How to Fix Your Car's Seatbelt When the Buckle Has Inexplicably Gotten Turned Around on the Webbing

Because we can't drive around with twisted seat belts like a bunch of savages | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Sandy Munro Reveals the "Mega Casting" Hidden Within a Tesla Model Y

The lean design and manufacturing expert points out other surprises along the way | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Hyundai's New Design Strategy: No Visual Continuity Across Models

Conventional car company design rules say "All of a brand's models must share styling cues. The brand DNA must not have any mutations." As evidence of this approach, if you look at even tiny thumbnails of models on automakers' websites, whether they offer a few models or many, th … | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Debunking a Myth: Apple's Command-Key Icon is Not a Stylized Top View of a Castle

This is such a bummer! Some years ago I learned a fun factoid by watching a presentation (screenshots below) by Susan Kare, the legendary graphic designer who not only created the Chicago, Geneva and Monaco typefaces, but the icon sets for the original Macintosh. Kare explained t … | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Understanding the Work That Goes Into a Technical Cutaway Illustration

I've been poring over the website of technical illustrators Beau and Alan Daniels, the guys who did those daytime/nighttime cutaways of the cruise ship. One of the illustrations on their site is a cutaway of an RV, and because they show you the steps required to get to the finish … | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

This Off-Road Electric Wheelchair Can Go Places Conventional Wheelchairs Can't

Our farm is extremely wheelchair-unfriendly. The property features a gravel driveway, plenty of mud, uneven surfaces, sloping terrain; it would be impossible to navigate in a conventional wheelchair. Russian company Velobig recognizes that not all wheelchair users live in paved u … | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

How to Use Layers in Any Digital Sketch

Michael DiTullo demonstrates, using a basketball shoe as an example | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Escapism or Bad Taste: Pre-Pandemic Tours of Celebrities' Fantastic, Well-Stocked Kitchens (That Many Say They Never Cook In)

"This is where you would prepare the food, from what I've seen" | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Cheat Sheets: Simple, Brilliant Design to Making Cooking (and Cleanup) Easier

Cheat Sheets make it easier to cook, and to clean up afterwards. As a product design, it checks all the boxes with me: - Simple execution - Makes a common task easier - Eliminates hassle of clean-up - Eliminates material waste - Smart use of material Cheat sheets are simply | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Hyundai's Unusual New Design Strategy: No Visual Continuity Across Models

Conventional car company design rules say "All of a brand's models must share styling cues. The brand DNA must not have any mutations." As evidence of this approach, if you look at even tiny thumbnails of models on automakers' websites, whether they offer a few models or many, th … | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Photos of People Who Are Used to Working With a Lot of Monitors

If anyone's got to be suffering from WFH, it must be traders. People used to having an office with Las-Vegas-level power requirements, who can't get an electrician to install a sub-panel in their home-office penthouse and now have to suffer with just a laptop and a flatscreen req … | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

What Lifeboats Look Like Now are Not What You Picture Them As

Totally enclosed, they're vacuum-molded, weigh44 tons, can carry 370 people and have a bathroom | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

The Parts of the Cruise Ship You Don't Get to See: What Do the Crew Quarters Look Like?

Hidden belowdecks, they've got their own gyms, bars, hair salons, mess halls and more | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

IDSA's Sustainability Deep Dive Is a Virtual Event for Designing a Zero-Waste Future

Providing designers with actionable tools to improve the triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit. | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Beau Daniels' Daytime/Nighttime Cruise Ship Cutaways

Take a look inside a gigantic form of hospitality that may go extinct | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Louis Vuitton Now Selling $2,720 Dumbbells (and Other Fitness Gear)

If you're worried you didn't pay enough for your free weights, Louis Vuitton's got you covered. They're selling a pair of 6.7 pound / 3kg dumbbells for $2,720. (We did the math, and that's about $203 per pound.) From the product copy: "These Dumbbells have a striking | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Honda Modifies Van Designs to Prevent Virus Transmission From Passengers to Driver

