Coverage sponsored by the IHA

We saw a couple Wabnitz Editions at the NYIGF; here, owner Wilma Wabnitz fills us in with a bit of backstory. Scott Henderson of Mint Design proceeds to walk us through some of their products, including his colleague Alberto Mantilla's iconic "Hug" salt & pepper shakers and a previously-seen one-handed tea set.

What's the most frustrating thing a furniture designer will have to endure? The pitch meetings? Production challenges? Supply-chain hassles? We're going to say knock-offs. Because their presence means that after you've endured all of the initial hassles and successfully brought your product to market, someone else swoops in and starts illegally capitalizing on your hard work.

The Danish furniture design fixture Republic of Fritz Hansen is no stranger to piracy victimhood, with countless knock-offs of their iconic Series 7 chair populating cafes and undiscriminating households worldwide. With international legal battles difficult to pursue, the company has taken matters into their own hands via the social media route, releasing this YouTube video showing an impromptu strength test:

The original Series 7, as Arne Jacobsen originally designed it, seems quite a bit stronger. Taking a look at the attention lavished on its construction provides clues as to why.

Image above courtesy of Paper

We had the opportunity to preview the new sketching application Paper by FiftyThree for the iPad. The web video showing their application makes it look easy and beautiful, but, as they say, art is hard. Our previous efforts with iPad sketching applications (Alias Sketchbook Pro) looked nothing like Jim Lee's Batman. No surprise there.

The finger has always been a blunt instrument, unless you happen to be gifted with especially pointy ones. Transparent Capacitive styluses allow a slightly better correlation between the visible contact surface and the actual point, but there is no substitute for pen and paper (though the Wacom Cintiq comes close).

Paper favors gestures to click menus and "napkin" sketches race by compared to other applications we've seen. The ability to overlay watercolor on existing drawings makes highlighting and indication a breeze. Much as they may try, design professors attempting to make students "loose" often fail because we can't help but be precious. By limiting the toolset, and especially due to the absence of layers, zoom and brush size, there isn't really any way to be fussy with Paper although I certainly tried. Instead of spending lots of time with one idea, the hope is that you create many.

Graeme Obree in 1993, via Wolfgang Menn

It's the stuff of legend in the cycling community, and frankly it's a shame that he lacks recognition in the greater world of sport or design: Graeme Obree, a.k.a. the "Flying Scotsman," the outsider who broke the World Hour Record (distance cycled in one hour) on a homemade bicycle in 1994, has set his sights . His infamous "Old Faithful" was inspired by the downhill skiing, where the athlete folded in an aerodynamic albeit awkward-looking tucked position; his equipment consisted of a radical design that reduced the traditional diamond into a single oversized tube, with a one-bladed fork and custom bottom bracket that infamously incorporated parts from a washing machine.

A quick dip in the ol' YouTubes yields several fascinating documentary clips, but before we get into the archive, it's worth checking out the occasion for Obree's recent headlines: earlier this month, Humans Invent posted an interview with Obree, now 46, who currently has his eyes on the human-powered landspeed record.

The short unravels a bit during the second half of the five-minute clip, but this is precisely why Obree is such a compelling individual: he has a one-track mind, as they say, and one gets the sense that his fixation on speed is his literally his raison d'etre. The lengthy interview (produced alongside the video) quickly exposes the depth of his obsession:

...I thought to myself, what was my passion before? What were my strengths? I thought bike design, bike building, and pumping out a lot of energy from my legs. I thought the human powered land speed record is the perfect solution to all those three things. It is actually the complete embodiment of what I am as a human being.

Like bicycle lights, clotheshangers are a perennial (or per-semester-al, perhaps) favorite project for young and emerging designers: it's an everyday object that demands user-informed solutions yet one that is also limited by functional constraints such that existing hangers leave just enough room for improvement.

