Upon request, I've been prototyping a martial arts training aid for my instructor. One of the arts he teaches is called Baguazhang. This is a Chinese internal martial art, similar to Tai Chi, but whereby the practitioner moves in circular patterns.

My instructor explained that for certain exercises, it is helpful to have a visual reference point for the center of the circle one is following. Some practitioners will draw a circle on the ground using chalk. Others, if practicing outdoors, will use a tree.

Not having a tree in his apartment, my instructor asked if I could make him something that would hold a 6.5-foot pole vertically that he could use in his apartment or while teaching seminars and classes. He travels internationally for this.

First I thought about what this object should look like. The symbol of Bagua is called the trigram and it looks like this:

So that seemed an obvious shape for the base. I drew the plans up in CAD and cut it on a ShopBot.

I added through-holes to each layer so I could align them using dowels. I'm using 3/4-inch plywood and figured the three circular layers would provide enough support to hold a pole vertical, and if not I could add more. I wasn't sure about sizing but was mindful that my instructor would occasionally carry this around, so I didn't want it to be too large. I also didn't want it to be too small or it might tip over. I settled on eight inches in width since an octagon has eight sides, and I am a bit of a simpleton.

That was the first version. Here I'll walk you through how it works and how I arrived at the fourth version a week later.

In the photo below, on the left is version 1. On the right is version 4. Versions 2 and 3 were mechanical models that I did not bother to cut the trigram into, I'll get into those in a minute.

So for the first prototype I sized the hole precisely to a particular pole for a friction fit. But then I realized there was two, actually three, problems to this approach.

The first problem is that wood expands and contracts with changes in humidity, which is why doors or drawers in your house that close well in winter can start to stick in summer. So this particular pole fits this particular hole perfectly right now, but in summer the pole will swell and no longer fit. The second problem is that my instructor travels internationally to teach. I'd like this pole stand to be something he can throw into a bag to bring with him, but getting a 6.5-foot pole onto an airplane would be a hassle.

It would be better if he could simply throw the base into a bag, then use whatever pole was handy at his destination. My thinking was that he could use a pole or spear someone else had brought, or even a mop handle, or just go into a local hardware store and buy a dowel for a couple of bucks or Euros. But wooden dowels are inconsistent. For example both of these, below, are sold in my local hardware store as 1-1/4" diameter, but my caliper says one of them is closer to 1-1/8", and as you can probably see in the photo, neither of them is actually round. That could make for a sloppy fit.

So the third problem is one of size. What I needed was to make a stand that would securely hold an inconsistent variety of dowel diameters. And I say "securely" because I'm thinking about how my instructor would actually use this thing: At some point he might interrupt the circle-walking drill to demonstrate something with a partner, at which point he'd probably grab the pole and temporarily move it out of the way. It would be annoying if he grabbed the pole and it popped out of the stand, and he'd then have to lean the pole against something and kick the base aside to get it out of the way, then do his demo, then move the pole and base back into place and reassemble. That would be bad UX. So the connection should be firm enough that once inserted, the pole stays inserted and it can be picked up without disconnecting. That would be good UX.

So I made a couple of mechanical models. At lower right you can see the cutouts for version 2, a failed test that used a rotating cam to lock or unlock the pole into place. That one was a failure, being so fiddly and inconsistent that I didn't even bother to photograph it before trashing it. At top right you can see version 3, where I struck upon the idea of a wedge. That seemed to work well in my tests so I incorporated the wedge into version 4.

Here I've placed a much smaller dowel (3/4" in diameter) into the base of version 4. You can see that it doesn't fit well and sits at an angle. Stretch that angle up 6.5 feet and you've got a non-vertical pole.

That's why I made version 4 with a series of steps cut into this notch, which forms a 20-degree angle traveling downwards. I've lightened the photo in an effort to show the steps. (You'll also notice I've added a weird protrusion to the circles, breaking the geometry, because I needed some more "meat" in that spot. You'll see why in a second.)

With this design I can insert this wedge that I cut to 20 degrees…

…which then securely holds even this narrow 3/4" dowel in place, and dead-vertical.

It will also hold a variety of sizes, from 3/4" up to a 1-1/4" dowel. To lock the wedge in place you simply step on it with your foot. The connection is secure enough that you can pick the stand up by the pole, and in fact is so tight that you cannot remove the wedge with your fingers. Instead you twist the pole out to remove it, then the wedge comes loose and can easily be removed.