This month Honda rolled out customized vehicles in Tokyo designed to prevent passengers from transmitting viruses to the driver. Intended for COVID-19 patients who need to be transported, these modified Odyssey and (Japanese-market-only) StepWGN vans have had an airtight aluminum … | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Ford Experimenting with Vibrating Social Distancing Wearables for Factory Workers

In the age of social distancing, how do you keep factory workers on a production line from coming too close to each other? Ford, eager to get their factories up and running again, is experimenting with distance-alerting wearables. Volunteers at their factory in Plymouth, Michigan … | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Definitely Not "Westworld:" Conceptual Design for a Social Distancing Park

Austria-based architecture firm Precht have conceptualized an urban park designed to accommodate social distancing. Their "Park de la Distance," which at first glance looks like a maze with no dead ends… …is simply a series of curving lanes, each, you guessed it, the requisite tw … | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Reader Submitted: Transparent face shield elevates Coronavirus prevention into high fashion accessory

Using facial protection no longer means losing individuality, but rather helps users express themselves as a fashion item does | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Louis Vuitton Now Selling $2,2720 Dumbbells (and Other Fitness Gear)

If you're worried you didn't pay enough for your free weights, Louis Vuitton's got you covered. They're selling a pair of 6.7 pound / 3kg dumbbells for $2,720. (We did the math, and that's about $203 per pound.) From the product copy: "These Dumbbells have a striking | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Another Design Entrepreneur Finds Self-Employed Success: Miguel Zavala's Downloadable, 3D-Printable Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures

With his skillset, 3D modeler Miguel Zavala could be toiling away in any number of CAD boiler rooms, working for the man. But "five years ago…his wife inspired him to make a hobby of creating digital models for his own 3D printer," Polygon reports. "After getting a good response … | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Microsoft Releasing Distressed, Cyberpunk-Design-Variant Xbox One X

Microsoft will be releasing a special edition of their Xbox console that looks like a legitimate piece of sci-fi kit. The Xbox One X Cyberpunk 2077 Limited Edition is a tie-in to Cyberpunk 2077, a hotly-anticipated game coming out later this year. Screenshots of the game: | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

How Prototyping Can Be Used as a Critical Thinking Tool to Visualize Future Unknowns

As products and services become more complex, prototyping should increasingly be treated as part of the creative process | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Swiss Village Projects World Flags, Messages Onto Matterhorn to Provide Global Hope During Pandemic

Every night from 9:30pm to midnight local time, the world can tune in via webcam | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Reader Submitted: 3d-printed "Hands Free" Door Handle Attachment Uses Body Heat Reacting Pigment

The project is conceived on the idea of using your arm or elbow to open a common round doorknob. The intention is for it to be used during the Covid-19 crisis. Therefore, the design is open source and free to be modified for specific dimensions. All parts of the assembly | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

The Marksmith: A Titanium Retractable Permanent Marker

Superior to the Sharpie for sure--but will long-term refillability be an issue? | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

What Was the Purpose of Saloon Doors?

The function of a doorway is to allow people to pass through a wall. The function of a door is to seal that aperture, providing visual privacy, protection from the elements and denying access to people who are not supposed to pass through that wall. Given those truths saloon | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Nike Releasing Sneakers You Selectively Peel to Reveal Hidden Colors Underneath, Tie-Dye Kicks and More

This week Nike announcing that their forthcoming women's Air Force 1 LX and Air Max 98 LX, which launch this Spring, "conceal mystery colorways underneath a white upper layer made of [a breathable, synthetic] textile." "That layer offers a creative function: Wearers can peel back … | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Why Aren't All Kitchen Tongs Designed Like This?

Australian kitchen goods company Dreamfarm, which notably has an in-house design team, produces these: They're called Clongs (partly because they have a click-lock in the manner of ballpoint pen, and partly because, well, Australia), and the simple design change of adding elbows … | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Four Low-Tech Design Approaches to Sealed Doorways That Forklifts Can Drive Through Without Causing Damage

Industrial facilities, warehouses and food processing factories have a common problem: There are doorways to the outdoor loading areas that need to be sealed against dust, insects, birds or the elements, but w orkers driving forklifts or pushing pallet jacks need to get through t … | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

The Three Simplest No-Sew "How to Make a Face Mask" Methods, With the Shortest Videos

On YouTube, the "How to Make a Simple Mask" videos with the most views are by attractive women, some with videos longer than 10 minutes. That's either a coincidence, or people don't just want to learn how to make a mask; they want to learn how to make a mask | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Company That Invented Cardboard Beds for Postponed 2020 Tokyo Olympics Now Selling the Airfiber® Mattresses in the U.S.

