Time to put those design thinking caps on. Before you scroll down to the bottom for the answer, let's take a close look at this thing's physical features, to see if you can deduce why they're there.

Here's the "front:" 

We see three wheels in the middle—why wheels? At the corners of the triangle, what see what appear to be the heads of carriage bolts, and the observant among you have noted the slots in the arms that terminate with the wheels. The truly hawk-eyed among you can see there appears to be some sort of fastener, that tiny glint of silver, in the center of the bottom-most piece. What's that for?

Here's the "back" of the thing:

Now we see wingnuts attached to the carriage bolts riding in the slots. These arms are obviously meant to slide in and out, and if we look at the next photo…

…we see that's the case. You also can't help but note that the aperture is circular. Another thing you'll probably notice is that with the two lower arms in this setting, they break the line of the bottom part of the base, meaning this thing is apparently not meant to rest on a flat surface, like a tabletop.

Okay, so what the hell does this thing do?

This:

British turner Ken Garner makes these and sells them here.

I fully admit I couldn't guess what the things did. I stared at these images for a full 10 minutes before giving up. In retrospect, it almost seems obvious: The adjustable arms are clearly meant to accommodate items of different size within them, and the contact points being wheels indicate that the supported object is spinning.

Any of you get it right?

Car clubs are nothing new, but we got a kick out of this one's recent photo session. Peach State Challengers is, as the name suggests, an auto club exclusively for people who own Dodge Challengers and live in or around Georgia. (That's our "Peach State" for you non-Americans.) During a recent get-together, someone apparently brought a camera-equipped drone, and they coordinated these photographs:

The photo below shows what exterior colors Dodge offers the Challenger in for the 2016 model year:

I can only assume the ones in the PSC photos are earlier models, or custom paint jobs.

Here's what I can't figure out: Why the two black ones and lone purple one at the rear? Do you suppose it's for aesthetic balance? Shane McGlaun over at 95 Octane writes, "I can only assume the few cars out of place at the very back were late to the show but wanted their participation medals."

(Motorheads: I based the headline statistic on the fact that the base Challenger with the six puts out 305 horses, the top-of-the-line Hellcat puts out 707, averaged the two, then multiplied it by the 77 cars I counted. Troll me if you like, but I damn sure can't tell what's under the hood by looking at the exterior trim in a drone shot.)

Core77's editors spend time combing through the news so you don't have to. Here's a weekly roundup of our favorite stories from the World Wide Web.

A Stuntman's Leap of Faith 

The Evel Spirit

A bizarrely inspiring story about a Eddie Braun, a stuntman who is set to attempt to complete Evel Knievel's failed 1974 Snake River Canyon Jump this September. Braun partnered with the son of the engineer that created Knievel's original rocket to create an update to the original, aptly named the Evel Spirit (see what he did there?). The new and improved rocket includes safety bars and a parachute that actually works. Braun is set to make the jump on September 17th. Stay tuned.

—Emily Engle, editorial assistant

Freelance Olympics

In honor of my favorite sporting extravaganza, a little ode to the true heroes of the working world.

—LinYee Yuan, managing editor

Worst of McMansions

My friend, Jen Mussari, recently made me aware of this marvelous blog that highlights all the worst things about the rise of McMansions (houses that became ubiquitous before the bubble burst around 1980s-2009). The excess and poor consideration to design is both awe-inspiring and terrifying, and I can't look away.

—Carly Ayres, columnist, In the Details

5 Minutes Early Is On Time; On Time Is Late; Late Is Unacceptable

When it comes to meeting up with people, punctuality is everything, but these days people are disturbingly cavalier with others' time. Here writer Brent Beshore breaks down why being late is not okay. The next subject I wish he'd address: People who are incapable of setting firm meeting dates and times in advance, and insist on playing it by ear while sending a flurry of text messages or e-mails as the meeting time grows closer. Just freaking commit, people!

—Rain Noe, senior editor

The Oppressive Gospel of Minimalism

A revealing op-ed focused on a growing, somewhat contradictory aesthetic trend: "part pop philosophy and part aesthetic, minimalism presents a cure-all for a certain sense of capitalist overindulgence. Maybe we have a hangover from pre-recession excess — McMansions, S.U.V.s, neon cocktails, fusion cuisine — and minimalism is the salutary tonic. Or perhaps it’s a method of coping with recession-induced austerity, a collective spiritual and cultural cleanse because we’ve been forced to consume less anyway. But as an outgrowth of a peculiarly American (that is to say, paradoxical and self-defeating) brand of Puritanical asceticism, this new minimalist lifestyle always seems to end in enabling new modes of consumption, a veritable excess of less. It’s not really minimal at all."

—Allison Fonder, community manager

Kitchen Drawer Organizer

I like what Steve Ramsey does here, which is demonstrate that a lot of times, your first and second design for something will not stand the test of time. Here he revisits a project he's already done several times, a kitchen drawer organizer, and attempts to correct the errors of versions 1.0 and 2.0 with a new design:

Brass Magnifying Glass

This is one of those videos where you think, "For chrissakes, is there anything Jimmy DiResta can't make?" This time 'round he finds an old magnifying lens, then crafts a beautiful brass handle and an encirclement to hold it in place. As always, half the fun is trying to figure out what each operation he's doing will lead to:

Brass Testicle Holders

Yes, you read that right. You've gotta love any project that Frank Howarth prefaces with a warning that it involves a portion of the male anatomy. Asked to create a series of bases to hold an unusual commemorative item for a graduating class of urologists, Howarth proves he's got the balls to tackle the project:

Homemade Kant Clamps

Izzy Swan likes Kant-twist clamps—you know, the little guy that inches across the screen at the end of every Frank Howarth video—and designs a burly DIY set for his own use:

Children's Wagon

This week, Matthias Wandel builds a vehicle—well, a child's wagon—for the newest member of the Wandel family:

Board-on-Board Cedar Fence

April Wilkerson's no joke: It's 104 degrees in Texas, and with everyone inside enjoying air conditioning, she's outside working a welding rig and a chainsaw to kick off a large fencing project:

Outdoor Sink

This week, Bob Clagett tackles woodworking, metalworking and sewing to create this outdoor sink for the family home. One of the things I really dig about Clagett's videos is that he always takes the time at the end to tell you what he learned, i.e. what he would've done differently if repeating the project.

