Are the answers to many of our problems hanging out under a microscope lens? First we saw Hendrik "Henk" Jonkers finding bacteria that can repair concrete, and now a group of microbiologists in Japan have found bacteria that will eat plastic. Specifically, PET (polyethylene terephthalate, the stuff most drink bottles are made from).

According to Live Science, researcher Kohei Oda, an applied microbiologist at the Kyoto Institute of Technology, claims that "The bacterium is the first strain having a potential to degrade PET completely into carbon dioxide and water."

The scientists identified a new species of bacteria, which they named Ideonella sakaiensis 201-F6, that could almost completely break down a thin film of PET after six weeks at a temperature of 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius). Appendages from the cells might have secreted compounds that helped to dissolve the plastic, the researchers said.

Note that the phrase "might have" is used above. The researchers have no idea what caused the bacteria to evolve these handy enzymes, and they reportedly discovered this bacteria by sifting through "250 samples of PET debris from soil and wastewater from a plastic-bottle-recycling site." Additionally the actual research paper, presented in this week's Science, says "Bacteria isolated from outside a bottle-recycling facility can break down and metabolize plastic."

That initially struck me as strange, that they just happened to find this magical bacteria right outside of a recycling facility; it seems rather like discovering the cure for cancer in the parking lot of a hospital. Then it dawned on me that a recycling facility whose soil is polluted with wastewater is probably the only location to observe bacteria coming into contact with gobs of the stuff.

If their discovery pans out, it points to a rather bizarre possibility: That nature can actually evolve to clean up some of our unnatural messes. Environmentalists might actually prefer not to hear that, as it might embolden climate-change deniers into feeling that we can do whatever we want, and that the planet will just take care of it.

The International Home and Housewares Show wrapped up last week and with it, thousands of single-use kitchen products will hit the market, destined to clutter cabinets and contribute to that chaotic pile of unnecessary gadgets and mystery parts. 

After seeing the current products on offer, we couldn't help but think there has to be a better way. 

For our latest 1-Hour Design Challenge, design a multipurpose tool for the kitchen. 

Beyond those multi cooker or spiralizer/pasta maker/zester hybrids, we're looking for products that add true value and streamline your workflow in the kitchen (if you're in need of further inspiration, take a look at some exemplary projects like the Omni Spoon 8-in-1 measuring spoon or the ONELID fits all concept). What product could be used in the kitchen and then have a second life in your home office? Storage and counter space real estate is at a premium—will your product be able to compete with the reign of the toaster? What about a smart kitchen device that is actually smart?

Now's the time to change the game and get to cooking! Our judges Joey Zeledón from Smart Design Food Lab and the Gravity Tank Food Experience Design Team will be looking for submissions with excellent draftsmanship and original ideas that provide smart solutions to common kitchen problems including but not limited to lack of kitchen counter space, food waste, extraneous appliance parts, inefficient kitchen systems, etc. 

ENTER NOW

Two ways of entering your ideas:

1. On the Core77 Discussion Boards

Sign in to your account (or if you don't have one, create a new account)! Post your sketches and comments on the 1 Hour Design Challenge discussion board.

2. On the 1HDC Facebook Group

Login to your Facebook account and post your sketches and comments on the dedicated 1-Hour Design Challenge group.

DOORS CLOSE:

Tuesday, March 29th, 2016 by 11:59 EST

See full Terms and Conditions here.

In April 2016, the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) will host five District Design Conferences (DDCs), providing hundreds of industrial design students and professionals with the opportunity to network,  explore the latest developments in design and related fields, secure career advice, recognize the next generation of designers in the IDSA Student Merit Awards and tour top-rated U.S. design institutions.

Hear speakers from some of the biggest names in business such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, GoPro, Bose, Philips, Whirlpool, SC Johnson, Bissell, Cinnabon and MailChimp, and from top design firms including Whipsaw, Michael Graves, Pensa, TEAMS, Formation and Continuum. Register to attend one or more of the DDCs based on your interests:

Central District Design Conference (CDDC): Industrial "Strength" Design, brought to you by GE Appliances, April 1–2, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA; Chair Jeevak Badve, IDSA Central District VP

West District Design Conference (WDDC): DESIGN: GIFT Empathy Driven Solutions, April 1–2, Metropolitan State University of Denver, CO; Chair Jason Belaire, IDSA West District VP

South District Design Conference (SDDC): desXgn—experience is everything, April 15–16, Auburn University, AL; Chair Chris Livaudais, IDSA South District VP

Midwest District Design Conference (MWDDC): Disrupt, Construct and Transform, April 22–23, University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign; Chair Marianne Grisdale, IDSA Midwest District VP

Northeast District Design Conference (NEDDC): I am a Designer: AMA. April 29–30, High School of Art and Design, New York City; Chair Jeremy Van Hill, IDSA Northeast District VP. Submit your questions to the speakers now!

The DDC chairs, who are part of IDSA's Board of Directors, are pledging to challenge and reinvigorate attendees. "If there was ever a perfect time to unleash the raw power of the fundamentals of industrial design, it's now!" says Badve, who is hosting his fifth conference. "Industrial design always has had a meaningful position. From now on, it's only going to be more strategic. We should proudly declare, "We are industrial designers!"

If you're bummed about missing the Regular Deadline for the 2016 Core77 Design Awards, we're sorry. Sometimes things happen, or maybe you just fell victim to good ol' fashioned procrastination. Either way, you still have plenty of time to enter your most impressive designs. The Final Deadline isn't until April 6th, and you can still catch Late Pricing by entering before March 23rd. Speaking of which... 

We're about to ignore one of the most integral lessons instilled in us by teachers and parents since time immemorial. 

We're going to reward you for procrastinating. 

On Friday, March 18th, every entry that's submitted between 12:00 AM - 11:59 PM Eastern will receive a free 2016 Core77 Design Awards poster.

Your prize for procrastination

You read that correctly. That gorgeous, eye-popping poster by design studio The Pressure is free with the price of entry....as long as you enter next Friday. If your entry receipt reads any time between 12:00 AM and 11:59 PM Eastern on March 18th, the poster is yours.

You won't be able to find this poster anywhere else, so take solace in missing Regular pricing by taking home a piece of Core77 Design Awards history.

Mark your calendar. Set your alarm. Polish your sundial. Whatever you have to do to remind yourself to make sure your entry is ready for submission by March 18th.

Don't procrastinate again. Get your entry ready now!

In a paper published at Nature Communications last week, Harvard researchers propose a new metamaterial that is resilient and strong, able to be compressed flat and then opened back up with no lasting impact to its structure. The versatility is enabled by thin-walled units arrayed in a continuous matrix, permitting it to dramatically alter shape and volume, and to be tuned to specific geometries. It is the result of a cross-disciplinary collaboration within Harvard led by Katia Bertoldi of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), James Weaver of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and Chuck Hoberman of the Graduate School of Design.

In a blog post on the SEAS website Hoberman notes the important practical potential of the research: "This structural system has fascinating implications for dynamic architecture including portable shelters, adaptive building facades and retractable roofs. Whereas current approaches to these applications rely on standard mechanics, this technology offers unique advantages such as how it integrates surface and structure, its inherent simplicity of manufacture, and its ability to fold flat."

The development of the material was grounded in the work of Heinz Strobl and his field of Snapology, "in which paper ribbons are used to create complex geometric extruded polyhedra," which in turn is inspired by the ancient art of Origami. Of course Origami and modular structures are irresistible to the designer's mind and make a regular appearance here on Core77; we featured a highly structural derivation just last fall.

The key with the Harvard work though is the ability to be actuated internally, removing the need for external mechanics to compress or extend it. While the models seen here are pneumatically actuated, the researchers say any kind of actuator would do the job.

Probably most exciting of all is the prospect of scaling it down. The paper states: "In fact, origami-inspired metamaterials at the micro-scale could be manufactured by using self assembly or stress within thin films and by taking advantage of recent developments in hinge construction at small scale for laminate-based mechanisms. This represents a significant advantage for the proposed structures over structures composed of rods connected by rotational joints, which are challenging to fabricate at a very small scale."

It wouldn't have to shrink too far to be useful in a surface application on, say, a vehicle's body. And if you imagine it as the technical underpinning of a morphing skin, then BMW's gauzy future scenarios suddenly gain a bit more substance!

Later this week Jeep celebrates two anniversaries: Their 75th, as well as the 50th anniversary of their annual Easter Jeep Safari. The latter is a nine-day event whereby Jeep enthusiasts converge on Moab, Utah, to put their vehicles to the test on some 40 different trails.

This event is where Jeep not only gains valuable feedback from real-world owners, but also shows off a variety of concept cars—real, working cars that will tackle the trails—to gauge interest. This year they're rolling out no less than seven of these vehicles. The Trailcat, below, is the one that seems to be getting the most blog love—presumably because it has the Dodge Challenger's monstrous 6.2-liter supercharged V8 under the hood:

Then there's their Crew Chief 715, "a salute to legendary Jeep military service vehicles [that] showcases a burly design with heritage styling cues:"

We're digging their retro FC 150—"built to tackle both challenging rocky trails and the harshness of a western cattle ranch"—where they've taken an actual FC 150 body from 1960 and grafted it onto Wrangler chassis:

A little more on the sedate side is their Comanche, which we have to include largely because of what they're calling the paint color: "Beige Against the Machine."

Those were our faves, and you can see the rest here.

The Easter Jeep Safari kicks off this Friday.

Faber-Castell is a company with history. Not only were they the ones who came up with the idea of making pencils hexagonal, to make them less likely to roll off of a tabletop, but they've been around for more than two and a half centuries, having started up in Germany in 1761.

Interestingly enough the company was started by a cabinetmaker, Kaspar Faber, who made his own pencils. His DIY pencils must've really kicked ass, because at some point he stopped making and selling cabinets to fulfill all of his pencil orders.

