We've all had this problem: Sometimes you want to electrocute a lot of people all at once, and a single taser gun won't cut it. So you think, "Wouldn't it be great if I could hose all of these bastards down, like with a fire hose? Well, water conducts electricity, so what if I could hose them down and electrocute them at the same time?"

The Tactical Systems department at Mega Engineering Vehicles, a producer of specialty military and police vehicles, might have the solution. First off, Mega produces the friendly-looking riot control vehicles you see here. This first one looks like a school bus full of whoop-ass:

These ports on the side can be opened to allow officers to fire outside of the vehicle. Technically I suppose they could also be used to dispense lollipops in times of peace.

Then there's this beast, which would have no problem getting out of the driveway after a snowstorm:

That fun-looking red thing up top is a hose. It's also equipped with cameras, powerful lights and loudspeakers. (Every protestor's wish: "Say it, don't spray it.")

Even more fun is that a "Foam Pro" console inside lets the operator dial in the foam and water levels. I'm guessing you can start with a gentle pulsating massage, then ratchet things up as needed.

Now, the problem with electrocuting people via hose is that water tends to break up into a spray, dispersing the electricity. With that in mind, "Tactical Systems was experimenting with additives (salt and additives to reduce the breakup of the stream into droplets) that would allow electricity to be conducted through water," the company writes. "They have demonstrated delivery from a distance of up to twenty feet (6 m), but have not yet tested the device on people."

I looked for the sign-up sheet to volunteer for the testing, but couldn't find it on their website.

March 26, 1987 brought us one of the most infamous sneakers in history—the Air Max 1. While Air Max technology was originally introduced eight years earlier in the Tailwind, the Air Max 1 was the first time the air technology was made at a larger scale and visible from the outside. Since its debut as both a function and fashion staple with the Air Max 1, air technology has been through quite the evolution. With its countless appearances in coveted collaborations with athletes, brands and sneaker stores like Atmos, to its key role in various sneaker silhouettes, Nike's air technology has made itself a staple in just about every sneaker collector's closet.

The original Air Max 1 

Yesterday, Nike hosted events celebrating Air Max's big 30th birthday. While other countries celebrated in their own ways, here in New York City, we had a go big or go home mentality, as per usual. Celebrations were hosted in multiple locations throughout the city, each with their own surprises. Here's a taste of what went down during the big birthday bash at our three favorite locations: 

The Nike Air Vapormax

Before getting into specific locations, it's important to note the star of yesterday's show: The Nike Air Vapormax. This brand new silhouette takes Nike's air technology to the next level with a sole that incorporates huge air pockets that make the Air Max 1's visible air tech look like nothing. With previous Air Max models, you're walking on a sole with air as a small buffer, but with the Vapormax, you're basically just walking on air. 

Sneakeasy at Nike Clubhouse

At the Sneakeasy exhibit tucked away in Nike's Clubhouse, Nike product specialists walked visitors through the history of air technology and explained Air Vapormax features. 

"The Nike Air Vapormax is the lightest, most high performing, most flexible Air Max we've ever created, weighing at just 8.8 oz in a men's size 9 and with a range of motion similar to the Nike Free RN."

There was also a chance for visitors to customize their own pair of Vapomax sneakers in an ultra fancy Nike id room, a room dedicated to the history of Nike's air technology and a small exhibit centered around this year's Vote Forward contest.

The first sneaker to incorporate air technology! Notice it's not visible in the sole yet.

A cool display featuring inspiration for the Vote Forward contest.

Cool display Pt. 2

Nike id options

The third floor of the exhibit had a few more surprises—my favorite being a wall of custom Air Max sneakers designed by Alex Lee and Ava Nirui. Their cheeky designs all play on the name 'Air Max' in different ways:

"Food Processair"

"Horticultair"

"Erasair"

"Air RC"

Nike Soho

Nike's new multi-level retail complex in Soho was the hub of the celebration, housing multiple installations, interactive activities and most importantly, a ton of free stuff (no complaints). My favorite display was a huge wall of different Air Max models accompanied by a giant movable screen. As you move the screen across the wall, different descriptions pop up over the sneaker you're looking at.

One of my favorite Air Max's—the Air 180 Easter Eggs!

Up close and personal!

NikeLab 21 Mercer

NikeLab released three very special sneakers, all incorporating the Vapormax sole. The most exciting release—and I'm guessing you'll agree—is the Marc Newson x Nike NikeLab Air Vapormax. This isn't the first time the Industrial Designer has collaborated with Nike (remember these?), and I certainly hope it's not the last:

At NikeLab 21 Mercer

A very limited number of the funky sneaker-moccasins were released yesterday. Unfortunately, the smallest size released was an 8 men's, and I'm a 7. Purchasing was out of the question, but that didn't take away from the nerdy moment I was able to enjoy. I have to say, they're very comfortable and fun to wear—the Vapormax sole is extremely light and easy to move around in.

I wish you were mine.

Air Max Day was a fun time all around. I always enjoy sneaker events because of the pure enthusiasm fans and collectors have about shoes—maybe because it justifies my obsession. There's nothing like seeing or being a sneakerhead in a sneaker store, on a sneaker holiday—except maybe seeing or being a kid in a candy store the day after Halloween (when all the candy is half-priced, of course). Till next year, Air Max Day!

Surfacing, surfacing... surfacing. You're so good you can make a square look like a circle, a circle like a convex pentagon and the pentagon look like Lemmy. Yes, we love Motorhead! Creo is your tool of choice but you can jam with Alias when needed.

This boils my blood to read, probably because I am biased. I'll explain my bias first.

Before he was famous, Karim Rashid was my professor at Pratt Institute. He had a slight foreign accent—a Canadian one, as that's where he was raised. When I first saw his name printed on my schedule I assumed it was pronounced "Ka-REEM," but then learned it was pronounced like "Karen" with an "m" on the end instead of an "n." That was the extent of what was "foreign" about Karim, and then he simply became the designer whose class I would wake up early for to ensure I wasn't late.

When I first visited his fledgling design firm as a student, he was employing two freelancers, a black man and a white woman. After graduating Karim gave me a job, where I worked alongside people from America, Asia and Europe. Karim didn't give a damn what color you were or where your ancestors came from; you were evaluated based on merit, and in New York City, that meant you'd wind up with a mix of races and genders. Because this was one of my first jobs, I assumed all design organizations would look like that.

Here is the story that Karim posted on his Facebook page yesterday (edited for clarity):

I had a crazy journey. I had phenomenal turbulence for about 4 hours. I was on Turkish Airlines and banned from using my iPad and tech even though they have the best wireless of all airlines (thanks to Donald Racist Trump). Then a woman died on the plane. It took 1 hour and about 24 people to board the plane from police to health inspectors to agents to ambulance crew to inspect everything before we were allowed to disembark.

After flying these 18 hours from Tbilisi, Georgia I landed at JFK to be rejected at Global Entry. I was put in the Border Customs and Immigration room for over an hour. I watched many immigrants come in and out and I was the longest in the room.

This happened to me after 9/11 for about 4 years until I became a US citizen. I had a greencard prior with a Canadian passport. Apparently my name is on some watchlist again. It stopped 13 years ago after getting a US passport, but now I am not sure what the solution will be.

I was asked to put my name, my height, birthdate, social security number and weight on a paper that the officer literally scribbled on. No official form. Then told to have a seat in a dirty, disgusting space. Nothing to read, can't use your phone, and not allowed to call anyone. When I wanted to go to the toilet I was escorted and watched in a holding room with hooks for handcuffs.

Finally a call, supposedly from Washington, cleared me. But I assume now this will keep happening to me again.

It is 2017. What about the digital age? Is there no more advanced way to know I am not the Karim Rashid they are looking for? Based on my height, weight, birthdate, and social security number? This data is so rudimentary.

And how, over the phone, can someone in Washington clear me based on what I wrote on a piece of paper? I could have written anything. And this is all thanks to @realDonaldTrump and his racial profiling of Muslims. I am not even Muslim. It is only a name.

Did you naively think cyborg technology was relegated to anime and future generations? Think again, and consider investing. The new Neuralink Corp. made waves yesterday after a report in the Wall Street Journal announcing its intention to advance Brain Computer Interface (BCI) systems via cortical implants. Their proposed type of BCI tech can be applied to health systems, addressing conditions like epilepsy and chronic depression, but the long goal is brain-powered computing, as well as computer-powered brains. In short: they want to make brain chips that will help us keep up with AI. For this we can obviously thank (or doubt) Elon Musk, the reigning MVP of cool speculative tech, the jillionaire voted "Most Likely to Become A Benevolent Dictator," and the man running an entire non-profit dedicated to making sure AI don't get too evil.

It might seem slightly counter intuitive that someone deeply (even politically) concerned about an AI apocalypse would be working to advance a cortical interface that would push humans towards computer augmented thinking. But, as it stands, Musk is most engaged with the idea of facilitating the advancement of human cognition. He has said many times that he believes syncretic human-computer combination is necessary for continued species growth, particularly in the face of the looming singularity. He must have really intense dreams.

Musk is on record asserting that, "Over time I think we will probably see a closer merger of biological intelligence and digital intelligence," and is already a public supporter of research on neural lace tech. He's even been making his patented veiled Twitter promises for more info. While often cryptic, and regularly creepy, he rarely fails to follow through. 

For now the Eminent SkyKing's new project is extremely low profile—not much more than a logo, an email address, and a trending hashtag. But with his SpaceX/Tesla/Tunnels/OpenAI track record, we're likely to hear a good deal more, sooner than expected.

Cool UX, Elon

For some fun examples of BCI being used for good (really!) check out the brain-aug teams who competed in last years "Cyborg Olympics" and try to stay hopeful about keeping up with Alexa.

JiyounKim Studio previously presented Conbox, a foldable fan, as a part of an internal project, Redefined Project, that redefines the roles of ordinary devices we use in our everyday lives. In this second project, we question how hair dryers suppose to exist in its unused form.

This article originally appeared on Coroflot, Core77's Design Job site. Visit their new blog for more insight on working, and recruiting, in the creative professions. 

What do you look for in a designer? Whether you're seeking your first job or you're a seasoned pro, the answer to this question can provide valuable insight when answered by the right person. We've decided to ask the best minds in the design world about their hiring practices to learn what it takes to stand out as a creative professional. In a time when technology and trends change at the blink of an eye, we think this question is more relevant than ever.

Fred Bould's list of accomplishments includes the kind of projects most industrial designers can only dream of. He has been in the game for over twenty years and has taught at Stanford University and California College of the Arts. Bould and his Silicon Valley-based product development studio Bould Design have garnered a handful of Red Dot and IDEA awards, among other accolades. Bould is responsible for designing popular hardware like the Nest thermostat, Roku boxes, and the GoPro HERO3. Recent projects include the home WiFi system Eero and the innovative Light L16 camera. We figured someone with as much experience as Fred Bould would be perfect to ask about what he looks for in designers.

Coroflot: What do you look for when hiring a designer?

Fred Bould: We look for passion, process, and personality. The passion comes through in the overall quality of the work. Did a designer go the extra mile on their presentation; well curated with clear communications, beautiful visuals, great typography and composition? Is there a strong process evident in the work? Did they look at a lot of different solutions before deciding on a specific direction? Have they really solved the problem? Does the solution hold up to critical scrutiny?

With personality, we're looking for collaboration, perseverance, and maturity. Do they make those around them better? Do they have the patience to drill down, understand the challenges and provide meaningful solutions? Can they work through the ups and downs of the design process? Do they bring a unique perspective that will make the studio stronger?

Is there a particular "tell" that signals a good or bad fit?

One positive signal is a CV with excellent typography and composition. Craft is really important to what we do and this is a good indicator.

What is your best interview "horror story"?

I try to make interviews a positive experience. I am hoping to learn something whether the candidate is a good fit or not. Also, because we do a lot of screening before we get to the interview, it's usually fairly pleasant. There are a lot of really talented people out there and I enjoy meeting them.

What is the single most valuable piece of advice you could give to those on the hunt?

You have a very brief opportunity to make an impression. Make sure your communications are crisp, clear, and tailored to your audience. They need to read your cover letter and think, "this person can make a meaningful contribution here."

Do you have any specific advice for recent graduates, or people just starting straight out from school?

Take the time to get your portfolio dialed in. Know your audience and be persistent. Your first two jobs out of school can potentially set the trajectory of your entire career. You need to set yourself up as a compelling candidate. Don't be afraid to be a little provocative, or a lot, but it has to be good.

Regarding creative employment, what do you know now that you wished you knew then?

It's really important to keep your eye on the future and plan for growth. Maintaining a sense of optimism will allow you to see the opportunities.

Want to know more about Bould Design? Visit them at bould.com!

Looking for a job? Check out the Coroflot Job Board!

This is the absurd amount of keys I carry on a daily basis. Each time I'm in front of a lock I pull the keys out, then jangle them around until the relevant key appears. I hate this daily mini-time-waster but I've not been able to think up a solution.

So I wonder: Is this it?

I can see it being useful for those times when you need three keys in sequence, but I can't decide if this would feel too brick-like in my pocket. As bulky as my current key system is, in my pocket it relaxes into a limber shape like an octopus.

At press time 238 Kickstarter backers felt the Key Wrangler was a good solution, with $18,000 pledged on a $10,000 goal and 23 days left.

Those of you who carry craploads of keys: What say you? Would the solid brick in your pocket be worth the convenience of having the keys stacked, ordered and correctly oriented? Of course, you could always go the belt loop route...

...but I don't like people to hear me coming.

Do you enjoy geometry, the high seas and being rich? If so, take a gander at this yacht concept. Designed by architect/designer Jonathan Schwinge, the HYSWAS (Hydrofoil Small Waterplane Area Ship) Tetrahedron Super Yacht is sure to be the talk of the marina:

And that's just what it looks like sitting still. Once the HYSWAS starts moving and picks up speed…

…you get some hydrofoil action going:

And it's not just because it looks cool, says Schwinge:

Long distances are achievable with reduced out-of-water drag and stormy ocean conditions would incur virtually no slamming. Improved efficiency is driven by elevated hydrofoil propulsion and would be an inherent performance benefit of this type of design.

It would also, I'd think, look absolutely terrifying to Somali pirates bobbing on the surface in those little Zodiac boats.

I know it sounds potentially cheesy to say that we are looking for someone who is artsy, but we are looking for more than a graphic designer who uses stock photos & pre-fab layouts. We are looking for an amazing designer with an eye for color, a passion for

Bikes aren't new. Bike saddles, accordingly, are also not new. The according pains in the ass caused by use of bikes and saddles, unshockingly, are not new. The "Rinsten Spring"—the Kickstarting seat spring claiming to make your bike ride smoother, more comfortable, and healthier? Totally not new. But it is getting freshly stuck in my craw. 

Here's what people want: bikes that don't hurt their asses. How do you accomplish that? By buying a one-size-fits-all cushy, springy, minimalist, or "ergonomic" product? Of goddamn course not, and anyone who claims otherwise is an asshole and a pain in the ass of any mechanic who has to clean up after their hollow promises. 

Rider comfort is a nearly occult blend of personal fitness, bike size and fit, adjustment, parts choice, and where/how you ride. It shifts with sensitivity, season, callousing, and whether your LBS likes you enough to mention that your saddle is trying to give you colon cancer. 

It is not likely to be fixed by a single springy steel rail that offers little or no option for pitch adjustment and cuts dramatically into height adjustment. With that in mind, here are just three of the Rinsten's shock design predecessors (also designed by engineers) and some of their notable features. 

Vintage Softride triathalon setup

The Soft Ride Suspension System

These sporty yet ungainly carbon fiber logs were smacked onto bikes from 1989 through the early '00s. The premise was that removing the seat pillar would allow vertical shock absorption (like the Rinsten), while lateral stiffness would maintain efficient forward thrust. Degrees of stiffness were offered, but user experience varied dramatically by weight and height. Bike fit specialists and physical therapists I've worked with still disagree on the ideal amount of hip movement while riding, but the shared tone cautions against too much. 

