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Furniture-Based Optical Illusions Revealed--Except One That I Can't Figure Out

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Magician Zach King has amassed a series of furniture pieces, some made by established designers and others custom-built, and incorporated them into some trippy optical illusions. I was happy to see that he shows you how each one works--except that last one, which I'm still puzzling out:

Anyone got any ideas about that last blue one? There's no way he's just balancing, and the camera movement didn't seem to reveal any third leg.


The Weekly Design Roast, #23

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"As you can see, this chair has many useful configurations."

(This is a cigarette-lighter air freshener for cars.) "The aesthetic I was going for is 'Interstellar Asgardian Weapon.'"

This "smartphone addiction solution" storage object is electromagnetically-shielded, so any phone you place inside cannot receive a signal. I guess you could also just turn your phone off, but this object has the added benefit of taking up desk space and costing money.

This is a scooter concept meant to change shape as it accelerates. Just don't accelerate too quickly.

"We couldn't figure out how to attach a windshield, but one of our engineers came up with a clever workaround."

I guarantee this "globe wheel" concept car was designed by someone who never had to clean out the little rubber sphere in an old-school computer mouse.


"I like the look of the strong, thick shaft. And at night it emits a powerful, penetrating beam out of the front."

This is a luxury hoverboard "geared towards more mature consumers." Er, don't mature consumers…avoid riding hoverboards?

This sofa was designed to rock…from side-to-side. It's perfect for if you want to accidentally kill your cat or crush your dropped remote. You can also alienate your weight-conscious friends; when they're sitting on one side and you're on the other, make a big show about how you have to hold some kettlebells as "ballast" just to keep the damn thing level.

This is a leather chess board that comes with silicone bands delineating the pieces; you're meant to find and gather rocks to tie the bands around, in order to complete the pieces (I'm not kidding). I'd like to see a Checkers variant of this--it would come with the board, a sausage, a zucchini, and a chef's knife.

How to (Quickly) Use Your iPhone as a Super Magnifying Glass

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(Thumbnail/Title image credit: TapSmart)

I hardly ever use my iPhone as a phone anymore. But as my eyesight deteriorates, I use it all the time to photograph small-print labels, then pinch and zoom on the photo so I can actually read the text.

Well, what a dope I am. Core77 reader Ross Oliver learned of my plight and wrote in: "iPhones have a built-in magnifier, no need to snap and pinch. Works even if the phone is locked. I find it particularly useful for reading the infinitesimal serial numbers on servers in the data center. Some Android phones have this built-in also, others you need a magnifier app."

Image credit: TapSmart

9to5 Mac has visual instructions for how to set it up. (In a nutshell it's Settings --> General --> Accessibility --> Magnifier.) Now all I have to do is click the home button three times--that's side button on an iPhone X or later--and voila, I can read whatever I need to. You can even increase the zoom, change the colors for better contrast, and snap a photo if you need it.

Image credit: 9to5 Mac

Thanks Ross!

Bring Back the Ergonomics: Cars Used to Have Swiveling Front Seats to Make Them Easier to Get In and Out of

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I've often bitched here that cars are not well-designed for getting in and out of. Well, back in the 1950's some unnamed Chrysler designers apparently felt the same way, and designed front seats that swiveled to ease ingress and egress. 

Here we see it offered as a new option on the 1959 Dodge Custom Royal, their top-of-the-line.

Sister brand Plymouth got 'em too…

…as did the 1960 and 1961 Chrysler Imperials and 300s.

Competitor DeSoto had them in 1960…

…but whatever ad-man they hired touted them not for ergonomics, but for women's dignity. The pencil skirts of the 1950s didn't make it easy for women to get in and out of cars.

GM took note, and pushed it even further; the designers of one of their 1961 concept cars, the Buick Flamingo, said "Hell, let's make it turn all the way around." But neither the car nor the seat ever made it into production.

Rehearsing the backhanded compliments she's going to give Stella and Betty at the lady's luncheon

We're sure you want to see one in action, and the only footage we could find is buried within this 27-minute video that we all know you're too busy to watch. So we've cued it up to the exact moment it appears in use:

Leno's car was one of the last Chryslers to offer the swivel-seat option. We're not sure why they went away, but we're guessing it had to do with poor sales. 