By the 1880s the company was being run by the fourth generation of the family. Then-boss Lothar von Faber apparently had an eye for presentation, as you can see by this elaborate pencil case he had created as a retail display:

Lothar von Faber always placed very high importance on an exclusive presentation of his quality products. He designed and equipped his sales rooms and display windows with great attention to detail, sparing neither effort nor expense. This presentation chest has several drawers and is elaborately decorated with inlays and cast figures. The two cherubs at the ends are engaged in writing and pencil-sharpening.

In 2011 the company turned 250 years old (amazingly, it has been run by the Faber family for the duration). To celebrate, they commissioned another elaborate pencil case that looks more like a freaking suitcase. Take a look at this thing:

This art and graphic case combines the best from a couple of centuries of experience in developing and producing exclusive artists' products. Inside the case awaiting your creative use are 120 Polychromos artists' colour pencils, 120 Albrecht Durer watercolour pencils, 120 Polychromos artists' pastels, 60 Pitt pastel pencils and 15 Castell 9000 black-lead pencils in all grades, plus high-quality accessories--a spectrum of essential items for the professional artist: a watercolour brush, porcelain water pot, eraser pencil, art eraser, and much more besides.

The practical construction means that individual drawers can be pulled out and set up for specfic types of creative work.

The company only made 1,761 of them (a callback to the year they were founded) and they retailed for around US $1,700. I spotted one on eBay that sold for slightly less, at $1,574.

Faber-Castell isn't the only one playing this game, by the way. Last year Swiss competitor Caran d'Ache—decidedly younger, as they've "only" been around since 1915—released their Treasure Chest of Colour 100th Anniversary Set, made from actual mahogany:

Like it? Well, it's still for sale, and the shipping is free. It better be—the darn thing retails for $6,047.83.

My question: Do you reckon that anyone who ponied up for either of these actually uses all of the contents?

"How do I simplify it all? Down to a few short lines—to sift and sort—I get lost." - Ellen McFadden

I picture her hunched over her computer, surrounded by her paintings, as 87 years of images, colors and impulses run through to the tips of her fingers. I found myself charmed by the Portland-based painter Ellen McFadden's charisma, her self-effacing wit, and perhaps above all else, her struggle to organize all this life—the one she's imagined on canvas and the one she's lived with all of us—into a few sentences for our interview.

Photo by Aaron Hewitt

You seem to have always been making art. So let's go back to the beginning: do you recall an initial moment or a period in time when you first discovered this passion?

The first time that I really experienced "art" was in the fifth grade at Kerns grade school (1937, the Great Depression). There was no "art" program but the teacher had us color patterns on gridded paper. I had a box of crayons, not many others did, and I colored patterns and completed the project. The teacher then chose mine and mounted it on her desk, I was in love with the two dimensional surface forever after.

And beyond that, can you recall an early experience that demonstrated the importance of art in your life?

First, I had an amazing high school art teacher at Girls Polytechnic, a Portland high school that unfortunately no longer exists. As a student I also was very familiar with local and Alaskan Native American work (I had lived and worked in Alaska). Starting in 1939, I spent many years taking Saturday classes at the Portland Art Museum School, and I eventually became a full-time student. During that time, I was one of a few students that helped C.S. Price in the later years of his life. He and I became quite close.

You've worked in design, taught, and worked as an artist. How do these fields intersect? Or how did these worlds come together to form your work?

My husband, Irwin McFadden, followed the Neue Grafix approach in all of his design work through his years at Washington State University and the University of Iowa. When Irwin and I were both working and teaching at the University of Iowa, we met Ilya Bolotowsky and others. I also met George Rickey, the sculptor, and designed signage for his work.

How have specific locations and times influenced your art?

I followed the new global modernization of design that first came through to America in the Swiss publication Neue Grafik, as well as the influence of the Bauhaus. Then came The Responsive Eye exhibit in Seattle. Another very strong influence for me was the Native American work (it was never thought of as "art") that I experienced in my own area of the Pacific Northwest.

In the last two decades you began to focus more seriously on independent work and your paintings. What inspired that decision? And what inspires the direction of your paintings?

After 20 years of teaching, plus 15 years developing and supervising a work-study information design program with Hanford Nuclear and Kaiser Aluminum, plus other sites while teaching: it was time to retire. After retiring, I had the time and not the responsibilities. And the paintings are a continuation of seeing space, seeing color interact on that space.

Images were gathered from Ellen's Flickr profile.

Here we are, closing in on the end of the Call for Entries for the 2016 Core77 Design Awards. Seems like only yesterday we were introducing you to the first four of our Jury Captains inPart 1 of this interview series. Now we're down to introducing the leaders of our last three categories (here are Parts 2 and 3 if you missed them) and the Final Deadline to enter is only three weeks away!  

Read on to learn more about the Jury Captains for Design for Social Impact, Speculative Concepts and Commercial Equipment categories. They're eager to see your work, so don't delay too long to get your submissions in. In fact, we recommend entering on March 18th to avoid late fees! 

Emily Pilloton - 2016 Design for Social Impact Jury Captain

Founder, Project H Design

Emily Pilloton is the founder of the nonprofit Project H Design. Since 2008, she has run Project H and worked with young people ages 9-18 to bring the power of design and building to schools and communities. Emily is trained as an architect with degrees from UC Berkeley and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, but found that she is physically incapable of working in an office or for a boss and much prefers the creative chaos of a public school classroom filled with tools and welding equipment. Project H Design was born out of the hope that authentic, on-the-ground, face-to-face work with young people could transform what it means to be a design professional, what it means to learn in the 21st century, and what it means to get dirty and physically build solutions for your community.

Your work has been about shifting the consciousness of sustainability away from its focus on products and toward the social realm. You've also never been a fan of the term "green design." What term do you think could offer a better description/lens for the movement as it moves into the future and why?

More and more I am realizing that the work I believe in is not solely about "sustainability" or "human-centered design" or even "social impact," but about social justice. You can do 100 projects that have some social benefit, but if you have focused that benefit on one privileged group, haven't you missed the point? The idea of justice and giving back power is what drives my own work. This starts with my own story and coming to practice design through my own lenses of power (or the ways in which I have felt disempowered throughout my life in various ways). Design for social justice is similar to environmental justice: giving grassroots AND policy-driven power back to those who have suffered most, and using creativity and brick-and-mortar built solutions as our sword. This is not a hand-out, but a reallocation of creative tools throughout all strata of society. This also means rethinking who the designers of the future are and actively recruiting a broader swath of voices into our industry.

Designing for social impact is an immersive experience in which the designer has to put on many hats: that of an active citizen, an educator, a social worker, a politician, etc. What has been one of the most important lessons you've learned out on the field?

Pick your battles, fight for what you believe in, and don't be an a#*$ole. I have done design/build projects with young people where, in the same day, I have had to be a general contractor, a social worker, a diplomat, a welder, a friend, a parent, a fundraiser and a feminist. The most important thing I learned from having to manage all those roles at once is to stay grounded in who I am, to not compromise on the few deal-breaker things that are non-negotiable, and to be compassionate about the rest. As a creative person in any number of social justice or social impact projects, you're bound to find yourself as the outsider, the rabble-rouser, or the crazy dreamer at one point or another. The best you can do is be strong but humble, and try to learn as much as you can from those who have different opinions or lived experiences.

Pick your battles, fight for what you believe in, and don't be an a#*$ole.

Do you have a go-to prompt for encouraging out-of-the-box thinking from your students?

These are not specific to design or outside-the-box thinking, but I have two go-to prompts for pretty much everything. First, "What would your 10-year-old self do?" (Remaining in touch with the raw creativity and empathy of your youth helps keep us open minded and playful, even when the work feels serious), and second "What would your grandmother do?" (There is a ruthless pragmatism and groundedness that comes from our elders. I think remembering that we are part of a longer history helps humble us to produce more authentic work).

Jim Kraimer - 2016 Commercial Equipment Jury Captain

Director of Design (Europe), Crown Equipment Corporation

Jim Kraimer is Director of Industrial Design – Europe for Crown Equipment Corporation, which is a leading manufacturer of lift trucks and related products and services. Jim likes to dig deep into research and leverage new technologies that reimagine a new user experience. The latest example is Crown's QuickPick Remote®—the world's first glove-controlled order picker vehicle—which is ushering in a new era of game-changing automation. Crown has won over 50 major international design awards and was recognized by Fast Company Magazine as Thirty Companies that Get Design. Prior to Crown, Jim developed futuristic products for Electrolux's visionary Concept Design Team, and also worked at design consultancies in the USA and Germany.

Crown Equipment is recognized for products that are ergonomic, sleek and user-friendly—words more commonly used to describe personal consumer products. Tell us a little more about your team's design process, how do you inject thoughtful design details into commercial equipment?

"Human-centered" design thinking is at the center of our development process.

This almost seems cliché, since a lot of companies probably say this, but we take ergonomics and user interaction to a whole different level. Why? Because forklift operators use our products all-day long…from the moment they arrive at work to the moment they go home. And, it's a tough job. So, "empathy" is key to connecting to the operator's world, and understanding the job they need to do. That's why our designers and researchers spend so much time in warehouses talking to the users. That empathy leads to purpose, and purpose leads to passion. And that's when designers are inspired to create solutions that make a difference in people's lives.

Developing customer-centric products is important for maintaining the safety, comfort and efficiency of operators in a difficult work environment. What are the most important elements to keep in mind when designing for users in this space?

For decades a major focus for designers was to create good ergonomics for users, because, as you mentioned, this directly impacts safety, comfort and efficiency. For heavy equipment, ergonomics traditionally focused on the physical touch-points for users, such as seating and controls and Crown is known for its innovation in this area. However, today user interface is the biggest challenge and opportunity. Commercial and industrial products are integrating sensor technologies that can provide real-time information about the vehicle and the environment. So the question is… how much information should we show? The challenge for designers is to create an interface that gives users the right information at the right time. In a difficult work environment where safety is paramount, the right interface can help users make better decisions, and keep them engaged in their job.

