Smarter Package Design: Get Rid of the Water, Ditch the Plastic

Single-use plastic bottles exist because we buy a lot of products that are mostly water. The latest company to realize this is stupid (since most of us already have water on tap in our homes) is Seventh Generation, a manufacturer of cleaning products. "The plastic lifecycle is im … | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Transparent, Reusable, Easy-to-Clean Face Mask: The BUBL

$39.50 a pop, comes with a month's worth of filters | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

16 Star Designers Create Public Restrooms for Tokyo. Shigeru Ban's Design Uses Electrochromic Glass

I.e. the walls are transparent, but magically turn opaque when occupied | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Built-In Parallel-Parking Aids from the 1930s and 1950s

Here are two obscure automotive inventions I've never seen before. Both were designed by people seeking to make parallel parking more convenient. I rate the first design, from the UK in the 1930s, so-so; the second design, from Switzerland in the 1950s, is quite clever as it gets … | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Will Politics Poison Product Design?

What do we do when the symbols we create connect to things we never intended? | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Marketing Genius Repurposes Sawhorses as $400 "Transformable, Adjustable Bar Tables"

If you've got some basic tools and the materials, you can build a sawhorse/trestle yourself in an afternoon. Or if you've got $50, you can go to Ikea and purchase their Finnvard, which has an adjustable-height top. But if you've got money to burn, you can head over to | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Intelligent Use of Design in This Travel Chess Set

Admittedly, I have a low bar for travel chess sets since the last one I saw wound up in the Design Roast. For a change, this Crownes Chess Set makes intelligent use of design with their approach. Taking a cue from Russian nesting dolls, the machined pieces neatly stack inside | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

MoMA Design Store Challenges Stigmas by Celebrating Designs Made for Women

Are the needs of women covered in "Design Innovations for Women" taboo, or have they just been largely ignored by designers until recently? | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Explaining the Difference Between plexiglass and Plexiglas®

These days, as businesses order transparent plastic sheets to build anti-COVID barriers, they may find that some suppliers are out of Plexiglas®, but have plexiglass in stock. What's the difference? Both products are sheets of acrylic. Plexiglas® is the brand name trademarked in … | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Check Out the Electric Microvans GM Sells in China

The Wuling Hong Guang Mini EV is less than 10 feet long | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Speed Vibrations Made the ISS Impossible to Properly Photograph Inside. Photography Duo Figures It Out

The "Interior Space" book contains stunning images of the ISS interior | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Formlabs' Gigantic, Large Format 3D Printer Available for $1,000 Off

This is the Form 3L, Formlabs' large-format 3D printer: The image above is deceptive--it doesn't give you a sense of how big this thing is. Here's what it looks like with a person next to it: As you can see, the 3L has a gigantic build | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Starting a Discursive Design Project Amidst Anthropocene and Pandemic

A speculative collaboration between Takram and Hitachi Design explores a future of infrastructure influenced by the cultural shifts as a reaction to COVID-19 | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Crowdfunding Smash: Handheld Power Scrubber Gets 3,000% Funded

Here's another product hit I didn't see coming: Skadu, a gimmicky-looking handheld cordless power scrubber for cleaning tasks. If I saw this being demonstrated at a trade show, I'd have walked right past the booth without thinking twice. This is something I might buy if it was ma … | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Pandemic Wish Fulfillment: Engineer Invents Gun That Shoots Masks Onto People's Faces

After seeing countless viral clips of anti-maskers acting out in public, engineer Allen Pan of the Sufficiently Advanced YouTube channel indulged in a bit of wish fulfillment: He cobbled together a CO2-powered "gun" that fires face masks directly onto people's faces. After an imp … | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

What 15 Years as a Consultant Taught Me – Industrial Designer James Owen

In our latest 1:1 design interview podcast Michael and James talk creative journey and professional practice | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Guy Fences His Home with Over 2,000 iPhones

I can't tell if this is earnest behavior, weird taste or social commentary. In Vietnam's Vinh Long province, a 53-year-old homeowner has had his house fenced with over 2,000 iPhone 6, 7 and 7-Plus models. The original article documenting the feat ran in | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle Toy Re-released, Using the Original Molds from 1973

"If a mold is well designed, uses high quality steel and is well-maintained, it can go on forever" | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

The "Butterfly Patch" Method for Fixing Small or Large Holes in Drywall and Sheetrock

Hadn't seen this trick before. It doesn't require adding bracing behind the hole | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Andrey Avgust's Beautiful Subway Car Redesign

Andrey Avgust is the talented industrial designer behind those stunning U.S. currency redesigns. Another conceptual project he's executed directly involves his native country of Belarus: A redesign of Nyamiga Station in Minsk, the capital. The entire project is worth a look, but … | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

"Design Ah!" is a Japanese TV Show Created to Nurture Children's "Design Minds"

Weirdly, they do it with surrealist video clips that resemble mushroom trips | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

David Lynch Explains His Design for a DIY Smartphone-to-Tripod Adapter

"It's so much fun to build your own things and solve the problems" | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

How a New Zealand Company Cracked the VR Motion Sickness Problem: Put the User in a 360-Degree Rotating Sphere

Depending on what you're doing with it, VR could stand for Vomit Reality. But now New Zealand tech company Eight360 has cracked the problem of how to eliminate the nausea that comes when your body doesn't move along with what your eyes are showing you, at least for vehicle simula … | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Nike Offline is One Example of How Quarantine Is Affecting Sneaker Design 

"Inspired by the mental health benefit of taking time to unplug and disconnect, the Nike Offline aims to do the same for your feet." | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Design Criticism: Design Without Engineering Isn't Enough for COVID-Safe Aircraft Interior Redesign

