products do have to meet certain efficiency standardsbut the program doesnt stop manufacturers from making items that are not considered energy efficient, or Americans from purchasing them. (Energy Star stopped recommending any gas stoves in 2022, for example, but gas stoves are still available in America.) Energy Star also points consumers toward tax credits to bring down the cost of efficient appliances. Energy Star certifies all sorts of items, from heating and cooling (including heat pumps, ceiling fans, air conditioners, and thermostats) to appliances (like washers and dryers, dehumidifiers, dishwashers, refrigerators, and cooking products), plus water heaters, lighting, windows, and personal electronics like computers and TVs. By certifying efficient appliances, Energy Star has helped American households and businesses avoid more than $500 billion in energy costs since its founding, per a 2023 report. With an annual budget of around $50 millionless than 1% of the EPAs spending, the Alliance to Save Energy notesEnergy Star saves Americans $40 billion on energy bills each year. Energy Star has also prevented about 4 billion metric tons of emissions from entering the atmosphereequivalent to taking more than 933 million gas cars off the road for one year. Trump considered dismantling Energy Star in his first term. His move to eliminate it now comes alongside plans to shutter the EPAs climate change division and climate protection partnership division, sources told CNN. Historically, Energy Star has had bipartisan support, and more than 1,000 companies, cities, and organizations have signed a letter to the EPA urging continued support for the program. Republican senators have even praised the program, The Washington Post notes, saying it helped customers reduce their energy bills. Energy efficiency in general has strong public and bipartisan support. A March 2025 survey by Consumer Reports found that 87% of Americans agree that new U.S. home appliances should need to achieve a minimum level of efficiency (that included 94% of Democrats and 82% of Republicans). Supporters of Energy Star add that axing the program goes against the Trump administrations promises to lower energy costs for Americans, as well as efforts by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency to save taxpayer money. If you wanted to raise families energy bills, getting rid of the Energy Star label would be a pretty good way, Steven Nadel, executive director of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, said in a statement. This would take away basic information from consumers who want to choose cost-saving products easily. Theres a reason this program has been so popular with consumers and manufacturers alike. The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, which represents a variety of appliance makers, said the industry is proud of its efficiency achievements, and that Energy Star is an example of a successful private-public partnership. “AHAM supports the continuation of a streamlined Energy Star program, which could be managed through the Department of Energy,” a spokesperson added. (Energy Star is currently a joint program of the EPA and DOE.) “Moving the program to DOE would meet the administrations goals of preserving a full selection of products from which consumers can choose, and also reducing unnecessary regulatory burden.”
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E-Commerce
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