With new technologies and material innovations, what advancements are you most excited about that will revolutionize design on an industrial scale?

There are several technologies converging upon us at an unprecedented speed, so it's an exciting time to be designing the future. However, I think two technologies are particularly interesting for industrial products. First, "connected" products and people, under the umbrella of Internet of Things, have the ability to create new opportunities throughout the entire value chain, and not just for products, but particularly for new, valuable services. Secondly, automation and robotics are becoming more flexible and scalable, which means that companies can re-design parts of their supply chain with less labor and more efficiency. Nobody can predict how fast these innovations will revolutionize various industries, but it's very possible that it will happen sooner than we think.

Stephanie and Bruce Tharp - 2016 Speculative Concepts Jury Captains

Founders, Materious

Bruce and Stephanie Tharp lead a husband-and-wife design studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan where they also are professors at the University of Michigan's Stamps School of Art & Design. Their studio has licensed and commissioned products and projects for companies like Ligne Roset, Moet-Hennessy, The Art Institute of Chicago, Crate&Barrel, Kikkerland, and Design Ideas. Educated in mechanical engineering, sociocultural anthropology, and industrial design, their practice and teaching crosses disciplinary boundaries of design, business, engineering, and healthcare, as well as the four fields of design: commercial, responsible, experimental, and discursive design. They are currently finishing a book project on discursive design.

Why do you think speculation is a valuable tool for designers working in the present moment?

"The future is not what it used to be; neither is the past. Both are in need of reconstruction if we are to have a livable present." 
– French Poet and philosopher, Paul Valéry

The original question presupposes that speculation and the present moment are discrete/distinct … Is anyone really working only in the present moment? Speculative design work imagines what our future world might look like, and poses questions about our agency in creating and influencing it. Our work today is intrinsically tied to our future(s), whether this future is nearer or farther.

Speculative design (as a sub-domain of discursive design) has the opportunity to contribute differently to culture, offering glimpses of what might be—whether flattering or horrifying. It can help politicians, scientists, ethicists, industry captains, other designers, and the general population think through the what-ifs of our ever-changing social, economic, ideological, and technological conditions. It's an important intellectual and ultimately reflective endeavor, when done well.

It is also important to understand that speculation is not any more valuable as a tool now than at other times in design's history, although now there is a broader conception of what design speculation is as well as an increase in its sophistication. In general it has been, and currently is, an underutilized mode of design practice.

One example of an early speculative project was Raymond Loewy's 1956 Star of Hope, which was a proposal for a civilian satellite to orbit around the world containing microfilm prints of the flags of every nation and a symbol of every known religion. It would broadcast the message "peace on earth, good will to men", and have a flashing blue light that would make it visible as it circled the night's global skies. He faintly hoped that this concept might actually take flight (and hit up Lyndon B. Johnson to pitch it to Congress), and through this project, Loewy was speculating how this might bring about different social conditions in the world.

This project represents potential that has always been there and should be understood as a core competency of design alongside its other capacities. Where might the world be today if there had been more Stars of Hope? We hope that designers don't miss the present opportunities to influence preferable futures through speculative practices that examine different social, economic, ideological, and technological futures.

Your studio name, Materious, suggests an equal interest in ideas and form. Do you have any advice for designers seeking the sweet spot between speculative explorations and commercial goods?

Yes, we believe strongly in the intellectual role of objects, along with their form and utility. We are pluralists at heart and see possibility and value in the speculative, the commercial, and hybrid forms of both these "opposites," if it is a polarity you are posing.

Within the commercial realm, the role of speculation is to stretch beyond the immediate domain of profit with the hope that new financial value ultimately results. And in realms of speculation that might normally be devoid of economic concerns, some interesting possibilities can arise from a slight shift. One of the things that the commercial offers is an immediate or base relevance (within cultures of capitalism). Speculative design can leverage this for conceptual impact and for its systems of distribution/dissemination—to use its means for alternative ends.

It is important for designers to understand and leverage a broad range of positions or elements—they aren't inherently good or bad. But this doesn't necessarily mean neutrality; designers should be willing and capable of putting a definitive stake in the ground at some point.

We feel it is important that designers can achieve conviction and boldness through open-minded investigation—important issues are never one-sided. The enemy is ignorance, arrogance, and laziness; we would rather see more design with the insight and calculation of a political analyst than with the obtuse zeal of a Trump or Clinton devotee who is merely pissed off, oblivious, or blindly devout to popular ideology. Speculative design is foremost a communicative endeavor, and designers need to be prepared to work in that arena.

In short, our advice for designers is to get smart and put the time in to make an intelligent and informed argument, plea, commentary, or question through your speculative work, and to be open to the potential of many possible tools—be they aesthetic, functional, commercial, or other. 

There are some common misconceptions floating around the practice of speculative design that make some people hesitant to take it seriously. In your mind, what elements are the foundation for a successful, provocative speculative concept?

Overwhelmingly, we think success hinges upon good communication of the ideas being considered. It is hard to argue against a good argument. There are smart questions, there is insightful commentary, and there is educated conjecture.