Where Jaineel Shah's "Pinch" and Rob Bye's "Stretchless" are designed to bypass the collar-stretching process of hanging t-shirts, Joey Zelédon's "Coat Check Chair" recast hangers as a building material, as did Labyrinth Studio's "Hang-Over" shelf. Barcelona-based Italian designer Stefania Nicolosi's "Benvenuto" is perhaps closest in spirit to this last design, incorporating an inverted (or reverted, perhaps) hook into the hanger design.

The result is a double-sided clotheshanger, which at once has an entirely intuitive purpose and invites some kind of 'Barrel-of-monkeys' rainy-day activity. The lower hook, of course, is intended for one's accessory of choice, be it a bag, scarf or hat.

Where José Hurtado's "Twist" bicycle concept was 'centered' on its mirror-image symmetry, "Benvenuto" can be rotationally symmetrical (as in the image above) or a mirror image depending on the way the hook is rotated. Any other instances of 'ambigrammatic' design objects come to mind?

You love beer. We love beer. Think how much our lives could change if it were packaged to go from the brewery to the store to you in a more efficient and sustainable fashion. The HEINEKEN Innovation Challenge believes in the power of design and sustainability to change the game and you're invited to be part of the team. Here's your chance to make your packaging ideas a reality. Share your sustainable ideas on the future of beer packaging for a chance to win $10,000!

» By May 8th - An elevator pitch and 3 images (plus a more in-depth .pdf if you'd like)
» PROMOTE YOUR IDEAS - The more votes you get, the better your chances are to move to Phase 2!
» By May 29th - 100 participants will be chosen to participate in Phase 2, a closed innovation environment where participants will work with HEINEKEN experts on developing ideas.
» By June 2012 - one winner will be selected to win the grand prize of $10,000!

Learn more about the HEINEKEN Innovation Challenge for sustainability packaging on IdeasBrewery.com and REGISTER today!

For some creative inspiration, tune in as industrial designer and pioneer of rapid prototyping Janne Kytannen (Freedom of Creation) takes on the challenge in a 48-hour Live Stream innovation marathon.

Janne Kytannen Innovation Marathon
Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012
5PM GMT / 1PM EST

Creative Director, User Interface
BMW Group DesignworksUSA
Munich, Germany

BMW DesignworksUSA, a global design consultancy, is seeking a Creative Director in a contactor position for their Munich Studio. He or she will be the Project Lead for user interaction design projects ranging from team direction, client interaction to project management. The ideal candidate has the ability to frame projects of diverse character, identifying and translating success criteria into actionable and forward thinking design solutions. Lastly, the Creative Director will cross-link knowledge and expertise by creating connections across our diverse capabilities and global locations in a collaborative, interdisciplinary team.

» view

The best design jobs and portfolios hang out at Coroflot.

How are technological advancements shaping or informing the design of Soft Goods? Michael DiTullo, our Jury Captain for this field and Creative Director at frog in San Francisco, shares his observations and predictions on the paths that soft goods designers and manufacturers are taking plus tells us why he picked his jury.

Core77: Tell us a bit about your jury and why you chose these individuals.

Michael DiTullo: All four of us, Greg McNamara, M. Coleman Horn, Chris Gadway and myself, are very experienced in bringing a variety of soft goods, footwear and accessories to production for large corporate brands as well as start-up lifestyle brands. I looked for partners on my jury who are excellent designers, have a firm understanding of brand, a deep passion for craft and experience in factory development.

What qualities will you be considering when evaluating each entry?

We will be looking for products that really represent the full package. Winning entries will have a desirable and unique brand position. They will be meticulously crafted and executed. They will be striking and iconic in their own right. On top of all of that, they will have brought an innovative twist to the industry. One of the amazing things about working in soft goods is that you are building on literally centuries of craft. To be able to pioneer a new technique or put a twist on an old one is an achievement. We are going to be looking for that twist.

What are you most excited about discovering while judging the entries?

