Even if you're a talented independent product or furniture designer-builder, there's another crucial skill you need to succeed: The ability to negotiate that complicated middle layer between you and your desired customer. Let's say you've got a small handcrafted object that you think would sell well at Urban Outfitters; you must identify that company's buyer(s), somehow secure a meeting, sell them on your product, and be ready to scale production up at a moment's notice. If you're a furniture designer-builder, you must do the same with one of the handful of kingmaking furniture showrooms around the world. And both instances require you to have a lot of cash on hand, as you're the one who'll be fronting the money, and you won't see your first check until the items start to move.

For those not ready to take those steps—or for those not yet confident enough in their ability to execute them—Amazon has launched a new service, Handmade, that's a potential game-changer for the independent artisan. Amazon Handmade provides you the opportunity to get your handcrafted items in front of literally millions of customers who are already shopping for the exact category of goods you're making, and unlike Etsy, Amazon is the world's largest retailer of goods, period. (Earlier this year, they surpassed Walmart.)

Also differing from Etsy are the fees. Whereas Etsy charges 20 cents per listing and takes 3.5% of your sales price, Amazon charges nothing per listing--but takes a whopping 12%. The latter company is presumably hoping that their 250-million-strong customer base will lead to steady sales and make the pill go down smoother.

To get in on it, one must register/apply, create a profile, use Amazon's listing tool to create an entry for your product, and of course be ready to ship the product.

As far as the definition of "handmade," Amazon states that

All products available in your Handmade at Amazon store must be made entirely by hand, hand-altered, or hand assembled (not from a kit). Products must be handmade by you (the artisan), by one of your employees (if your company has 20 or fewer employees), or a member of your collective with less than 100 people. Mass-produced products or products handmade by a different artisan are not eligible to sell in Handmade.

As far as how they'll enforce the non-mass-produced policy, it appears that the screening occurs during the application process. We've gone over the application, and for the Core77 readership, we're guessing the following questions will be the ones of most interest to you. (Please note that the letters and numbers are ours, added for the sake of discussion further down.)

1. How do you make your products?


A. Entirely handmade
B. Handmade but with the use of light machinery that is not automated
C. Hand-altered
D. Made from a kit
E. Mass-produced

2. Is any part of your production process or components (e.g., castings for rings) of your final product mass-produced?


A. Yes
B. No

3. What type of equipment do you use?


A. Hand Tools
B. Light-machinery
C. Semi-automated Machinery
D. Fully-automated Machinery

Based on the program's rules, it appears that if you answer 1-A, 2-B and 3-A, you're in.

If you answer 1-C, 1-D, 1-E, and/or 3-D we gather you're out.

The remaining answers appear to fall in a grey area; for example, they can hardly fault you for using mass-produced fasteners. Presumably to clear up these grey areas, the application also contains what you might think of as essay questions: One asking "What makes your product unique" and another asking you to "Describe your production process in detail," both with 500-word limits. It is here, we suppose, that you can explain that your handmade wooden speaker contains off-the-shelf electronics, or that your dining table incorporates custom CNC-cut brackets of your own design.

The current product categories eligible for the Handmade program are:

Jewelry, Home products (Art, Baby Bedding, Bath, Bedding, Furniture, Home Décor, Kitchen & Dining, Lighting, Patio, Lawn & Garden, Storage & Organization), Party Supplies and Stationery

The company says they are "working to open up more categories in the upcoming months."

It will probably be some time before we begin to see reports from pleased or disgruntled creatives that were approved or denied based on the specifics of their production; if any of you decide to dive in, please let us know how you fare.

To see what people are currently selling on Handmade, click here. To learn more about joining the program, click here.

Artist Derek Hugger has "a passion for mechanisms and an insatiable urge to solve mechanical puzzles." He's also apparently got a woodworking shop, judging by what he's created: A series of intricate, complex kinetic sculptures dreamt up with a Wacom and then crafted primarily out of wood.

Hugger's pieces are a far cry from what you might expect from the material, almost eerily combining the organic and the mechanical via cams, cranks, gears and linkages. Have a look at his Colibri, which faithfully recreates a hummingbird in flight:

Fancy something more abstract? Perhaps his Merlot sculpture—so named because for a brief moment in their rotation, the components resemble wine glasses atop their stems—will float your boat:

Or maybe you'd prefer something that incorporates marbles, like his Kinestrata:

While creating these pieces is Hugger's hobby, he hasn't built a website around them merely for show: "[The website] is intended as a means for sharing ideas, spreading knowledge, and inspiring creativity," he writes. "With this site, I hope to get people designing, building, and playing in sawdust." At the links above you'll find he's selling plans for each piece.

Check out more of Hugger's creations here.

Via Colossal

Parking cars today means putting them out of the way while they are not being used. It is a necessary evil in our ever-growing, auto-centered cities and the cutting-edge of parking technology does little to revolutionize our strategy. Advancements have primarily focused on two things: parking more cars in a given space and being able to put car parks in places where they might otherwise not be possible.

Conventional automated parking technology does have a number of good—but relatively limited—benefits, including increased security, decreased damage to cars, and reduced space requirements. When done correctly, there is also additional efficiency in getting cars in and out a car park or garage. But the time has come to start thinking about parking as more than storage for automobiles, and start considering its potential as a culturally transformational act.

This shift is made possible by autonomous driving technology, smartphones, thoughtful data analysis, and inexpensive, ubiquitous sensors. These enablers highlighted below can facilitate a number of changes in the near term, especially when coupled with public/private partnerships.