The next problem was how to store the wedge during transport. While it fits inside the base like this…

…it makes the shape bulkier and less bag-friendly, and I figured the wedge could fall out in transport and get lost, rendering the entire object useless. That would be bad UX.

So I inserted a couple of neodymium magnets into both the wedge...

...and the base.

Then the wedge just sticks to the base for transport. It's not exactly elegant-looking, but the connection is strong enough that the parts will not shake apart in a bag.

Better UX, but I had to sacrifice some aesthetics. It irks me that the wedge does not harmonize visually with the rest of the design, and it obscures the trigram when stored. For a future version I'll have to come up with a better way to store the wedge. I thought about recessing it into a cavity in the underside of the base with magnets but that raises some other problems that need to be solved first.

Anyways, this version works well enough so I'll call it done for now. I'm giving it to my instructor on Wednesday and hopefully I'll have some feedback in a few weeks' time, and can then work on improving the design.

Thanks for reading, and if you've documented some design projects of your own, feel free to share it in the "Projects" section!

Spotted with the curbside trash on Crosby Street:

And someone couldn't help themselves and scrawled a little note on it:

If you look at the first two photos, you'll see they also circled and underlined "douche."

Award winning Industrial design and product development firm in Portland, OR is looking for a clever degreed mechanical engineer to conceive, verify and model design concepts in preparation for prototyping and production. Our ideal candidate must be comfortable working as the sole engineer as well as collaborating heavily with industrial designers competent in mechanical design. The position involves efficient 3D CAD modeling of visual designs into able to be manufactured components.

Imagine a world where objects compete for our attention and evolve for human interaction. The home is the battleground for product superiority and attention of the human figure—and on managing newness, human desire, and waste, the product sphere has entered a crisis of behavior. For the human gaze is an empowering force—we wield the power to create, and make waste, of objects around us. Instead of having to force attachment to products which we do not enjoy using, we should instead have the products we use designed to adapt to our attention.

Here I have created eight toasters; a metaphor for wasteful objects in the home, and present a future in which our appliances use personality to compete for our attention, lest they be thrown out and neglected.

The Cradle Toaster - Domesticated Object

Crumb Toaster - Domesticated Object

Free Toaster - Commensalistic Object

Free Toaster - Commensalistic Object

Charge Toaster - Commensalistic Object

Detect Toaster - Predatory Object

Lift Toaster - Predatory Object

Latch Toaster - Parasitic Object

Service Toaster - Parasitic Object

Those of you that have navigated the insanity that is the Consumer Electronics Show understand the importance of taking regular breaks to decompress throughout the day. For this year's CES, our team will be hosting a cozy Design Lounge at the Design & Source Showcase in the Las Vegas Convention Center to help with just that. The space will be equal parts coffee bar, lounge and event space, where we encourage you to meet with clients, stop by for a coffee or even just chill out, charge your devices and meditate for a minute. 

As part of our Design Lounge experience, we'll be hosting a series of presentations where design leaders will approach the theme "Design Driven Innovation" from various angles. 

From left: speakers Fred Bould, Chris Murray, Pip Tompkin and Jordon Nollman

Fred Bould of Bould Design will speak on what it's like to work with Silicon Valley start-ups, Chris Murray of Bresslergroup will discuss the importance of thorough research, Pip Tompkin of Pip Tompkin Design will touch on designing analogue products for a digital age and Jordon Nollman of Sprout Studios will be addressing a topic on many designers' minds—the process of crowdfunding.

We look forward to meeting all of you that make it out to CES next month!

Visit our event page to learn more about the Core77 Design Lounge at CES.

Register for CES here if you haven't done so already!

Toby Hextall is the Director of Product Design at MOO where he leads the team tasked with concepting, creating and delivering all of MOO’s products and packaging.

Most designers have an X-Acto knife either well within reach, or in a drawer nearby. London-based design firm 3Coil uses scalpels instead, finding the blades tough, handy and "incredibly useful around the studio," so decided to design their own version.

They came up with the Crane Knife, an elegant and portable folding design:

The "Crane" was the first knife we made, and it proved so useful in our day-to-day lives, we never left home without it. We thought that its small size would mean it would only be used as an emergency back-up, but the more we used it, the more we realised its small size was its main strength – and it is now our 'go to' tool for all jobs requiring a sharp edge.

Their folding design solves my biggest gripe about the standard X-Acto, which is that there's no easy way to put the blade away. The Crane's convenient folding form factor is a great idea and allows you to safely keep the knife in a pocket.

