The company's parent firm Recruit's CEO, Hisayuki Idekoba, will return to his post as CEO of Indeed.

All images © Shane Drinkwater, shared with permission Enigmatic Phenomena and Galactic Shapes Revolve in Shane Drinkwater’s Cosmic Systems June 2, 2025 Art Kate Mothes For Queensland-based artist Shane Drinkwater, self-imposed restrictions provide a key starting point for works he creates in ink, pen, acrylic, and collage—always in a square format measuring about 50 by 50 centimeters. Arrows, crosses, dots, and numbers build linear elements and patterns, while primary colors provide the foundation for the occasional green or gradient. Drawing on a lifelong love for maps, ciphers, and astronomical charts, Drinkwater continues to explore the possibilities of fictional cosmic networks (previously). In some pieces, concentric circles resemble diagrams of the Solar System, while in others, references to comets or esoteric systems suggest the imaginary workings of atomic phenomena or alchemical experiments. Drinkwater’s work was recently included in the book Elements: Chaos, Order and the Five Elemental Forces, published by Thames & Hudson. He is currently preparing work for art fairs this fall in Copenhagen and Paris, along with a group show at Gagné Contemporary in Toronto. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram. Next article

War is being redefined by technology. Drones now swarm where soldiers once marched, AI can detect threats faster than spies, and cyberattacks are disrupting critical infrastructure without a single shot fired. To prepare for the battles of tomorrow,

Jacobs Technology secures $4 billion Space Force contract from U.S. Department of Defense  Investing.com Australia

The IT help desk is evolving. Once defined by queues of tickets and reactive troubleshooting, support today is being reshaped by automation and artificial intelligence (AI). Intelligent systems now assist with everything from b

In “The Optimist: Sam Altman, OpenAI, and the Race to Invent the Future,” Wall Street Journal reporter Keach Hagey examines our AI-obsessed moment through one of its key figures — Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO of OpenAI. Hagey begins with Altman’s Midwest childhood, then takes readers through his career at startup Loopt, accelerator Y Combinator, and now at OpenAI. She also sheds new light on the dramatic few days when Altman was fired, then quickly reinstated, as OpenAI’s CEO. Looking back at what OpenAI employees now call “the Blip,” Hagey said the failed attempt to oust Altman revealed that OpenAI’s complex structure — with a for-profit company controlled by a nonprofit board — is “not stable.” And with OpenAI largely backing down from plans to let the for-profit side take control, Hagey predicted that this “fundamentally unstable arrangement” will “continue to give investors pause.” Does that mean OpenAI could struggle to raise the funds it needs to keep going? Hagey replied that it could “absolutely” be an issue. “My research into Sam suggests that he might well be up to that challenge,” she said. “But success is not guaranteed.” In addition, Hagey’s biography (also available as an audiobook on Spotify) examines Altman’s politics, which she described as “pretty traditionally progressive” — making it a bit surprising that he’s struck massive infrastructure deals with the backing of the Trump administration. “But this is one area where, in some ways, I feel like Sam Altman has been born for this moment, because he is a deal maker and Trump is a deal maker,” Hagey said. “Trump respects nothing so much as a big deal with a big price tag on it, and that is what Sam Altman is really great at.” Techcrunch event Save now through June 4 for TechCrunch Sessions: AI Save $300 on your ticket to TC Sessions: AI—and get 50% off a second. Hear from leaders at OpenAI, Anthropic, Khosla Ventures, and more during a full day of expert insights, hands-on workshops, and high-impact networking. These low-rate deals disappear when the doors open on June 5. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 REGISTER NOW In an interview with TechCrunch, Hagey also discussed Altman’s response to the book, his trustworthiness, and the AI “hype universe.” This interview has been edited for length and clarity.  You open the book by acknowledging some of the reservations that Sam Altman had about the project —  this idea that we tend to focus too much on individuals rather than organizations or broad movements, and also that it’s way too early to assess the impact of OpenAI. Did you share those concerns? Well, I don’t really share them, because this was a biography. This project was to look at a person, not an organization. And I also think that Sam Altman has set himself up in a way where it does matter what kind of moral choices he has made and what his moral formation has been, because the broad project of AI is really a moral project. That is the basis of OpenAI’s existence. So I think these are fair questions to ask about a person, not just an organization. As far as whether it’s too soon, I mean, sure, it’s definitely [early to] assess the entire impact of AI. But it’s been an extraordinary story for OpenAI — just so far, it’s already changed the stock market, it has changed the entire narrative of business. I’m a business journalist. We do nothing but talk about AI, all day long, every day. So in that way, I don’t think it’s too early. And despite those reservations, Altman did cooperate with you. Can you say more about what your relationship