IMPROVE THE WORLD

In North America, a quarter of cars cause 90 percent of automotive air pollution. Badly tuned cars pollute the environment and expose people who live near multiple roads to as much as 10 times more pollution than the average citizen. City and local governments could use passive-emission detecting technology in parking lots to sniff out offending vehicles as they enter and leave. Those owners could then get an offer for coupons to get their emissions checked and systems fixed or updated. Parking lots are ideal places to install these services; cars are in relatively controlled environments, where data can be collected from a large sample of vehicles over time, easily identifying those in the top quartile of polluters.

SAVE TIME AND MONEY

Maintaining cars saves gas and makes them safer. While today's parking lots provide basic valeting services, including car wash and oil change, the abundance of applications that use the on-board diagnostics (OBD2) port built into most cars since 1996 (such as Voyo) allow service people in parking garages to do more than just check the tire pressure and clean windows. Drivers can opt to have their cars run through suites of diagnostics to make sure they are working optimally and to identify possible problems before they happen. While drivers are at work, shopping, or watching a sporting event, they could get an alert that says their timing belt needs tightening and elect to have a technician fix it right away.

MAKE PEOPLE SAFER AND HAPPIER

What if your car could be where you want it to be, when you need it? Even before autonomous cars are available, tomorrow's parking facilities could be the place where your car starts a journey to where you need it, whether you drive it there or not. Maybe traffic is crazy, or you had one beer too many, and you take the train home after the game? No worries, because the service you signed up for will make sure your car gets where it needs to be, well after peak traffic is over.

CHANGE THE EXPERIENCE OF CITY LIFE

While we are reinventing driving and parking, we should change the essential definition of parking itself; why does an autonomous car need to stop moving? Need to go to the store for five minutes? No problem. Just hop out of your self-driving car and let it be parked in motion, circling the block for a fee until you are finished.

The same principle applies if you are late for a concert. Simply jump out and let the car go where you want it to be when you are finished, based perhaps on the outflow of the venue or where you plan to go after the concert. Maybe your car parks itself in someone's driveway during the show — we could call it Airbnb for parking — and you pay a small fee. Imagine the reduction in uncertainty. You would only need to know how long it would take you to travel to a venue in order to arrive on time — no longer would you need to anticipate the parking situation in order to determine the amount of travel time required for important events.

This article appears as part of frog's 'The Ride Ahead' collection, which focuses on the future of personal transportation.

The prevailing form factor for consumer-level 3D printers and CNC mills is a box, dictated by the axial/gantry-style mechanisms of these machines. But entrepreneur Zaib Husain and engineer Azam Shahani were thinking outside of the box, literally, when they devised their Makerarm prototype. An articulated arm is cantilevered off of a column mounted to a worksurface; the arm has a 180-degree sweep, ten inches of Z-travel and a maximum reach of nearly 16 inches.

So what does this arm do? Well, everything. The creators have designed a series of interchangeable tool heads that can hold an almost absurd variety of: Cutting heads for milling and engraving, nozzles for 3D printing either FDM-style or resin-based, a laser cutter, a soldering iron, a pen plotter, and even a series of pick-and-place tools like a claw gripper, an electromagnet and a suction cup. Check out its range of operations:

I found the auto-leveling feature shown in the video the most fascinating, where the head tracks the slanted surface of the workpiece. The sensors that must be contained within to perform such a feat make me wonder if the arm can also automatically index off the corner of the workpiece. Holddown--not to mention bolting the arm's base to your worksurface--is presumably still the user's domain.

Unsurprisingly, the $999 early bird special is already sold out on Kickstarter. That was for just the Makerarm and a single head pack including the electromagnet and pen plotter. The fully-loaded version that ships with all of the heads (see below) is going for $2,199.

Though they've still got a long way to go, it seems certain the project will be funded. Though the campaign is only in their first few days, they've already raised $145,653 of a $349,750 goal, and there are still 28 days left to pledge. And assuming they do make it, they're planning on shipping by October 2016.

It's been a long road to arrive at truly wireless earphones, but a new crop of products entering the market are finally ditching that clumsy, behind-the-neck connective wire. Among these, Skybuds—the result of a collaboration between ECCO Design and Alpha Audiotronics—takes things a couple steps further than just delivering great sound, by incorporating the earphones into a storage and charging system aimed to "seamlessly fit into a user's existing behavior," as co-founder Jamie Robert Seltzer notes. 

The evolution of Skybuds through many rounds of prototypes. 

In order to create an earbud flexible enough to fit a majority of ear shapes, the team started the project with extensive analysis. They conducted hundreds of studies to map out different ear geometries, which they 3D modeled and used to explore possible ergonomic iterations for the Skybuds tip shape.

In its minimalist design, the Skybuds system combines four everyday products: wireless earbuds, a bluetooth headset, an extra battery for both your phone and the earbuds and a protective case for your phone. 

Skybuds live in the accompanying, patented phone case and can be removed from the bottom with a simple push, like clicking a pen. The buds begin charging as soon as they are securely docked and have a 3-4 hour battery life. The case itself has an embedded battery pack, so a welcome side effect of using this system is that your phone will be recharged throughout the day. Through dozens of iterations, the team pared down the sleek case so that it's not too bulky on the bottom to make room for the earbuds. The final design features a slight taper, allowing the case to lie flat and the screen to be fully visible in a resting position.

The focus throughout the entire design process was on minimizing bulk and hassle while creating a tool that addresses multiple modern-day needs. "The work of good design is to simplify complex issues so people can readily enjoy everyday experiences," explains ECCO Design President Eric Chan. "The most challenging aspect is to negotiate space between EE components, antenna design and performance and battery capacity, while getting the most comfortable and compelling form factor, all in a very small earbud."

The earbuds include a set of useful functions:  Buttons on both buds let users play/pause music and also answer, ignore or hang-up phone calls. 