There are a couple of global trends occurring right now in soft goods, which, on their surface, seem very disparate. The first is a return to old world craft. We are seeing products made again in the old world traditions with painstakingly hand tanned and tooled leathers, cut and stitched by hand. In some cases, these products are being made in places like the United States. It is exciting to see a broader acceptance of this type of work again!

On the flip side, we continue to see the mass implementation of high tech innovations like laser cutting, stitch less seam welding, and the integration of molded hard and semi-rigid components within soft goods. It is exciting that both of these trends exist at the same time, and are both at their core rooted in craftsmanship. I'm looking forward to see where the bulk of this year's entries land, and if a few of them even blend those trends.

Where do you see the future of the Soft Goods field heading?

An exciting future lies ahead. Some of the most exciting possible innovations have to do with advances outside of the soft good industry. Just-in-time manufacturing technologies and order management are leading to more and more factory side customization that is initiated and determined by the end user. The ever-cheapening and dispersal of processing power is leading to digital components integrating into soft-goods. A digital component in a shoe was almost unimaginable a decade ago, and now every Nike running shoe is compatible with Nike+. The opportunity to integrate technologies that relate to quantifying our actions the way the Philips fitBit does or acting like an input to our other devices, such as some of the Burton coats that have stitched in smartphone controls is amazing.

The challenge for designers in this category will be coming up to speed with all of these new technologies while remaining versed in the techniques of the industry to create soft goods that are innovative and desirable.

Learn more about the Soft Goods category and jury. The deadline for entries is Tuesday April 10.

Coverage sponsored by the IHA

In case you missed it, here's a roundup of our full coverage of this year's International Home + Housewares Show. Bright colors and automotive finishes compliment new functionality and silicone applications in the kitchenware market. Stackable and compact storage solutions are appearing with nesting options. From Denmark to Japan, the United States to the United Kingdom, design leads the way for brands with a century of history as they look forward to their next 100 years. Video exclusives, design insights and 100 images of our favorite products in our roundup of this year's housewares innovations.

» Introduction to the 2012 International Home + Housewares Show
» 19th Annual Student Design Competition Winners
» Alessio Alessi Shows Us Their New Spring Wares
» Bodum Goes Electric
» Carbonation Nation - SodaStream, OBH Nordica, iSi Twist 'n Sparkle
» Dash Kitchenwares Debuts from Storebound
» DCI x A Better World By Design, Things That Look like Other Things
» Dyson DC39 Canister Vacuum
» Eva Solo's Grill and Outdoor Accessories for Spring!
» Kebo, One-Handed Bottle Opener
» Lasko Power Toolbox and Rubbermaid Bento, Storing and Organzing
» Lodge, a Century of American Manufacturing
» Marna and OIGEN: Japanese Heritage Brands
» Mr. Clean's New Line of Cleaning Gloves
» Prepara, a Sous Chef for the Home Cook
» Silicone Sealing Lid for Food Storage
» Reusable Filter Cups for Keurig Brewers - Solofill and Ekobrew
» Wabnitz Editions and Mint Design
» Whisky Stones by Teroforma

> VIEW THE FULL PHOTO GALLERY

Buses are great. Buses offer a clean alternative to driving. And you never know when they're coming.

Many cities have acknowledged this problem and offer open APIs with real-time bus data. This is crucial, as any bus rider knows that buses rarely arrive on time, because, unlike subways, buses are dependent on traffic and delays caused by riders. But it's also a hindrance to taking the bus: who wants to wait at a lonely bus stop, which is subject to the elements and may not be safe? Not to mention boring.

Tapping into London's Countdown service, which displays live bus data, John Graham-Cumming created a simple bus monitor shaped, naturally, like an actual London bus. The bus uses a hacked Linksys wireless router that Graham-Cumming outfitted with a custom Linux setup. The LED then taps into data for the next two buses and adds two minutes for walk time to the actual station.

Complete instructions are available for hacking a Linksys wifi router to interface directly with live bus data and display it on an LED.