By the way, for those that do have the time and are car buffs, the entire video is well worth a watch. Jay Leno's Garage is one of the more informative automotive history channels out there, and the car geek that's Jay's guest in this video knows everything there is to know about the 1961 Chrysler 300G.

Design Job: Work for Yves Behar as a Senior Visual Designer at fuseproject

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The Senior Visual Designer works on the brand and visual design team but will collaborate with all design disciplines in the studio to bring brand experiences to life. We are looking for a designer with solid experience building brand identity systems for clients large and small, in a wide range

View the full design job here

Toyota's Swiveling Seats Concept for Autonomous Cars

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Next time you're in a parking lot, just watch people getting in and out of their cars and you'll see what an ergonomically-awkward process it is. Once upon a time American cars had swivel seats to ease ingress and egress, but the feature never caught on.

Perhaps autonomous cars will bring them back. Toyota Boshoku, a component manufacturer and subsidiary of Japan's auto giant, presented an interior concept at the Tokyo Motor Show called MX191 ("MX" standing for "Mobility eXperience") intended for driverless cars. Since it doesn't matter which way one faces in an autonomous car, oughtn't the "driver" and front-seat passenger be allowed to swivel around to maximize legroom and/or chat with folks in the back?

Japanese caution is evident in the concept: There's a warning feature that lets you know if you're going to have an interior collision while rotating your seat.

Furthermore, the rotating seats would greatly improve ingress/egress. As illustrated in the MX191 concept video, a "pre-boarding system" detects your approach, and gets the seats ready for you.

Once you've plopped into them, they rotate you into place.

Here's the full video of the concept, which also features all sorts of climate control stuff and some very comprehensive airbags.

Concept for a Tape Roll That (Supposedly) Makes it Easier to Find the Beginning of the Tape

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I almost put this one into the Design Roast, but I could actually see this concept catching on in Korea or Japan, where they're typically willing to pay more for overdesigned versions of simple objects.

Industrial designers Deockeun An, Jaehyung Kim and Cheolwoong Seo conceived of this tape roll, for those who get frustrated trying to find where the tape begins.

I do believe the concept is flawed--are you meant to coordinate where you tear the tape each time, to ensure it lands on a tooth?--but am always amused to see people tackling mundane and everyday issues like this. It's not quite as insightful as those highly specific Japanese Halloween costumes, but with a roll of tape, this is the closest we're gonna get.

via Yanko

Eighth Grader Successfully Makes a Car's A-Pillars Invisible, Using Standard Technology

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Well over four years ago, we saw Jaguar release a video of their "360 Virtual Urban Windscreen Concept," and it's yet to make it to market. The idea, to refresh your memory, essentially made the A-pillars of the car invisible, providing clean lines of sight for the driver.

Now an eighth-grade student, Alaina Gassler, has managed to do the same--using a simple webcam and a small projector:

The Pennsylvania student executed the project for her school's Science and Engineering Fair.

"Many car accidents are caused by drivers not being able to see hazards due to blind spots," Gassler's abstract reads.

"My prototype is designed to get rid of those blind spots by displaying an image of the area behind them onto the spot. I used a small projector as the displaying device and a webcam as the recording device. The webcam is mounted onto the outside of the car, and the projector displays the image only the A-pillar of the car. To help the image become brighter and clearer, I used a reflective fabric that reflects the picture only to the driver. This prototype has the potential to greatly reduce blind spot related car accidents."

I don't know if Gassler won anything, but someone get this girl a job! And Alaina, if you're reading this: Can you do anything about my car's chunky C-pillars?


With the Long-Lasting Space Bee, Ben Stamas Hopes to Revive the Creative Merits of Vintage Synths

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With the Long-Lasting Space Bee, Ben Stamas Hope to Bring Musical Rigor Back to Synths

With the Long-Lasting Space Bee, Ben Stamas Hopes to Challenge the Ease of Modern Synths

When Ben Stamas started building his own synth company, he tried making contacts in the Cambridge, Massachusetts, entrepreneurship ecosystem—and didn't find much interest.

