To us, good design doesn't have to be some staggeringly brilliant thing that winds up in the MoMA or the Salone. In fact, most of the time I'm more impressed by some small, simple change a designer has made that will get them no glory but will improve the user experience in some way.

Here's a prime example of that, sent to us by Core77 reader Brian Hackett, who writes:

Reading Core77 has me appreciating design more now that I'm actually looking for it. Take this vacuum manual, for instance.

It is written in multiple languages and instead of having the illustrations reprinted in each language's section, they are centralized in the back of the book, each with its own number. Additionally, the section folds out so that it can be visible no matter which page/section you are on in the manual.

This means you don't have to flip back and forth every time an illustration is referenced. Maybe this has become a standard, but it's the first time I've seen it.

Got other examples, readers? If so please send them to [rain] -at- core77 +dot+ com with the subject line "GOOD DESIGN."

Thanks Brian!

Our Honda Element post drew lots of interest, and now we've scheduled an interview with the car's interior designer. Honda Chief Designer Jose Wyszogrod has graciously agreed to answer our questions and even provide ideation sketches and renderings!

While we'll ask all of the obvious questions, we'd like some from those of you that have lived with the car for years: Is there some design quirk that you've always been curious about? A particular feature that you want to hear the story behind? Why something was executed a certain way?

Though the Element will be the focus of our interview, you needn't limit yourself; anyone interested in transportation design can toss a question into the hat, and we'll pick the best. Here's some background info to let you know what topics the man can speak to:

Transportation design veteran Jose Wyszogrod is currently Chief Designer at Honda R&D, with his precise title being Lead Principal Designer and Interior Studio Manager of Auto Design for Honda R&D (Americas). He's been with the company for over two decades, ever since graduating from Art Center in the mid '90s. Wyszogrod led the interior design for several Honda models, both production and concept, including the concept car that led to the Element. He is also currently a professor in the Transportation Design department at Art Center.

"Over the last five years I've been actively involved on numerous production and research projects," Wyszogrod writes, "and most recently I've been focused on the Honda brand interior design and human interface strategy."

Send your queries in the following format:

"[YOUR INITIALS OR NICKNAME] from [GEOGRAPHIC REGION] asks, [QUESTION?]"

There's no limit to how many you can suggest. You can post them in the comments below or e-mail them to us at -blogs- *at* _core77_ +dot+ com, subject line "ELEMENT." Please get them in no later than Wednesday, March 15th!

3D Hubs recently worked with Mark Thielen a PhD Candidate from the Technical University of Eindhoven Netherlands, through 3D printing, Mark is able to create functional organs and internal structures based on MRI scans that otherwise would not possible with conventional production technologies. Traditionally these manikins were little more than a doll with a spring. Now they're being designed with embedded sensors and far closer to the real thing, creating a higher standard of training which could increase infant survival.

Access to a range of materials through the 3D Hubs network allowed Mark to produce his parts locally and specific to the anatomical area. Future implications of this research could lead to larger patient recreations using 3D printing, strengthening medical training for emergency procedures and pregnancies.

I ordered two items from Staples and they arrived today. Here they are, the boxes laid on a grid of inches for scale.

Inside the first box are paper towels that fit the dispenser in my photo studio. The box is perfectly sized to the amount of paper towels within, there's not a wasted inch.

Opening the second box, we see a strip of plastic air pockets…

…protecting the cargo within.

Below is the amount of materials required to ship me this SR44 battery for my digital calipers.

The battery is small enough that I could swallow it but the box it came in is larger than my head.

So why is it packaged this way, because Staples loves wasting cardboard and plastic? No. Either they or whomever they've subcontracted their fulfillment out to undoubtedly has some warehouse system in place, a series of pickers, packagers, conveyor belts, automatic labelers, scanning machines and vehicle-loading infrastructure, that is designed to handle cardboard boxes of sizes common to the majority of their wares.

At some point a Staples bean counter undoubtedly realized that the above-depicted scenario would take place. And realized that because of the scale that they're operating at, it doesn't matter.With their expensive and efficient systems in place, it would cost them more money to have someone pop the battery in a small padded envelope, write my address on it with a Bic pen, slap a couple stamps on it and walk it over to a U.S.P.S. mailbox. And their protocols prevent them from opening the paper towel box, dropping the battery in there and taping the box back up.