with him was like during the process of researching the book? Well, he was definitely not happy when he was informed about the book’s existence. And there was a long period of negotiation, frankly. In the beginning, I figured I was going to write this book without his help — what we call, in the business, a write-around profile. I’ve done plenty of those over my career, and I figured this would just be one more. Over time, as I made more and more calls, he opened up a little bit. And [eventually,] he was generous to sit down with me several times for long interviews and share his thoughts with me. Has he responded to the finished book at all? No. He did tweet about the project, about his decision to participate with it, but he was very clear that he was never going to read it. It’s the same way that I don’t like to watch my TV appearances or podcasts that I’m on. In the book, he’s described as this emblematic Silicon Valley figure. What do you think are the key characteristics that make him representative of the Valley and the tech industry? In the beginning, I think it was that he was young. The Valley really glorifies youth, and he was 19 years old when he started his first startup. You see him going into these meetings with people twice his age, doing deals with telecom operators for his first startup, and no one could get over that this kid was so smart. The other is that he is a once-in-a-generation fundraising talent, and that’s really about being a storyteller. I don’t think it’s an accident that you have essentially a salesman and a fundraiser at the top of the most important AI company today, That ties into one of the questions that runs through the book — this question about Altman’s trustworthiness. Can you say more about the concerns people seem to have about that? To what extent is he a trustworthy figure?  Well, he’s a salesman, so he’s really excellent at getting in a room and convincing people that he can see the future and that he has something in common with them. He gets people to share his vision, which is a rare talent. There are people who’ve watched that happen a bunch of times, who think, “Okay, what he says does not always map to reality,” and have, over time, lost trust in him. This happened both at his first startup and very famously at OpenAI, as well as at Y Combinator. So it is a pattern, but I think it’s a typical critique of people who have the salesman skill set. So it’s not necessarily that he’s particularly untrustworthy, but it’s part-and-parcel of being a salesman leading these important companies. I mean, there also are management issues that are detailed in the book, where he is not great at dealing with conflict, so he’ll basically tell people what they want to hear. That causes a lot of sturm-und-drang in the management ranks, and it’s a pattern. Something like that happened at Loopt, where the executives asked the board to replace him as CEO. And you saw it happen at OpenAI as well. You’ve touched on Altman’s firing, which was also covered in a book excerpt that was published in the Wall Street Journal. One of the striking things to me, looking back at it, was just how complicated everything was — all the different factions within the company, all the people who seemed pro-Altman one day and then anti-Altman the next. When you pull back from the details, what do you think is the bigger significance of that incident? The very big picture is that the nonprofit governance structure is not stable. You can’t really take investment from the likes of Microsoft and a bunch of other investors and then give them absolutely no say whatsoever in the governance of the company. That’s what they have tried to do, but I think what we saw in that firing is how power actually works in the world. When you have stakeholders, even if there’s a piece of paper that says they have no rights, they still have power. And when it became clear that everyone in the company was going to go to Microsoft if they didn’t reinstate Sam Altman, they reinstated Sam Altman. In the book, you take the story up to maybe the end of 2024. There have been all these developments since then, which you’ve continued to report on, including this announcement that actually, they’re not fully converting to a for-profit. How do you think that’s going to affect OpenAI going forward?  It’s going to make it harder for them to raise money, because they basically had to do an about-face. I know that the new structure going forward of the public benefit corporation is not exactly the same as the current structure of the for-profit — it is a little bit more investor friendly, it does clarify some of those things. But overall, what you have is a nonprofit board that controls a for-profit company, and that fundamentally unstable arrangement is what led to the so-called Blip. And I think you would continue to give investors pause, going forward, if they are going to have so little control over their investment. Obviously, OpenAI is still such a capital intensive business. If they have challenges raising more money, is that an existential question for the company? It absolutely could be. My research into Sam suggests that he might well be up to that challenge. But success is not guaranteed. Like you said, there’s a dual perspective in the book that’s partly about who Sam is, and partly about what that says about where AI is going from here. How did that research into his particular story shape the way you now look at these broader debates about AI and society? I went down a rabbit