Paulk Workbench by FastCap

We once interviewed Ron Paulk on the design of his innovative workbench, which he was selling plans for online. Now a ready-to-assemble iteration of the bench is going into production by FastCap, and Paulk is asking viewers: How much should I charge for it?

Pull-Out Storage Cabinet

Faced with an inconvenient, apparently unusable corner portion of a built-in, Sandra Powell figures out how to wring some usable and convenient storage out of it with this pull-out cabinet:

Leatherbound Notebook and Pencil Case

I love that Linn from Darbin Orvar, like DiResta, Clagett and Kampf, has a willingness to tackle any material rather than just staying in her comfort zone. Lately she's expanded into leatherwork, and this week she makes her own "everyday carry" items—a leatherbound notebook and a wood-and-leather pencil case with a magnetic closure:

Screen Print Lights

This week, Laura Kampf builds two unconventional lamps, creating the structures out of wood and fronts each with an old screen print:

Schools need to be redesigned to prepare students for professional trajectories we can't currently imagine. As the former provost and dean of faculty at the Philadelphia University and the dean of Parsons School of Design, I've seen firsthand the urgent need to abandon the Industrial-Age approach to higher education that dominates today. Studies of siloed individual subjects assessed by antiquated systems and given value by an increasingly irrelevant system of credits are no longer productive. The process of learning needs to be reframed to keep up with today's employment landscape.

The professional world confronting graduates today is remarkably dynamic due in part to interconnected global economies that are continually restructuring. As new vocations rapidly emerge, crest and die, our very concept of what a professional practice means and promises is profoundly challenged.

Redesigning Design Education

To shore up their campuses against the tsunami of change surging their way, schools around the world are experimenting with new methods for learning. One interesting development taking hold is the unbundling of monolithic degrees (terminal degrees like the bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees in the United States) in order to certify and describe learning in deeper and more textured ways. These changes are also opening up learning opportunities to a wider set of students outside of those currently enrolled at the institutions or within specific departments. Purdue has been a leader in building a robust badging infrastructure and using it to create a richer, more descriptive approach to documenting learning in areas as diverse as nanotechnology and intercultural learning. UC Davis has also been a pioneer—its best known badging system is in sustainable agriculture and encompasses a wide range of learning modalities. MOOC platforms like Harvard and MIT's edX are also building substantial badging capabilities.

 Rather than pursuing requisite classes toward a traditional bachelor or master degree, "microcredentialing" and badging are creating new opportunities for learners to master specific skills and technical abilities, methods of inquiry and approaches to problem solving and technical abilities in fields that are relevant to their broad goals. While the aim of micro- or "stackable" credentials is sometimes to add up to a degree, the structure allows the learner, hiring manager, graduate school selection committee or colleagues to embrace the story of everything that a learner has achieved. From problem-solving abilities to professional practices across fields, critical thinking to software competency, anything can be a badge or microcredential as long as it can be rigorously assessed. The magic and potential is in how we use this information to enhance learning.

Generative Design

Even though I work for a 3D design company, I am by no means a technological determinist. I know driving change requires creative people working with technology. That said, I'm optimistic about the continued learning opportunities that the evolution of microcredentialing could offer learners of all ages. Since joining Autodesk, I have become increasingly intrigued by how frameworks from powerful emerging practices such as generative design could be transposed to education through the lens of what we might call generative learning.

Generative Design options for a chair

With generative design, the design process starts by collaborating with intelligent computer systems fueled by the nearly infinite computing power of the cloud. You work with the system to frame not so much a blind instrumental action advancing the creation of your project, but how you want it to collaborate with you to achieve a design outcome. By co-creatively working with the system to frame design problems, you give it the fuel to explore a massive solution space no individual could ever conceive of alone. The designer becomes both a problem framer and a curator of the design solution set.

Generative Learning

Generative learning would borrow from this practice by working with intelligent computer systems to co-create learning pathways we could never conceive of on our own. Forget the fixed professions of the industrial era—those days are over. And forget the palate of professional majors at most universities. The potential of generative learning is to help us identify fluctuating "flows" of professional activities that we might not even have words for yet. Generative learning also embraces the reality that learners are no longer bound by time, place and graduation dates. We now need to learn and grow forever as our professional world morphs. Generative learning systems could help align the unending process of learning with constantly shifting flows of professional activities.

The microcredentialing movement can help lead this charge. What if microcredentials became more than simple certifications for learning outcomes? Imagine if they were machine-learning agents that defined learning pathways based on the emergent behaviors of millions of learners, inquiries from grad schools for students, hiring manager requests or the needs of colleagues and teammates. What if these intelligent microcredentials incessantly communicated with each other in a system that identified, even helped define, emergent practices and trends that aligned with but also expanded a student's view of professional flows?

A generative learning system would incorporate existing educational institutions, but integrate them into a much broader framework of learning experiences that shift as professional flows morph and mutate into new kinds of jobs. I happen to think this would be a very positive development that would challenge the legacy university to its core.

We look forward to hearing more about the future of generative learning in the context of networked matter from Mickey McManus, Autodesk visiting research fellow and principal and chairman of the board at MAYA Design, at this week's 2016 IDSA International Conference in Detroit.

MANTA is looking for a clever mid-level ID with excellent creative, usability, visualization and communication skills, that can bring beauty and sophistication to high tech, med tech, wearable tech, robotics and consumer product concepts.