I'm sure they've figured out the macro stuff, and that their system is somehow the least wasteful when viewed from 10,000 feet. At least, that's what I want to believe. It's just hard to swallow that wasting this much material in this individual case is somehow logical.

This post came about because in my nonstop effort to be difficult, I'm building a complicated four-drawer chest based on the designs of Major John Dunlap and Lieutenant Samuel Dunlap of New Hampshire. Before I get into a style you may be unfamiliar with, please indulge this history buff for some background.

Historical Background

The Dunlaps were part of a twisty legacy of immigration: Lowland Scots who emigrated to the Ulster area of Northern Ireland, then eventually across the Atlantic to New Hampshire and Maine via Boston in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. (Why so nomadic? Religious persecution. These folks were mostly Presbyterian living among predominantly Catholic societies. Ironically, the persecution occasionally followed them to New Hampshire where it was assumed that these folks, who came to be called Scots-Irish, must be Catholic based on their origins.)

There were of course furniture builders among these Scots-Irish, and the designs from this group are endearing, whimsical, idiosyncratic, and just plain weird. It's also interesting that the Northern Irish towns of Antrim and Londonderry, which these folks passed through, bore craft aesthetics similar to those that would pop up in the major style hub of Boston that dictated most of the furniture details in New England.

On With the Style

The Dunlaps worked primarily during the Rococo or Chippendale period, so being in New England we would expect detailed, asymmetric carvings, massive structures with lower centers of gravity and powerful ambiance like this Highboy built in Boston around 1750. (I took this picture at the Winterthur Museum by the way.)

In contrast, the Dunlap cabinetry style adds an element of whimsy with unique and elaborate carvings unlike anything we see coming out of New England at the time. In some ways the ornamentation harkens back to a Baroque style. Basket-woven galleries and almost Celtic-derived scrollwork adorn the tops and bottoms of the cases. A signature flowered ogee molding is seen as a punctuation mark between elements, and upon closer examination seems to be a minimalist version of architectural egg-and-dart moldings. There's a prevalence of deep lower cases that seem to embrace the Chippendale massiveness but take it one step further. With these deeper lower cases came more elaborate scrollwork as well. This piece is somewhat iconic of this style and includes much of what I just mentioned:

Here is another example taken from Paul Rulli's website. Notice the somewhat disproportionate upper and lower cases.

A Paul Rulli Dunlap reproduction

Here is a close look at the iconic basket weave and peacock fan typically seen on Dunlap pieces. You will also see the flower ogee molding above and below the top gallery.

Paul Rulli's fine carving work on the Dunlap reproduction

I will be curious to hear some of your thoughts on this piece. It is certainly different and, in my opinion, somewhat ugly. I think the offensive nature of it is what really attracted me and stirred me into further research. In many ways this style has grown on me and I believe when taken in moderation it can yield some amazing pieces.

I think some of the most constructive design exercises can be done when you force yourself to play in areas that you don't like. So if we take away some of the disproportions of the above piece, mellow down the carvings a little, and apply the chest-of-drawer form to it we end up with this piece, which will be the subject of my next build.

This chest was mostly likely built by Lt. Samuel Dunlap around 1795, and you will see that the proportions are more pleasing but the stubby feet keep that extreme low center of gravity to the piece. The distinctive flowered ogee molding is present as well. I think some of the reasons for this overall mellowing of the style is that period in which this was constructed. The idiosyncratic Dunlap style was really one for the American Revolution generations and as we move into the 19th century, this began to lessen.

By the way, I highly recommend the book "The Dunlap Cabinetmakers" for a much more detailed look into this style of furniture.

Netflix's White Rabbit Project features Mythbusters alums Kari Byron, Tory Belleci and Grant Imahara checking out inventions and technology. In this unaired clip, actress, public speaker, humanitarian, model and cyborg Angel Giuffria shows Imahara a couple of her detachable hands, including a specialized archery attachment:

In the comments that sprung up on the Facebook page where this clip was posted, one commenter wrote:

"Wait I just don't get one thing... she has a whole hand attachment and another attachment to hold her bow? Why do you need two when you only need the hand? Am I missing something?"

Another commenter succinctly explained: 

"That hand needs power to operate, the attachment part doesn't." 

Pretty slick. It hadn't occurred to me that, like anything that runs on lithium-ion batteries, you'd of course want to conserve power where you can.