A warning light should go off for a designer if they cannot intelligently articulate at least two sides of a speculative theme, just as a good debater can take either side of the aisle. This should be foundational. While speculative designs can be rejected on the basis of ignorance or close-mindedness, it should be the viewer's deficiencies that are at fault and not the designer's. Dismissal should occur because of difference of values rather than sloppy thinking.

One of our primary criticisms of much discursive work is how it is positioned to make an impact. The most successful speculative designs affect thought. If a designer really cares about the topic and wants to spur reflection and influencing thinking, are they merely posting their design work on their website and moving on to the next design?

Are they fully aware of and can articulate their intentions with their work, as this is seemingly the foundation from which all their other decisions extend? Have they crafted an effective message which will ultimately be embedded within, or emanate from their designed artifacts? Have they thought through the many possible articulations for the artifact and chosen the best one that supports their messaging? (I may love shoe design, but does that mean that it is the best vehicle for my message?) Do they have a targeted audience, as different audiences respond differently to different mediums and messages? Have they thought through the contexts in which their work will meet its audience and leveraged environmental attributes? Have they thought through ways to increase interaction and perhaps dialogue with their audience? Do they know the type of effect they wish to have on their audience and have they positioned their artifact and messaging accordingly? (It is a lot easier to just make someone aware of an issue than persuade them.)

Part of the challenge so far has been with the work of the designers—better work is easier to take seriously. But the other challenge of our audiences understanding the role and value of speculative work will take more time. More work, more exposure, more theorization, more criticism, and more competitions like this one will help pave the way.

Refine your projects and enter them in the 2016 Core77 Design Awards today! 

Are headphones a "solved" design problem? I think that they are—at least for the first 30 minutes of use. I own what I consider to be the best, most comfortable headphones I can afford, one "can" style, the other earbuds. But when I use either for more than a half hour, the cans grow clammy and the buds grow irritating.

Now two companies, one established and one upstart, are venturing into the area of off-the-ear headphone designs. Sony's new Future Lab Program, an experimental initiative that uses technology to "co-create new lifestyles and user value," has come up with a set of headphones that look less like cans and more like the St. Louis Arch.

They're calling the prototype "Concept N," and the idea is that tiny speakers embedded in the tips can shoot audio up into the vicinity of your ears, "allowing the user to receive audio information without having to insert any object into his or her ear." They're controlled via voice recognition and an internal microphone. While they do have a working prototype that was on show at SXSW, they haven't released much information on them to the public, save for this abstract video demonstrating how the concept is supposed to feel:

An alternative approach has been created by Tokyo-based musician and inventor Yazz Imamura in the form of his Vie Shair headphones. Although they're can-style, they feature a 3D-printed matrix that attaches to the cans and contacts the end user's skull around the ear, so that the cans don't actually touch your Dumbos. This allows air flow, preventing clamminess, while still directing the sound to where it needs to go.

Here's how they're meant to work:

The music-sharing feature seems a bit odd to me, and having lived in Japan previously, seems very Japanese; I can totally see a group of people in that country all willing to don these headphones in order to throw a party that won't disturb the next door neighbors. But frankly speaking I cannot imagine us inconsiderate Americans taking the trouble.

There's no word on whether Sony's Concept N will make it to market, but Imamura is earnestly trying to get the Vie Shairs into production. At press time he'd garnered $78,000-plus in Kickstarter pledges towards a $150,000 goal, and there was still more than a month left to pledge.

When it comes to recommendations for good tool designs, old ID classmates that work in the field are a great source. One of them just dropped us a line, and I wish I'd heard from him six months ago. Here's why. The last time I had to hang a door, I used these:

Those are just shims cut from a scrap of Doug Fir 2x6 I had lying around. After enough tries they worked, but you have to kick them in with alternating taps, and if you go too far, there's no way to smoothly back them off without having to lift the door and start over again. Lastly, you've got to remember to keep the smooth side down (I sanded one side and broke the edges) to protect the floors.

Is there a better way? Of course there is. "I just got this air shim, and I used it about fifty times today on a solo cabinet install," our ID classmate writes. "It's amazing." Here's the product he's referring to, called the Winbag:

How awesome is that? Also, I have to admit, after listening to the carpenter in the video: Because I'm kind of a dummy, I didn't even think to sand the top sides of the shims to protect the actual door, I was only thinking of the floor. This is why you ask me to help you at your own peril.

Lastly: Given the current climate of political correctness, are we still allowed to use six-year-old girls as a benchmark for the amount of strength required for a particular application? I mean it seems harmless enough in this context, but I feel like these days, people get fired for less.

Someone should marshal a group of five-year-old girls to mount an official protest.

Johannesburg-based designer Siyanda Mazibuko is a furniture builder who recently started building his own career employing a mix of pure enthusiasm and self-taught skill. His signature line, PATE, is a homeware and furniture range designed for the socially conscious.

Many of Mazibuko's products are made from upcycled or second-hand materials, and all the pieces of wood are purchased from local suppliers. "My previous business focused specifically on upholstery. Being part of that business exposed me to a broader perspective of design. It also showed me how wood can be used to create homeware. I literally developed an obsession for woodwork," says Mazibuko.