hole in the beginning of the book, [looking] into Sam’s father, Jerry Altman, in part because I thought it was striking how he’d been written out of basically every other thing that had ever been written about Sam Altman. What I found in this research was a very idealistic man who was, from youth, very interested in these public-private partnerships and the power of the government to set policy. He ended up having an impact on the way that affordable housing is still financed to this day. And when I traced Sam’s development, I saw that he has long believed that the government should really be the one that is funding and guiding AI research. In the early days of OpenAI, they went and tried to get the government to invest, as he’s publicly said, and it didn’t work out. But he looks back to these great mid-20th century labs like Xerox PARC and Bell Labs, which are private, but there was a ton of government money running through and supporting that ecosystem. And he says, “That’s the right way to do it.” Now I am watching daily as it seems like the United States is summoning the forces of state capitalism to get behind Sam Altman’s project to build these data centers, both in the United States and now there was just one last week announced in Abu Dhabi. This is a vision he has had for a very, very long time. My sense of the vision, as he presented it earlier, was one where, on the one hand, the government is funding these things and building this infrastructure, and on the other hand, the government is also regulating and guiding AI development for safety purposes. And it now seems like the path being pursued is one where they’re backing away from the safety side and doubling down on the government investment side. Absolutely. Isn’t it fascinating?  You talk about Sam as a political figure, as someone who’s had political ambitions at different times, but also somebody who has what are in many ways traditionally liberal political views while being friends with folks like — at least early on — Elon Musk and Peter Thiel. And he’s done a very good job of navigating the Trump administration. What do you think his politics are right now? I’m not sure his actual politics have changed, they are pretty traditionally progressive politics. Not completely — he’s been critical about things like cancel culture, but in general, he thinks the government is there to take tax revenue and solve problems. His success in the Trump administration has been fascinating because he has been able to find their one area of overlap, which is the desire to build a lot of data centers, and just double down on that and not talk about any other stuff. But this is one area where, in some ways, I feel like Sam Altman has been born for this moment, because he is a deal maker and Trump is a deal maker. Trump respects nothing so much as a big deal with a big price tag on it, and that is what Sam Altman is really great at. You open and close the book not just with Sam’s father, but with his family as a whole. What else is worth highlighting in terms of how his upbringing and family shapes who he is now? Well, you see both the idealism from his father and also the incredible ambition from his mother, who was a doctor, and had four kids and worked as a dermatologist. I think both of these things work together to shape him. They also had a more troubled marriage than I realized going into the book. So I do think that there’s some anxiety there that Sam himself is very upfront about, that he was a pretty anxious person for much of his life, until he did some meditation and had some experiences. And there’s his current family — he just had a baby and got married not too long ago. As a young gay man, growing up in the Midwest, he had to overcome some challenges, and I think those challenges both forged him in high school as a brave person who could stand up and take on a room as a public speaker, but also shaped his optimistic view of the world. Because, on that issue, I paint the scene of his wedding: That’s an unimaginable thing from the early ‘90s, or from the ‘80s when he was born. He’s watched society develop and progress in very tangible ways, and I do think that that has helped solidify his faith in progress. Something that I’ve found writing about AI is that the different visions being presented by people in the field can be so diametrically opposed. You have these wildly utopian visions, but also these warnings that AI could end the world. It gets so hyperbolic that it feels like people are not living in the same reality. Was that a challenge for you in writing the book? Well, I see those two visions — which feel very far apart — actually being part of the same vision, which is that AI is super important, and it’s going to completely transform everything. No one ever talks about the true opposite of that, which is, “Maybe this is going to be a cool enterprise tool, another way to waste time on the internet, and not quite change everything as much as everyone thinks.” So I see the doomers and the boomers feeding off each other and being part of the same sort of hype universe. As a journalist and as a biographer, you don’t necessarily come down on one side or the other — but actually, can you say where you come down on that? Well, I will say that I find myself using it a lot more recently, because it’s gotten a lot better. In the early stages, when I was researching the book, I was definitely a lot more skeptical of its transformative economic power. I’m less skeptical now, because I just use it a lot more.