Next 3Coil designed the Puna multi-tool, whose functionality is better demonstrated by video:

While the Puna will have utility for some, here we see where the X-Acto has the edge: It's easy to change the blade on an X-Acto with just your hands, whereas the Puna requires you to unscrew the mini-screwdriver, remove two screws, swap the blade, then retighten the two screws. That's five screwing steps for the Puna versus two for the X-Acto. I know it seems minor, but I find that when there are added steps between using a dull tool and a sharp one, I'll often subconsciously put off getting to sharp. (The Crane blade is swapped via a pair of pliers, by the way.)

A more pointed (no pun intended) issue may be the assault rifle form factor of the Puna, which could prove divisive in the U.S. market. For some Americans, assault rifles are viewed as a locally commonplace tool and part of their hobby. For others it is a symbol of evil. Debate between the two camps is typically both unmeasured and unproductive.

So my question is, do you think that by choosing this form factor, the designers have reduced potential sales? That there are people in the latter camp who might find the Puna useful, but will reject it out of hand due to the symbolism?

In any case, the Kickstarter campaign for both the Crane and the Puna is underway, and at press time they were at $67,812 in pledges towards a $106,720 goal, with 37 days left.

Each year about 200 families in America will experience Christmas tree fires, proving to their children that Santa Claus does not love them.

According to the National Fire Protection Association, the culprits are usually faulty or overloaded lighting and/or placing the tree too close to a heat source. But by simply watering your tree daily, you can vastly reduce the chances that your tree will completely go up in smoke. A watered tree will still burn, but may give you time to do something about it; on the other hand when a dry tree catches ablaze, it really catches ablaze. Here's the difference:

Pretty freaking dramatic, and that dry tree fire would've been even worse if they'd followed my family's tradition of giving each other wrapped boxes of oily rags as presents.

Anyways I was going over the NFPA stats on Christmas tree fires and found this bizarre statistic, buried down at the bottom of the page:

One quarter (24%) of Christmas tree fires were intentional.

Uh…what?!?

Every year 50 families intentionally torch their own trees? How unhappy with your gift do you have to be to express that level of displeasure?

I had a transparent reusable water bottle I used to bring to my training hall, but I stopped using it because these gross black dots were forming on the inside near the bottom and they were difficult to scrub out, even with a bristle brush.

The developers of the Quartz Bottle know this problem well, so they designed a self-cleaning bottle:

This is a brilliant idea, and I'm sad to have missed the IndieGogo campaign. The Quartz was 4,580% funded and should be rolling out in June of 2018. Retail units will reportedly be available for $99, and I'll be one of the first in line.

Good news: Jonathan Ive, who was famously promoted to Chief Design Officer of Apple two years ago, is officially overseeing the design teams again. As CDO Ive's attention was spread onto the design of Apple's "spaceship" campus, with Alan Dye and Richard Howarth taking over the hardware and software design teams. But now, Bloomberg reports,

"With the completion of Apple Park, Apple's design leaders and teams are again reporting directly to Jony Ive, who remains focused purely on design," Amy Bessette, a company spokeswoman, said Friday in a statement.

Some months ago I'd read rumors that Ive was looking to ease his way out of the company, and I'm glad to see that they were just rumors. Here's to hoping Ive can right the ship.

There's a lot of unassuming buildings on Crosby Street in SoHo, but I know this one in particular because a certain famous rock star lived there, and a training brother of mine works in carpentry and got hired for a job there, and one of his crew members accidentally fucked up this rock star's window treatment and had to race to fix it before the rock star returned.

Anyways, there's a nifty feature on the sidewalk in front of this building. You can't really appreciate it during the day, but at dawn, dusk and at night, you see these:

Admittedly they serve no real purpose, unless you live in the building and are trying to guide a friend there who cannot read building addresses, but I think they're a nice little touch. Hats off to the architect.

At this point, it's no secret we're killing our planet at a frighteningly rapid pace. With plastic and other toxic materials polluting our oceans and infiltrating our air supply, it's more important now than ever for designers and scientists to develop scalable solutions to help reverse the bad habits we've created on both the producer and consumer levels.

To that note, tucked away in Brooklyn's New Lab was last week's Biofabricate conference. Bringing together the best in bio materials innovation, the fourth-annual Biofabricate focused on starting and continuing a dialogue between scientists, academics and designers and reinforcing the importance of collaboration within the biofabrication realm.