"Everyone was so dismissive," he says. VCs wanted to see internet-of-things apps and billion-dollar exits; Stamas wanted to build a new instrument that could last a lifetime. When he finally got enthusiastic support from Suzanne Ciani, the '70s synth legend with five Grammy nominations and scores of movie and commercial credits, he started feeling like he was getting somewhere—and reaching the right audience. When he started building custom modules for her live performance synth, she started giving him feedback on the built-from scratch model he's prototyped now.

Ciani plays the types of vintage synths that require expertise and care: You're not likely to get good sounds on your first try, because they demand real musicality and expertise. But their repairable designs and expansive options also make them instruments that you can forge lifelong friendships with.

Stamas wanted to honor that tradition—with some updates for a new generation of musicians—in his forthcoming Space Bee synths that he's raising funds for on Kickstarter. He's designing them for contemporary needs like portability and rechargeability, but hearkening back to the hardware of earlier electronic instruments.

A front-row seat in Startup Hell

"It's a tough town for creative projects like this," Stamas says, calling from Cambridge, Massachusetts. "It works great if you're developing ideas that align with buzzwords like IoT, crypto, AR, or apps, or if you're at the Media Lab. But there's almost no room for anything else."

His desk at a local coworking space is a front-row seat to what he "cult-like and competitive" startups. "People here are talking about multi-million dollar deals and 20x returns as the entry point to entrepreneurism. And it's just crazy. Nobody here understood that I didn't want to be a startup. I was doing something personal to me in an environment where it felt like everybody was pandering some kind of industry trend."

Standards to uphold, traditions to protect

Pandering wasn't going to work for Stamas. As an experienced synth repairperson, he appreciates the technical artistry of vintage machines' hardware. "They were true instruments," he says. And he wanted to make something similar.

"They were designed to last, their designers intended someone [to] be repairing them, and they had these beautiful service manuals. I started going under the hood, fixing up stuff, getting more and more into it. And it was a form of empowerment, knowing how your thing works. It makes it more than just an object. It's part of your creative journey."

Today, he sees an industry-wide move toward restrictive interfaces in an attempt at simplifying music-making. Machines offer canned presets, software-based loops and, as a result, constrain creative outcomes. Easy-to-use instruments might widen the market potential for a business, he says, but "music isn't about guaranteed outcomes; it's not paint night. You have to take risks and make mistakes. If you pick up a violin, you'll sound horrible for quite a while–real instruments don't sound great immediately.

"Electronic music can be about live performance and taking risks," Stamas says. "It's not just rubber pads that play back pre-recorded sounds. Some of the older designs have much more free-form interactions—without presets you can create bad sounds, you have to know what you're doing." Ciani's work is an example of that virtuosity. "The things she was doing in 1975 feel fresher than any modular electronic music I've heard today," he says, "and that goes back to the interface itself. Those machines have a learning curve that leads to mastery and improvisation, and everything is tactile. Your hands can develop a direct coupling to the underlying sound. "

Adding contemporary considerations to a vintage-style instrument

Stamas's Space Bee instrument will reintroduce some of the variability and risk he admires in earlier synths, while incorporating updates for modern consumers. He wanted to honor the beloved keyboard design of the Roland SH-101, a model he believes is a great introduction to analog synthesizers.

Noting how many millenials live in apartments rather than houses, for instance, he sized down his prototypes. "Many people don't have room for a big carpeted studio in their basement, and are taking synths on the go with them. Having something compact and powerful that can act in multiple roles, one instrument that has a lot of versatility instead of all these tabletop things that each do one thing, makes this more focused. It's like a Swiss Army knife."

He has also seen the enthusiasm around the "right to repair" movement—and the frustration around hardware becoming useless when a company stops maintaining an app—as an indication that durable, repairable setups will best serve musicians' needs. "You'll own the instrument, but also what's inside. You're empowered in that way. I plan to open the schematic and firmware, so if the company goes away or an app stops getting updated, the instrument lives on."

Space Bee is live on Kickstarter through November 21, 2019.


How to 3D Scan an Object, Without a 3D Scanner

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In this tutorial, industrial designer Eric Strebel shows you how to 3D scan an object, when you haven't got a 3D scanner. Using a camera and photogrammetry--in Strebel's case, Agisoft Metashape, as it runs on a Mac--you can get good results, provided you follow the preparation and photography tips shown here. From quickly salt-and-peppering the surface of the object to ensuring you're taking the right kinds of photographs, Strebel's tips should save you a load of time down the line.