The New Airweave mattress is not cardboard, and it's washable! | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Locked-Down Banksy Forced to Use Own Bathroom as Canvas

Ha! Five images from the Banksy Instagram: I do wish there was a zoom-in on the guy at top right, doing something with the liquid soap. | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Free, Online Drawing Tutorials for Kids

Running out of activities yet? Since he sketches for a living, industrial designer Michael DiTullo was asked by some friends if he could post some "How to draw" videos for their kids. Here's the resultant series, which so far has five parts--and will hopefully occupy your kids fo … | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

COVID-19 Escapism: Tired of Being Cooped Up In Your House? Take a Tour of This 4,000-Square-Foot Barndominium

The folks I've spoken to by phone recently are all getting cabin fever. I don't know if this will help or hurt, but if you're tired of looking at the inside of your house, you can take a tour of this 4,000-square-foot barndominium in Texas. ("What's a barndominium?") There are | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

If You Want to Build a Gigantic House on the Cheap, Look Into "Barndominiums"

While most homes in America have frames made of wood, a barndominium is a steel-framed house that offers a lot of advantages over wood: Lower costs, both in construction and maintenance, and flexibility of design, whether you prefer open-plan or filled with lots of rooms. The ave … | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Apple Announces New iPhone SE

Here's me struggling to find a new design feature I like in it | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Company That Invented Cardboard Beds for Canceled 2020 Tokyo Olympics Now Selling the Airfiber® Mattresses in the U.S.

The New Airweave mattress is not cardboard, and it's washable! | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

A Designey Litter Box for Cats, Created by Architects

Looks like designey litter boxes for cats are now a thing. First came the Cove Modern Litter Box, which sought to address UX issues and racked up $167,735 on Kickstarter; now comes the Poop Cube, "designed by a pair of architects and…inspired by minimalist design," according to t … | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Social Distancing Dinner Table Design Features Unique Pepper-Passing System

Joseph Herscher and chain-reaction artist Lyle Broughton spent two months developing it | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

The Only Creative How-to Book You Need for Quarantine – The House Industries Lettering Manual

Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Brilliant Invention from Germany Makes Oiling Your Bike Chain Fast, Easy and Clean

This is one of those product designs that's so smart, you're almost angry that you didn't think of it first. The Green Disc is meant to replace that oily rag you use at home to oil your bike chain: I don't know that I'd carry it with me, | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

No #Coloringpages for Designers, but Here's Some Line Drawings of Cars Just Waiting to Be Colored

The Quarantine Coloring Book Instagram posts line drawings for people to color in, then they display the collective results here. Example below. And if you search for #coloringpages on social media, you'll find lots of artists making their line drawings freely downloadable, for t … | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

A Look at Public Outdoor Hand Washing Station Designs

These were designed more for Coachella than COVID. A redesign is in order | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

FCA Design Execs Pick Their Sketch Battle Faves

To promote their Drive for Design competition, FCA recently held a virtual sketch battle on their Facebook page. Readers were asked to post a rendering of "your wickedest and most outrageous designs for a Ram truck" in the comments. Then Ralph Gilles, FCA Global Head of Design an … | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Take A Good Look At The Very Visible Coronavirus

Confronting the image of a big problem is the first step to actually dealing with it | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Unusual, Industry-Specific Vehicle Design from the 1950s: The DeKalb Lumberjack

A couple of years ago, we spotted this 1940s sketch of an unusual vehicle done for Preston Tucker. The Tucker Corporation famously went belly-up and this vehicle was never produced. However! Take a look at this: Image source: Homemadetools That's not a one-off. That's a 1956 Lumb … | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago