Coroflot is teaming up with the PENSOLE Footwear Design Academy to offer 5 students a unique opportunity to participate in a 3-week masterclass! Learn about color theory, construction, materials, storytelling and biomechanics in a "learn by doing" environment.

This year, PENSOLE has partnered with the Two Ten Footwear Foundation and FN Platform tradeshow at MAGIC to award scholarships to their footwear design class to 210 lucky students. The programs will begin in January 2013 for a 3-week online class and a 4-week masterclass at PENSOLE HQ in Portland, Oregon. Students and schools are encouraged to apply for either program. But most exciting, work from the program will be showcased at the FN Platform footwear tradeshow in Las Vegas, February 19-22, 2013.

PENSOLE was founded by D'Wayne Edwards, former Design Director of Brand Jordan, to give talented young design students an opportunity to learn from the industry's best and to provide a farm system for the next generation of footwear designers. Since the first PENSOLE class in 2010, academy graduates have found opportunities with footwear companies worldwide such as Columbia Sportswear, Bluehaven, AND1, North Face, New Balance, Wolverine, Cole Haan, Under Armour, Stride Rite, adidas, JORDAN and Nike.

So ready your Coroflot portfolios and register today! They're accepting portfolios until DECEMBER 15th. Don't forget to check the "Coroflot Member" box when you submit your work!

With any luck, design like this is on the way out.
[image via creative bloq]

While Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc on Monday, Apple experienced some tumult of its own in the form of an executive shake-up. It's significant in that the new order will influence the company's design aesthetic.

Here's what it boils down to:

Scott Forstall, the SVP in charge of iOS, was a big fan of skeuomorphism. That's the tacky design practice whereby you place visual elements from old media into new media, i.e., needlessly adding graphics of a spiral binding at the edge of the screen to make an app look like a physical notebook. As per his position at Apple, Forstall had the juice to have skeuomorphism integrated into the software of the products.

Jonathan Ive is reportedly not a fan of skeuomorphism, but as his domain was previously limited primarily to the physical design of Apple's products, there was little he could do about it.

Well, Forstall's now out, and Ive is further in. On Monday it was announced that Forstall's (probably forced) departure is scheduled for 2013, and Ive's domain will expand to include taking charge of Apple's Human Interface, i.e., UI and UX.

That's an awesome move on Apple's part. Yes, I'm biased; I think skeuomorphism sucks. It doesn't add anything to my experience to have the Notes app look like a legal pad, or to have the top of my Calendar app look like it's made out of desk-ledger leather. And the Address Book software is terrible; it's made to look like a book, yet doesn't work like one—there's no easy way to flip pages from the All Contacts view.

Unrelated to skeuomorphism, try adding a reminder in Calendar and setting an alarm to go off five minutes earlier than the event; it requires an absurd amount of mouseclicks to accomplish and you cannot just "tab" to the "minutes" field. There's no way this feature was designed by a designer.

Critics of the move who say that Ive's experience is limited to physical design, do not understand that industrial design is meant to encompass the user's experience in total, and wrongly assume that Ive is some kind of glorified draftsman. No, Ive taking Human Interface over can only be good for the company, and I believe we'll at last see Apple's software catching up to the hardware.

"This is a doubling down on integrating hardware and software design," industry analyst Patrick Moorhead told Computerworld. "There's now just one decision maker."

Karim Rashid sez: "Human beings touch an average of 600 objects a day." I'm guessing that number drops, and becomes much more focused, during emergency situations. Here are the two things I touched most during the recent blackout.

Surprise winner: The iPod Nano I never ordinarily use.

The Nano's built-in radio tuner was my only link to mass media, and as I live in a city well-covered by broadcast towers the reception was crystal clear. The device is tiny and unobtrusive, easy to clip on the lapel of a shirt. It only had a sliver of battery life left, yet lasted hours longer than I thought it would, because after you turn the screen off it uses such little juice.

The Nano will now be a go-to piece of kit for me, as soon as I get around its only drawback (proprietary charging method) by acquiring a battery-powered iDevice charger. I'd recommend it for anyone not requiring a powerful antenna.