Lyse Martel is a Berlin-based “Color, Materials, and Finish” (CMF) designer and strategist in the mobility and consumer electronics industries. Her work combines craftsmanship and emerging technology to shape design strategy, drive material innovation, and create new sensory experiences. Lyse is fascinated by design’s power to shape how people feel and act. She believes design can foster emotional connection and wellbeing at a time when AI and automation are making their way into many new consumer product experiences, from the car to the living room. Below, Martel explores the emotional dimension of circular design and how the CMF field is evolving to meet the global challenges of circularity and sustainability. Fast Company: Please introduce yourself to our readers.Lyse MartelLyse Martel: I’m Lyse Martel, a CMF designer and design strategist, working primarily in automotive and consumer electronics. CMF, which stands for Color, Materials, and Finish, is about how a product looks, feels, and connects emotionally. So my work focuses on those elements as well as on strategy, brand identity, and sustainability. Although I mainly work in automotive and consumer electronics, CMF can apply to many different areas. Over the years I’ve worked with brands like Bang & Olufsen, Hopium, and NIO. And most recently I was directing a circular design project at Volkswagen Group—designing for circularity from the start with a large team of designers from different disciplines. How did you find your way into this field? It was step by step. My love for design was always there, even before I knew what to call it. It was shaped by my family’s craftsmanship, as well as my own curiosity for shapes, textures, colors, and sensory experiences. On my father’s side, I grew up around a lot of woodworking and carpentry. And on my mother’s side are generations of tailors. So that gave me an appreciation for textiles and textures and detailing and crafts. And I’ve always loved illustration and drawing and building small architectures with natural elements—everything that could involve materials and aesthetics. And I think that brought me to materiality and storytelling and eventually to CMF design. Were you able to find an educational path that encouraged your interests? I went to a specialized high school for applied arts and design, where I grew immensely as a creative person, and had a teacher who supported me and saw my potential with conceptual thinking. At university another teacher encouraged me to apply to a design internship in the automotive sector in Paris, and that’s how I formally entered the CMF design field. I was immediately drawn to the innovation and complexity of using material and color to shape the brand identity for a mobility project. [Photo: Lyse Martel]How do you stay on top of trends in color and material?Much of it is intuitive, but we also learn to connect the dots and see trends. I’m very much inspired by psychology and by what’s going on in the world—anything that could possibly impact human experiences and emotions. I’m paying attention to developments in architecture, interiors, digital and physical design, and material innovation. I’m also looking at global trends that have nothing to do with the design industry, including culture and the natural world. Nature plays a big role because you can look at how light interacts, how materials evolve with time, the functioning of ecosystems, and agriculture. I’m also very interested in how CMF design intersects with concepts like wellbeing and happiness, so I follow influential practitioners like Ivy Ross from Google, and Susan Magsamen, who works on neuroaesthetics, and Carol Gilligan, the psychologist and philosopher. Could you share more about neuroaesthetics? Neuroaesthetics looks at how design makes people feel: how beauty and art and design influence our brain, and how things like color, textures, light, and sound make us react cognitively or emotionally. We know that certain visual experiences will calm or excite us, while others make us feel uncomfortable. Designers can leverage those insights to create more meaningful and intuitive interactions. I’ve always been fascinated by how design makes people feel, and neuroaesthetics gives us the scientific reasoning behind those ideas. For instance, when I’m working with color and material for a car interior, I can decide to craft a more calming atmosphere with natural materials, or use soft lighting or a color gradient that can guide the user’s eye. I can think about how textures and tactility will influence the user’s feeling of comfort, or their perception of product quality or durability. When it comes to sustainability, there are a lot of materials that may not be readily acceptable to a user. In that case it can be helpful to lean into the authenticity of that material, perhaps by making it warmer or softer, or relating it to nature through colors or grain. So if we can somehow elevate or upscale the experience with that material, then we can start to shift the mindset to embrace sustainable materials or choices. Earlier you mentioned your work in circular design. Could you share more about that? Circular design is rethinking how we create and use products. It means designing for longevity, adaptability, and regeneration. We seek out the right materials, we design for easy reuse and repair, and we try to ensure that the product stays in circulation for as long as possible. Longevity is the number one criteria, because the longer you use a product, the less impact it has in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and other waste metrics. With circularity do you encounter pushback from industries that simply need consumers to keep buying more stuff? It does clash with short-term profit models, so it’s not easy for businesses to embrace it completely. But there is momentum for circular design, which is driven by consumer expectations, tighter regulations, and a growing recognition that resource efficiency is also smart business. I’ve seen mobility and consumer electronics firms try out concepts like modularity, repairability, and