The system uses a combination of wireless technologies but is really freed up by the use of Near Field Magnetic Induction (NFMI)—a technology previously only used in hearing aids—to send signals to both buds without needing to connect them through a wire. The benefits of magnetic induction are numerous—it is an efficient, low-power system that overcomes many of the drawbacks of radio frequency systems, like interference and security concerns. 

One of the frustrating aspects of wireless earphones is how easily they can be lost, but Skybuds has considered those of us who are prone to misplacing things. Though the case itself already helps prevent lost buds, they also created an app that contains a tracking feature—for those inopportune moments when you're searching for your earphones as you're running late to work. 

Though some will be disappointed to know that (for now, at least) the case is only compatible with iPhone 6 and 6s, there is a lot of enthusiasm for this clever, compact product—just a little over a day into their Kickstarter campaign, the project is already almost half-way funded. 

I am a big fan of Mike Burrows, and have mentioned his work quite a few times over the years at Bicycle Design. In 2012, lifelong "cycling fanatic" and engineer Karl Sparenberg of Advanced Velo Design took over production of Burrows' Windcheetah recumbent trike, and has been working on improving the materials and manufacturability of the original design. I think it's a pretty interesting story, so I am letting Karl tell it to you directly in the guest post below.

Having taken over the production of Windcheetah a couple of years ago, the design and manufacturing has taken a different tack. Many people are already aware of Windcheetah, "the ultimate recumbent tricycle", so I've decided not to rattle on with all the historic detail… but it goes without saying that Mike Burrows did a pretty good job 30 or so years ago when he designed it!

The modern iteration of Windcheetah is now a more cutting edge speed machine, incorporating advanced materials including Carbon composites and Titanium that were still prohibitively expensive in years gone by and with that, we have to move with the times and produce a 'better' machine.

When I took over the manufacture of Windcheetah, to my alarm there was an Achilles heel, not with the design but the castings. These are the components that make up the frame, by bonding the aluminum and carbon tubes together onto spigots, these sand cast aluminum components could come from the foundry with flaws or voids in them.

If you could imagine ordering a 'set' of castings to make a Windcheetah frame and then having to go through the whole long winded process of post casting heat treatment, machining, drilling, tapping, powder coating and then the final finishing to only then proceed onto the bonded assembly with the tubing.

At any stage in this manufacturing process, from the rough sand castings to the finished component, the dreaded 'flaws' or 'voids' be discovered. Even worse, if the frame has been fully assembled and the sand casted part fails during testing, not only would the whole frame have to be scrapped, but it would also take out any of the other perfectly good components and tubing to the scrap bin with it. A very expensive and time consuming process as I'm sure you could imagine…there had to be a better way to manufacture these components!?

You may be interested to know, why the sand castings were failing at such an unacceptably high rate. Well, a few things really, but predominantly the foundries in the UK had to compete with the far east for business. As a consequence, many of them had to shut down, leaving in short, foundries that were not tooled up for small production runs or with the necessary skills to cast such intricate shapes as you find on a Windcheetah. The foundry would simply credit the customer if any of the components failed. But this gesture didn't really help, when what is required is a full set of components to build a machine, not the hassle and cost implication of trying to manage the ongoing balance of the failure in certain components, while the 'perfect' odd parts sat on the shelf.

The solution became apparent after considerable research into an alternative method of manufacturing and with massive investment into the tooling for a process known as 'lost wax' or 'investment casting'—the two terms are interchangeable but in essence the same thing.

CAD model screenshot and a 3d printed part (used to produce the soft mold needed for wax production).

What you see below is the result of numerous hours of redesign and CAD drawing to be able to 3D print the parts ready for soft mould production that manufacture the waxes. Now that we can produce waxes, this opens up the possibilities of alternative materials to aluminum. Soon we will be bringing to market a magnesium version as soon as beta testing is completed. The advantages of magnesium or aluminum are instantly a weight saving of a third the weight.

Wax parts for aluminum investment casting

So watch this space for an even quicker, lighter and more performance orientated Windcheetah. For further detail contact me directly karl@windcheetah.co.uk

This post originally appeared on Bicycle Design.

Years ago someone saw some photos I had taken and said "Wow, your camera takes really good photos." I thought that was like saying to someone "Wow, your pot makes really good stew." And it struck a chord with me when sketchmaster Spencer Nugent told me that students always ask him what kind of pen/pencil they should use; there seems to be this notion that in certain creative fields, it is the specific brand of the tool of expression that provides the results, not the person wielding it.

So it's unsurprising that a question Casey Neistat gets asked a lot is what kind of camera to use. Well, here's his answer, along with some excellent explanations and demonstrations:

In another recent video, Neistat attempts to hack a GoPro Hero4 Session in order to correct the ergonomic setback that occurs when the camera is used without a protective case. (Warning: There is some disturbing footage at the end, when Neistat happens to capture a commotion outside of the window that appears to involve animal abuse. Stop watching at 8:00 if you don't want to see it.)

Finishers among you, what would you have done? YouTube commenters insist he should have primed it first, but I don't know of any primer that would stick to a waterproof, presumably rubberized surface, do you? 

An old Army saw has it that

The General asks, "What does it do?"
The Senator asks, "How much does it cost?"
The soldier asks, "How much does it weigh?"

We think of soldiers as warfighters, but for even the most combat-hardened vet, the amount of time spent in firefights is a fraction of the time spent hauling their gear around. And that gear adds up: A soldier on the march might be saddled with an assault rifle, a sidearm, ammunition for both, a knife, smoke grenades, flashbang grenades, rations, water, medical supplies, tools, body armor, a flashlight, communications gear, extra batteries, night vision goggles, et cetera. (Members of crew-served weapons teams, i.e. mortars and machine-gun squads, have it even worse.)