Jumpstart your week with our insider's guide to events in the design world. From must-see exhibitions to insightful lectures and the competitions you need to know about—here's the best of what's going on, right now.

Monday

Bring a Legal-Buff to: Backdoored

Backdoor, noun. [Hacker slang] A feature or defect of a computer system or device that allows surreptitious unauthorized access to data. 

Equal parts creepy and fascinating, the eerie images in Backdoored are drawn from unsecured surveillance cameras from a small residential community in Hong Kong. Many residents have mass-installed these surveillance cameras themselves, unwittingly opening a backdoor into some of their most private spaces.

London, UK. On view through August 20, 2016.

Tuesday

Bring a Prepster to: Beach=Culture: Sailing Architecture Panel

This event is a pop-up exhibition of student work followed by a panel discussion with local architects on the particular considerations of sailboat architecture. Take a look at how new materials and techniques in sailing allow designers to reconsider spatial, formal, and environmental forces in new ways—not only in sailboats, but in emergency shelters and other structures that are particularly responsive to the environment.

Santa Monica, CA. August 16, 2016 at 6:30 PM.

Wednesday

2015's IDSA Core77 party.

Bring Your Coworkers to: IDSA Making Things Happen

Contemplate and share how we are Making Things Happen in industrial design during the next 50 years at IDSA Making Things Happen. Detroit has a magnificent history but went through a dark tunnel of economic hardship. Now, revitalization is underway and is making headlines around the globe. Join us in a celebration of industrial design and all that is happening in this great city. P.S.—we're throwing another killer party this year.

Detroit, MI. Conference dates are August 17, 2016 to August 20, 2016.

Thursday

Bring a Trippy Friend to: A Hands-On Demonstration at GROW

Growing lamp shades with mushrooms? Yes, you read that right. As part of their GROW exhibit, The Gallery at Industry City is hosting a hands-on demonstration of this curious growing process. Don't miss out on the unique opportunity to grow things from mushroom mycelium! 

Brooklyn, NY. Live Demonstration on August 18, 2016 from 6PM-7PM.

Friday

Bring a Hoarder to: The Keeper 

This exhibit is a reflection on the impulse to save both precious and apparently valueless objects, artworks and images. Through a series of studies and portraits that span the twentieth century, The Keeper will tell the stories of various individuals through the objects they chose to safeguard. Maybe your hoarding roommate will clean up after this peek into their future.

New York, NY. On view through September 25, 2016.

Saturday/Sunday

Bring a Retail Enthusiast to: Make Your Movements 

Make Your Movements showcases everything from 3D printed furniture to 'transparent' ceramics. The diverse exhibit brings together 19 designers, makers and craftsmen from Korea. Instead of solely focusing on the pieces as art, Make Your Movements highlights the 'movement' of art—from the creative process to the shelves. 

London, UK. On view through September 17, 2016.

These savory ceramics serve 3D optical illusions using nothing but soy sauce. The dipping dishes are subtle when empty, but with just a splash you'll feel like you're eating off an impossible MC Escher drawing. The Soy Shapes are a new project from Tokyo-based UK designer Duncan Shotton. After initial development the ceramics company partnered on the project pulled out citing a poor match for their customer base, but Shotton decided to push on anyway. With successful products like Rainbow Pencils and skyline page markers under his belt, he was sure his blend of fun and function could find a hungry audience.

He was right—with just one day left, the Soy Shapes campaign is nearly 4 times over its goal. The two styles are blocky and graphic, but aren't too detailed or oddly shaped for comfortable eating and cleaning. 

The design process started with hand cut and glued layers of plastic sheet, wound through 3D models and 3D printing, and ended with beautiful and minimal cast ceramic.

They're made from Hakuji porcelain in Gifu Japan, and they come in two styles of box. The standard-issue option is a snug flap top, and the limited edition option features a sliding box with slick form-fitting custom insert. These had been the ideal package, but due to the difficulty of producing them in quantity they instead went the "utterly ridiculous route" of cutting and gluing 77 limited edition boxes by hand.

Grab them in ones, twos, or multi sets, starting at 15 £ (~$20 USD) for a single. 

The only immediate question I have is whether the depth of the mold is so shallow that its visual impact would be drowned by a standard meal's worth of soy sauce. While Westerners tend to go a bit sauce-wild, dunking our food into buckets of horseradish-muddied soy, the visual impact seems to require only a tiny amount of sauce. But pouring small amounts at a time wouldn't ruin the fun, nor would watching the cool designs emerge as you eat. 

If you've been following the elections in any way this year, you might have found yourself ruminating on the apocalypse and the seemingly infinite number of routes that might take us as a society toward our inevitable demise. I know I sure have.

From the wrong man getting his tiny, grubby fingers on the nuclear button to a giant wall falling down and crushing us all, there is no shortage of scenarios for how this could all play out. So many, in fact, that we might be forgetting another world threat: air pollution.

Aerochomics wants to bring that threat to the forefront, raising awareness for how our air quality is rapidly deteriorating at a global scale. Born out of a speculative project, founder Nikolas Bentel began exploring the idea for Aerochromics while still a dual-degree student at Rhode Island School of Design and Brown University in 2015. The first iteration is a line of reactive clothing that transforms its pattern when exposed to increased levels of harmful particles in the air.

"I started out by creating a speculative future about pollution which was illustrated by Marianne Khalil," Bentel says. "The Aerochromics clothing seemed like a good product that had applications in this future world I created, but also had relevance in our current time." Additional inspiration was drawn from Bentel's previous job working for artist Adam Harvey, who produces and sells similar speculative clothing, like his Stealth Wear Project.

As part of speculating on the future, Bentel wanted to imagine potential solutions that used existing, often under-leveraged technologies. "The science for all of these pieces of clothing exists and is easy to find," Bentel says. "Everything can be found in some form at your local hardware store, but the science has never been applied to consumer-grade clothing."