designing with disassembly in mind. Neuroaesthetics seems to be a strategy for tapping into people’s innate preferences for certain colors, materials, and finishes. But could also instigate behavior change, by tapping into the emotional layer of circularity? Absolutely, it can be surprisingly comforting, even if the materials are unexpected. When designing a circular product, you’re often working with waste, like a polymer that’s meant to circulate between cars. The challenge is making that material feel good, both emotionally and physically. What works is embracing the material’s character, maybe it has a soft texture or a slight irregularity, like a grain or uneven thread. Or it comes in a natural color that feels ultra-fresh. These little details shift the focus from what it is to how it makes you feel. You might not even realize it’s recycled plastic, but it just feels right. Sometimes, a car interior can feel like a cozy cabin, all because of the right textures and tones. That emotional layer is what really connects circularity.How could neuroaesthetics help make people comfortable with something new, like self-driving cars? It’s really about how shapes, colors and textures support the digital experience; all the micro-details working together to help the user feel at ease. I’ve been testing self-driving vehicles recently, and it’s surprising how much the environment impacts your reaction. In one case, the layout was minimal, with just the right number of buttons, and that simplicity helped me relax. But I also tested a car that was entirely gray, and it felt dull and dated. Light tones or soft gradients, something that evokes a sunrise or sunset, can go a long way in making the space feel more inviting.With automation, trust becomes a key part of the brief. How easily will someone understand what’s happening? Are they okay letting go of the wheel? That’s where CMF design needs to be fully integrated. I have to work closely with the interior and UX designers so that everything speaks the same language. If I propose a soft, natural palette and the shapes are cold or aggressive, it creates a disconnect.[AI Image: courtesy Lyse Martel]Can you share how you use AI in your work, or how AI factors into the CMF design process? It’s part of my creative process in that it helps me visualize materials, colors, and sensory experiences I’m considering for a project. It’s a great way to communicate an idea visually, and also to put it out there so someone else can pick it up and build on it. So for me, it’s really a tool that helps us be more precise in how we express and share ideas.There are also really promising use cases in circular design, where AI can help us map local resources and integrate them more intelligently into products. For example, there’s a lot of bamboo in China, linen in the north of France, or paper waste around Berlin. So what can we do with that knowledge? We can see where materials are available, but also think about how to reduce waste, predict life cycles, or imagine new reuse scenarios. Anything that involves localizing or optimizing can be supported by AI.And as the digital world increasingly shapes the physical one, I think there’s real potential in using these new, hyper-sensory AI-generated visuals to inspire physical experiences. Neuroaesthetics helps us design for emotion, and AI can help translate those emotional cues into visual concepts that, when made real, feel meaningful and multi-sensory. Do you ever get any pushback for the decisions that you or your team might make as CMF designers? Sometimes there’s a strong reaction to a particular color or material choice. I remember working on a concept car called Eve, developed with a strong focus on emerging markets and innovative design languages. I proposed an exterior in a rose gold tone, which could be read as pink. That sparked some discomfort in the room. I think it challenged certain expectations of what a car should look like, especially in Western automotive culture. But in China, rose gold is often associated with refinement and quality. It’s not seen as gendered in the same way. So for me, it was an opportunity to bring a fresh, culturally relevant aesthetic into the project. I understood the hesitation, but that’s part of the role. Sometimes CMF invites us to gently shift the visual language and open up new emotional possibilities.[Image: Felix Godard Design]Are there certain colors and finishes that are timeless and others that are more transitory? In the last decade we used a lot of neutrals, like beige and gray. Many brands also decided to shape themselves around their core colors—“our black,” “our white,” etc. And they would build up from there to include more exciting colors into their identity. Today I see those approaches being challenged. Gen Z is coming in and they have other ideas about what’s fresh. In the past few years we saw a lot of yellows. Recently, dark reds have been popping up everywhere, and they’re a powerful, timeless choice that adds richness and sophistication. These colors grab attention and can work well, but we need to be mindful of their relevance for long-term products.I believe there is still a need for that core timelessness. You might use black as a core color, but you might tint it blue to make it more interesting or less intense. When I was at Bang & Olufsen, we often discussed how to stand out from typical black consumer electronics. For a more lifestyle-oriented, subtle design in the home, why not use gray?