All told, a soldier might be carrying anywhere from seventy to over 100 pounds of gear. Watch this soldier in Afghanistan step onto a scale while loaded up with "everything I go out with every day:"

What's even crazier is that sometimes soldiers with this amount of gear on are dropped out of airplanes—which can add another 53 pounds to the load. (The U.S. Army's T-11 parachute and harness weighs 38 pounds and the reserve chute adds another 15.) A veteran of the U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade based in Vicenza, Italy writes that "Gear weight of a paratrooper…hits up to 160 lbs out the door!"

To give you an idea of what this looks like, check out this footage of members of the 82nd Airborne Division, all wearing the T-11 rigs, jumping out of a C-17 over New Mexico. Be sure to watch for the guy on the far right of the screen around the 55-second mark:

It's strange how amazingly peaceful it looks—on a training mission, anyway—when the guy with a GoPro on his helmet jumps out of the plane.

To give you a more visual idea of where all of that weight comes from, here's footage of a soldier at Washington state's Joint Base Lewis-McChord being kitted out for deployment:

Even more illuminating is this footage shot in the field, in Afghanistan. Here Specialist Craig Brown points out the design features of the initial layer of clothing, then explains the locations and functions of each successive piece of kit he straps on:

Kind of puts things into perspective, doesn't it? I'll never complain about not having a MacBook Air again.

Have you been feeling a little uneasy lately, like maybe you're forgetting something important? Perhaps it's your subconscious reminding you that time is running out tograb your ticket to the Core77 Conference: Designing Here|Now, this October 22nd through the 24th in historic Downtown Los Angeles, CA. 

In one week's time on October 22nd, top designers and change makers from across the globe will gather in downtown L.A. to kick off the weekend's outstanding design-centric festivities. A full day of inspiring presentations, parties and exclusive Field Trips are on the schedule. With so many reasons to attend, only one question remains: Will you be there to experience it all? 

Perks of attending? Enjoy drinks and food on us while getting to know your fellow attendees at one of Don Draper's favorite drink spots, hear a full roster of design luminaries share personal insight and explore Los Angeles with our guided Field Trips. 

Learn more about the four pillars of design—Collaboration, Making, Business and the Future—from leaders in the field. No matter what type of design you practice or how you relate to design in your day-to-day, you'll find something in these presentations that will spur an idea, expand your understanding or just leave you impressed! 

Our guided field trips to compelling design destinations throughout Los Angeles offer an inside guide to happenings around the city. Attendees will have one of three field trip options to choose from, but we assure you, there is no wrong choice. Finally, to wrap up the day, you'll gather for a farewell picnic so everyone has a chance to reminisce about the best design conference weekend they've ever had.

Still not convinced? We've highlighted10 of the most compelling reasons to attend the Core77 Conference to help get you off the fence and into sunny Los Angeles for this late October weekend.

The 2015 Core77 Conference may be three days long, but the knowledge and perspective you'll gain and the connections you'll make could stay with you for years to come. The only way to take part in it is to be there. 

There's only one week left to get your ticket. Don't miss out.

Last summer, my little company launched a Kickstarter campaign for a Bluetooth successor to our Range smartphone thermometer. Unfortunately, as sometimes happens, our campaign failed and everyone went home empty-handed.

Failing is part of the process of creating, of course. And if you can handle direct, public interaction with your users, crowdfunding sites are a stage like no other on which to perform that process. As a designer who's made crowdfunding part of my business, I want to examine how it affects product development.

We'll start with something that people hate to talk about—failure to meet a fundraising goal, which is ultimately a failure of the idea or your salesmanship. What mistakes did we make? Did we learn from and act on those mistakes? I hope so—we're launching a new campaign to try again.

The original Range Thermometer (2013) was hugely popular with both home cooks and professional chefs.

What We Learned

The numbers were too high

Dollar figures carry extra weight on crowdfunding sites, and not just for the price of your product. Your projected development and production costs are wrapped up in your campaign goal for patrons to judge the viability of your product.

We asked for too much. $250,000 is a lot as far as Kickstarters go, but also an accurate reflection of the costs to develop a new, polished consumer electronics product. Development time for engineers, tooling costs for large silicone and plastic parts, the need to buy a high volume of parts, a fudge factor for the remaining—all contributed to that number, and that was pretty lean. But it wasn't lean enough.

And our reward levels were too high. Backers had to pledge at least $98 to get a product, which was a big leap from the original Range's $49. Our projected production costs led us to this price, and we convinced ourselves that the new features and effort we put into making a unique kitchen thermometer would be worth it. A certain amount of willful optimism and self-assurance is useful when you're an entrepreneur, but it won't fix a flawed framework.

Feature and message bloat

In an effort to set ourselves apart, and to provide users with value in line with the price, we added several big features.

We said too much. Trying to communicate all the features that I thought were important only muddled the message. The video showed everything but the kitchen sink—we were under pressure to launch and, as Pascal said, "I have made this longer than usual because I have not had time to make it shorter."

To put a cherry on top, we had too many reward levels that were not easy to compare. At best, the paradox of choice would freeze up a potential backer.

We lost focus. But though we only got to 48% of our goal, our backers' support told us that we were on the right track. At least that's how my willful optimism chose to interpret it after I licked my wounds.

How We Learned

Crowdfunding is like most other paths to the market: You have to not only develop your idea, but sell it. Your campaign is as much a product to be designed as your packaging (which is another thing that many creators forget about).

Unlike most paths to the market, Kickstarter gives you a direct channel to your potential customers. We gained hundreds of backers passionate enough to back our smart cooking thermometer in spite of the above challenges. This is incredibly valuable.

Twine (2012), a programmable, wifi-enabled device for home was a Kickstarter success and celebrated as the "gateway to the Internet of Things."

Our backers told us quite directly in the campaign's comments what they thought wasn't working. These came from people who pledged money anyway, so we knew the criticism was out of love. The price was high, the reward tiers were confusing, and they wanted it to work with their existing wired Range. Best critique I've had since school.