Bentel decided to focus on three of the most pervasive pollutants: carbon monoxide, particle pollution and radioactivity. For each, Bentel started by looking at how they're traditionally detected, and then figured out how that technology could be integrated into clothing.

For the Reactive Carbon Monoxide Shirt, for example, when the shirt comes into contact with a concentrated area of carbon monoxide, the carbon monoxide is oxidized by chemical salts in the clothing — removing oxygen atoms from the ink in the process — which triggers the change of color. Once the wearer moves out of the contaminated area, the shirt is able to take oxygen back from the air, reversing the catalyst back to its original chemical form and also changing the coloration back to normal. "Essentially, the catalyst regenerates in the air," Bentel says. "This process is very similar to an everyday carbon monoxide spot detector which are patches that change color when carbon monoxide is present and change back when air around the spot has stabilized."

For production, patterns are printed on 100% cotton black fabric using transparent speedball screen printing ink, mixed with powdered reactive dye. After the ink has cured, the fabric is sewn together into individual shirts. "Our biggest problem was to get the materials to stick to the flexible shirts without coming off from abrasion, so I tried a few different methods and landed on screen printing on the fabric," Bentel says. Guaranteeing color change in the correct amount of pollutants proved to be another challenge, one that involved several tests to get the fabric to change from black to white at 60 AQI (Air Quality Index). The shirts' patterns are completely revealed at 160 AQI.

The Reactive Particle Pollution Shirt, on the other hand, is activated through the use of two very small sensors embedded in the front and back of the shirt. These sensors trip when the shirt enters an area of particle pollution (solid particles and liquid droplets found in the air such as dust, dirt, soot or smoke), alerting a small microcontroller in the collar of the shirt. This controller then pushes a signal to circular heat pads all connected by hand (a time consuming process, noted Bentel) throughout the garment which warm patches of thermochromic dye, changing the pattern's color. An additional layer of insulation around each pad shields the dots from being affected by outside temperatures, while simultaneously retaining the heat from the trigger.

Finally, the Reactive Radioactivity Shirt (still under development) uses a nontoxic, chemical indicator dye that changes color depending upon exposure to gamma or electron beam radiation. First coated with a UV blocking agent, the fabric is protected from UV exposure and requires a minimum of 15 kGy irradiation for color change to occur, similar to the radiation of the indicator dots. "At greater dosage levels, the radiation indicators exhibit an increased color," Bentel says. "Once you have been exposed to a sizable amount of radiation the shirt will not change back." Noted.

Bentel sees this line of clothing as just the first step toward developing an entire ecosystem of interconnected objects that will help us better understand, navigate and protect our world. At a $500 pricetag per shirt, however, it's an ecosystem that might be a bit out of reach for most, particularly those who live in environments where air quality is low. Bentel acknowledges the stiff pricetag, however, and chalks it up to the limited run to start. "If there was a large demand, then I would figure out how to make them more efficiently," he says.

"I see Aerochromics as more of a statement, which I think it has been successful in doing," Bentel says. "I also see Aerochromics as a prototype for a cheaper, more useable pollution monitoring system. I am not as interested in selling a lot of the clothing; The online shop is secondary to the concept. Launching Aerochromics has been a great test into seeing if there was a viable market for this type of clothing and to see how the public would react to the clothing."

Staying alert is tough - Vigo can help. Vigo is the first wearable device to quantify your alertness by tracking patterns in your blinks and in your movement in real time. The idea is simple – although your brain has a tendency to trick you into thinking you’re mentally fit enough to keep pushing on with your daily business, your body can’t hide when you’re tired.

The act of using a tape measure to mark cuts appears simple: You pull the tape out until your desired dimension is exposed, then mark your workpiece with a pencil. If we look at the act a little more closely, and as UX-minded designers, we see that sure, there's a little hassle: The end user must pluck their pencil down from behind their ear, make their mark, and return the pencil behind the ear (or pocket, for the fancy-pants among you). And unless it's a mechanical pencil, it must periodically be sharpened, which necessitates having another object on hand.

Designer Dane Scarborough, who reportedly "swung a hammer for a living" at some point, reckons his take on the venerable tape measure is more efficient. With his Quickdraw tape measure, Scarborough aims to eliminate the pencil bit by designing in a channel that holds mechanical pencil leads, allowing the end user to pull the tape out to the desired dimension, then lay a mark down without needing to reach for anything else:

I have a hard time believing the company's claim that the Quickdraw can lay down "2,000 marks per load" off of a single lead, but admittedly I'm not armed with anything more than rank skepticism. I do feel, however, that the act of locating your extra leads and loading them, as quick as it is, is simply supplanting the inconvenience of sharpening a pencil with another periodic hassle. 

I also don't feel that this invention would obviate the pencil entirely, because one still needs to write down dimensions and do quick calculations.

Nevertheless, at least Scarborough is trying to innovate in this space—I mean, when was the last time you saw an innovative tape measure? 

So: Do you find the Quickdraw gimmicky, or useful? I have a feeling this is a tool I'd need to live with for a while before its merits or demerits became truly apparent. Would you use one of these? At $25, it's not that much more expensive than your standard Stanley Fatmax.

Detroit established itself as the heart of manufacturing in the United States at the start of the 20th century, but recently the city has been making headlines as a morality tale on urbanization and the revitalization of post-industrial communities. Detroiters are proving that despite challenging circumstances, their hard work ethic hasn't gone anywhere. In preparation for IDSA's International Conference kicking off in the Motor City later this week, here's a list of artists and entrepreneurs featured on One of Many, a monthly series of photo essays about American cities and their creative communities. From a pickle factory to a company that makes convertible blankets for the homeless, these designers and creatives are making a difference in a city that rewards creative problem solving and tenacity. 

Bonus: many places and people on this list are in close proximity to IDSA!