Considerations: This position could be based out of Park City, UT or Los Angeles, CA. Position is typically lodged in Park City, UT for 2 weeks during the January Film Festival (lodging requirement determined annually). In addition, this role works extended hours (evenings and weekends) at key points throughout the

People are still really excited/angry/scared/vengeful about the idea of a Labyrinth reboot. It's been 30 years since its debut and three years since the rumor/announcement of a possible follow up, but the fan emotions are still intense. Removing any element of cult obsession from the original picture (Bowie, magic, Henson puppets, Jennifer Connely's perfectly petulant teen allure or plastic baby doubles), it might still have been great—but it's hard to imagine. I'm not trying to start or end any debates, but I'd argue that the single biggest reason for the film's enduring appeal is the blend of creative character design and whimsical application.

Rebranding or merchandising such a lasting and obsessed-over favorite is extremely hard. Translating one IP into another medium is harder than it sounds, and fans are assholes. Even with that mindset, finding this officially licensed Firey plush gave me a pretty strong UH-OH reaction at first. After some consideration, I think it nails fan service in a stupidly easy way. 

Beyond accurately representing a puppet we know for its creepy (almost racist?) song and dance sequence, this thing allows the tone of oddity and magic to come through in your own hands. Grab its head or leg, and it'll pop right off. 

Plush toy head croquet might not be for everyone (are there are households without life size posters of Jareth? I wouldn't know), but it's a neat reminder that even small design tweaks can ratchet up user appeal. 

In 2008 the UK's Royal Mint held a design competition to redesign the obverse sides of coins. Designer Matt Dent, then 26, beat out 4,000 competitors and took top prize. 

Dent based his designs around the UK's Royal coat of arms. Here's what that looks like:

CC BY-SA 3.0

The trio of lions at top left and bottom right represent England; the harp represents (Northern) Ireland, and the lone lion represents Scotland. Ironically Dent originally hails from Wales, which gets no love on the crest, while England takes up two spots.

Dent's design for the one pound coin featured the coat of arms in full:

And when you arrange the coins of smaller denominations, here's what you get:

Pretty cool, no? American money is dull in comparison.

Speaking of money, Dent took home £35,000. If the Royal Mint had a sense of humor, they'd have paid him in his new coins.

The Geo Home Smart Security Camera was developed with safety and simplicity in mind. We designed this with the intention of creating a smart home technology system that doesn’t look too technological. Seeking ways to simplify the look of a camera device to be suitable for any home, our design deliberately does not stand out as a gadget, but rather an integrated object or sculpture. The contemporary form and styling was inspired by geographic minimalism. Using premium materials such as copper and matte black plastic brings a higher end look for the upscale smart home demographic.

There are only 9 short days left to apply for this amazing opportunity to be a part of A/D/O's design community in their new Brooklyn workspace. Submissions are due Wednesday, March 15th. Do you have a professional or passion project you're ready to get off the ground, but are lacking the space and support to make it happen? With the Core77 x A/D/O Design Residency, we're hoping to make finally make those dreams a reality.

The Core77 team spends time combing through the news so you don't have to. Here's a weekly roundup of our favorite finds from the World Wide Web:

A 'smart' lock from 1680 that even tells you if someone messed with your stuff.

ID student's concept for a drone that pollinates, a la honeybees.

Top 3 Norwegian industrial design innovations: High chair, hull line, cheese slicer.

Happy 30th Birthday, Nike Air Max 1!

"Those were my favorite sunglasses, I'm going to find them if it kills me."

Fine architecture? Nope. The inside of a Gibson guitar.

Amazing jewelry box made by James Linard, in a course taught by Marc Fish.

The Bunny Museum finally ran out of room. They better 'hop to it' and open that new location (Oh, wait).

Expensive things to buy: 3D Printed Porcelain bowl set.

Here's how you get from Copenhagen to Malmö on two wheels.

This Vietnamese SWAT team's very creative way to scale buildings.

Unfortunately, we all know this person... 

Visualize the color composition of Pokemon icons in your choice of chart type.

Why the Bic Crystal is the ideal "desert island" pen.

Don't lick your Nintendo Switch cartridges. We warned you.

The Royal Mail announced a set of David Bowie stamps, featuring album artwork from 1971 through 2016. The stamps go on sale March 14.

"Meanwhile in Florida, the alligators have developed sign making skills."

Robot Jokes.