The outcomes of vertically flexible posts: weight-related material fatigue, poor adjustment options for riders outside "average" height/weight range, and vertical movement so dramatic it destabilized correct healthy bike fit. In other words: less butt impact, but more upkeep and less ergonomic body position. Hm.

Vintage Softride MTB setup

Thudbuster Seatposts

Cane Creek Thudbuster

A shock-absorbing seat post with readily available contemporary sizing, a polymer damper and a parallelogram shock. One of literally hundreds of types of sprung seatposts, these are decades old and work to soften upward blows without displacing riders too much vertically. The original is still around, and most brands offer quantified ranges of resistance or adjustment for rider weight and terrain type.

Worst case scenario you wear out a pivot and get a new one. Best case scenario you use the hell out of it for years until the polymer gets old and disgusting and you show up at a bike shop before it opens on a Sunday demanding that some poor soul replace your antique Ghost Busters ooze-post while you grumpily text your coffee buddies. Outcomes: you can get suspension posts in any imaginable size, from $15 past $800, without losing saddle adjustment.

Sprung And Cushy Seats

Vintage Brooks England

These are the oldest and easily the most direct solution for the sensitive-butted among us. If you're a fair-weather rider with an upright bike, you're probably only suffering because you've got the wrong seat or you don't ride enough. If you're a more serious rider and you're still in pain, you've probably got the wrong seat, possibly the wrong seat plus a bad fit. 

Sprung and padded seats have taken out the bumps from rides since before we invented concrete. They're self contained packages of dampening materials and cushioning springs, and as you might guess, there's a good reason the springy rails are moored solidly at each end. Their only real downsides are retro styling and weight, but they make lightweight ones for the weenies these days. How did we solve that? By updating the materials, not adding parts to the ecosystem in order to "minimize," and certainly not by reverse engineering a century old system to make it less stable. When chosen carefully for your riding type and butt shape, the outcomes with sprung seats are generally pretty great. The MORGAW seat system is a thoughtful racy take on integrated seat suspension, classics like Brooks and Selle Anatomica now make slimmer and less chromed options, and cushy gel seats are ubiquitous at any commuter friendly bike shop. 

Contemporary Selle Anatomica

The Rinston's designer, an engineer, seems to have suffered the common plight of uncomfortable butt feelings after being off the bike for a decade. Rather than do what we all must do (tough it out through trial and error), he designed a new solution that works in small scale personally replicated testing. Awesome. Hope he's ready to make good on the lifetime guarantee.

Vintage woven seat, used on Pedersen frames

The Rinsten gets 2/10 for being lightweight and affordable. Negative eight for dubious claims, dubious R+D, and solving a problem that already has thousands of clearer and more user-friendly solutions. 

Here's my certified mechanic's DIY design hack for aches after riding over potholes: Swerve and take your butt off the seat next time. You're welcome. 

When it comes to funding successful crowdfunding campaigns, Alex Daly is known for having an impeccable record. She's helped run some of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns to date, such as a limited reissue of Massimo Vignelli and Bob Noorda's cult-status New York City Transit Authority Graphic Standards Manual and Neil Young's PONO Player project (which racked up well over $6 million in pledges!). Through her extensive and successful crowdsourcing experience, Daly has been deemed by hordes of press as "The Crowdsourceress". Her knack for viral promotion and keying into what makes projects great is precisely what led her to starting Vann Alexandra, a consultancy that runs successful campaigns for different projects and companies. After running Vann Alexandra for some years now, this week she reaches another milestone—her new book The Crowdsourceress: Get Smart, Get Funded and Kickstarter Your Next Big Idea has just been published.

Her motivation for writing the book, she tells Core77, came from a general air of disappoint after reading plenty of how-to books: "I think there's a lot of how-to books that really don't tell you how to do anything. They say, 'Oh you want to launch a business? Or you want to get a great new job? Have a great resume.' And it's sort of like, is that all I'm going to get out of you?" She emphasizes that this book comes from a place of good will in that she "wanted it to be like a handbook", full of helpful tips people can actually use.