Key highlights of the 1-day conference included the presentations, of course, but also included the announcement of a new partnership between Biofabricate and Parley for the Oceans (who you may remember from their collaboration with adidas) and Biofabricate's exhibition space, which featured material works from exciting projects around the world. 

The conference itself was divided into five sessions. The first of the five was "Designing for Health" where Richard Beckett of Arch-T and SynDeBio gave a fascinating talk on designing architectural structures that encourage plant growth instead of avoiding it as most buildings do. This particular session and its speakers focused on community and living spaces, which you don't typically come to mind when you think of biofabrication—it's generally thought of on a smaller-scale.

The following session was all about "Turning Problems Into Solutions," and the main problem addressed by speakers Cyrill Gutsch of Parley for the Oceans and Molly Morse of Mango Materials was plastic. From Gutsch's perspective, we need to focus less on recycling plastic and focus more on ending its use entirely. "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" is an outdated model that Gutsch has replaced with "AIR," which stands for "Avoid, Intercept, Redesign." So, instead of repurposing plastics, we need to be completely redesigning them from the start.

Session three, titled "Collaboration Driving Innovation," focused on designers and scientists joining forces to address environmental problems. Liz Ciokajlo of OurOwnsKIN and Maurizio Montalti of Officina Corpuscoli and MOGU explained in detail the MarsBoot they created for MoMA's Is Fashion Modern? exhibition and how their collaboration with each other and outside scientists was an integral part of bringing their project to life. Natsai Chieza of Faber Futures then gave a presentation about her residency at Boston's Ginkgo Bioworks, where she worked with Ginkgo's team of scientists to develop a new strain of bacteria that produces the pigments she uses in her bacterial fabric dyeing process.

The fourth session entitled "Evolving Materials" covered everything from Modern Meadow's liquid leather ZOA to apples designed to remain fresh and never brown. Ecovative's Eben Bayer also came to the stage to discuss his mycelium materials and kits—as one of the longest standing companies within that realm, it was especially fascinating to hear about how Bayer kept Ecovative going strong through tough economic times.

The conference appropriately concluded with a session on "Growing the Future," where speakers focused on the biofabrication business from two angles—how to successfully grow a biofabrication company and key companies currently supporting biofabrication, such as Miroslava Duma's New York Fashion Tech Lab. This last session left things on a positive note and encouraged attendees to reach outside of their realm to work with unexpected partners.

Sadly, we missed out on the cricket-themed workshop, but maybe next year. 

Functional Material Architectures

"Interactive living materials at the intersection of design, technology and life sciences," developed by Architect Laia Mogas and Engineer Giusy Matzeu at the Tufts BME Silklab.

Photo credit: Core77

Functional Material Architectures

These macro-lattice prototypes are based on geometric basketry patterns. To create the delicate shapes, silk-based biomaterial inks were extruded through a computer-controlled extrusion system. Presented as an alternative to fuel-based plastics, this material is biodegradable and its resulting forms are tough, eleasic and even edible.

Photo credit: Core77

Fungal Curiosities—Understanding Mycelium Based Composites

This materials exploration by Officina Corpuscoli / Maurizio Montalti addresses the complicated process of standardizing technical and experimental qualities of naturally growing materials, specifically mycelium-based composite. Is this process even fully possible?

Photo credit: Core77

Fungal Curiosities—Understanding Mycelium Based Composites

A closer look at a few different varieties of mycelium-based composites Montalti and his team worked with.

Photo credit: Core77

Fungal Curiosities—Understanding Mycelium Based Composites

Photo credit: Core77

Fungal Curiosities—Understanding Mycelium Based Composites

Photo credit: Core77

Fungal Curiosities—Understanding Mycelium Based Composites

Photo credit: Core77

Fungal Curiosities—Understanding Mycelium Based Composites

This diagram examines the properties of four mycelium-based composites (A2, A3, B7 and B8).

Photo credit: Core77

Fungal Curiosities—Understanding Mycelium Based Composites

Different varieties of mycelium-based materials can be created by varying the substrates the fungal filaments are cultivated on. For example, if fungal filaments are cultivated on wood and heat compressed, the result will have very different properties than fungal filaments cultivated on straw without heat compression.