Expected winner: Surefire flashlight.

Undoubtedly the object I touched the most during the blackout whether cooking, trying to take a pee, or confronting someone I thought was breaking into the darkened diner downstairs (turned out to be the diner owner, who offered me free bagels in gratitude). I can't say the model I have, the E2L Outdoorsman, is any better or worse than competing ones, as the only thing I have to compare it to is the relatively wan Mag-Lites I grew up with. The ergonomics of tactical LED flashlights are obviously superior, requiring just one hand, and the beam is almost absurdly bright for something so small. The metal clip is sturdy and makes it easy to keep the thing at hand at all times.

However, there are two central design flaws that I see with LED flashlights like this. 1) A lack of visual feedback on power levels, and 2) no well-designed way to attach extra batteries.

1) When this flashlight does run out on you, it's completely without warning. One second it's working, one second it's not. Old-school flashlights start to get dim, telling you it's time to switch batteries.

I realize this would add to the cost, but I'd consider it a perfect object if there was an indicator of exactly how much battery life was left. I'd settle for a sequence of LED dots, but I'd pay more for a counter that dumbed it down—the way new cars tell you you've got 72 miles left in the tank—by telling me how many more minutes I could leave the thing on for.

2) The CR2 batteries required by LED flashlights are not easy for me to find locally, so I stock up on Amazon. But I don't like that they sit in the back of some drawer. I wish the Surefire had some type of clip-on thing so I could always keep the extra batteries together with it, in case it runs out while I'm in the middle of doing something important. I'm guessing someone makes a holster that holds both the flashlights and extra batteries, but I'd prefer not to have a separate thing, I'd like to see it built into the flashlight itself.

Up Next: Your Suggestions for Disaster Prep Objects

Dispatches from the Dark - How Hipstomp Weathered Hurricane Sandy:
» Good Objects, Bad Preparation
» Public Behavior, during the Blackout, in Traffic & Communications
» What Came in Handy During Sandy?

Sign o' the times? In the old days, corporations demonstrated largesse in times of disaster by sending in trucks loaded with canned soup and blankets. But at a press conference today, Mayor Bloomberg announced AT&T is sending special hotspot trucks to NYC, to help alleviate the crippled communications systems left in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Hooked up to the satellite grid, the self-contained trucks will spray both Wi-Fi and cellular in a radius around them, and also offer charging stations that passersby can use to gas up their mobiles.

The Mayor was not specific, but I did a little digging and these trucks are presumably the "Satellite COLT (Cell on Light Truck)" vehicles you see pictured here. They're part of AT&T's Network Disaster Recovery Team, in which the company's invested over half a billion dollars. The team, which has been quietly doing exercises and delivering global disaster relief since 1992, consists of engineers, technicians and "a fleet of more than 320 self-contained equipment trailers and support vehicles that house the same equipment and components as an AT&T data-routing or voice-switching center." It's kind of cool, something like a Special Forces unit for the telecommunications industry:

Text by Rachel Carvosso; photos by Junya Hirokawa

Through a solid three years of experimentation and tinkering, Yusuke Hayashi and Yoko Yasunishi of Drill Design have arrived at "Paper-Wood" which is now sold as a material used by a range of different designers and companies to make everyday objects (furniture, stationary, garden and kitchen utensils).

According to Yoko, the initial combination they came up with used acrylic and wood but the latest series (four and five) use paper and basswood. Since the colors aren't painted on, the material always retains its bright colors, even when it wears down. When I asked what kind of paper they use, I was quietly told it's a 'company secret.'

"...the first two years we experimented in workshops to find out what materials, colors and combinations worked best... we wanted to explore the concept of adding things to wood to make new kinds of 'layer cake' materials," explains Yoko. Look closely at a slice of Paper-Wood and you can clearly see the "layer cake" she's talking about—each layer alternates between, well, paper and wood.