Although Mazibuko was always creative and took art classes in school, he never had a formal education from a design institution. He received some training from Furntech, South Africa's only furniture incubator, which teaches its students vocational and business skills. "I grew as a designer and that was the birth of PATE," Mazibuko shares about his journey. "PATE Arts and Crafts is about giving a design experience through imagined ideas, a building process, to a finished product."

The inspiration for the Lambo stools, which form part of the PATE range, came from the geometries of modern design. "When the stools are placed next to each other they appear inseparable and look like two Lamborghinis parked together." 

"The Mboba chair symbolises African strength and aims to portray a characteristic of a solid presence. I've also joined an African theme with a modern design to give a very distinctive look and feel. The word Mbona means 'beats'."

Mazibuko aims to bring together western design inspiration with his African heritage.

Siyanda Mazibuko is part of the Design Indaba Emerging Creatives Programme 2016. To see the full collection of featured South African creatives go to designindaba.com/southafricandesign.

Think flip flops should be confined to locker room showers and beach bumming? Leave it to a French designer to rescue the lowly plastic sandal from the dredges of the fashion faux pas. Philippe Starck has teamed up with Brazilian sandal brand Ipanema to introduce a modern flip flop that retains the casual essence of the original. 

Using 30% recycled materials and fully recyclable, the most interesting of the four designs has the look of the classic flip flop thong. The difference lies in the way the straps connect to the sole by wrapping around the heel, forming a continuous line. The other options are pretty standard fare: 

Fashion flip flops: yay or nay? The four new styles are available in 12 color combinations each and will be carried at high-end retailers like Opening Ceremony and 10 Corso Como.

As we've often lamented, the problem with darts is that they're not dangerous enough. There's virtually no chance that the sharp, pointy objects will be be yanked out of your hand by unseen forces and propelled through space seemingly of their own volition.

Well, problem solved!

The gent behind the Magnetic Games YouTube channel has inadvertently created a sort of miniature rail gun that fires nails. By experimenting with washer-shaped magnets, he realized that

The magnetic fields of the dart and of the launcher interact with each other. When the dart is located exactly in the center of the launcher the attractive and repulsive forces are in balance and contains a high potential energy (the same amount of energy that I used to let the dart into the launcher). when I push the dart the system exits from equilibrium and the repulsive force prevails over the attraction, and the dart is fired.

Presto: Magnetic darts.

How long before Colin Furze spots this video, then attempts to scale it up? I'm picturing his shed filled with mutilated phone books and spent framing nails.

Open sourcing as a result of the proliferation of digital fabrication may be a big part of the not-so-distant future, but there are still some possibilities that seem out of reach—that is until someone proves you wrong. One such example? New Jersey Institute of Technology student Amos Dudley.

You really have to hand it to this kid, he is 100% designer. After dissatisfaction with his own self image—more specifically his smile—he took it on himself to solve the problem: "I had an amazing realization last year. I wasn't smiling, and it was because I was unhappy with my teeth. They weren't awful, but they were crooked enough to make me self conscious...By avoiding smiling, I was dampening my own potential for spontaneous happiness!"

So what do you do when you're a debt-ridden college student with no medical insurance and lots of fancy CAD equipment lying around? You rig your own braces of course. 

Here's how Dudley did it although we don't recommend trying this at home: 

After a fair amount of research on the formal process and ramifications for using plastic aligners as opposed to wire braces, he created a mold from plastic alginate (a standard procedure in dental offices).

Here's where it gets truly DIY: "The method for making the casting was very simple— I put the mold upside down in a yogurt container, and then filled it with liquid Permastone. When it came out, I simply broke off the top to reveal the casting, and used a razor blade to smooth out the surrounding area."

After laser scanning his Permastone cast, he 3d printed the form along with a riser to avoid draping at the teeth during the vacuum forming process. Finally, he vacuum formed the 3D printed cast using retainer plastic (in case you were worried he was using some standard, more toxic 3d printing plastic).  

There are obvious questions and concerns to be asked when someone pushes the limits of digital fabrication like this, but it also points to new possibilities and frontiers (if it works)—can 3D printing processes become so open source that advanced technologies like this could be easily used by DIYers or in remote areas? In the future, will we be digitally fabricating services we never even thought imaginable? Exactly how far can this movement reach?  

But of course, the final and most important question is: did these bootlegged braces get the job done? 

Holy hell, it worked.

For the full play by play on how he did it, visit Dudley's site here

Otto Dieffenbach has built an RC flying goth and it's awesome. Dieffenbach (of flying Tardis and giant creepy floating eyeball fame) designed the 4.5 lb. craft to look like Bjørn Alexander Brem, the singer of Gothminister. White face paint, black suit, stiff yet undead pose…plus it flies. Understandably, the result is both spooky and excellent. 

The body appears life-sized, and well-proportioned. From the video, RC-Bjørn appears able to hover upright and cruise around like a nihilistic Superman. And that supplicating God-is-dead pose? Super aerodynamic.