Photo credit: Core77

Fungal Curiosities—Understanding Mycelium Based Composites

Photo credit: Core77

After more than a century in the footwear design business, New Balance has a history of creating some of the most iconic shoes in the world of sport and fashion. From the timeless 990 running shoe, to the fashionable New Balance 574, the Massachusetts-headquartered company has consistently earned its stripes in the $55 billion global sneaker market.

Unlike other well-known sneaker brands like Nike and Adidas, which manufacture their products overseas, New Balance continues to make its shoes in the United States. With a treasure trove of new designs and updated classics on offer, it's no wonder that 'sneakerheads' around the world continue to choose New Balance.

New Balance has always been fearlessly independent, which means it always does things its own way, particularly when it comes to design. We caught up with 3D Production Manager William Vaughan, Senior Designer Dan Webb, and 3D Production Artist Kayla Roskopf, to find out how the business is revolutionizing its design process using the same technology that built the Death Star in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

What tools do you use to design the shoes we see on the shelves today?

WV: "We use a specialist 3D modeling, texturing and rendering tool called Modo. Traditionally it was used by visual effects studios to design iconic objects for movies such as the Death Star or the Batmobile, but we're now using it to create the next generation of New Balance shoes. We've also integrated a tool called Colorway into our workflow, which speeds up the process of iterating and finalizing the look of our products."

How long does it take for a shoe to go from concept to consumer?

DW: "It takes approximately 18 months for a shoe to go from concept to shelf. At New Balance we have a three-step design process: sketch reviews, a final concept debut, followed by three rounds of prototyping."

New Balance has designed shoes the same way for over 110 years. What prompted you to change the process?

WV: "I was brought into New Balance two years ago to help set up a 3D pipeline for the business. Prior to this, New Balance wasn't using 3D for the design or visualisation process at all. Everything was handled with traditional sketches and tape-ups. The team would put masking tape and paper on old shoes and sketch the designs. Initially it seemed like a good idea because it helped us to see the designs in 3D, but I soon realized we could achieve quicker and more accurate results with a 3D modeling tool."

DW: "I used to draw the designs in 2D and send them to our manufacturing partner. After a few weeks we'd receive a prototype, and only then would you get an idea of what's going on with your design. As you can imagine, this left a lot of room for misinterpretation and error. With Modo, you are able to see all sides of the design from an early stage."

KR: "Using 3D design tools was a natural progression for New Balance. Over the years we've built a reputation for challenging traditional shoemaking and pushing the boundaries of what's achievable in apparel design. By integrating 3D tools into our workflow, we're able to continue this legacy."

How did you implement the new software into your workflow?

WV: "When most companies start using a new product they don't train their staff in the right way. At New Balance we developed designated training sessions for Modo and slowly brought it into the pipeline. At first, we trialled the new software with three shoes, but within a year every shoe was being built in 3D."

DW: "It was a slow integration. Modo was initially used as an end-game visualization tool, but now we're starting to use it for the entire design process. We have a lab at New Balance that gathers data and applies it to 3D form, which gives us a good base from which to visualize the designs."

What are the main benefits of designing in 3D?

KR: "The quality of footwear coming out of New Balance speaks for itself. 3D software has helped us push the boundaries of our designs and cater to a wider variety of customer needs. The forms and texturing are getting so much more complicated; it's just not possible to do it by hand anymore."

DW: "When I was working in 2D, my main concern was always how my 2D drawings would translate into the final product. There was always a lot of back and forth between the manufacturer. With Modo you can visualise a design and spin it around while you're designing it. You don't have to wait for it to come back from the factory to see how it would look in 3D."

WV: "Another key driver is that it reduces the number of physical samples needed. The speed at which you can work in Modo makes everything so much easier."

Why did you choose Modo over other 3D tools?

WV: "I've trained 3D artists for over 25 years and I've never seen someone go from zero knowledge to production quality work as quickly as I have with Modo. Someone who's never touched 3D might think there's a lot to learn, but it's amazing how quickly these skills can be picked up in Modo."

KR: "We do a lot of material work at New Balance—complex shading on surfaces, for example. The UV tools in Modo are really strong and keep getting better and better. It makes the job painless and so much more efficient."

DW: "The render engine in Modo is awesome. When you work in a program like Rhino, the rendering can often look a bit flat. With Modo, your design looks great right out of the gate."

You mentioned a tool called Colorway. Can you explain what this is and how you use it to design shoes?