Hot Tip: Check out more blazin' hot Internet finds on our Twitter page.

Multimaterial Saw Deal & Pattern Following Router

If you work with both wood and metal, Izzy Swan's worked out a pretty good discount for viewers, which he describes here. He also gives you a sneak peek at his in-progress design for a horizontal pattern-following router:

Bandsaw Stand Drawers

Matthias Wandel adds functionality to the tool stand he created last week, adding drawers and a sawdust capture box. I'm digging his trick for locating the drawer faces:

Dolly Cart Made with Office Chair Casters

Matthias comes up with an interesting way to save material while mounting casters on a dolly:

Closet Storage

The architect in Frank Howarth comes out as he designs and builds a closet storage system for his house. While not everything goes as planned, he improvises solutions as he goes:

Branded Custom Chisel Handles

Jay Bates is finally back in action! Here he creates a series of branded custom chisel handles:

One from the Archives: DIY Hanging Bike Storage

Ben Uyeda uses up some dead space in his house to rig up a simple bicycle hoist:

Sandcasting a Brass Axe Keychain

Last week April Wilkerson made a backyard foundry. This week she uses it to melt some brass doorknobs down, then uses the brass for some sandcasting:

Foosball Table with 3D Printing

With an assist from 3D printing supply house MatterHackers, Bob Clagett builds a foosball table that incorporates 140 3D-printed parts:

DIY Desk Organization System w/ Hutch

Linn from Darbin Orvar creates a wall-mounted storage system for her home office:

Veneer Lamp

Laura Kampf breaks out a veneer steamer and creates a cool-looking lamp:

DIY Mirror Cabinet

Ben Uyeda makes a mirror-fronted locker using copper pipes as the door hinge:

One from the Archives: DIY Wooden Screw Clamps

Classic hand screw clamps are a handy thing to have around the shop. You can buy a good pair for about $25, or you can make your own with a hardware kit that runs around $10. Here Dustin Penner shows you how:

Job Description Job Title: Lead Designer Department: ARC International North America Marketing Reports To: VP of Marketing SUMMARY

The Nuni Tortilla Toaster is a solution to the very real, very dire problem of how to heat tortillas. Have you ever tried to make soft tacos for more than one person? It sucks. The traditional methods that I'm personally accustomed to are functional but not without real issue. Method one relies on a comal or griddle which takes a grip of time to heat on the stove and most can only fit a couple tortillas at once. Method two is popping the suckers in a plastic bag and into the microwave. Despite learning that last one from an abuela and thus being technically beyond reproach, I'm pretty damn sure there's got to be a better way—at least healthfully speaking. You can also toast them over an open gas burner, and sure, enjoy your hair-free knuckles and slow food prep. 

Enter Elliot Benitez, a designer from Chicago who knows we deserve more tortilla ease. Growing up in a Hispanic family, he got to see a lot of tortilla cuisine firsthand, and (like a designer would) he noted the inefficiency of batch re-heating tortillas. He calculates that over the last two decades his mom has spent around sixty extra days heating tortillas due to the comal's limited space. That's some pretty concerning tortilla math. His answer: The Nuni Toaster.

The Nuni is a project that takes real appreciation of tacos and local culture to heart. As Benitez told Chicagoist, "There are so many places around Chicago to get high-quality tortillas, a pack of a dozen will run you less than 50 cents." But high quality tortillas and communal eating go together. This toaster takes up to six tortillas at a time, offers settings for toastiness, closes to keep the vital steamy heat in, and rotates down and out to make tortilla retrieval easy. 

The only real design quibble I can come up with is wanting the release function to tip the tortillas out more gracefully. Maybe dropping them into a mating crumb tray, or releasing on an angle for one at a time grabbing. But particularly for a first iteration it seems just fine.

As single use kitchen equipment goes this one either makes sense for you or it doesn't. For those of us with an unquestioned budget column for corn products this could be a game changer. 

Regardless of whether you've felt the need for one personally, it's nice to see innovation in product design for foods that often go overlooked in the US. And anything that might get a soft warm tortilla into my hands faster deserves a chance.

After crowdfunding last year, Nuni is currently available for presale and looks to be landing some time this spring or summer.

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

Apply For: Design Singapore Scholarship

The DesignSingapore Scholarship is for individuals with creativity, drive and passion for design who aspire to be leaders in their fields of design training, so as to help develop Singapore into Asia's leading hub for design excellence.

