Farms take up a lot of space. What if you could take a field of crops, lift it out of the ground, and turn it on its side?That far-fetched approach is actually being executed, by an innovative food growing/ag-tech company called Plenty. They've pioneered a radical method of growi … | Continue reading
Eric Geusz, a/k/a SpaceGoose is a software engineer by day, and an artist at night. He sells prints and T-shirts of his sci-fi illustrations.And on his Instagram, he freely shares the inspiration for his designs: Geusz is part of a movement of illustrators that adopt this practic … | Continue reading
To give you an idea of artist Rudy Willingham's sense of humor, here's how he wields creative cutouts over real-world environments. These were images he was hired to produce, to promote House of the Dragon earlier this year:This personal project of his, below, is amusing. He chal … | Continue reading
Here's an unlikely set of collaborators: Herman Miller's Gaming division and FAILE, a/k/a Brooklyn-based artists Patrick McNeil and Patrick Miller. Inspired by the duo's Deluxx Fluxx interactive art installation, which mapped their pop art aesthetic onto the world of arcade gamin … | Continue reading
This Cane Cluster, by architecture and lighting design firm AlexAllen Studio, is a minimalist take on the chandelier. Three curved aluminum members, suspended from a steel pole, are lined with an LED strip.Designers Alexandra Burr and Allen Slamic offer the Cane Cluster in both 3 … | Continue reading
The London Design Festival is once again promoting the city as a global hub for creativity. The 2024 festival runs from September 14th to 22nd, showcasing a vast variety of design-related activities and exhibitions spread across the city. One of the things that draws me back to t … | Continue reading
A company called CharaChorder has produced this Master Forge product. It's a chord keyboard, that the company claims allows typing speeds above 300 words-per-minute. (For you non-writers, that's a staggering claim—I can do maybe 80-90 wpm and that's considered fast.) Chord keybo … | Continue reading
From Scandinavia comes this Stokke BedBox, designed by ID firm Frost Produkt. As the firm explains:"The BedBox® is the world's only premium, ride-on suitcase for children with an in-flight bed or leg-rest feature. This travel essential combines Scandinavian style and aviation in … | Continue reading
I love to see designers that are on a mission. One such person is Daryl Villanueva, the founder and Chief of Design of vehicle manufacturer Bandit9. Check out their wild-looking EVE Odyssey bike, a brushed-aluminum model. It's got a 125cc engine that gets a staggering 156 mpg.As … | Continue reading
Blackouts are common where I live, and some of my neighbors have "whole house backup generators." These consist of a large propane generator that sits on a concrete pad outside your house, and is wired in to the house's breaker panel. The yard must be dug up to accommodate a 500- … | Continue reading
Circular manufacturing doesn't work with conventional masonry. Once you lay bricks or cinderblocks and mortar them into place, you can't practically smash them up to make new bricks or blocks. But a team of engineers at MIT has figured out that you can—if you use glass.The team h … | Continue reading
Fun fact: In Alaska, the permafrost makes laying underground cables impractical. It's also not cost-effective to build overhead lines suspended from anchored poles. So to get broadband internet to rural interior communities, they use underwater fiber-optic lines laid in rivers.Al … | Continue reading
For lone caregivers of special needs kids and adults, shopping for groceries can be difficult; pushing both a wheelchair and a shopping cart is impractical. Enter this Caroline's Cart, developed by Drew Ann Long, an entrepreneur and mom of a special needs daughter. Long came up w … | Continue reading
Researchers at ETH Zurich are developing an alternative to 3D printing with concrete. They've devised a system called impact printing, where an overhead robot rig fires chunks of a clay mixture straight down at the ground. It fires these chunks in a prearranged pattern, and as ea … | Continue reading
There's not enough data here to call it a case study, but I like seeing the form experimentation. These desktop chargers are by industrial design consultancy Swerve."Over the past few years Swerve have designed an array of charging devices for the home and work place for the Visu … | Continue reading
Carpentopod is a walking coffee table, designed and built by Netherlands-based game developer Giliam de Carpentier. Inspired to improve upon Theo Jansen's Strandbeests, Carpentier wrote software to generate leg linkage mechanisms, then have them virtually compete against each oth … | Continue reading