Graham-Cumming has made the project open-source, with complete instructions for setting it up, including how to take apart the bus model to fit the LED. If you live in a city with open transportation data, you could create a custom one, with or without the bus model.

I could see this device in a coffee shop or bar near a bus stop, thus encouraging riders to come in and patronize the store without worrying about missing their bus. It could even be customized for, say, a 5 minute walk, if the shop is a bit farther away. More adventurous hackers could create a multi-display unit for different bus lines too.

There's just one week left to enter the 2012 Core77 Design Awards to share your excellence, enterprise and intent with our multinational all-star jury. We look forward to seeing and honoring the fruits of your labor, and now that you've made the effort to document and photograph the work, take a few moments to upload those assets and enter the awards. As we've heard time and again, the amazing multidisciplinary group of 74 innovators and thought leaders who comprise the 17 jury teams can't wait to see the work you produced.

As with last year, it goes without saying that we'll provide extensive coverage to the winners and notables, while this second year will also see the publication of honorees' work in our first Core77 Design Awards yearbook (read: print). In addition to the opportunity for incredible exposure, the awards trophy awaits each of the professional and student winners... and anyone else who might be deserving: our trophy is a mold that allows winners to create multiples of the award to share with your team. Even if you're entering a solo effort, you may have people to thank (your professor, your intern, your parents) and our trophy, designed by Rich Brilliant Willing, enables that gesture as many times as you see fit.

Our 74-strong jury spans the globe from Pasadena to Pretoria and include BERG, Bruce Sterling, Mariana Amatullo, Alice Twemlow, Michael Sorkin, Sulki and Min Choi, Marc Brétillot, Zoe Ryan, Troika, Front, John B. Rogers and Panthea Lee... all of whom are excited to see the work and ideas that came out of last year. To that end, our video testimonial entry component allows you to speak directly to the jury or demo your project; it can be as simple as a straight-to-webcam presentation. And in the same transparent vein, the jury teams will be returning the favor: broadcasting their results to you live, "in person," during our announcement week in July.

So join the celebration, honor your efforts and ideas and share your favorite projects. It promises to be an amazing event to participate in.

The deadline is April 10, 2012 at 9pm Eastern Time / 6pm Pacific Time.

We understand the difficulty with meeting deadlines so we will be accepting entries until April 24 for those who need the extra time; however entries submitted after April 10 will incur a 20% late fee.

Tonight, the Core77 welcomes metalsmith Lyle Poulin to the Hand-Eye Supply Curiosity Club hosted at the Hand-Eye Supply store in Portland, OR. Come early and check out our space or check in with us online for the live broadcast!

Lyle Poulin, Hand-Forge
"The Modern Blacksmith: Tradition, Tools and Technique"
Tuesday, April 3rd
6PM PST
Hand-Eye Supply
23 NW 4th Ave
Portland, OR, 97209

Whatever happened to the village blacksmith? Not so long ago, villages were organized around trade districts, and each one had a blacksmith shop. Traditionally the blacksmith shaped hot metal on the anvil for the village's many needs: from horseshoes, wheels, and gates to tools and weapons. Though our needs, wants, and fashions have evolved since then, the fundamentals of forging metal are largely unchanged. Come and learn about the work of the modern blacksmith in a historical context. We'll explore the diversity and evolution of the blacksmith's various tools and techniques through the ages, including a look at the future potential of metal work at the intersection of old craft and modern technology.

A full-time metalsmith living in Portland, Oregon, Poulin was raised in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, where he worked in his family's metal shop from the age of eleven on. He has an eclectic portfolio that takes his foundation in custom architectural ironwork as a point of departure. A self-taught bladesmith and jeweler, he currently specializes in jewelry, blades and forged implements for the home. He is the resident artist at Hand Forge and is an active member of CMAG, Portland's Creative Metal Arts Guild.