The last in a 2-month three-stage prototyping arc, this brooding drone (who they call "Hover Guy") is ready for his close-up fly-by. 

The Hover Guy seems well-designed for use in close quarters like concerts or festivals, and I imagine other acts would be interested in this kind of airborne homage to themselves. (Can you imagine what would happen if Gwar got one? Carnage, that's what.) Keep it high enough over the rowdy fans and it could be a cooler way to capture festival footage too.

What does the future hold? Death, putrefaction, and screaming fans.

While I distrust drones (and concert-goers) as much as the next luddite, I would love to see a gloomy gentleman cruising the skies at night. It would be spookier, and he seems like he'd be more at home in darkness.

You can check out more of Dieffenbach's flying ads at Fly Guy Promotions.

Via.

It's tough to wrap your head around 7.125 billion of anything, let alone human beings. So Gabriel Reilich, GOOD's Head of Video, dove into statistics from the CIA's World Factbook--then crunched the numbers to illustrate what our current situation would look like if there were just 100 people on Earth, rather than 7.125 billion.

To be clear, Rielich's reduced the world's population to 100 people proportionally. He then worked with animator Jake Infusino to demonstrate how things shake out: How many out of that 100 have cell phones, internet, roofs over their heads? What language do most of us speak? What kind of physical shape are most people in? What income bracket do you fall into, relative to the other 99?

Kind of eye-opening. Assuming the CIA's got their facts straight, I'd venture to say that most of us watching this video are, in one way or another, inside that 1% that we hear so much about.

Candidates should have an Industrial Design degree, 7+ years experience, and will be responsible for producing concept sketches/refined concept renderings of a variety of tech and non-tech products. They'll be directly responsible for successful aesthetic outcomes for multiple projects and will oversee and guide concepts from research through design development.

Despite recent storms in California, a "March Miracle" as some are calling it, the effects of a prolonged drought throughout the state won't be easily cancelled out. Going on five years now, the drought has logged some of the warmest and driest years on record while currently, 99.6% of the state remains abnormally dry, with over 83.16% of land in a state of severe drought. The urgent effects of this dry spell don't stop at fewer crops and low water levels. In 2014, there were 5,000 wildfires and 92,139 acres of burned land—all before the traditional fire season even started. 

Lake County 9395, 2016

Lake County 8911, 2016

The San-Francisco based German photographer Thomas Heinser has been documenting the effects of the drought on California's terrain for the past three years, producing a series of aerial perspectives that make clear the extent of environmental impact. For instance, a series of photos of Lake McClure, a critical water source for Mariposa County, show the water levels diminishing well beyond the lake's capacity of one million acre-feet of water—in some of Heinser's compositions, the lake appears depleted and more akin to a landscape of barren sand dunes. 

Changing Landscapes: Lake McClure 1726, 2015p

Changing Landscapes: Lake McClure 1736, 2015

Heinser's record of the Bay Area's extensive salt evaporation ponds is particularly evocative. The once vibrant waters have also been affected by the inhospitable climate. Under Heinser's lens, the parched texture of the ponds comes to the foreground, even though his photos are taken from hundreds of feet above. 

Salt Ponds: Bay Salt 6416, 2016

Salt Ponds: Bay Salt 6249, 2016

Salt Ponds: Bay Salt 6424, 2016

Salt Ponds: Bay Salt 6402, 2016

Salt Ponds: Bay Salt 6070, 2016

Salt Ponds: Bay Salt 6144, 2015

To create these images, Heisner uses a medium-format digital Hasselblad camera and he shoots only at very specific times of the day: either right before or right after sunrise. Working within this condition imparts a somber cast to all the images, contributing to the surreal qualities of the photographs. Heinser renders these landscapes otherworldly and unfamiliar and, in so doing, draws our attention to the larger question he is grappling with: What will the consequences be if we continue to be disengaged from the transformations taking place in our environment?

Thomas Heinser's REDUZIERT series is currently on view at Gallery 16 in San Francisco, through March 18, 2016.

This week we bring you our pressing topic of the moment straight from our reader-controlled discussion boards! This week's question is for students making their way into the professional world or simply for those ultra-multidisciplinary designers looking for more direction. Core77-er pagewithanii asks:

"I have recently become really frustrated because I am 2 months from graduating with a bachelors and I still don't know what I want to do. In the 4.5 years I have spent in the ID program I have not fallen in love with any one project. I may have enjoyed parts of some projects but nothing so much that I knew that's the direction I wanted to head in. I have a job lined up at a small start up firm that does a little bit of everything—the most exciting part of working there is I know there is room to grow and being one of the founding members, I know I will have a say in what steps we take in the future[...]the problem is that I don't know what I want those steps to be. I have an awesome opportunity and I want to make the most of it.
 
Who here has been unable to find your niche? How did you find one? Or did you?"

Have any firsthand experiences that might help readers, or simply strong-rooted opinions on the topic? Contribute in the comment feed below and help get the conversation going. 

(Also feel free to check out the original post and contribute on our discussion board!)