And may I just say, the book in many ways does just that—from small details (for example, the best day of the week to launch a Kickstarter campaign) to big ones (like a general plan for how to get media attention), there aren't many questions Daly leaves hanging. Whether you have questions about how to put together a reasonable budget, ideate on awesome prizes or key into the right audience that might help your project go viral, the treasures are all there for the picking. There's also a handy resource section at the end of the book that includes details like a week-to-week to-do guide prior to launching your Kickstarter campaign.

Alex Daly, the "crowdsourceress"

From details small to big, there aren't many crowdfunding questions Alex Daly's book "The Crowdsourceress" leaves hanging.

Let's say you're reading this and you're thinking to yourself, "but I'm never going to start a crowdfunding campaign, so I don't really have a need for any of this information"—well, don't be so sure. Daly notes, "as I was writing [The Crowdsourceress], I could tell this kind of work that we do can be applied to so many other launches. I think that the way the world is moving in terms of products is that they're all launching online. This is something that can be applied to people that launch a company or new project… in fact, I'm doing this with my own book." 

Given the importance of the internet and its ability to make or break a product or project, Daly's tips far exceed the somewhat particular Kickstarter realm (and Daly did point out with hesitation, Kickstarter isn't for everyone— "there's some businesses that are very B to B. They're not consumer-friendly. That definitely isn't for crowdfunding."). If you're clueless about how to write a proper press release, Daly coaches you through it; in fact, she even provides direct examples for comparison. Maybe you're a company strategizing your product fulfillment plans? Well, there's a section that touches on that as well. 

Luckily for designers, the aesthetic trials and tribulations many Kickstarter projects go through are not as much of a problem. What you may find challenging as a designer, however, is operating as your own PR pro—reaching out to the right audiences, signing onto social media and making proper media connections. 

In this exclusive excerpt from The Crowdsourceress provided to Core77, Daly delves into an important topic relatable to any product launch: that is, an understanding of your built-in audience. A built-in audience is the group of people, as she writes in the book, "who are inherently interested in you or your project in some way". To fund a project successfully, it's not only crucial to begin to understand who this audience is, but also where you can find them and how to incentivize them to invest in your project. 

The information below is just a sliver of the rich information you'll acquire from digging into The Crowdsourceress:

___________________________________________________________________________________________

What If I Don't Have a Built-In Audience?

This is a question I hear a lot from clients. I always tell them the same thing: It's imperative to invest months (if not years!) into growing your relationship with the people in your audience. Failing to find a crowd is one of the biggest things that trip up creators. It can be hard to be patient and focus on this aspect of the campaign when you have a great idea and you want to move quickly—I know. But it's one of the most critical aspects of the process. There are seven main tactics I use to help clients find, evaluate, and connect with their built-in audiences, and you'll see them in action throughout the rest of this book. Here they are:

1. START COLLECTING EMAIL ADDRESSES. 

The call-to-action on your website (or just a landing page to start) should be for people to sign up for your mailing list. Incentivize visitors to the site to sign up by ensuring they will be the first to know when your campaign goes live, so they can be the first to access early-bird pricing, or offering something in return, like a giveaway (a digital asset or a raffle where a new subscriber could receive a prize). The goal is to build up the biggest mailing list you can. Later, not only will you be able to reach these people by email, but you'll also be able to use the email addresses in digital marketing efforts, such as social media advertising (more in chapter 7).

2. GET SOCIAL. 

If you don't have social media accounts, open them. Ask your friends to follow you and to help spread the word. Follow like- minded accounts that are relevant to your project, and engage in conversations. Be strategic about developing a brand voice and sharing great content. We'll cover this in more detail in chapter 7. 

3. DO YOUR RESEARCH. 

Identify people, blogs, reporters, and influencers who are already talking about topics related to your project. Follow and study them. Eventually, you'll want to rally as many influential people around your project as you can.

4. INVEST IN DIGITAL MARKETING. 

Leading up to your campaign, you can use digital marketing, like social media advertising, to drive people to your website or landing page where you can capture email addresses and build your audience.