We also sent them a survey asking them what was important to them. We discovered that they just wanted a wireless version of our existing cooking thermometer and app. Either they didn't understand, or didn't care about, the additional new features we had sweated over.

Obviously, we could've benefitted from that feedback before we launched. But it would've been difficult to get such meaningful feedback without a concrete product pitch. If you're not worried about secrecy, you might consider launching early in the development process.

Re-execution

Now we're a year later. With that extra time we didn't take previously, I was able to kill my darlings.

We lowered the numbers. After two Kickstarter successes that I didn't quite understand, failure shook my complacency. I cut overhead and built retail partnerships that gave us confidence in a lower goal. Taking what we've learned by being hands-on with engineering and manufacturing, we sweated over a complete redesign to reduce the price by a third.

We pared back the features. Instead, we polished the things that customers already said they liked—the physical/digital interface and performance as a thermometer.

I also observed that dealing with an app while cooking discouraged people from using it. I refined the interaction model to lean on physical controls and make common tasks app-free.

We honed the message. The previous failure of messaging was reflected in the form. Meant to reference a knife block, our first Bluetooth Range did not pass the glance test of "What does this do?"

The new form is a stainless steel dial with animal icons that more readily communicates how you use it. The interaction is now as simple as turning the dial to your preset, stick a probe in your food, and start cooking. When your dinner's done, you'll get an alert from your phone and the thermometer. Everything from the design to the Kickstarter page now supports a central message of saving dinner and time.

Success?

You tell me. We've launched Range Dial on Kickstarter. It's still nerve-wracking given that our livelihoods are at stake, and there's a lot more work ahead if we make it.

The newly launched Range Dial

But if so, I'll explore the journey in future articles, and welcome your feedback. I'm an absolute supporter of what crowdfunding can do for independent manufacturing, and I want to remove doubt for anyone who is considering this path to creating a product or a business.

While a basic keychain works for many end users, others are looking for better tools. One problem with keys on standard keychains is that they don't tend to fit nicely into a pocket. Furthermore, some end users report that the keys have ripped their pockets, and some say the keys have stabbed them in sensitive areas. Other end users are disturbed by the jangling sound. And keys could possibly scratch a smartphone. 

The KeySmart addresses these problems by using a Swiss army knife type of design, tucking the keys away. The basic KeySmart holds 2-4 keys; there are extension posts to allow it to hold many more. There's a loop on the end to attach a car key; that loop piece takes up one key slot. And optional USB drive takes up two slots. Many other key holders use the same basic design as the KeySmart, including the Keystone, shown at the top of this post, which has a Kickstarter funding on Oct. 29.

The KeySmart comes in two sizes, and the company provides a sizing PDF so end users can make sure they are getting the size that will work for them. That's a smart idea.

The original KeySmart is lightweight, being made of aluminum (with stainless steel hardware). While many end users are delighted with the KeySmart, others complain that it isn't rugged enough, especially if expansion posts are used. There are numerous reports of the KeySmart falling apart or needing the have the screws tightened very frequently (daily, every other day, weekly). Others have had problems with the screws breaking or easily getting stripped. There's now a titanium version, which may be less fragile.

Some other key holders with a similar design specifically address the "falling apart" issue. Liquid said this about its key caddy when it was in its Kickstarter phase: "The post and custom screws that we made may seem small and simple, but it required immense engineering in order to make a product that works without screws constantly loosening and falling apart.Our designers and engineers got help from one of our great Australian engineer friends who's been working in the industrial engineering industry for 20+ years and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience."

End users have noted that the Key-Bar is bulkier than the KeySmart, but also "far more robust and sturdy." That's a trade-off many end users will be glad to make.

There's a removable pocket clip on the back of the Key-Bar. There are also a number of thoughtful accessories; one of them is the Keyrabiner, which serves as a carabiner but folds back inside the Key-Bar when not in use. 

Some end users have found the double-ended Swiss-army-knife-style key holders a bit complex to assemble. They might appreciate the somewhat simpler design of the KeyGrip, from Raven Workshop. Unlike the double-ended designs, the KeyGrip can't be expanded; that limits the number of keys it can hold, but it also makes for a simpler (and perhaps stronger) design. The keys are also somewhat more visible, which might help the end user find the correct key more quickly.

The KeyGrip can hold up to six keys; there are brass spacers to hold keys in place if the end user has a smaller number of keys. 

OrbitKey has a somewhat similar design, but it's made of leather or elastomer. This is another product that emphasizes its locking mechanism. As the Kickstarter pitch said: "Our custom designed locking mechanism solves the issues that normal screws have. It is specially created to stop your keys from coming undone over time and it also allows you to adjust how tight your stack of keys are."

One minor drawback for European users: One purchaser noted that no Euro coins fit the slit in the locking mechanism. (The mechanism can be tightened and loosened with a fingernail, but it's easier to do with a coin.)

For end users whose primary concern is being able to clip the key holder to a belt loop (while still keeping the keys together so they don't jangle) there are designs like the KeyKlip. The Kickstarter for this product will be funded on Nov. 21. It has a slot to attach a key ring for those car key fobs, but that would make hanging it from a belt loop a bit awkward. So this product is probably best for those who don't mind carrying a car key fob separately or who don't need to carry one at all. 

While carabiners are a popular way to deal with keys and belt loops (for those who don't care about jangling keys), the key rings from Grovemade can also do the job; this one is made from solid brass. As Grovemade points out, this is a product which is practically indestructible (which so many others are not). 

I've mentioned the Swiss-army-knife-style key holders — but about end users who like to carry an actual Swiss army knife? While it's not the same as carrying that knife, the Mini Q does provide a combination knife and key holder, allowing the end user to carry one item instead of two. There's a choice of blade styles, and both locking and non-locking knives are available.