The problem of how to get a robot from point A to point B has many solutions, and by far the most interesting (and creepy) ones are animal-based. You probably remember Boston Dynamics' doglike robot that scared the crap out of me and Carnegie Mellon's snakebot, which also gave me nightmares. (Ed. note: Likewise, the gallop of the former company's most recent critter is still echoing in my head). But a new robot produced in collaboration between aforementioned Boston Dynamics and the US Army's Rapid Equipping Force—a robot based on the sand flea—has a rather amazing means of obstacle navigation:

Sand Flea is an 11-lb robot with one trick up its sleeve: Normally it drives like an RC car, but when it needs to it can jump 30 feet into the air. An onboard stabilization system keeps it oriented during flight to improve the view from the video uplink and to control landings.

I've said this before of a wall-climbing robot from Disney Research, and I'm only half-joking: I want to see these things adapted to urban food and package delivery. It'd be worth the occasional destroyed burrito to see these little guys hop into your window every day at lunchtime.

Nike's sportswear designers were recently assigned a very specific task: Come up with the best performance wear possible to be worn by a highly select group of 1,600 men.

Those men are the professional players belonging to the 32 teams of America's National Football League, and today Nike presented their new uniforms, signalling their status as the League's new official apparel manufacturer both on and off the field. The Elite 51 uniforms combine Nike's manufacturing, materials and research prowess into "a completely integrated system of dress" that is lighter, stronger, and more flexible than previous iterations.

The baselayers have foam impact protection built into "hit zone" areas like the shoulder, hips and tailbone. The thighs are protected by lightweight carbon-fiber plates. The seams are strategically placed and designed to lie flat to avoid chafing the wearer. The fabric used is Nike's Dri-FIT mesh, designed to wick moisture away from the player.

The outer layer of the uniforms are constructed with Nike's Flywire technology, originally designed for footwear, which weaves fibers together in a particular way to add support where it's needed without creating bulk and weight. The jerseys achieve what's known as a "lockdown" fit, encompassing the bulge of the pads and shrinking back down to the wearer's body, eliminating any loose inch of clothing that a defender might get their fingers onto.

Live from Portland, Oregon - Core77's Hand-Eye Supply Curiosity Club!

Tuesday Apr. 3rd 6:00 PM

Lyle Poulin: Hand-Forge "The Modern Blacksmith: Tradition, Tools and Technique"

Whatever happened to the village blacksmith? Not so long ago, villages were organized around trade districts, and each one had a blacksmith shop. Traditionally the blacksmith shaped hot metal on the anvil for the village's many needs: from horseshoes, wheels, and gates to tools and weapons. Though our needs, wants, and fashions have evolved since then, the fundamentals of forging metal are largely unchanged. Come and learn about the work of the modern blacksmith in a historical context. We'll explore the diversity and evolution of the blacksmith's various tools and techniques through the ages, including a look at the future potential of metal work at the intersection of old craft and modern technology.


See more Curiosity Club here!

The French design school École Nationale Supérieure de Création Industrielle, known colloquially as ENSCI Les Ateliers, seeks to train industrial designers with a special bent on pushing the materials envelope. "In this industry undergoing profound change, the dominant technologies are not only those of wood, metal and thermoformed plastic," they write, "but the implementation of new materials (sometimes traditional materials revisited), composites, functional textiles, et cetera" (not to mention liquid nitrogen). This type of thinking has yielded a bizarre and interesting use of materials in Marianne Cauvard and Raphael Pluvinage's "Noisy Jelly."

By combining an Arduino microprocessor, a capacitive surface, software, and gelatin, students Cauvard and Pluvinage have created a series of musical instruments that looks like something Cornelius would've brought on stage in the '90s:

(I'm 99% sure they didn't clear that Devo soundtrack, but if anyone would let that slide to support the project, it's Devo. Or Cornelius.)

So how does it work?

...The game board is a capacitive sensor, and the variations of the shape and their salt concentration, the distance and the strength
of the finger contact are detected and transform into an audio signal.