His basic process:

1. Object set-up

2. Camera set-up

3. Lighting set-up

4. Run the software

5. Fix holes in the mesh

6. Export the data

7. Import into your CAD package

Here's the run-through:

Core77 partners with new TV series, 'California by Design: Innovations'

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We're excited to announce that we'll be working as an official media partner with the new show 'California by Design: Innovations'. Premiering in March 2020 on the FOX Television Network, 'California by Design: Innovations' will air on Saturday mornings in Los Angeles and the San Francisco / Bay Area. The program tells the development journey behind a wide range of innovative products, featuring interviews and profiles of designers and entrepreneurs, who share the challenges they're facing, the problems they're solving and the benefits their work provides to individuals, communities, industry and society.

As long-time proponents of the value of design, we're thrilled to see a program like this coming to a mainstream audience, and believe it is long overdue. I've been invited to appear on the program as a judge in the 6-part series, and as a co-founder of Core77 I hope my experience as an observer of the industry and consumer culture provides valuable insight and feedback to the people and the products.

Executive Producer of California by Design: Innovations, Mike Chapman, who first introduced the Innovation series to Australian audiences, knows first-hand the impact of good design. "Innovation at its most simple is about bringing an idea to market. But the power comes when you link design to creativity, which allows that innovation to answer a need we didn't know we had."

Chapman continues, "California by Design: Innovations provides an important platform for innovators and design professionals to showcase their ingenuity in front of a mainstream audience. Innovators seeking to be part of the show are encouraged to reach out and get involved."

California by Design: Innovations – Program Snapshot • Commences Saturday, March 7, 2020
• 6 half-hour episodes
• 5 presenters - all highly respected design professionals
• Airs 9:30-10:30am PST on the FOX Television Network stations KTVU 2 San Francisco / Bay Area and KTTV FOX 11, Los Angeles

Across six half-hour episodes, the California by Design: Innovation's presenters will spotlight notable innovations recently developed by people and companies in California. A judging deliberation will result in one or more innovations being chosen from each episode to go through to the sixth and final episode, counting down to the top innovation of the year.

Highly respected industrial designer Dan Harden is a presenter for the series and will be out in the field bringing the show's innovation stories to life. Dan is President, CEO and co-founder of the acclaimed U.S. design firm Whipsaw.

"California by Design is personally very exciting for me because there's so much creativity and vibrancy here. Collectively we are going to find, bring forward and articulate the value of what good design is. It's a great opportunity for the design community at large to express what we do to a broad audience. Nothing like this has ever been done before."

Dan has won over 270 design awards and has been granted over 350 patents. His vast experience and deep insights add significant firepower to the collective brain-trust that is the show's panel of industry experts.

Paul Wylde is the Founder, CEO and Creative Director of paulwylde: a successful and award-winning boutique brand, innovation, design and communications consultancy located in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Paul specializes in creating, activating and translating brand promises into memorable experiences for the hospitality, travel, retail and food & beverage industries. His current clients include: Allegiant Air, Jet Suite X, Odyssey Airlines, The Boeing Company, Delta Airlines, Carmel City Council, EnView, Saudia Airlines, Barclaycard, Air Canada, Jet Blue Airways, Hilton Worldwide, Panasonic, Intercontinental Hotels Group and BMW Group.

"This show represents a huge opportunity to educate and inspire people as to the true worth of design."

"Australia by Design" was introduced to Australian audiences in 2017 via the TEN Network. Starting with an Architectural series, television company MWC Productions then partnered with the Good Design Awards to create the Innovations program.

Now in 2019, "Australia by Design: Innovations" is in its third series and has gained a loyal, diverse and growing national television audience.

California by Design: Innovations welcomes the design community to submit their innovations and become part of a new era of design conversation. With an anticipated audience of over 9 million people for the series, designers can be part of an amazing new TV series that is changing the way we look at great design.

To contact the team at California by Design: Innovations head over to their website.