For those end users who want to carry a range of tools (but not a knife), there's the KeyBiner from Fortius Arms. It's not clear how well those tools work, though, especially when the keys are loaded; some Kickstarter purchasers have reported problems with the bottle opener. Using those wrenches looks like it might be awkward, too. 

For some end users, a primary concern is being able to easily remove a key (or a group of keys) when necessary: to hand off to someone else or to make the keychain less bulky when not all keys are needed. The GoKey is intended to help with that, with three sets of keys that can be removed independently. The GoKey Kickstarter has until Oct. 18 to meet its funding goal.

Another design that makes it easy to remove keys is the Swivel key wallet. It's held together with internal neodymium magnets (coupled with a stainless steel locking pin), so there are no screws to deal with (and possibly lose). This would work well for end users with medical conditions which limit their dexterity, making small screws hard to deal with. The creator says that "even a drop from 5' to a hard surface will not spring open the key wallet."

Another advantage of the key wallet: It can be placed on any surface that holds magnets. This is a Kickstarter project that will be funded on Nov. 14.

We announced the Yves- Béhar-designed August Smart Lock two years ago, and by last year it was on the market. The remote unlocking design has been applauded not only by us—it won a Core77 Design Award—but by consumers; in the year since it's been on the market, they've sold millions, activating five million units alone in just the past month.

Today August Home announces they're expanding the product line by not only upgrading the Smart Lock and adding HomeKit functionality, but also by adding the August Smart Keypad and August Doorbell Cam. The idea is that the keypad allows the user to provide temporary or permanent access codes to those without smartphones handy, while the Doorbell Cam obviously provides visuals (and reinforces to, say, a deliveryperson whom you're buzzing in, that they're being observed).

The company has also launched August Access, a software platform linking August users with "partnerships with top home service providers," like Sears, Handy and Fetch. This is a shrewd move; while homeowners might have no trouble buzzing in a UPS guy that they see weekly, allowing less frequent visitors to enter their homes in their absence might give them pause, and having pre-vetted service techs from reputable companies is meant to provide peace of mind.

Here's how the system is meant to operate:

These being Béhar and co.'s handiwork, thoughtful design touches abound. The Doorbell Cam only lights the doorbell icon, and the Keypad only lights the keys, when someone approaches and triggers the motion sensors within. The Smart Lock design has been updated with a grippier pattern etched into its periphery, and a little chrome speed-bump has been added so that one can physically see which position the lock is in. And all of the devices can be user-installed "in 10 minutes or less."

The Smart Lock will set you back $229; the Doorbell Cam, $199; and the Keypad, $79.

What I wish they'd design next is some kind of all-encompassing New York City edition. Me and many of my Gothamite friends have up to three locks on our doors, each with a different opening mechanism. I envy August owners not only because they own the system, but because they live in an area where one lock is enough.

According to statistics, more than half of you are reading this with eyeglasses on the front of your face. Let's talk about how they're made.

Eyeglasses frames are typically either metal, with titanium being the trendiest these days, or plastic. Of the plastic frames, injection molded are the cheapest (and cheapest-looking), using nylon-based plastics that can grow brittle with age; most fashion-conscious brands these days eschew injection molding and make their frames from sheets of cellulose acetate, which are laminated into blocks, then milled or stamped into shape.

Cellulose acetate is fairly flexible stuff and can be colored, which is why it's become the go-to material. But now a new brand called Aspire Eyewear, launched just this year, has concocted a proprietary nylon blend that they reckon is better. Called SDN-4, the stuff is milled like acetate is—in Aspire's case, CNC-milled—but can be made lighter and thinner.

Here's how flexible the stuff is:

Obviously the super-twisty shots aren't practical, as if there were lenses in those shots they'd break, but you get the idea. "SDN-4 is extremely lightweight, pliable, strong, and resistant to heat and UV exposure," the company writes. Acetate, in contrast, is susceptible to heat; when I first started wearing eyeglasses as an adult, a friend who was a lifelong spec-cy advised me not to leave acetate glasses in a hot car, warning that they would deform.

Aspire sent me a pair of their glasses to try out (the "Powerful" model), and the first thing I did was squeeze them flat, emulating what would happen if they were tucked in a jacket pocket without any protective case:

They went flat without complaining. But while the company claims the material's memory will cause it to spring back into shape, the pair I tested didn't, at least not right away:

Still, I found it was simple enough to re-introduce the curve with my fingers, as below, and they then kept that shape.

Impressively, you'd swear by looking at them that the SDN-4, which is what the fronts of this model are made of, was the same stainless steel that the temples are made of:

Its only up close and in good light that you can tell the materials apart.

My biggest gripe with the two pairs of metal eyeglasses I own is that I must regularly dig out that tiny screwdriver and re-tighten the hinge screws. Aspire's glasses feature a screwless hinge design:

However, I'm not sure how to adjust them, or if there even is any possibility of user-adjustability. I've been testing them for just over a month, and I can't recall if they arrived like this or if this has recently developed, but the right hinge is looser than the left hinge for the first 10 degrees or so. This is not noticeable while wearing the glasses and doesn't have any performance drawback that I can see, but I was asked to review the glasses, hence the fine-toothed comb.

The nose pads appear to be molded directly into the frames. "Each nose pad has several prongs, or 'grippers' that are secured to the SDN-4 material using a proprietary process," the company says. I've observed that unlike the nose pads on the pair of Warby Parkers that I typically wear, Aspire's don't dig into my nose or leave furrows like the WP's do; when I take off the Aspires, you can't tell I was wearing them. (The nosepads on the Aspires also haven't fallen off as the left one on my Warbys occasionally does, but then I've only been testing these for a month.)