A Place to Gather

Asro Coffee: 2124 Michigan Ave

Daisuke Hughes and his wife Jessica Hicks opened Astro Coffee on the famed Corktown block. It was inspiring to see this husband and wife team operate as one. Jessica cooks all the amazing food offerings, while Daisuke focuses on the coffee program. He was trained at Monmouth Coffee Company, the premiere coffee house in England, and has also worked at the iconic Zingerman's Deli. After a stint in Jessica's homeland of Australia, the two moved to Detroit to be part of the movement to get this fine city closer to it's glory days.

Astro Coffee: 2124 Michigan Avenue Detroit, MI 48216

Like Minded, Able Bodied

Michael Burdick is an illustrator and art director. He often collaborates with illustrator James Noellert, under their combined middle names Eugene-Carland. James explores the boundaries of what can be communicated visually. He splits his time evenly between personal and client work, which allows for ample inspiration to flow between both. As I made my way through the food and beverage community of Detroit, Michael and James' name and work popped into frame time and time again. From the Astro Coffee logo, to that of distillery Two James, to Supino Pizzeria, these two are quietly and elegantly making a massive positive impact on their community.

Feeding the City

Nikita Sanches is the chef/owner of Rock City Eatery, and the recently re-opened 1940's greasy spoon joint Campau Tower, both in Hamtramck. But it all started with pies, which Niki made and sold at the Rust Belt Market, and they're still a popular item on his menu. Niki moved to Detroit at the age of 12 and has an immigrant's work ethic to show for it. The atmosphere amongst his staff is that of family, with people working hard because they care about each other, and former staff members still coming by to hang out all night. It's a pretty special place, with phenomenal food, and I highly recommend making it part of your Detroit experience. As a sign of success, Rock City is moving from Hamtramck to Mid-Town Detroit in early 2016 where it will be neighbors with the Shinola and Willie's stores.

Rock City Eatery: 11411 Joseph Campau Ave Hamtramck, MI 48212, USA

Pack Up the Van and Go

Erin Gavle was a cog in the wheel of the advertising world in NYC. She quit and, together with her cousin, decided to grab a van and drive from Los Angeles to Detroit. Throughout their trip, treasure hunting slowly filled up the van with all the best vintage clothing and accessories, which eventually allowed for Erin to open up the wonderfully charming Eldorado General Store, named after the lost city of gold and holy grails.

Eldorado General Store: 1700 Michigan Avenue Detroit, MI 48216

Setting the Standard

Executive chef, Andy Hollyday, is a partner at Selden Standard. Open kitchens are my favorite, and watching Andy take the best care of every dish before it went out, getting the little details right, was a study in professionalism and the art of hospitality. My first visit was right after the restaurant opened, yet it felt like a fully formed aesthetic presence in the middle of a food renaissance. My second and third visit were later that same week, as I sampled more dishes, all equally delicious, and each brought to me by ever-charming staff. My fourth visit was right after Selden's one year anniversary, and the team have tightened up the operation even more.

Selden Standard: 3921 Second Avenue Detroit, MI 48201

Fabric of the City

Mandisa Smith is the co-founder of Detroit Fiber Works, a store that offers beautiful, handmade home goods and clothing. Some of the items are made by Mandisa, like the top worn here, some by her co-founder Najma, and some by mostly fellow Detroit artists. Mandisa holds an MBA, used to work in the automotive industry, and like many of her peers, followed a winding path to find her passion at the end of a long piece of string.

Detroit Fiber Works: 19359 Livernois Avenue Detroit, MI 48221

Fabric of the City II

Eric Yelsma is the founder of Detroit Denim Co., which operates out of the Ponyride space. As a youngin', he taught himself how to use a sewing machine. Several decades later, he found himself obsessing over the relationship between the customer and those who make his clothes. This led to his passion-driven quest to make the highest quality American jeans, with an eye on both style and utility. Detroit Denim's denim is sourced from the well-known U.S. mill, Cone Mills in North Carolina. His team of four ensures that 100% of all other materials used are also sourced from within the United States.

Detroit Denim Co.: 2987 Franklin Street, Suite B Detroit, MI 48207

Empower Others/Yourself

The Empowerment Plan is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving the homeless community by breaking the cycle of homelessness. They manufacture coats that transform into sleeping bags for those in need and are almost entirely staffed by homeless parents from local shelters. Many move on to become full-time seamstresses. Through this program, manufacturers move into financial stability, receive help in finding secure housing, and gain a sense of pride knowing they are helping others stay safe and warm. Julie Boissonneault-Benac is the production manager of The Empowerment Plan, and explained to me how coats are handed out to homeless people in need, sponsored by donations from local and regional companies looking to help.

Music in Our Heart

Wade Kergan is the owner of local vinyl store, Hello Records, which he opened in 2009 with his business partner, Ben Hall. The store is small yet eclectic, filled with customers that care enough about quality records to spend hours tracking them down. I thumbed through soul, funk and jazz classics while others found gems in bins filled with dance singles and 45s. More than a store, Hello Records is really a place for the local vinyl and music community to gather, shoot the shit and learn, all while picking up some new tunes carefully curated by Wade.

Hello Records: 1459 Bagley Detroit, MI 48216

In a Pickle

Some 10 years ago, the McClure family started a pickle company based on their great grandma's recipe—after many years of making pickles in their home kitchen, perfecting the process. Every overnight success is ten years in the making, after all. McClure's Pickles is run by brothers Bob (from Brooklyn) and Joe (pictured below, in Detroit). Joe's team handles all manufacturing and maintains relationships with local, ensuring the freshest and best ingredients. The jars are then hand packed in the factory, after which Bob's team handles marketing and sales.

Outside of pickles, Joe also holds a doctoral degree in physiology, and is a fervent classical musician. Bob is an actor and comedy writer with a bunch of big brand commercials and various tv and movie work to his name. Their parents, Jennifer and Mike, also have key roles in the pickle making business, making this a true family company. As I walked around the factory, I noticed that while pickling is serious work that requires focus and safety measure, everybody was having a good time working together—taking pride in making something special as a team. 