WV: "We have been working with Colorway to help speed up our workflow. It allows us to iterate through multiple designs and styles without having to do more rendering. Our color team can work with Colorway to do the color-ups and different variations of a shoe, without having to learn how to use Modo just to do the coloring. It's growing across the company and I believe it will play a massive part in New Balance's pipeline in the future."

What does the future hold for New Balance?

WV: "Since I joined the company two years ago, New Balance has completely transformed the way it designs its products. Using 3D tools like Modo hasn't altered the DNA of the company; we still create the iconic shoes that people have fallen in love with over the years. The difference is that we now have a platform on which to propel New Balance into a new era of apparel design. We have a team of designers that is equipped with the right tools to be quicker, more creative and efficient than ever before. It's truly an exciting time for the company."

*******

Modo is an award-winning 3D modeling, texturing and rendering tool from visual effects software developer Foundry. Leading artists choose Modo for creating real-time content in product design, games and VR, iterating on concepts and bringing bold ideas to life.

Etsy seller YourSassyGrandma seems pretty sassy indeed: Their store sells a line of "Ugly Christmas sweaters and more," where the "more" pertains to holiday costumes that integrate parts of human anatomy.

I have to say it doesn't work as well for the guys, although the reindeer at least gets some fur:

In these shots I assume the men's nipples are supposed to resemble ornaments, but I think they need more bling:

Apparently the first photo shows the hot seller, as they're currently sold out: "Looking for the Reindeer boob sweater?" they write. "We are making [more]."

Even if you build furniture for exacting rich people and have a white-glove service deliver and install it, chances are slim that the client will take an extra-precise engineer's level to it and use lasers to site it. But this group of specialists who are hired each year to provide tables for the World Snooker Championship must combine assembly skills with NASA-like precision.

The table must not only be perfectly flat, perfectly sited and perfectly lit, but must essentially be constructed anew each time. While the legs and support structures can be bolted together, the slate, felt and bumpers must be laid anew each time with an insane level of precision. Take a look at this:

Never mind the skill, do any of you possess the personality and patience required to do something like this for a living? The chalk-drawing step alone would stress me out.

Having people over for the holidays? Maybe you can step up your hosting game with some designey table settings. First off, here are the three levels of proper table settings:

Casual

Informal

Formal

Of course those are just rules, and rules are meant to be broken. I poked around to find some designey-looking place settings, and decorating firm Ballard Designs has got some pro-level stuff. They're mixing and matching some common components here, but always manage to make it look fresh:

By Ballard Designs

By Ballard Designs

By Ballard Designs

By Ballard Designs

By Ballard Designs

By Ballard Designs

By Ballard Designs

By Ballard Designs

By Ballard Designs

By Ballard Designs

By Ballard Designs

By Ballard Designs

By Ballard Designs

By Ballard Designs

By Ballard Designs

And here's how I imagine Meghan Markle's family is now setting their table, and inviting the neighbors over to rub it in their faces:

Although new evidence has emerged that proves beyond a doubt that the Earth is flat, Flat-Earthers apparently believe that Mars is round.

With this ringing endorsement, NASA will continue sending Rovers to Mars. The only problem is, they can't exactly bolt a set of Goodyears to the Rovers and send them up there; the Martian terrain is harsh on wheels and has chewed up Curiosity's. 

So here's the new shape memory alloy wheel NASA has been working on for the next generation Rovers, explained by engineer Colin Creager and materials scientist Santo Padula:

Here's an animation showing the atomic structure deformation Padula described:

And here's how they work in actual testing (warning, turn the sound down on your speakers/headphones):

So far so good, and interestingly enough, NASA has even been testing "a spin-off version" of the wheel here on Earth.

Lastly, what I found most interesting is that the development of this wheel came about not from a deliberate plan, but grew from an accidental conversation:

Just a reminder to you designers working on tricky problems: Get out there and talk to people outside of your field! You never know what you'll learn.

The automotive version of an iPhone case. Because auto designers and manufacturers do not take parallel parking and paint-trading into consideration, motorists wishing to avoid scuffmarks must purchase these absurd, ugly things.

It totally mars the lines of the car. What is the point of designing something beautiful, if it must be obscured? As with phones, I wish they'd design the protection in in the first place. These are objects that exist in the real world, and that should be taken into account.

The "IGUANEYE Jungle" grabs onto your feet and lets you move freely on any type of surface. A minimal piece of technical rubber only wraps around your big toe and your heel. By doing so, it secures a thick and soft ergonomic sole that attaches to the rubber piece like a 3D puzzle.