[Image: courtesy NIO]Are you ever surprised when a particular color takes off? The latest Pantone color of the year is a brown-beige shade, which honestly surprised me. I’ve used warm grays before when I wanted to give a product a cozier, inviting feel, but this one doesn’t feel as fresh to me. I’m not sure it resonates with the moment in the same way other trends do. I love when a heritage brand takes an unexpected turn, like the paper company GF Smith, which recently rebranded with vibrant, poppy colors and introduced a bespoke, rounded sans-serif typeface, GF Smith Homie. I like to see they are brushing off the history to embrace different values and just be human. They want to stand for inclusivity, so they’re going to speak up about that and make sure it’s seen in the brand.Where do you draw creative inspiration? It’s really what makes me burn, what is calling my heart. I also need to talk to people—not only creatives, but people from all walks of life. I enjoy traveling through my city and looking at how people live. I learn a lot simply from riding the train, overhearing conversations, and observing how the mood changes with the seasons. I also read the news and check out certain magazines. There’s one I like, Imagine5, that focuses on how to make sustainability joyful. It explores that from all angles and it’s very accessible. You don’t have to be a sustainability expert to enjoy it. [Image: courtesy NIO]Could you share some of the projects you’ve worked on that you’re most proud of? I joined the global smart EV brand NIO in its early stages, when the brand vision was still taking shape, and contributed to the initial direction of color, materials, and finishes as part of the design team. The objective was to align with their vision of “Blue Sky Coming,” so we had to come up with progressive aesthetics and human-centered design, which later evolved into design principles. Shaping that brand was extremely rich for me in terms of learning and collaborating with so many talented designers. I also led a couple of projects – one was the previously mentioned concept car called Eve. I had the opportunity to introduce more natural materials and different colors that were not commonly used in the automotive space.Introducing new aesthetics became an important theme for my later work with Bang & Olufsen, which was about connecting the dots between sound and material and design. And then more recently, the circularity project I’ve been leading for Volkswagen Group is really close to my heart. The brief was to introduce longevity, adaptability, and recyclability across all design touch points for Volkswagen. To that end we provided creative direction that considered everything from exterior design, interior, user experience, and materiality.It was an interesting challenge to find the emotional layer of circularity, while staying on brand for Volkswagen. Circularity has a lot of very technical aspects, but as designers we can make circularity tangible. How do you deal with mistakes or failure in the creative process? I view mistakes or failure as an opportunity to test more, to rethink, and to reframe. If a design doesn’t work, how can we regroup and find a solution that’s way more interesting and beyond the obvious? In the creative process there can be a lot of fear associated with going against the grain. What I’ve noticed is that if we stay in that fear space, we close ourselves off to opportunities. It’s important to be in an open space of creativity and curiosity. Allow mistakes and failure to happen. When there is joy in the process and a strong intuition, you produce better results in the end. What advice would you give to aspiring designers, but also anyone who wants to enter the world you inhabit? Great design comes from a constantly growing and inspired mind. Stay curious and know that inspiration comes from everywhere. Embrace your uniqueness, but also be able to evolve from that. Be open to change and to new perspectives. There will be tough feedback and creative disagreements, but the important thing is how you receive those situations. Maintain a mindset of abundance and try to see the positive in anything you do. Finally, as creatives it’s important for us to take time alone to recharge, to reflect, and to work on our magic. When you’re feeling well and thriving individually, your creativity also does. At that point it’s crucial to rejoin the collective, where you have a chance to collaborate and experience the diversity of perspectives that fuels creativity. It can be a tough road for aspiring designers, but I would encourage them to proceed with care and openness, and to leave their fears behind. 

Transparent design is the intentional use of see-through or translucent materials and visual strategies to evoke openness, honesty, and fluidity in both spatial and product design. It enhances light flow, visibility, and interaction, blurring boundaries between spaces or revealing inner layers of products. In interiors, this manifests through glass walls, acrylic dividers, and open layouts that invite natural light and visual connection. Transparency in product design often exposes internal mechanisms in products, fostering trust and curiosity by making functions visible. It focuses on simplicity, clarity, and minimalist form, creating seamless connections between objects and their environments. Let’s now explore how transparency shapes the function, experience, and emotional impact of spatial and product design. Transparent Spatial Design Transparency in spatial design serves as a powerful architectural language that transcends mere material choice, creating profound connections between spaces and their inhabitants. By employing translucent or clear elements, designers can dissolve traditional boundaries, allowing light to penetrate deeply into interiors while establishing visual relationships between previously separated areas. This permeability creates a dynamic spatial experience where environments flow into one another, expanding perceived dimensions and fostering a sense of openness. The strategic use of transparent elements – whether through glass partitions, open floor plans, or permeable screens – transforms rigid spatial hierarchies into fluid, interconnected zones that respond to contemporary needs for flexibility and connection with both surrounding spaces and natural environments. Beyond its physical manifestations, transparency embodies deeper philosophical principles in design, representing honesty, clarity, and accessibility. It democratizes space by removing visual barriers that traditionally signaled exclusion or privacy, instead promoting inclusivity and shared experience. In public buildings, transparent features invite engagement and participation, while in residential contexts, they nurture connection to nature and enhance wellbeing through abundant natural light. This approach challenges designers to thoughtfully balance openness with necessary privacy, creating nuanced spatial sequences that can reveal or conceal as needed. When skillfully implemented, transparency becomes more than an aesthetic choice, it becomes a fundamental design strategy that shapes how we experience, navigate, and emotionally respond to our built environment. 