Something I noticed by switching back and forth between the Warby Parkers and the Aspires is how much lighter and more comfortable the Aspires are. It almost feels like you're not wearing glasses at all. What I mean by this, concretely, is that the stems of my Warbys exert a particular amount of pressure on my temples, yet despite that pressure will slide down my nose over time. In contrast the stems on the Aspires exert much less pressure on my temples, yet stay firmly in place, even when I'm in the shop and bending over stuff, standing on a ladder and looking straight up to adjust something on the ceiling, or looking directly down on items.

Which is to say, the Aspires have a noticeable performance advantage in that they never move on my face regardless of my head angle, yet they exert less pressure on both the temples and the sides of my nose. I couldn't figure out why this would be—it's paradoxical—but I'm pretty sure it has to do with weight. I threw both pairs on a kitchen scale to see:

The Warby Parkers

The Aspires

I'm no eyeglass expert, but it appears that the Aspire frame's lighter weight is what keeps them firmly fixed in place despite being more comfortable. And that's probably why the company is billing them as ideal for "active situations like running or boating or golfing" in addition to desk duty.

Alas, the Aspires are too wide for my face, aesthetically; my pupils are 59 millimeters on-center, and asymmetrical to boot, so I often have trouble finding glasses that fit me. But this is no fault of the company's, and if I had to recommend a pair of eyeglasses to a friend—even one that works in a shop environment, spends time in the gym or runs—with a more average pupillary distance, I'd recommend the Aspires over the Warbys, Prodesign Denmarks and Guccis I've previously owned.

Admittedly, I don't have experience with the brand that Aspire has in their sights:

"The only company that might be considered a competitor in performance right now is Lindberg," says the company. "That brand does not use a similar material, though," (I looked into it, Lindberg uses acetate)—"and is available at a much more expensive price point. Aspire is available in the affordable luxury price point of $240-$280."

I'm curious to hear from the eyeglass wearers among you, particularly those of you that work in shop environments: What brand do you wear, and what qualities do you prize? Also, do any of you have a pupillary distance of 59 millimeters, and if so, what the heck fits?

This cracks me up: Several years ago the publishing house Becker & Mayer, having secured the licensing from Lucasfilm, released a series of Star Wars "manuals" that retailed for $100 each (S.R.P., anyway). Before we get to what's in 'em, let's look at how they're packaged:

First off, I'm a little disappointed with the industrial design. I know there's only so much tech you can put into an object at that price point, but I would've preferred they sold them for $250 and made the mechanisms less janky. Cheap, tinny speakers will always sound like cheap, tinny speakers, and making the lights flash on the latter three models renders them cheesy.

But, what did I expect from manuals purporting to reveal the secrets of the Jedi, the Sith, the Empire and that universe's version of Dog the Bounty Hunter, a/k/a Boba Fett? I love that the promo copy of The Jedi Path states "Through wars and rebellion, only a single copy of this manual has survived. It is now passed on to you." To you and anyone who has access to Amazon, that is.

Speaking of Amazon, what's interesting is what's happened to the prices since the books were first launched. While all four were intended to retail for $99.99, The Jedi Path and The Bounty Hunter Code can now be had for $59.99; the Imperial Handbook, for $89.59; but the Book of Sith goes for a whopping $524.99! It seems that when it comes to retail, the Dark Side really is stronger than the Light.

The brilliant cartoonist/inventor Steven M. Johnson has been dreaming up kooky product concepts for 40 years. Luckily for us the man saves his work, and this year he released a new book, "Patent Depending: Vehicles," that rounds up four decades of his automotive concepts.

The $19.95 book contains over 400 drawings of "ludicrous, whimsical or marginally-plausible inventions relating to the automobile, as well as to vans, motorcycles, bicycles and unique personal conveyances," and I really wish some car company would hire him. (He actually worked for Honda R&D for nine years!) Here's a sample of what's in the book:

Ooh—maybe VW is now in such dire need of distraction that they'd consider taking Johnson on?

Via PrintMag& The Atlantic

Are phones designed for users, or for the companies that produce them? What features might you design into a phone that didn't have to pass Apple or Samsung's strict internal guidelines? Those are questions posed by MIT Media Lab and production company mssngpeces, who teamed up to create this video look at phone production in China.

On the ground in Shenzhen, the production crew found a bewildering array of locally-designed devices with features meant to appeal to the local market. What if a cell phone had a built-in telescoping reading light, for those living in areas with spotty electricity? What if a phone could be used to charge another phone? Or how about a phone with multiple SIM-card slots, so the traveling user can switch to whatever carrier they'd like?

However weird, unlovely or downright tacky we Westerners might consider some of these, we think China should do more to promote this kind of local-targeted design work. They've got the consumer base to support it, and trying to solve users' needs that have been passed over by the big dogs is a sure path to innovation. That would go a long way towards repairing their piracy-riddled reputation, and perhaps even help to stamp it out.

Earlier we saw that loading logs into containers is still a primitive process. But thanks to Finnish forest machinery company Ponsse, the process of creating those logs is super high-tech.

Ponsse's Scorpion King is an eight-wheeled monster designed to "endure tropical heat and arctic cold, travel without destroying the terrain and briskly climb the steepest slopes." That's because it's designed to get to and cut down trees down in tricky areas. And Ponsse has developed a "cut-to-length" method whereby the trees are stripped of their branches and cut into logs of precise length on the spot.