Design Job: Put New Products In The Picture as a 3D Visualizer at Garmin in Kansas City

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You will be responsible for creating amazing photo realistic renderings of consumer products: cycling computers, outdoor handhelds, dash cams, marine radars, and a growing range of wearables for wellness, running, outdoor, golf, kids, and scuba diving. Working directly with industrial designers and marketing managers to create photo realistic rendering of our consumer products for use on packaging, web, print, and wide variety of promotional materials. Join our growing team with over 30 Industrial Designers in a 35,000 square foot design studio and prototype shop with extensive design and prototyping equipment. We’re looking for an experienced 3D Visualizer who is capable of creating amazing product renderings, combined with the ability to collaborate respectfully in a team. See work examples on our website (majority of our consumer products are renderings): https://www.garmin.com

View the full design job here

Telling Time, 1980s-Style: Timex Brings Back the Retro T80 Digital Watch

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How does an old-school watchmaker compete with the Apple Watch and other smartwatches? If you're a company with a long history like Timex, you don't; you go back and mine the brand's history, hoping to hit that nostalgia nerve with consumers.

Timex is bringing back the T80, a 1980s throwback digital watch with those classic seven-segment numbers, black on a grey background.

The old-school screen layout contains the company's signature Indiglo illumination.


The $59 to $65 watch can be ordered in a variety of metallic colors, as well as the classic black.

They may have gone too far with the special $79 Pac-Man Edition.

Lastly, Timex has totally nailed '80s-style graphics and branding with their short promo video:

Reference Sources for Design Research: "The World Counts" Gives You the Numbers on Consumerism and Sustainability

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In our opinion, designers should be both curious and well-informed. We can't help you out with the first trait, but for the sake of the second we're going to start regularly listing design research reference sources here on the blog that you may find useful.

We found a Denmark-based website called The World Counts that aggregates numbers from research institutions, news services and a variety of organizations around the world. TWC focuses on the intersection of consumption and sustainability, and the numbers they present--some of which are ticking upwards or downwards in real time, algorithmically-managed--can provide a good jumping-off point for those doing design research in those areas.

Some examples: How many liters of water have you, the average person, used today? What percentage of time do people in the Western world spend indoors? How many tons of steel have been recycled this year? How many tons of waste does the average household produce per year? What percentage of coral reefs do we have left? How many tons of resources were extracted from the planet this year?

"The World Counts gives you an overview of critical global challenges," reads the site's mission statement. "Awareness is the first step towards change!"

TWC also takes pains to link to all of their reference sources beneath each statistic, for those who wish to dive deeper into the numbers and/or verify their legitimacy.

Lastly, for the sake of inspiration as well as information, the site maintains a list of brands that they reckon are truly practicing sustainability.

Check it all out here.

Process Porn: A Surprising Alternative Production Method for Making Heat Sinks

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I always assumed that all aluminum heat sinks, with all of those fins, were either extruded or cast. And while both of those are common production methods, I just stumbled across this crazy-looking alternative method:

via Reddit


Ensuring Honesty and Authenticity Through Color and Material Design

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Amy Frascella is the Director of Colour & Material Design at Jaguar Land Rover. Colour and materials touch all aspects of vehicle creation and her team encompasses concept vehicles, production vehicles and Special Vehicle derivatives. She graduated from North Carolina State University in 2003 with a BA in Art and Design and a BS in Textile Engineering, beginning her career as a textile engineer working with major Japanese automotive OEM's on production textile developments. She went on to work at Hyundai/Kia for seven years on cross car line colour strategies and future material developments. She joined Land Rover in 2012 as a Senior Colour & Materials designer, and in 2015 was promoted to her current role of Chief Designer Colour & Materials – leading a global team of 30 multi-disciplined designers.

Amy Frascella - Director of Colour & Material Design at Jaguar Land Rover

Chris Lefteri : I am really interested in how you marry luxury and utility from the perspective of CMF. Can you talk a bit about the challenges there?

Amy Frascella: Potentially stating the obvious - I think that is the unique selling point for Land Rover – Design leadership coupled with engineering excellence.