5. PERSONALIZE YOUR MESSAGES. 

When it comes time to invite others to support your project, show journalists and influencers that you did your research. Send screenshots of their tweets or mention specific stories they wrote that connect to your mission. Let them know you know what you're talking about, and that your project directly relates to their interests.

6. PRIORITIZE GREAT DESIGN. 

While you are doing all the above, invest in hiring a designer early on to create a strong brand identity (and if your campaign is for a product, the product design). You will base your social media, campaign page, messaging, and video off this necessary design work. It's how you'll establish a professional visual brand identity that commands attention. We talk about this in chapters 2, 4, and 5.

7. BE YOUR BIGGEST CHEERLEADER.

You love this project. This is your baby! Make sure that everyone knows that you love it, and why they should love it too. When you show how devoted you are to your project, people connect with that.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

The Crowdsourceress is now available for purchase on Amazon.

(title image source: @alexdaly__)

A bench is a great entry-level piece of furniture to build. It's useful and not as difficult to make as a chair. You can easily build a plank-seat bench, like one of the wonderful designs Joel showed us in Tools & Craft; you could upholster it if you've got access to fabric and foam and want to get fancy; or you could go with a classic Scandinavian option, the Danish-Cord seat.

What's nice about the Danish-Cord option is that it looks fantastic and doesn't require a lot of tools to execute, just some special tacks, cord and a whole lot of patience. Depending on how much OCD you've got in you, you might even find the weaving part soothing. As an example of the process, have a look at these shots posted by this guy or gal on Imgur:

The frame is straightforward, and you save on wood by not having a plank seat.

Here are those special L-shaped tacks we mentioned.

Once you've got those knocked into the frame at intervals...

...you can start weaving.

Not too shabby! If you are the person who posted it, please do let us know in the comments; I'd love to credit you properly.

We've located a three-part video tutorial on how to do this Danish-Cord technique, created by the folks over at Fine Woodworking. We'll embed it below for your convenience. 

Note: Although it shows up tiny in our interface, you can full-screen it.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

In close collaboration with Angelcare and several specialized suppliers in Taiwan, Japan and Canada, we developed an innovative baby monitor. We were responsible for the design and engineering from the concept development up to the detailing of the plastic parts and production support. Included in the process was creating a new design language for future Angelcare baby monitors.

This article originally appeared on Coroflot, Core77's Design Job site. Visit their new blog for more insight on working, and recruiting, in the creative professions. 

Refill your markers and sharpen your pencils, because Coroflot's first ever Sketch Jam is going down on April 26th from 6-9PM at the Hand-Eye Supply's Glisan Garage in Downtown Portland, Oregon. It promises to be the most high-concept, high-flying, and downright fun sketching competition you've ever seen. The competition will be judged by five of Portland's most talented sketch-perts from companies like Adidas, Nike, Under Armour, and more. The judges will oversee a series of themed bracket competitions featuring members of Coroflot and Portland's vibrant design community.

Sketch Jam is open to all levels, from students to pros. Potential competitors will be personally reviewed by the Coroflot team to see if they have the mad skills to face off on the sketch court. The emphasis for this competition will be on product design, ranging from footwear to household objects, all of which will be sketched in a variety of fun and challenging rounds.

There will be live play-by-play commentary from ComedySportz, special prizes, craft brews provided by our friends at Fort George, and plenty of cool swag for the audience. The competition will be filmed and live streamed by Outlier Solutions, so even if you can't make it to the event you can still catch all the action.

Competitors will be competing not only for a chance to prove their sketching prowess, but also for a chance to win a glorious Wacom Cintiq 27, which the company has generously donated. In addition to the main event, Wacom will have a hands-on table at the Sketch Jam event where you can try out their newest products, talk shop, and enter a raffle to WIN a new Wacom Intuos Pro Paper pen tablet. Sweet!

We will begin accepting entries by Wednesday, April 5th. You can check out the Design Week Portland event page HERE. Make sure to follow Coroflot on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more Sketch Jam updates!