1. Expands Perception of Space Transparency in spatial design enhances how people perceive space by blurring the boundaries between rooms and creating a seamless connection between the indoors and the outdoors. Materials like glass and acrylic create visual continuity, making interiors feel larger, more open, and seamlessly integrated. This approach encourages a fluid transition between spaces, eliminates confinement, and promotes spatial freedom. As a result, transparent design contributes to an inviting atmosphere while maximising natural views and light penetration throughout the environment. Nestled in St. Donat near Montreal, the Apple Tree House by ACDF Architecture is a striking example of transparent design rooted in emotional memory. Wrapped around a central courtyard with a symbolic apple tree, the low-slung home features expansive glass walls that create continuous visual access to nature. The transparent layout not only blurs the boundaries between indoors and outdoors but also transforms the apple tree into a living focal point and is visible from multiple angles and spaces within the house. This thoughtful transparency allows natural light to flood the interiors while connecting the home’s occupants with the changing seasons outside. The home’s square-shaped plan includes three black-clad volumes that house bedrooms, a lounge, and service areas. Despite the openness, privacy is preserved through deliberate wall placements. Wooden ceilings and concrete floors add warmth and texture, but it’s the full-height glazing that defines the home that frames nature as a permanent, ever-evolving artwork at its heart. 2. Enhances the Feeling of Openness One of the core benefits of transparent design is its ability to harness natural light, transforming enclosed areas into luminous, uplifting environments. By using translucent or clear materials, designers reduce the need for artificial lighting and minimize visual barriers. This not only improves energy efficiency but also fosters emotional well-being by connecting occupants to daylight and exterior views. Ultimately, transparency promotes a feeling of openness and calm, aligning with minimalist and modern architectural principles. The Living O’Pod by UN10 Design Studio is a transparent, two-story pod designed as a minimalist retreat that fully immerses its occupants in nature. Built with a steel frame and glass panels all around, this glass bubble offers uninterrupted panoramic views of the Finnish wilderness. Its remote location provides the privacy needed to embrace transparency, allowing residents to enjoy stunning sunrises, sunsets, and starry nights from within. The open design blurs the line between indoors and outdoors, creating a unique connection with the environment. Located in Repovesi, Finland, the pod’s interiors feature warm plywood floors and walls that complement the natural setting. A standout feature is its 360° rotation, which allows the entire structure to turn and capture optimal light and views throughout the day. Equipped with thermal insulation and heating, the Living O’Pod ensures comfort year-round and builds a harmonious relationship between people and nature. 3. Encourages Interaction Transparent design reimagines interiors as active participants in the user experience, rather than passive backgrounds. Open sightlines and clear partitions encourage movement, visibility, and spontaneous interaction among occupants. This layout strategy fosters social connectivity, enhances spatial navigation, and aligns with contemporary needs for collaboration and flexibility. Whether in residential, commercial, or public spaces, transparency supports an intuitive spatial flow that strengthens the emotional and functional relationship between people and their environment. The Beach Cabin on the Baltic Sea, designed by Peter Kuczia, is a striking architectural piece located near Gdansk in northern Poland. This small gastronomy facility combines simplicity with bold design, harmoniously fitting into the beach environment while standing out through its innovative form. The structure is composed of two distinct parts: an enclosed space and an expansive open living and dining area that maximizes natural light and offers shelter. This dual arrangement creates a balanced yet dynamic architectural composition that respects the surrounding landscape. A defining feature of the cabin is its open dining area, which is divided into two sections—one traditional cabin-style and the other constructed entirely of glass. The transparent glass facade provides uninterrupted panoramic views of the Baltic Sea, the shoreline, and the sky, enhancing the connection between interior and nature. Elevated on stilts, the building appears to float above the sand, minimizing environmental impact and contributing to its ethereal, dreamlike quality. Transparent Product Design In product design, transparency serves as both a functional strategy and a powerful communicative tool that transforms the relationship between users and objects. By revealing internal components and operational mechanisms through clear or translucent materials, designers create an immediate visual understanding of how products function, demystifying technology and inviting engagement. This design approach establishes an honest dialogue with consumers, building trust through visibility rather than concealment. Beyond mere aesthetics, transparent design celebrates the beauty of engineering, turning circuit boards, gears, and mechanical elements into intentional visual features