We offered a few glimpses of the YUNG HO CHANG + FCJZ: MATERIAL-ISM, currently on view at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, in our Best of Beijing Design Week photo gallery, but unfortunately it was a bit too dusty during the press preview to properly revel in what is easily one of the most interesting exhibition designs that I've seen lately. Of course, this should come as no surprise given the content of the exhibition, a retrospective of the title architect and his studio, Feichang Jianzhu (FCJZ):

Spanning the last 30 years, YUNG HO CHANG + FCJZ: MATERIAL-ISM explores FCJZ's experiments in architecture, design, planning and art together with a detailed study into the different aspects of Yung Ho Chang's practice, such as inhabitation, construction methods, urbanism, tradition, perception, and culture. Through these works, the exhibition not only considers the buildings people inhabit and the cities they constitute but also the importance of design in everyday urban life and the specific predicament of people, in the context of the last three decades of unprecedented growth in China.

UCCA Director Philip Tinari praised Chang's "witty, thoughtful and universal design solutions inspired by distinctly Chinese problems and concepts," noting that he is "considered the father of contemporary Chinese architecture." He was among the first to leave the mainland to study in the States (Berkeley '84), where he lived and worked for over a decade before returning to his hometown Beijing in 1992.

Known as both the first architect to set up an independent atelier in China and the first Chinese national to head a major department of architecture in an international university—having served as dean of architecture at MIT 2003–2009—Chang has inspired a wide range of followers and mentored a new generation of talent.

As he recently related in Time Out Beijing, Chang fondly recalled the traditional courtyard houses hutong of his youth... even as witnessed the radical reinvention of the ancient capital over the course of two decades, as upwards of 88% of the iconic alleyways were bulldozed (according to UNESCO) in favor of the soulless highrises that dominate Beijing's cityscape today.

In New York City at least, UPS guys are like firemen: they're always young and in good shape. I wonder if we never see old UPS delivery guys because they get promoted to desk jobs, or because their backs eventually give out from the constant schlepping of heavy packages.

A Fargo, North Dakota-based company called Ergologistics has developed an electric handtruck designed to alleviate all of that bending and hoisting. Despite the lame name (it's called the Lift'n Buddy), it recently won a 2012 Edison Award, taking top prize, Gold, in the Tools category of the Industrial Design entries. Check out what it does in the video below. (Two warnings: 1) Turn your sound down, annoying soundtrack ahead, and 2) you don't have to sit through the whole 4:38, the first 90 seconds will give you the gist.)

The fully made-in-the-U.S.A. device is targeted at warehouses, distribution centers, supermarkets, manufacturing facilities and, of course, deliverypersons. Show the YouTube to your local UPS guy next time he shows up at the office, and he'll be wishing someone would deliver one to his door.

Ergologistics will be featuring the Lift'N Buddy at next month's 18th Annual National Ergonomics Conference and Exposition in Vegas. They also run a blog dedicated to workplace safety that you can check out here.

Just a reminder, there's only ONE WEEK LEFT to get your entries in for the Design For (Your) Product Lifetime Student Challenge. Win up to $2000 and a Pro Tech Toolkit from iFixit.com by designing a smart product that is smarter environmentally; a product that can be repaired and will stand the test of time, even if some of its components need to be replaced. Rethink the design of average household appliances, electronics, lighting, toys—any and all kinds of products that are ripe for a lower-impact redesign.

For some extra help and inspiration, visit the Autodesk® Sustainability Workshop, a free online resource that teaches basic sustainable engineering and design concepts. The free videos and tutorials make it easy for students to learn sustainability strategies that can be incorporated into the design process. Participants in this challenge (and all students) can leverage the resources and even use Autodesk software, downloadable for free, including Autodesk® Inventor® Fusion and Autodesk® Inventor® Publisher.

We know you've been working on your projects all semester so here's your time to shine! All entries are due by THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15th—that's only one week away!