This object aims to demonstrate that electronic[s] can have a new aesthetic, and be envisaged
as a malleable material, which has to be manipulated and experimented.

For our French and Canadian readers, there's a (French-language-only) six-minute explanatory video detailing ENSCI Les Ateliers' mission here.

Besides tires, another thing I've never seen pop up in an automotive rendering is the car's underside. Few consumers that aren't mechanics will ever see the underside of their own car, and thus it doesn't need any design.

That may change. The UK has seen an uptick in what they call "cat (catalytic converter) theft," particularly from SUVs and delivery vans, whose high stance makes the theft easy:

These thieves are not sophisticated. Any vehicle with ground clearance can have the catalytic converter ripped off within seconds, according to the police, as they typically use plumber's pipe cutters or a cordless saw to slice through the exhaust and supports.

...Cats are mainly being stolen for their precious metal value—if properly recycled they can be worth between £50 and £100.

While the thief stands to make 100 pounds at most, it can cost more than 2000 pounds to repair the damage, which has fleet owners particularly worried. When you own dozens of trucks with enticingly high ground clearances, cat theft costs can skyrocket. And while the problem is just now seeing an uptick in the UK, it's been a problem Stateside for years.

Graphic/Web Designer
Appalachian Trail Conservancy
Harpers Ferry, West Virginia

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy is seeking a Graphic/Web Designer, who will be responsible for the design and production of ATC marketing and collateral materials, such as sale sheets, flyers, booth graphic, etc. Print and media buying tasks associated with the production and cost control of ATC's printed materials will be required. The incumbent will also be responsible for designing, programming, and maintaining ATC websites and email campaigns. He/She will also be responsible for developing web-based tools, analyzing site analytics, SEO, and ensuring that all content information is up to date.

» view

The best design jobs and portfolios hang out at Coroflot.

Jury Captain and Co-Founder of Reboot, Panthea Lee explains to us why Service Design, which connects disparate disciplines as well as the private and public sectors, deserves a category of its own and introduces her multidisciplinary jury team.

Core77: Tell us a bit about your jury and why you chose these individuals.

Panthea Lee: Service design is being applied to problems in an increasingly diverse range of fields. We are excited to have assembled a group of individuals representative of that diversity, each of whom bring a wide range of perspectives and experiences to this year's jury.

Shrupti Shah of Deloitte's GovLab shares Reboot's passion in using the tools of service thinking to improve the impact of government work. Her work with Deloitte's numerous government clients has shown her the countless ways friction and inefficiency in the service delivery process can interfere with policymakers' best intentions.

Method's Ted Booth has been doing fantastic work with private sector clients as they focus on the user experience to create great products and services. He's helped Fortune 500 clients with broad public impact, optimizing the way they relate to and serve their customers.

As service design is an emerging space, we also thought it was important to invite some critical perspectives. Lara Penin, of Parsons' School of Design Strategies, brings a solid academic and theoretical understanding to the jury. Helen Walters, an acclaimed industry thought leader and journalist in this space, is helping us put the category in perspective of what has come before.

As a studio that frequently blurs the lines between public and private sector problems, we at Reboot thought this was an ideal mix of perspectives to shed light on the role of service design today.

Why is it important to recognize this category in a design awards program?

Service design is increasingly being recognized as a powerful toolset to tackle all types of challenges—from the airline and music industries to financial inclusion and social services. The private sector is effectively applying service design to improve customer loyalty and maximize profits, while the public sector uses it to improve citizen outcomes and expand organizational efficiency. Our vision of service design is that it helps myriad problem-solvers blend together several different disciplines of design and analysis.

We see ethnography, economics, operations management, policymaking, communications design, and systems engineering as critical ingredients in the service design mix. All these components are often present in the most effective applications of design thinking. As evidence, one must only look at the presence of many of them as categories in this year's Core77 Design Awards. Yet service design deserves its own category, as it is helping formalize the subtle yet powerful connections between all these disparate disciplines.