To achieve this, they designed a fairly terrifying saw-wielding robot koala bear suspended from the end of a massive boom arm. Watch as it outstretches its greedy little arms, eagerly embracing and mutilating one arboreal victim after another:

Ponsse's official product video for the machine, below, gives you a better idea of the design work that went into it. The hydraulically-balanced cabin self-levels, and the articulated chassis can handle challenging terrain. Especially cool are the in-cabin shots, where you can clearly see how well the machine has been designed for panoramic visibility and see the digital readouts used by the operator. It's also amusing that, from the operator's perspective, it kind of looks like the koala bear is defecating, well, logs:

Ettore Sottsass is practically synonymous with the provocative, raw aesthetic of Memphis—the pioneering design collective that formed in Sottsass' own living room in 1981—but he was already in his 60's at the time, with a formidable, diverse career preceding the years of Radical Design. At Friedman Benda, a series of works from 1955 through 1969 highlight a far lesser-known stage of his career, one marked by intensely personal explorations and a will to devise objects that "touch the nerves, the blood, the muscles, the eyes and the moods of people." During this time, Sottsass began to collaborate more with his patrons in the Italian furniture industry while also traveling extensively and drawing on these experiences in early explorations with color, pattern and material. Through an array of personal and commissioned works, the show frames these rich, formative years during which Sottsass consolidated his design philosophy: that "decoration can be a state of mind, an unusual perception, a ritual whisper."

Sideboard for Poltronova (1962) and collection of Tenebre vases (1962)

Offerta a Shiva (Offerings to Shiva) series, 1964

In 1961, Sottsass traveled to India for the first time and was deeply moved by the sensuous world he encountered. "In India I found very strongly a sort of dimension of sacrality," he said. "Every object could become something so related to your life that it becomes part of your vision of la sacralità [the sacred]." Unfortunately, he also contracted a kidney infection—with a terminal prognosis—that forced him into a lengthy convalescence in California. It was there that he met and befriended Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac (among others), seminal writers who had been similarly marked by their travels to India. 

After his experiences in India, and later with the Beats, Sottsass began working on a series of expressive, hand-made ceramics reflecting the darkness of that time period, in which he so closely brushed with death. Each of the cylindrical forms in the Tenebre (Darkness) series represents a specific person he had known and lost—a set of intimate memorials. In a more optimistic tone, he created the 100 unique plates that make up the Offerta a Shiva (Offerings to Shiva) series as an offering of gratitude for being alive. Using earth tones and circular motifs, the forms are meditative and echo the iconography of mandalas. 

Tantra vases, 1968

Grande Mandala, 1964-65 and Piccolo Mandala, 1964

He would go on to make numerous subsequent trips to India during the following years and continued to absorb lessons from the country into his work. The monumental Tantra vases demonstrate that influence. Their ziggurat-like forms are three-dimensional interpretations of tantric diagrams, while their oversized proportions begin to speak to the playfulness that would define his Memphis work. 

View of installation including the Califfo Setee and a hanging lamp designed for Arredoluce

Mobile Barbarella (1966)

View of installation including the velvet upholstered Canada setee and armchairs (1959), Lava vases and a mirror designed for Santambrogio and De Berti. 

Library (1965)

Alongside the ceramic works are several little-known furniture designs, many of which are taken from his own house: a gridded screen, the cluster of coffee tables which were similarly assembled and a set of graphically patterned planters. "The experimentation in ceramics up against the furniture pieces shows the complete duality of what his career was," explains designer Jim Walrod. In contrast to much of the plastic and laminate work that would come later, most of these earlier pieces were made of natural materials like rosewood and walnut wood, often inlaid in contrasting tones to create graphic patterns. The biggest presence in the space, floating on a wall, is the bookcase he designed for an Olivetti executive in 1965. Though definitely functional, this piece also represents Sottsass' bold, subversive attitude—the typical structure of a library is upended, the bookshelves are vertical instead of horizontal. 

The exhibition is closing this weekend in New York but if your interest in Sottsass is piqued, we recommend the recently released biography written by London's Design Museum director Deyan Sudjic, Ettore Sottsass and the Poetry of Things. 

It's just five days until October 21st, 2015, the date that Marty McFly traveled to and rode around on a hoverboard on. Which means Canadian inventor Catalin Alexandru Duru has just five days to paint his invention pink, make it a bit smaller and get it ready for McFly.

Yes, Duru has invented a working, battery-powered hoverboard—actually, two of them—and unlike the one McFly used/will use, Duru's do just fine over water. Earlier this year the 31-year-old used his first version to break the Guinness World Record for longest hoverboard flight (275.9 meters) over Quebec's Lake Ouareau; now he's already got a second version ready. Though this second prototype was developed in secret, Canada's CBC was allowed to videotape Duru taking it on its maiden voyage:

You gotta love the wirecutter throttle.

Duru has formed a company, Omni Hoverboards, around his inventions, and the CBC reports that the plan is to "have hovercrafts available for purchase across the country." We assume they mean Canada, but like Michael J. Fox himself, perhaps the hoverboards will migrate south.

In terms of form follows function, a standard bookcase like the Billy shown below is a perfect design. It also uses the bare minimum amount of materials required to perform its function.

An issue of materials waste, however, becomes apparent when you acquire a second unit and place the two side by side.

That's because we now have two doubled-up sides where the units adjoin, where just one vertical could easily support the shelves on either side. There is more material used than necessary, added weight in shipping, more fuel burnt, and more to carry when it comes time to move house.

Frank Howarth, for whom efficiency in design and construction is always a priority, sought to solve this problem. Here's what he came up with:

The solution is as simple as it is clever. The weakest part of the I-shaped supports would be where the serifs are butt-jointed together. But the base stiffens up the bottom butt joints, and because the tops needn't support any weight and the structure is stiffened by the shelves, he can get away with nothing more than pocket screws. I also like that it was designed for eventual disassembly.

Ikea would do well to take a look. If they could overcome the barrier of educating consumers, they could conceivably offer a modular, expandable line of bookcases based on these repeatable verticals and an array of end-piece options, and save a fair bit of material in the process.