If I think about the last few years of projects – redefining the material strategies for Range Rover, Discovery and Defender, what connects all of them is honesty and authenticity. This is because our vehicles simply do what they say they are going to do. Our materials need to perform to these exacting standards, but what customers see, feel and experience in them is most definitely part of creating a feeling of luxury. Dialing up and down material technology attributes and visual characteristics for each family helps to create product differentiation. (As effectively Range Rover, Discovery and Defender are brands within the master brand Land Rover.) You can see we have begun to help to shift the definition of luxury materials within our industry from both aesthetics and values. A great example of this is our collaboration with our partner Kvadrat – Europe's leading manufacturer of premium textiles. We have delivered a Kvadrat Premium Textile option on the Range Rover Velar, Range Rover Evoque and most recently the Defender. Our team has actively pushed against traditional luxury conventions to deliver these conscious choices to our customers. These offers sit alongside leather as an equivalent choice. It is this curation of materials and choice that definitely signals luxury.

Working with more natural materials (like wool and eucalyptus fibres) is important as we move to develop materials that are more sustainable and responsible in their creation. Our testing requirements are some of the most challenging in the industry so material technology innovation can take time.

CL: Authenticity is part of a premium experience but how difficult is it to use real materials such as metal and glass in car interiors? Also how do you deal with authenticity and luxury and plastic materials?

AF: Using authentic and more natural materials can be challenging due to testing requirements. In addition to the wool blend textile I mentioned, Land Rover has also been industry leading to deliver semi-aniline leather (fewer top coatings) on the previous generation of Range Rover. More recently we were industry-first on the new Range Rover Evoque to deliver a plant-based textile using Eucalyptus fibres. This is all to say we work closely with Materials Engineering and our suppliers to simply find a way – as developing premium authentic materials is a strategic differentiator for our family of products.

We are continuing to develop and craft with plastics in our vehicles. When I arrived at Land Rover about six years ago nearly all our interior components were wrapped – predominately with leather. This was a world I did not come from, (previously working at a more value centric brand with a lot more exposed plastic for A surfaces.) So as Land Rover began to expand the product portfolio all interior components were not all wrapped due to different price points and trim levels, but more importantly for functionality. Defender's use of functional polymers is a great example of this. Making what may be considered a lower cost material appear crafted and premium is an exciting design challenge. Because there is variability in the approach to the production of plastics: dual shot injection moulding, co-moulding with other materials, exploring shore hardness, crafting the grain texture in the tooling to create surfaces that appear glossier or more diffused - the list goes on. Grain or surface texture is an incredibly important detail in crafting plastic tooling for components.

As we move forward we are also asking ourselves what is the future of plastics? We recognise we are amidst a plastic backlash amongst consumers – so how will we begin to make our plastics more sustainable? These are topics we are addressing.

CL: Do different regions change how you define what quality and premium is? For example in Asia is there a particular expectation of grain or surface texture?

AF: Not really – we are a global brand and the studio here in the UK is the 'mother' studio - our aesthetic definition is the global aesthetic. We design and develop multiple specifications for our consumers so there is always a curated choice.

CL: Is the CMF strategy consistent across the organization, or do you have a different approach for each vehicle?

AF: The Colour & Material Design strategy supports the overall Design strategy. Range Rover is about refinement and luxury, Discovery is about premium versatility and the architectural use of space, and Defender is our most capable vehicle. Sustainability is a key principle of the Design strategy so in everything we do we continuously aim to make materials more responsible and more sustainable – even if the development is for something our customers don't see. For example on B surface materials we have been working to incorporate more recycled polyester so this will help contribute to overall lower C02 for our vehicles. We collaborate with our Sustainability and Engineering teams to continuously improve our processes and materials in our journey to a more responsible future.

Colour, material and form are intrinsically linked – we view them as one in the same at Land Rover Design – they are developed at the same time together. And with this we are able to give our three families their own design language.

CL: Sustainability is also looking at how you would reduce energy in the production process.

AF: Yes – within Land Rover Colour & Material Design we describe our more conscious, more sustainable/responsible initiatives as 'Materiality.' This can include any material initiative really – leather for example could be a Materiality initiative, if we begin to use accept more natural markings and accept a wider visual tolerance on the material surfaces we gain higher yields therefore less waste. Any material development or initiative that brings us along the journey to move towards truly sustainable and circular processes is the ultimate goal – Materiality supports this.

CL: The perception of what is premium is always shifting. If you look to the future, what do you think will define premium for customers?

AF: I think it is about values and whether people actively recognise it or not it is also about pure desire. The heart wants what it wants! People want to see their values reflected in the brands they align themselves with – and that permeates at so many levels within our world of Colour & Material Design. After all Colour & Material Design is really all you see, feel and experience.

All of the things we have just been discussing, making processes and materials more sustainable and responsible can serendipitously create new aesthetics. Working more with alternatives materials and non-leather materials you can unlock visual solutions previously not achievable with conventional luxury materials. The attributes are different therefore how you work with these new materials requires new approaches.

We definitely see the influence of architectural spaces inside vehicles more and more. Less is more as this follows our reductionist design approach. Integration of technology and materials creates less visual 'noise.' Colour plays a huge role in the vehicle experience – is the environment a calm sanctuary? Are the exterior graphics and details visible? It will be more premium to move away from traditional, high contrast colour break ups that have long dominated in the automotive industry. We are also questioning the over use of black as well.

CL: What do you mean by high contrast?

AF: Typically when you look at an automotive interior (or exterior) key architecture is visually 'called out' through use of high contrast colour combinations. The midroll on the instrument panel (the middle of the dashboard) might be a very light colour whereas the upper part of the instrument panel/dashboard will be dark (this will be for UV and reflection requirements.) For Land Rover key architecture is our instrument panel midroll component – the unbroken beam. There may be other key architecture on doors and the centre console as well and by using a higher contrast colour palette these components, which are key to the design, will visually stand out.

We can achieve the same visual hierarchy in the future, but rather then continuously using harsh contrasting colour (almost black and white) we can move into layering of softer, monotone colour palettes – through textured surfaces and textiles. Bringing more architectural influences from your home inside the vehicle – one doesn't normally surround themselves in their home with this kind of harsh palette.

CL: That's interesting because one of the other interviews for this series is with Ivy Ross, who is VP of Design at Google. She talks about humanizing technology and you are talking about the same thing. It's about the interior of your car becoming much more like the interior of your home. I think textiles play a big part from what I can see in your cars.

AF: Yes – I hope the role textiles have in vehicle interiors will continue to gain mass acceptance moving forward. Our colour palettes will become more 'human-centred' moving forward whether customers actively realise this. We want to create safe cocooned environments – calm sanctuaries. Our technology should be working in the background and not be intrusive – called upon when customers need it. We need colours and materials and technology to seamlessly work together because as screens begin to hold more functionality (that may have been a physical switch up until now) they may become larger surfaces. How do you integrate all of this seamlessly? Colour and Material Design will have a big role to play.

CL: Going back to plastics, do you want to talk about any particular case studies of eco plastics in your cars?

AF: We use recycled plastic in some of our soft materials. For us this is not really new – but what is shifting is the proliferation of these materials. When the original Evoque was launched we used Dinamica microfibre suedecloth on the seats made from recycled plastic bottles – this material was combined with leather on the seat cover. For the launch of Range Rover Velar in 2017 we used this material once again but combined with Kvadrat wool blend textile – creating a full premium non-leather seat. We have launched the same set of materials on the 2019 Range Rover Evoque. For the Discovery Sport mid cycle fresh recently launched we offer the Dinamica material in conjunction with performance material Luxtex. This one single material example has had a big role to play in our Materiality strategy offering non-leather options for customers. Our goal is by 2021 all Land Rover's will have a Materiality offer.

CL: Do you think the consumers perception of sustainable materials would allow for imperfection in the way things look? Do you think that consumers will accept the idea of imperfection because because sustainability on that level becomes premium. Do you think consumers will become embracing of that in luxury?

AF: They already do. Think about shifts in how people eat, the things they buy - food packaging, beauty products, clothing and they way they live – travel, transportation and homes. Right now people accept many new ingredients and visual representation of natural materials/processes because if it is more respectful of planet, people and animals they understand the value and many times pay more. This is absolutely happening in many analogous industries and it is just a matter of time for this to become the norm.

This is coming to the automotive industry and we are getting ready for the shift. I would like to think we are even part of the few that are helping to lead the shift.



Blade Runner Intro Re-Cut to Use Actual Los Angeles, November 2019, and It Still Works

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The opening scene to Blade Runner, kicked off with a card indicating it's set in November 2019, depicts a hellish Los Angeles dominated by industrial structures belching flame.

Well, now that it's actually November 2019, BoingBoing's Rob Beschizza re-cut the intro with footage of actual present-day L.A.--and it still works, perfectly.