McClures Pickles are available in various locations near IDSA

Write a House

Sarah F. Cox is the co-founder and director of Write A House, a 501c3 nonprofit that combines community building with support for the literary arts. Those in need of vocational training are taught how to build houses. The finished houses are then awarded to an authors that relocate to Detroit.

Leveraging Detroit's large pool of available housing in creative ways is just what the city needs, and blowing life into the stale concept of traditional writer-in-residence programs is a wonderful way to do so. The program is a perfect combination of Sarah's interests and her professional past as a writer and editor in the world of real estate. After six years of living in NYC and working in the magazine world, Sarah felt it was time to find a new place where she could truly build something of substance. In the years since, she's been quietly building an empire, helping others find sustainable ways to pursue their passion, and single handedly bringing fresh new creatives to town. Not bad, Sarah, not bad.

Building a Life

Kaija Wuollet is the principal of the architectural design practice, Laavu Studio. Laavu is dedicated to city-building, and I couldn't think of a better place for them to exist. There is so much potential and so much to work with in Detroit. Living amongst so many underutilized structures, inside of challenging socio-economic conditions, requires a lot of imagination, grit, and optimism. Luckily, Kaija has those in ample amounts, which was clear within the first minutes of our conversation. We looked at building plans and models, enthusiastically explained by Kaija who may very well, by way of her imagination, already live in the Detroit of tomorrow. It'll be wonderful to see her continuing to make an impact.

Find the stories behind twenty additional Detroit creatives and hundreds more across the country at oneofmany.co.

If you enjoyed the recently covered spooky strandbeest bicycle, or the futuristic-graphic tattoo gun arm, you might love this creepy dude. The SkullWalker 2.0 is what I hope every in-home robot will look like within my lifetime. While a stained, moving skull with spidery mechanical legs might not be for everyone, artist Y Nakajima captured a lot of dark charm in one small sculpture. 

This cute little scuttler is a RC-controlled sculpture made using a Strandbeestesque leg design and a detailed skull mold. The patinated head and eerie movement recall the DIY toy designs from Toy Story and supporting characters in Nightmare Before Christmas.

Why leave the ominous walking technology for large peaceful lumberers? This thing could easily move into the shadows of a well appointed goth home.

Iterations and prototypes in the SkullWalker family

Nakajima does several types of impressive model making, including this undeniably dope design based on the hedgehog cars from Mad Max: Fury Road.

Check out more of these incredible characters and models on the website, but be warned: among the mech designs there's some Thomas the Tank Engine builds that might show up in your dreams.

Via 

As the Design Manager of Private Brands at Walmart, you will collaborate with cross-functional teams (for example, Merchandising, Marketing) to prioritize and execute design strategy objectives.

Mercedes-Benz is teasing the following image on their Facebook page:

The only description they've provided is "Hot & cool—almost 6 metres of ultimate luxury." Six meters is 19.7 feet, so this thing is apparently going to be about as long as a 1976 Cadillac Fleetwood.

Rendering by Coroflotter Joe Ellice. "Florentine Gold Firemist Fleetwood - Measuring in at a a whopping 233 inches [19.4 feet/5.9 meters], this 1976 Fleetwood was the longest [non-limo] Cadillac ever made."

As for what it is, they're not doing a good job of keeping it a secret; downloading the image reveals the filename "maybach_concept_coupe_1.jpg." Commenters instantly drew comparisons to the Maybach Exelero, a 5.8-meter long one-off coupe built in 2004 for Fulda Tires. The Exelero was fully-functional and featured a 700-horsepower twin-turbo V12.

The Exelero

Fulda (a German subsidiary of Goodyear) commissioned the car to test their next-generation tires and serve as a showpiece. It did indeed: Jay-Z borrowed and featured the car in his 2006 music video for "Lost One."

In 2011 it was rumored that Birdman (the rapper, not the cartoon superhero) purchased the Exelero for a whopping eight million dollars, but apparently he never finalized the deal nor took possession of the car. 

"There it is, Avenger! I'll give you twenty bucks if you can crap on it from here!"

The German website Motorvision reports that the Exelero is currently in the possession of Mechatronik GmbH, a German company specializing in the restoration of classic Mercedes automobiles. Motorvision also revealed this interesting tidbit: The car was designed not by Maybach staff, but design students at the University of Pforzheim! eMercedesBenz provides more detail on the design team:

[The Exelero design team was] headed by Prof. Harald Leschke [and consisted of] two professors and four students from the Transportation Design department of Pforzheim Technical College. Nine months later, the draft of one of the students was selected for realization from a line-up of promising design proposals. This student had succeeded in creating the most elegant symbiosis of the related form languages of past and present car generations.

We'd have guessed the final student to be Daniel Simon—we interviewed the guy ("From Bugatti to Hollywood") and he went to Pforzheim—but it turns out Simon graduated in 2001, and the Exelero project was started in 2003.

Thanks to sharp-eyed reader Drew Meehan, we were led to the Exelero's original project page, which lists the names of the four students. Apparently each turned in their own take, and one was chosen. Sorry for the tiny images, but these are from 2003:

Wolf Seebers

"The optimal combination of elegance and high performance was the the aim of the design by Wolf Seebers. In particular, the contours of the radiator grille clearly indicate the inspiration of the characteristic Maybach design. The line from the cockpit to the tail section, in contrast, was designed in two steps which bear a close resemblance to the design style of Formula 1."

Andreas Hellmann

"Andreas Hellmann's proposed design went in another direction. His concept had a very American look about it but, at the same time, possessed unmistakable traces of its historic predecessor. The choice of two-color paintwork, for example, is an attractive visual reference to the famous test vehicle from 1939 [an earlier Fulda/Maybach collaboration]."