I'm calling this one out because I spent many years working in structural package design, at a corporation with a storage room filled with bottle designs from around the world. And I don't think I've ever seen rotomolded structural package designs.These vessels, by Shenzhen-based … | Continue reading
This incredible-seeming Neurode wearable is meant to treat ADHD without the use of medication. Instead it sends light electrical stimulation to your prefrontal cortex, directly acting on the part of the brain that is problematic in ADHD sufferers. The results are improved focus, … | Continue reading
Chinese manufacturer Kefeya offers this $250 S3 Laptop Screen Extender, which adds two external monitors to your laptop. The company says the frame is made of carbon fiber, and that together with the (LCD, not LED) screens, weighs in at 4.73 pounds. A kickstand on the back is mea … | Continue reading
I can't figure this one out. This Flexify Air Fryer Oven, by Chinese appliance brand Midea, was voted best-in-show by The Kitchn—and it has French doors. For heaven's sake, why? The chunky handles not only obscure the view, but add a degree of manufacturing complexity; the doors … | Continue reading
This outrageously chunky Icebreaker keyboard was designed by filmmaker Denis Agarkov. "Architecture, especially the flatiron building in New York and a similar one in downtown L.A., has influenced me greatly," Agarkov told Null Society. "The wedge shape fascinates me, along with … | Continue reading
Lower-income families, and those living paycheck to paycheck, are forced to purchase goods in small quantities. This amounts to a poverty tax, where they're paying 30% to 40% more for the product by unit, according to Chilean entrepreneur Jose Manuel Moller.In 2013 Moller devised … | Continue reading
Universal Methods of Ethical Design is an upcoming book by design researchers Sai Shruthi Chivukula and Colin M. Gray. Aimed at socially responsible designers seeking processes to model, the book is billed as "the first comprehensive survey of ethically centered design practices. … | Continue reading
Such a creative solution: This grapefruit-sized object is a throwable panoramic camera. Called the Pit Viper 360, it was developed by a company called Bounce Imaging. It's covered with six cameras and thermal imaging sensors, so it can provide infrared images. It's designed for t … | Continue reading
It would be fun to see what archeologists make of this object, if they dig one up in the future. This Creator Micro, by Montreal-based tech company Work Louder, is designed for power users of Photoshop, Premiere, Figma, etc. It offers 12 keys and two analog dials that users can m … | Continue reading
Open-ear headphones are having their moment. They've found a market in runners, cyclists, factory workers, parents, and others who want to take in a podcast or music while maintaining situational awareness. The form factors vary, but they're typically small things that cling to y … | Continue reading
This seems like a silly throwaway object, and to me it is. But it says something about the divide between the digital and the physical, and attempts to bridge them. As people's lives are increasingly being dominated by 2D screens, the manufacturer of this Cyber Cube has created a … | Continue reading
Seen under a microscope, elements and bismuth crystals are visually mind-blowing. Well aware of this is Nervous System, the experimental design lab whose sculptures we showed you here. The company makes these Bismuth Crystal Puzzles, for jigsaw lovers bored of standard fare: "Eac … | Continue reading
When Zero Halliburton wanted to update their classic suitcases, they turned to industrial design consultancy Pensa. "Known for products built on quality, durability, strength, and luxury," the firm writes, "this iconic American brand wanted to create a new generation of luggage c … | Continue reading
Here's what we looked at this week:Form follows function: The Evolv, a minimalist electric delivery vehicle by Astheimer Design. Opinion: Making dumbbells "smart" is dumb. Here's a misguided use of technology to improve UX.From craftsy to designey bird feeders.An industrial d … | Continue reading
Huawei has developed a smartphone that tri-folds out into a tablet. Closed, the Huawei Mate XT Ultimate Design offers a 6.4" screen; unfold one panel, and it's a 7.9" screen; open the whole thing, and you've got an iPad-rivaling 10.2" display. Fancy engineering apparently keeps t … | Continue reading
Since I don't own an EV, I can't tell if this is a real problem, or something cooked up by manufacturers. Apparently, EVs are so quiet that the noise of the tires becomes, according to these companies, bothersome. "[EV tire] noise can be perceived as significantly more intrusive … | Continue reading