What kinds of people or projects do you imagine entering your category?

We're hoping to see an incredibly diverse set of applicants. Our jury has seen service design make an impact in so many fields, we'd love to see an equally representative set of projects. Similarly, we would like to see all levels of participants. We place as much value on the innovation and creativity of students and researchers as we do on experienced practitioners.

What qualities will you be considering when evaluating each entry?

There are several principles we hold dear in terms of a great project, and we'll probably be examining entries through these lenses.

First, and surprisingly, we'll be looking for a clear focus on users, at all levels. What I mean by 'all levels' is a clear understanding that in a service challenge, user groups consist not only of end users, but also the agents, service providers, and other stakeholders in the value chain.

Second, we'll definitely be looking for a clear articulation of the service ecosystem of the project. Service challenges almost always involve complex system, containing several layers of interactions and, within them, many interrelated points of influence and intervention. Great solutions must take all these nodes into account, surface the leverage points, influence change at different points, and understand how these changes impact the overall system.

And finally, we'll certainly be looking for projects that have had a measurable impact on the challenges they set out to tackle. Given the complexity of most service challenges, impact can often be very difficult to measure in the short-term. But great projects must be able to prove their work, and we'll be looking for tangible results from applicants.

Of course, these aren't the only indicators we care about, but they will certainly inform the jury's thinking.

Where do you see the future of this field heading?

As service design is being applied to all sorts of new fields and increasingly complex issues, its utility is being recognized by a wider audience. Organizations like Amazon and Zappos have been leaders in demonstrating to the rest of the private sector how strong service orientation and design, well-executed, can increase profits and expand customer loyalty.

In the public sector, the World Bank's ICT Unit and innovative work by elements of the Obama Administration have been pioneering service-based approaches towards delivering public impact. As these leading institutions continue to innovate and show the value of these approaches in improving citizen outcomes, more and more groups are adopting it.

There is also phenomenal work happening in the academy. As a field that is still relatively new, there is a lot of overlap and variation among our vocabulary and shared approaches. Thinkers like Lara Penin and many of her colleagues are working hard to build a common set of language and standards that will help the industry mature and grow stronger.

Learn more about the Service Design category and jury. The deadline for entries is Tuesday April 10.

It's a bird. It's a plane. It's a semiconductor sequencer. It took nearly 13 years to sequence the first human genome and it cost nearly $3 billion, but today, thanks to Life Technologies and RKS, the Ion Proton™ Sequencer can deliver an entire human genome sequence in a single day for $1000.

The implications of the affordability and speed of this type of technology are manifold but Life Technologies anticipates the applications to be far-reaching: "As DNA sequencing deciphers human, animal, and plant genomes, [the Ion Proton™ Sequencer] promises to deliver personalized medical diagnoses, improved agricultural crop yields and new sources of energy." Moreover, RKS' work on the design and delivery of the system created a simple and compact form that houses complex technologies without compromising ease of use.

In addition to delivering a world-class aesthetic and user experience, the Ion Proton™ Sequencer is a scalable, simple and fast scientific instrument. The compact housing of the instrument provides optimal ventilation. Sequencing reagents are easily accessed through doors, and the process is initiated and monitored through a touch screen interface. LED indicators provide at-a-glance confirmation of operational status, and instruments can be rack-mounted, both increasing efficiency and maximizing use of space. The front panel is highly chemical and scratch resistant, and body textures and finishes were selected to utilize materials that are expected to become recyclable.

Outshining the media accolades garnered when the Ion Proton™ Sequencer debuted at this year's CES, "The Coolest Thing I Saw at CES 2012," from PCMag and a "landmark development from the Financial Times, it was recently announced that the Ion Proton™ Sequencer received a red dot award for product design (life science category). Congratulations to RKS and Life Technologies and we look forward to seeing what innovations might develop from this technology.