Something we haven't seen a lot of yet in 3D printing, but which we're sure will become common, is people rocking a single material in such a way that it changes characteristics within a single object. Up above is the "Sweater" Case, which beat out 70 other designs to win Shapeways' recent Design for iPhone 5 contest. Designed by ArtizanWork, a Maryland-based collective of independent artisans focusing primarily on jewelry, the case goes from rigid at the edges to flexible on the larger surface as the material changes thicknesses. Looks pretty cool in the vid:

"Handwoven by robots," the company cheekily writes, "the cross stitching can move separately from each other creating an awesome tactile feel while acting like mini shock absorbers that protects your phone." It's available both on Shapeways' website in white, or you can buy directly from ArtizanWork with a few more color choices and a protective anti-stain coating.

No!

Yes!

As I first learned during my stool reupholstery post two years ago, and have been experiencing ever since, the design of your standard metal staple gun sucks. For leverage you need to apply pressure way low on the lever, but if you want the staple driven flush you have to apply a lot of force at the nose, which is on the other end of the tool. This is a bitch, at least for me and my small hands, to accomplish one-handed. While reupholstering stuff I end up using a tack hammer more than I'd like, to correct raised staples.

New-Jersey-based Arrow Fastener Company has redesigned the staple gun in a mechanically-intelligent way: The lever is backwards, so you get maximum leverage on it while pressing downwards in the same spot you do to drive the staple flush.

The FA50elite Forward Action Heavy Duty stapler, as it's called, was designed with input from DIYers: "Some consumers [complained] that other companies' models often make it difficult to precisely place staples. The FA50elite tool addresses this using patented forward action technology; it is easy to fire and allows the user to place his body weight and leverage over the point of impact." As the name suggests, it will fire staples up to size T50 (that's 1/2-inch for Yanks, 12mm for the rest of you) for when you hit those thick, folded corners of upholstery-grade vinyl. Can't wait to get my hands on one of these.

As you might have noticed, we've had quite a bit of Asian design coverage lately (with a few more stories to come): between the second annual Beijing Design Week, a trip to Shanghai for Interior Lifestyle China and last week's design events in Tokyo, we're hoping to bring you the best of design from the Eastern Hemisphere this fall.

Of course, I'll be the first to admit that our coverage hasn't been quite as quick as we'd like, largely due to the speed bump of the language barrier. At least two of your friendly Core77 Editors speak passable Mandarin, but when it comes to parsing large amounts of technical information, the process becomes significantly more labor-intensive than your average blogpost... which is precisely why I was interested to learn that Microsoft Research is on the case.

In a recent talk in Tianjin, China, Chief Research Officer Rick Rashid (no relation to Karim) presented their latest breakthrough in speech recognition technology, a significant improvement from the 20–25% error of current software. Working with a team from the University of Toronto, Microsoft Research has "reduced the word error rate for speech by over 30% compared to previous methods. This means that rather than having one word in 4 or 5 incorrect, now the error rate is one word in 7 or 8."

An abridged transcript of the talk is available on the Microsoft Next blog if you want to follow along:

In the late 1970s a group of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University made a significant breakthrough in speech recognition using a technique called hidden Markov modeling which allowed them to use training data from many speakers to build statistical speech models that were much more robust. As a result, over the last 30 years speech systems have gotten better and better. In the last 10 years the combination of better methods, faster computers and the ability to process dramatically more data has led to many practical uses.

Just over two years ago, researchers at Microsoft Research and the University of Toronto made another breakthrough. By using a technique called Deep Neural Networks, which is patterned after human brain behavior, researchers were able to train more discriminative and better speech recognizers than previous methods.

Once Rashid has gotten the audience up to speed, he starts discussing how current technology is implemented in extant translation services (5:03). "It happens in two steps," he explains. "The first takes my words and finds the Chinese equivalents, and while non-trivial, this is the easy part. The second reorders the words to be appropriate for Chinese, an important step for correct translation between languages."

Short though it may be, the talk is a slow build of relatively dry subject matter until Rashid gets to the topic at hand at 6:45: "Now the last step that I want to take is to be able to speak to you in Chinese." But listening to him talk for those first seven-and-a-half minutes is exactly the point: the software has extrapolated Rashid's voice from an hour-long speech sample, and it modulates the translated audio based on his English speech patterns.