Stefan Barth

"Like the model from Andreas Hellmann, the design study from Stefan Barth also called for a two-color paint job for the new Fulda Concept Car Exelero. The design of the tail unit was thereby based on the the model of a boat's stern. The most striking modification in Barth's concept: here the fins on the hood of the original are extended harmoniously into the line of the roof."

Fredrik Burchhardt

"The design study by Fredrik Burchhardt led to different associations: While some recognize significant traces of a Corvette split window, parallel to that others drew comparisons with the construction of a catamaran. The design made in the colors red and black put the focus clearly on the radiator grille and deliberately avoided the use of a fender at the front."

It drives me nuts when designers are not given credit; the teaser rendering up top is completely unattributed. Here's to hoping the designer[s] eventually get some freaking recognition!

Safety razors are far from new. Created by Frenchman Jean-Jacques Perrett who found inspiration in hand-plane construction in the late 1700s, the safety razor has seen countless iterations—most of these under Gillette. In 1901, Wisconsin-native King Camp Gillette filed a patent for the first disposable razor blades. Between 1903 and 1904 the titan sold 12 million disposable blades (to the dismay of our landfills). From then on, the industry leader has released a new addition to the original design every few years. From pivoting heads to additional blades to lubricating strips, Gillette's razors are tricked out. And due to King Camp Gillette's loss leader sales tactic, their blades boast a pretty hefty price tag. Dollar Shave Club burst on to the razor scene in 2011, catering to the bros and offering a convenience of delivery that reduces what every consumer hates about buying razors: a trip to the store, excessive plastic displays and packaging, and unjustified prices. The e-commerce shave club certainly swings hard at industry giants, yet buying razors straight from Dollar Shave Club's supplier, Dorco can cost less.

So, between major brands like Gillette, Bic, Schick and now Dollar Shave Club, do we really need more razors? The answer seems to be "Yes." While the Dollar Shave Club targets the bros with convenience, industry new-comer Harry's targets "sophisticated" men with quality. Created by one of the Warby Parker founders Jeff Raider and partner Andy Katz-Mayfield, Harry's brings something new to the ring: incredible craftsmanship and direct manufacturing.

Photo Credit: Harry's

Unlike its competitors, Harry's owns its own factory in Eisfeld, Germany. After testing countless razor blades from all over the world, the duo chose the Chroma blade. The double edge blade is created by the "gothic arch cut" technique in which the raw steel is tempered and fed through a series of grinders by a rotating wheel, before being deburred by a cutting machine and fed onto the magazine. Utilizing both sides of the blade, the cut sharpens the metal to create a parabolic edge. 

Photo Credit: Harry's

Photo Credit: Harry's

While the wider base offers strength, the sharp tip and bow shape reduce friction, generating the shave you've always wanted. The blade's superiority comes not just from form, but also material. Sourcing only the "highest-quality" steel, Harry's alters the material's nanostructure by heating the metal to 2,000°F, then cooling it to less than -100°F before reheating the steel to 500°F. After being repeatedly heated and cut, the blades are doused in chromium nitrate plasma to harden the material and PTFE, similar to Teflon, which reduces friction to induce a smoother shave.

The steel blades may take center stage, but the rest of the razor is just as well considered. Injection molded cartridges house the blades, which are able to contour the skin just as desired due to the thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) rubber flex hinges. The weighted handles, either the "Winston" or "Truman," are refined and ergonomic, with patterned detailing for an enhanced grip and optimized control.

An inside look at the Truman handle (Photo Credit: Harry's)

Photo Credit: Harry's

Harry's clean and functional craftsmanship is not limited to their razors, but extends all the way to product packaging and shipping. In a small, simple cardboard box comes a bag containing "everything you need for a smooth shave": a leaflet with shaving tips, a small piece of paper detailing the self explanatory process of switching razor heads and of course, the razor itself which slides out from a minimal, thin cardboard box. The box's inside mimics the pattern shown on the side of Harry's barber shop in SoHo, New York.

Photo Credit: New York Times

With prime real estate on Times Square billboards, New York City subway banner advertisements, promoted Facebook ads and a new retail partnership with Target, Harry's has become hard to ignore.

To call Harry's branding detail oriented would be an understatement. Maybe it's the always capitalized, declarative font, or the recurring iconography and patterns, or their Instagram marketing that feels like a grown-up, refined scavenger hunt; but somehow, Harry's lures you in.

Explore Harry's new razors with their Next Generation Instagram marketing campaign

A shave with a Harry's razor feels like it's backed by close to 100 years of German craftsmanship. And once you have that, for less than $2 per blade, you'll never go back to your overpriced, unnecessarily tricked out store-bought razor blades ever again.

We've had a couple of 100-degree days here in NYC, and the only thing that deals with heat less well than me is a laptop. If the CPU isn't kept cool by the cooling fans, the whole thing shuts down. And if you don't keep the fans clean, the accumulated dust and gunk can cause the fans to crap out.

Here with help is crazy Canadian ElectroBOOM, a/k/a Mehdi Sadaghar, who shows you how to troubleshoot or replace your cooling fan. "Repairing a laptop may sound like a brain surgery, but in fact it is more like a nose job if you are careful," he writes. I won't warn you as to where the laughs are in this video, but I will say not to drink coffee while you're watching it:

There are 44 million people living with dementia worldwide, and this number is set to double in the next 20 years. One of the biggest problems for those caring for someone with dementia is wandering, which results from a patient's confusion or short-term memory loss. More than 60% of people with dementia wander, according the Alzheimer's Association.

Proximity Button is a simple and discreet wearable technology with the potential to transform the lives of those living with dementia. Created by Mettle, a London-based industrial design studio, the button tackles out-and-about care of dementia patients by using beacon technology to act as an "early-warning system" when a patient wanders and is put at risk.