PatSeer, a company that helps users do patent searches, has created a new service for industrial design firms and manufacturers. The problem the service was designed to solve, is as follows:"In the past decade, design registrations have surged in Asia and North America owing to m … | Continue reading
Architects Beatriz Ramo and Bernd Upmeyer have designed a 74-square-foot apartment that they will use as a second home. The couple, who hail from Spain and Germany respectively, are based in Rotterdam; the apartment is sited there, in what was previously a storage unit in a resid … | Continue reading
Cyclists can be hard for motorists to see, particularly motorists in larger vehicles. British trucker Jay Singh observed this firsthand, having spent decades driving a hauling truck around the UK. Singh himself eventually took up cycling, and "after one too many close shaves whil … | Continue reading
These tongue-in-cheek cat-friendly furniture concepts are by Taiwanese furniture designer Jing-Cyuan Tang, a/k/a Sunriu. Now that cats have come to dominate the internet, I do think these would sell like hotcakes (particularly if the comments on Tang's Instagram are any indicat … | Continue reading
A decade ago, an experiment on the International Space Station successfully conducted 3D printing in space, using plastic. But plastic isn't very useful for making say, durable replacement parts. So now the European Space Agency has successfully 3D printed with metal on the ISS.O … | Continue reading
I'm lucky enough to live in a natural environment where I'm surrounded by birds. For those who need to attract them, it's easy enough to make your own bird feeder.For those who prefer to spend, the market is awash in bird feeders ranging from craftsy to downright designey. Copper … | Continue reading
This Tree Hanger is by Japanese furniture designer Shinya Yoshida.It's as simple as it gets: Three staves, and five looped elements. The latter both serve as the hooks, and hold the thing together. It's in production by Japanese brand IDC Otsuka and runs ¥48,400 (USD $338). | Continue reading
Industrial design consultancy Sundberg-Ferar was hired by Ames True Temper to design an innovative pruning tool. The firm did heavy research, which allowed them to spot "compensatory behaviors that signaled inherent design deficiencies." The result is a small but impactful change … | Continue reading
Here's what we looked at this week:Skyline Robotics' Ozmo is a robotic window washer for skyscrapers. The HoverAir X1, a folding, autonomous flying action camera, has clocked $3.1 million-plus on IndieGogo.Rethinking the ergonomics of the nail clipper: Khlip reverses the dire … | Continue reading
As we approach the 2024 IDSA International Design Conference & Education Symposium taking place September 11-13 in Austin, Texas, we are excited to feature a conversation with Omari Souza, Assistant Professor of Communication Design at the University of North Texas and a keynote … | Continue reading
This Evolv vehicle is by Astheimer Design, a UK-based industrial design firm. The idea was to design a last-mile electric delivery vehicle from the ground up. There's a real purity to the minimalist design: It's a box maximized for storage, with a driver's compartment attached. T … | Continue reading
Using freeweights is a low-tech way to work out. But Chinese manufacturer Julu Smart Tech reckons changing the weights on dumbbells is too onerous, and that technology is the answer. Their Smart Adjustable Dumbbells contain a proprietary internal mechanism that attaches the weig … | Continue reading
Two years ago, a New York county held a contest, among teenagers, to design an "I Voted" sticker. The winner was 14-year-old Hudson Rowan, who penned this gem:At the time, we wrote that Rowan's entry "accurately depicts what it currently feels like to participate in democracy."Th … | Continue reading
This concept is by Fabien Otto, an Industrial Design student at Germany's Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences. It calls for autonomous, modular drive platforms that split in half to support cargo containers. After they've delivered the container, they rejoin into one … | Continue reading
Here's a handsome and inclusive piece of industrial design. Microsoft has unveiled their Xbox Adaptive Joystick, designed for players with limited mobility. It features a single thumbstick, four buttons beneath it and two trigger buttons on the front. The buttons can be remapped, … | Continue reading
Forming sheet metal is expensive. It requires expensive stamping tools and dies be made, and you need a massive press to load them into. The press takes up a lot of space, as do the tools and dies, which can only make their one shape.Production technology company Desktop Metal ha … | Continue reading