Online scholarship open through April 10, 2017.

Tuesday

Listen to: Elmgreen & Dragset in Conversation with Dan Cameron

Elmgreen & Dragset, the first artists to curate the Istanbul Biennial (September 16 — November 12, 2017), will talk with internationally acclaimed curator Dan Cameron about their ideas behind the 15th Istanbul Biennial theme, A Good Neighbor. Cameron served as the Artistic Director of the 8th Istanbul Biennial in 2003.

New York, New York. March 14, 2017 at 6:00 PM.

Wednesday

Attend: Index Design Master Class, PARTISANS

Index Design's Master Classes are the showcases of successful stories in the field of design entrepreneurship, lead by leaders in the design community from around the world. This edition features PARTISANS, a Toronto based architecture firm that focuses on storytelling through taking on daring theoretical projects, installations and products.

Montréal, Canada. March 15, 2017 at 6:00 PM.

Thursday

Visit: Architectural Digest Design Show

This design presentation offers the chance to browse and source thousands of products, from furniture, accessories, lighting, and art to kitchen, bath, and building projects. 

New York, NY. March 16 through 19, 2017.

Friday

Closing Soon: Isamu Noguchi, Archaic/Modern

Isamu Noguchi was among the most innovative American sculptors of the 20th century. Even as he created works that were far ahead of his time, Noguchi frequently found inspiration in ancient art and architecture. Isamu Noguchi, Archaic/Modern explores how the ancient world shaped this artist's vision for the future.

Washington, DC. On view through March 19, 2017.

Saturday/Sunday

Plan Your Trip: Salone del Mobile

The acknowledged showcase for cutting edge design trends is less than one month away. Time to start planning your trip!

Milan, Italy. April 4 through April 9, 2017.

Check out the Core77 Calendar for more design world events, competitions and exhibitions, or submit your own to be considered for our next Week in Design.

For the last Alien movie, Prometheus, the marketers cooked up a faux TED Talk from the year 2023. For the next installment of the franchise, Covenant, they're broadcasting this faux commercial for Walter, "The world's most advanced synthetic companion:"

Here we can see the android's structure appears to be 3D-printed. And it's missing a head thus far because…

…it seems that the head is manufactured in a separate machine or facility from the body.

After they screw the head on (I would so love it if the connection was threaded), it appears they bond it on by some type of light-based curing process.

Blink and you'll miss it, but apparently the android is powered by an AMD Radeon chip, right down to the logo. I guess in the future they've expanded beyond graphics cards and into artificial intelligence.

After the head is installed, LEDs come on inside, presumably to provide feedback to the techs. Blinking blue lights mean "Now booting up," flashing red lights would mean "Installation failed, please unscrew the head and try again."

I don't see any logos, but who do you figure wins the tablet war in the future, Apple or Samsung?

We can see that they pump the android full of the same white "circulatory fluid" we saw going all the way back to Ash, the android from the first Alien movie. One of the line items on the studio's production sheet for this scene was definitely "milk."

One thing I couldn't figure out is what the supposed function of the 3D-printed facemasks on the tech is. We can see there's clearly a person, or another android, inside; are these purely protective, in case the "patient" spazzes out? (And yes, I realize that the production designer probably just thought that they looked cool.)

While watching futuristic movies, Designer's Curse means I must seek out anachronistic objects. By the year 3003, all of our engineering efforts have been diverted into androids. Zero advances have been made in the field of rolling cart casters…

…and boxcutters.

Lastly, I'm digging how they jammed the legal disclaimers into the end of the commercial. Of all the nationalities and occupations that may disappear in the next millennia, American corporate lawyers are not one of them.

VeriFone wanted to use the MX925 unit as a payment terminal for taxis. The problem was, the terminal only had hard line Ethernet, not wireless, connectivity. To bring cellular connection to the terminal, we worked closely with the electronic engineer to add a wireless module. The iO module is a simple plug-in unit that requires no wiring. We also added a USB port for customers to charge their phones and mobile devices. We engineer and manufacture the final product in an aggressive time schedule. In the end, the iO module seamlessly integrates into the payment terminals both functionally and aesthetically.

IBM Design’s mission is simple: put the user at the center of our products. If you are a passionate problem-solver, able to empathize with users and turn that empathy into design insight, we want you to join us in creating exceptional experiences that span our vast product portfolio.