Wearable technology can provide more dignified, human-centric dementia care by improving patient well-being, restoring their freedom and allowing them to lead active lives.

As discussed last week, something designed minimally doesn't necessarily mean it is well-designed. As Apple design guru Jonathan Ive aptly notes, "simplicity is not the absence of clutter...simplicity is somehow essentially describing the purpose and place of an object and product." Following along this train of thought, Core77 reader constellation23 recently brought up a brilliantly simple question with a variety of points to consider. Our reader asks,

"How do you know when something is overdesigned?" 

As expected, our Core77 readers and moderators tackled the question with particular thoughtfulness and poise. Here are a few interesting points to consider in relation to this question:

Design means building up only to break it down

Core77 moderator and sketch master Michael DiTullo brings up both intriguing philosophies as well as helpful tactics for looking at a design in a sober way: 

Have you ever heard the Mark Twain quote "sorry I wrote such a long letter, I didn't have time to write a short one?" I feel that design is often similar. A little bit of a different medium, but [...] I was reviewing a rough initial cut of a product launch video. A few people on my brand design team who are working on it felt (justly) very proud of it, but it was clocking in at 1:30 and I felt there was a lot of gratuitous repetition. So I directed the team to copy save and work up a second edit that was so radically short it made them uncomfortable. Then we could compare the two and see if short one was missing anything from the long one. 

I think a similar thought exercise works in ID. Work a solution until you feel good about it. Go home for the night and try to return in the AM as if you are a different designer radically simplifying the concept. Is the new one missing anything when you are done?

Design is a continual act of building up and breaking down. If you only do the building up part you end with a monstrosity.

Don't try to solve everything at once

Reader singletrack brings up an excellent sentiment regarding products on the market that try to solve a multitude of different design problems,

"I would also like to point out the section of the public that looks for over featured items. A good example is the Swiss Army Knife. This is a classic product but the reality of it is that it is not particular useful.

I spend a lot of time in the back country I do not choose to carry a swiss army knife because I find it not the best tool. Generally speaking I believe tools and other products should be use specific and have a clear and purposeful thought. With that said I have found that the Leatherman Wave can be very useful. It has solved a lot of the issues of the swiss army knife. Most of the tools are quite useful due to how much larger they can be on it. There is still parts I don't like and end up carrying extra tools to help fill the gaps of the Leatherman. So in part it helps but it also hurts because if you have to carry extra items to get the most out of you experience then it sort of defeats the purpose of the multi tool. I do think most "do all" products are weak just because you can't be everything to everyone. Much better to do one thing very well and build success from that.

Most "do all" products are weak just because you can't be everything to everyone. Much better to do one thing very well and build success from that.

Look to exemplar products for inspiration

Dutch product designer ralphzoontens also chimed in with some examples of well-edited design and how products always should be made in conversation with their overarching goal—

"It feels natural to add, or to reconfigure or substitute things that you already have, but to do that step of utter simplification, looking at what can be discarded, be it form or functional elements, or perhaps even an entire part of the product you before thought would be essential is something you have to consciously adapt yourself to. 

Digital cameras are a great example of how simplification and reduction can lead to strong products. Where you can have separate buttons for everything you can also integrate them into smart controls, like Joep Frens has researched.

The intuitive Polaroid Snap Camera (source: Photojojo)

The Polaroid Snap is a good recent example of simplification through reduction - it has no screen and only color and auto-timer settings. I would have liked a few more settings -macro, color profiles- but it's a good example of utter simplification. The magnetic lens cover fits the snap concept. It has no lid to cover memory card and connector inputs. It has no battery lid. But it works for what it is - a casual camera you'll just have for a few years to capture precious moments - and you'll trust that the pictures come out great."

____________________

The conversation regarding what to add or subtract in a design can go on and on, so we want to know: what are your thoughts on how to make something truly essential or at least well suited for its ultimate purpose? What products or design writing do you look to for insight on simplifying your designs? Let us know in the comments or contribute your thoughts on the original discussion board post.

Drinks in the era of pod coffee makers and Soylent coffee-meals are modern and efficiency-minded, but oldschool beverages and methods don't have to be difficult. The new Manual Tea Maker No. 1 by Manual, designed by longtime Core77 friend and contributor Craighton Berman, wants to refresh appreciation for the minimalism of tea. Much like their take on pour over coffee has reinvigorated appreciation for process and quality, this impeccably simple system encourages taking just a little more time for your liquid payoff. 

The set's three part design takes its cues directly from traditional Chinese gaiwan and tea ceremonies. With quality ingredients at the center, the design aims to maximize the beauty of tea itself and highlight the quality of its flavors with minimal fuss. The set fits in your hand and only uses two materials—borosilicate glass and porcelain—with a satisfying visual impact.

And far from being messy or time intensive, the Manual Tea Maker is quick to use and easy to clean. Double walled glass shows off the color of your steep while insulating the liquid and protecting your hands. The ceramic cap stores heat and then neatly doubles as a straining lid, and triples as saucer if you want to get sculptural. 

And that's it. No tea ball to get lost in drawers or mesh sieve to get wet leaves stuck in. Dump out your tired when they're done and start over, or stack attractively for storage… or display. [Bonus: Join Berman for a live-streamed demo and chat about the design of the Manual Tea Maker No 1 tomorrow at 9PM EST]

Tea is a simple beverage and the best teaware leans into its single-ingredient subtlety with the reverence that the drink has commanded for thousands of years. These little sets are inviting to the touch and eye, and I'd be satisfied if other drinkware designers took a single hint from their eco-friendly blend of form and function. 

The Manual Tea Maker No. 1 is Kickstarting through August 19, starting at $45 with a set of teas to boot. Manual (and Berman himself) has already successfully produced several satisfying minimalist goods for the home, including the beloved Sharpener Jar, and if all goes well this will be the most recent in the line... and maybe the simplest yet.