A Composting Bin That Lets the Worms Do the Work

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Runner Up Home & Living Award Core77 Design Awards 2019.

There are big things we can be doing to save the planet. We can enforce emissions standards for cars and corporate manufacturers. We can stop flying. We can commit to renewable energy, stop chopping down trees, and avoid animal products on a mass scale.

But there are little things, too: we can purchase secondhand, appropriately dispose of electronics, close our windows when the AC is blasting, recycle – and we can compost. We can take the time to replenish the planet with our food waste, reciprocally providing for it the way it provides for us.

That's where the Yield System comes in, to make composting more efficient, tidier, and a subtler part of the landscapes (yards, gardens, and the like) that we're composting in.

Yield is an-in ground compost bin that minimizes user engagement through its stationary design and employment of nature's raddest and most efficient composting machines: worms. Users can purchase and add in the little fellas once they have Yield set up—which only takes a few minutes—and they'll service the compost material by rapidly breaking it down, adding beneficial microorganisms to the soil and fertilizing surrounding vegetation.

The industrious worms aren't the only ones invested in bettering their (and our) terrestrial circumstances. "Organic landfill waste adds to our global greenhouse gas problem," say designers Delroy Dennisur and Hsuan-Tsun, the Maven Design team who created Yield. And landfill waste "underutilizes material that should be recycled into a valuable product. Composting this waste," they continue, "improves soil, can grow the next generation of crops, and improves water quality."

It offers a pretty robust contribution to a healthier ecosystem, one which the product designers are firmly dedicated to. Not to mention, speaking in (sometimes more relatable) economic terms, composting is more affordable than conventional soil remediation services. Yield is the most efficient way to institute composting, in that it reduces maintenance (no watering and turning the pile necessary) and above ground space consumption, and cuts out the middle operation of transporting compost from the home to the soil – it's already stationed directly in the ground, where it's needed most.

Although the actual bin resides in-ground, Yield also come with stackable, above ground vessels. These grant the system modularity, wherein composters can scale by adding bins to receive more landfill material.

Composting is a relative antithesis to our culture of quick consumption – and even quicker disposal. But it's necessary and important as a deliberate, non-hasty micro-action of nourishing the environments we so easily take for granted. With wonderful irony, this design is essentially the fastest way to play the slow game.

Read more about the slow game of composting, through the ultra-efficient Yield System, on our Core77 Design Awards site of 2019 Honorees.


New Footwear Design by Marc Newson: The Yard Boot 365

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Footwear and clothing manufacturer R.M. Williams hails from Australia, as does designer Marc Newson. Recently the two collaborated, with Newson designing a new boot inspired by R.M.W.'s classic elastic-ankled Gardener Boot.

The result is the Yard Boot 365:

"The boot design embodies a sleek, streamlined aesthetic that has a unique understanding of contemporary culture - whilst always elevating the boot's heritage.

"Bench-made in South Australia and designed for year-round use, the boot is handcrafted using one single piece of leather with one back seam - true to the iconic R.M.Williams design.

"The Yard Boot 365 is is a fully lined boot with engineered elastic side gussets. The elastic gussets have an interwoven reinforced tug carefully engineered to be incorporated into the single piece of leather, assisting with foot entry. Under-foot comfort is enhanced by the addition of Poron padding under a full-leather sock lining. Finished with a rubber outsole."

"As an Australian, I was thrilled to have been asked to design a boot for R.M. Williams, a brand that I have grown up with and have great appreciation for ever since I got my first pair of boots in my early teens," Newson told GQ Australia. "I have had the most fulfilling experience collaborating with this company and especially designing a product that I have always loved."

In the U.S., the boots retail for $345.00.

Design Job: Share Your Knowledge on Dynamic Global Teams as an Adjunct Professor for Carnegie Mellon University

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The Integrated Innovation Institute (III) at Carnegie Mellon University's Silicon Valley campus in Mountain View, CA seeks an adjunct professor for the Dynamic Global Teams course in the spring 2020 term, Mini 3 – January to March 2020. This position would teach students within the Master of Science in Technology Ventures (MSTV) degree. The specific teaching times are flexible (daytime or evening options) to accommodate the instructor's full-time job schedule. Qualified candidates will have prev

View the full design job here
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