I cannot imagine how design alone can tackle the problem of crowded airplane cabins in the age of COVID. Then again, it's not my job to; it's the job of design studios like the UK's PriestmanGoode, who recently release their "Pure Skies" concept for a reimagined commercial aircra … | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Reader Submitted: This Planter Tells You When Your Houseplant Needs Watering Using One Simple Analog Function 

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@core77.com | 4 years ago

How to Create Molds for Small, Tricky Parts

Some hardcore prototyping skills right here! Industrial designer Eric Strebel shows you his stacking process for creating molds for small, tricky parts. Here it looks as if he's preparing to cast copies of a robot action figure for a client, with at least one part | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Custom-Fit Package Designs for Carrying Treasure in the 1500s

Madrid's Museo Del Prado has a killer exhibition called "The Other Treasure: The Dauphin's Cases." First off, the treasure in question. Louis XIV of France was married to his cousin, Maria Theresa of Spain. They gave their firstborn son the imaginative name of Louis. This son Lou … | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

How Do You Design a Successful Public Health Initiative? ShineLA Wants To Be a Glowing Example

ShineLA is set to debut during the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Nivea's In-store Refillable Shower Gel Stations Are Not a Good Environmental Solution

Ignore the other design blogs and think about it for a minute | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Baseball Fans (Some Alive, Some Dead) Pay $700 to Have Plastic Cutouts of Them Placed in the Stands

Facing the reality of empty stadiums, last month the Kansas City Royals came up with an unusual plan: Fans of the team could become KC Royals "Fanbassadors" by paying $40 for a life-size, printed plastic cutout* of their likeness to be placed in the stands. *(Where cardboard cuto … | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

G-Shock Introduces New Heavy Duty Models

The GA900 series looks to be the toughest of the bunch | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Behind The Production of Our 2020 Core77 Design Awards Trophies

3ERP delivers high-quality, low-volume orders with a fast turnaround—here's a look behind the process of producing our winners' awards trophies | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Solo New York's Re:cycled Collection: Bags Made From Recycled PET Bottles

Solo New York's Re:cycled Collection of bags has an impressive green credit: The exterior fabric of very bag in the line-up is made from recycled PET bottles. On top of that, the company is currently taking steps to make the shipping and sales process greener as | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

A Transparent Face Mask That Attaches to Your Eyeglasses

This is Safety Theater, and it looks difficult to install as well | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Contractor-Invented Tool: The One-Handed Gorilla Hook Cordless Drill Holster

On a jobsite one day, contractor Dave Rivera and his crew were on top of a house, putting in the roof. Directly below, a crew of plumbers were simultaneously installing radiant floor heating. The problem: Every once in a while, someone in Rivera's crew would accidentally drop the … | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

The Best 3D Printing Services for Designers

In the 1990s 3D printing was adopted by forward-looking design studios for prototyping – it was not widespread though for it required having personal access to an expensive machine. Since then we’ve seen the Internet evolve into the primary backbone of business and as a result 3D … | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Rare Footage of Japanese Designers Developing the Datsun 240Z in the 1960s

In the 1960s, Japanese automakers were beginning to export their economy cars around the world. Fuel-efficient and tiny, these econoboxes were difficult for American consumers to take seriously. However, the folks over at Nissan (then known as Datsun) were also working on somethi … | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Crowdfunding Smash: Outlet Covers That Double as Motion-Sensitive Linked Pathway Lighting

As someone who frequently wakes up in the middle of the night, and fumbles around the dark while trying not to wake my wife, I find these brilliant: It's such a simple idea. Called ConnectLights, they don't need to be wired in, just placed over the outlets and | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

An Upcoming Home Trend Prediction: Modular Layouts

Ultra efficient layouts and flexible live/work spaces are likely to reign supreme in the future of home interior design | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Rodin Left His Original Molds Behind, So Selling Copies of His Sculptures Would Support His Museum

Rodin may not have been an industrial designer, but he did have a grasp of mass production, and understood how it could be wielded to help immortalize his work while turning a profit. By the time of his death in 1917, Rodin had donated many of his sculptures to the | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Nemo Demonstrates How 3D Printing and Drones Can Reverse Environmental Damage to Coral Reefs

Nemo's four-part system could allow restoration specialists to restore up to100 corals per day | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Proteus: A New "Indestructible" Material With Properties Similar to Shells and Grapefruit Skins

The indestructibility of this new aluminum foam metal relies on an embedded ceramic material | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Which Face Masks are Most/Least Effective?

With everyone wearing different styles of facemasks, Duke University physician and professor Eric Westman wondered: Are each mask-sellers' claims of efficacy true? Which masks are the most effective, and which simply provide a false sense of security? As reported by Duke Health, … | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

A Gimmicky Drill With a Killer Feature: The Ability to Indicate Level or Plumb

To be clear, I'd never buy this toy-like xDrill from Robbox; in the demo video you can actually see the run-out in the chuck and bit. Also, the last thing I want is a power tool with an LED touchscreen. However, it's got at least one killer feature--the ability to | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

Explore the World of Omiyage, an Edible Souvenir Hailing from Japan

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@core77.com | 4 years ago

Cadillac Reveals New Design Language with Electric Lyriq

In addition to the environmental benefits, electric cars are a great thing for exterior automotive design; with the exception of the Toyota Prius, it's generally understood that the visual language of electric should be clean and uncluttered. Even the stodgiest design manager kno … | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago

When Good Design Disappears: Why Was the SimplySmart Bottle Discontinued After Just Two Years on the Market?

As product designers, we know the quiet thrill of walking into a store and seeing something you designed sitting on a shelf. We also know the feeling of glumness when the product is replaced or discontinued. Puzzlingly, though, I find it more frustrating as a consumer to learn th … | Continue reading


@core77.com | 4 years ago