that tell the product’s story. From the nostalgic appeal of see-through gaming consoles to modern tech accessories, this approach satisfies our innate curiosity about how things work while creating a more informed user experience. The psychological impact of transparency in products extends beyond functional clarity to create deeper emotional connections. When users can observe a product’s inner workings, they develop increased confidence in its quality and craftsmanship, fostering a sense of reliability that opaque designs often struggle to convey. This visibility also democratizes understanding, making complex technologies more accessible and less intimidating to diverse users. Transparent design elements can evoke powerful nostalgic associations while simultaneously appearing futuristic and innovative, creating a timeless appeal that transcends trends. By embracing transparency, designers reject the notion that complexity should be hidden, instead celebrating the intricate engineering that powers our everyday objects. This philosophy aligns perfectly with contemporary values of authenticity and mindful consumption, where users increasingly seek products that communicate honesty in both form and function. 1. Reveals Functionality Transparent product design exposes internal components like wiring, gears, or circuits, turning functional parts into visual features. This approach demystifies the object, inviting users to understand how it works rather than hiding its complexity. It fosters appreciation for craftsmanship and engineering while encouraging educational curiosity. By showcasing what lies beneath the surface, designers build an honest relationship with consumers that is based on clarity, trust, and visible function. Packing a backpack often means tossing everything in and hoping for the best—until you need something fast. This transparent modular backpack concept reimagines that daily hassle with a clear, compartmentalized design that lets you see all your gear at a glance. No more digging through a dark abyss—every item has its visible place. The bag features four detachable, differently sized boxes that snap together with straps, letting you customize what you carry. Grab just the tech module or gym gear block and go—simple, efficient, and streamlined. Unlike traditional organizers that hide contents in pouches, the transparent material keeps everything in plain sight, saving time and frustration. While it raises valid concerns around privacy and security, the clarity and convenience it offers make it ideal for fast-paced, on-the-go lifestyles. With form meeting function, this concept shows how transparent design can transform not just how a bag looks, but how it works. 2. Enhances User Engagement When users can see how a product operates, they feel more confident using it. Transparent casings invite interaction by reducing uncertainty about internal processes. This visible clarity reassures users about the product’s integrity and quality, creating a psychological sense of openness and reliability. Especially in tech and appliances, this strategy deepens user trust and adds emotional value by allowing a more intimate connection with the design’s purpose and construction. The transparent Sony Glass Blue WF-C710N earbuds represent something more meaningful than a mere aesthetic choice, embodying a refreshing philosophy of technological honesty. While most devices conceal their inner workings behind opaque shells, Sony’s decision to reveal the intricate circuitry and precision components celebrates the engineering artistry that makes these tiny audio marvels possible. As you catch glimpses of copper coils and circuit boards through the crystal-clear housing, there’s a renewed appreciation for the invisible complexity that delivers your favorite music, serving as a visual reminder that sometimes the most beautiful designs are those that have nothing to hide. 3. Celebrates Aesthetic Engineering Transparency turns utilitarian details into design features, allowing users to visually experience the beauty of inner mechanisms. This trend, seen in everything from vintage electronics to modern gadgets and watches, values technical artistry as much as outer form. Transparent design redefines aesthetics by focusing on the raw, mechanical truth of a product. It appeals to minimalism and industrial design lovers, offering visual depth and storytelling through exposed structure rather than decorative surface embellishment. DAB Motors’ 1α Transparent Edition brings retro tech flair into modern mobility with its striking transparent bodywork. Inspired by the see-through gadgets of the ”90s—like the Game Boy Color and clear Nintendo controllers—this electric motorcycle reveals its inner mechanics with style. The semi-translucent panels offer a rare peek at the bike’s intricate engineering, blending nostalgia with innovation. Carbon fiber elements, sourced from repurposed Airbus materials, complement the lightweight transparency, creating a visual experience that’s both futuristic and rooted in classic design aesthetics. The see-through design isn’t just for looks—it enhances the connection between rider and machine. Exposed components like the integrated LCD dashboard, lenticular headlight, and visible frame structure emphasize function and precision. This openness aligns with a broader transparent design philosophy, where clarity and honesty in construction are celebrated. The DAB 1α turns heads not by hiding complexity, but by proudly displaying it, making every ride a statement in motion. Beyond just materials, transparent design also reflects a deeper design philosophy that values clarity in purpose, function, and sustainability. It supports minimalist thinking by focusing on what’s essential, reducing visual clutter, and making spaces or products easier to understand and engage with. Whether in interiors or objects, transparency helps create a more honest, functional, and connected user experienceThe post Transparent Design: How See-Through Materials Are Revolutionizing Architecture & Product Design first appeared on Yanko Design.