DETAILS:
What: Coroflot Presents Sketch Jam
When: Wednesday, April 26, 2017, 6PM-9PM
Where: Hand-Eye Supply's Glisan Garage
427 NW Broadway
Portland, Oregon 97209

Tonight marks the end of an era—the entry period for the 2017 Core77 Design Awards officially closes. If you have your eye on that shiny Core77 Design Awards trophy that doubles as a mold or want your work to be seen by our esteemed jury members, now's your chance to get one step closer.

The first time I saw a lot of furniture that had been CNC-milled out of plywood was at a Maker Faire some years past. 

The furniture was clever stuff. The more interesting designs interlocked without any additional fasteners, some of the simpler stuff used a few screws. I was deeply impressed... Until I thought about it.

We can't deny that a CNC router is a useful tool. Sometimes you see it used to dumb down a traditional design such as a frame and panel, where the panel is faked by simply routing the depression into an MDF board. This is loads faster than doing it the traditional way, and if the client doesn't care that it's fake, makes good business sense. But at the same time, more and more shops use CNC for making real parts, sometimes at the very high end. Dovetail drawers are a snap, panels are easy, and complex mortise and tenons are pretty simple. CNC carving can also add details and complexity which were previously not cost effective. With a direct connection from the drafting and design phases to manufacture, there is additional savings in time.

But in the search for streamlined, push-button manufacturing, I felt some of the folks showing at that Maker Faire forgot something important. From a making standpoint, being able to push a button and have a machine spit out parts that snap together is very cool. But from an end user standpoint, what is important is design, quality, and cost. I think a CNC router does best as just one tool in the arsenal of many. In the hands of a skilled craftsperson, CNC can really open up your design options. But trying to make a CNC router the be all and end all limits your options and wastes material. Also, square edges and visible joints are nice in some contexts, but modern furniture loves sinuous curves done by rasp, sander and eyeball.

It's a cool technical challenge to design anything while limiting yourself to only one material and one method of fabrication. And for that the makers of the furniture I saw at the show deserve credit. But as the harbinger of the future, I am not holding my breath. What I am waiting for is for traditional cabinetmakers to evolve the CNC-cut ideas that I saw into something that I want in my house.

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This "Tools & Craft" section is provided courtesy of Joel Moskowitz, founder of Tools for Working Wood, the Brooklyn-based catalog retailer of everything from hand tools to Festool; check out their online shop here. Joel also founded Gramercy Tools, the award-winning boutique manufacturer of hand tools made the old-fashioned way: Built to work and built to last.

In an age of technology, why drag a primitive brush back and forth across your teeth?

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IKEA is finally pushing seriously into smarter home territory with the TRÅDFRI system, a series of LED lights finally coming to global stores by the end of March. The networked lighting is built around a small series of bulbs and furniture panels, a network connection hub/gateway powered by Ethernet, and controlled via app. 

The system uses Zigbee Light Link standards and offers a wide range of tailoring for space and use needs, from desk lamps to glowing cabinetry. The bulbs and app accommodate a wide range of luminosity, dimming options, plus three preset color temperatures (2200K, 2700K, and 4000K), ideal for mood-specifying your spaces. 

Set daily timers for lights, control them remotely, and station lights as far as ~30 feet apart. It's all fairly standard, with some IKEAesque visual tweaks. By far the biggest and most fun feature for me is the addition of a motion controlled remote dimmer, apparently used sans buttons or triggers. You just hold it in the air and turn like a traditional knob.

I need to stop evaluating IKEA designs through a lens of "how fast would I break or lose this?" and start thinking about how responsible people use things, because smart widgets get exponentially more interesting that way. While the TRÅDFRI offers a more recognizable controler with clear adjustment buttons, the puck shaped dimmer is obviously more playful. And easily lost. And unnecessary. And possibly imprecise. But fun!
It docks with its equally puck-like charger, so if you're a more responsible remote user than I am, it'll be easy to keep charged, stored and looking cool on a desk. 

Paired with IKEA's strategic low prices, these lights might have what it takes to beckon newcomers into the Smart Home fold. At >$100 for a gateway and a pair of bulbs, I imagine a lot of dorm rooms are about to get a lot more beguiling.