Thus, I recommend watching (or at least listening) to the video from the beginning to get a sense for Rashid's inflection and timbre... but if you're in some kind of hurry, here's the payoff:

Depending on your age, you may remember when Macs first impacted desktop publishing in the '80s and '90s. All of a sudden everyone was a graphic designer, empowered with digital tools that meant they didn't have to learn how to wield an X-acto or apply Letraset.

The barrier to entry for industrial design has always been higher, because at a minimum you had to learn how to draft/CAD/3D model. But Autodesk is hoping to lower those barriers by introducing easy-to-use—and free!—modeling software aimed at consumers, no Bachelors of Industrial Design required. This week they launched 123D Design, a cross-platform app (Mac, PC, iPad, and even a browser-based version) designed to get the average Joe up and running with 3D modeling.

To that end, the software includes a bunch of pre-configured models (a robot, a house, and a train for starters) with swappable parts, for those not comfortable starting from scratch. Furthermore, an online library contains dozens of random objects you can download and modify. And for those ready to dive in, they've released a series of video tutorials showing you how to create your own stuff and navigate the software.

When it comes time to realize your model, digital manufacturing companies Shapeways and i.materialise offer in-app printing services. But if you've got your own 3D printer or want to go elsewhere, 123D Design can of course export the all-important .stl file format.

"We believe that everyone is creative," says Samir Hanna, Autodesk's VP of Consumer Products, "and we intend to put easy to use design software in the hands of millions of people so they can create real objects, have fun doing it and then fabricate the things they want and need, just the way they want them."

Here's a teaser video:

Designer Roos Gomperts created "Ceramics for Plastics," her graduation project for Design Academy Eindhoven, during a workperiod at Sundaymorning@EKWC. The experimental ceramic vessels, which were recently exhibited during Dutch Design Week, are intended to illustrate the point that everyday plastic objects such as "buckets, screw tops, [and] disposable cups... deserve more recognition."

She explains:

We're used to hiding such things away in cupboards. I want to show that we don't have to, she says. And so, to highlight their colourful appeal, she places them on a pedestal choosing ceramics as her medium. The opposing visual and physical traits of the two materials brought together in her Ceramics for Plastics series of imaginative objects allows us to perceive and appreciate them in a whole new way. The coloured plastics look extra-vibrant beside the natural, earthen tones of the accompanying ceramics.

Gomperts worked with Thalia de Jong to make the teaser video, which is obliquely informative as to each of the objects' function, a pleasantly diverting multimedia counterpart to the whimsical works themselves.

Ever since Hurricane Sandy savaged the East Coast last week, I can't help but see the world through a crisis-scenario lens. (Thankfully, last night's nor-easter was only a minor inconvenience, an uncanny reminder that most weather systems blow through in a matter of hours or days without any long-term consequences.) Thus, I was interested to see the BEEBOX mobile office turn up in the inbox. Designed by Amsterdam's Buro Beehive for manufacturer Fiction Factory, the all-in-one workspace packs neatly into a 2m × 1.6m × 0.9m box—just small enough to fit in a standard doorframe—for easy shipping and setup.

The BEEBOX is especially convenient for locations which have a flexible need for workspace. In order to enjoy the BEEBOX no construction measures are necessary; the BEEBOX offers immediate privacy and comfort. The BEEBOX is also extremely suitable for turning (temporarily) vacant buildings and/or spaces into workable spaces without any effort. The only thing a BEEBOX needs in order to be fully operative is a socket.

Granted, it's that last requirement—power—that precludes the BEEBOX's emergency response applications—AT&T's mobile hotspot trucks are probably a better bet for restoring productivity, since many of us need only an Internet connection to work these days.

Which doesn't make the elegant office solution any less impressive: with a height-adjustable desk, room for two, built-in lighting and outlets, lockability and customizable colors and materials for the interior, the BEEBOX might just be the perfect fit for, say, a co-working space. In fact, designers Christophe Veen and Bart de Groot note that "it is our contribution to the fulfillment of vacant buildings... a way to make investments in working environment sustainable. Instead of investing in the building you are investing in furniture that is mobile. So your investment is not gone when you have to leave the building, you can take your investment with you."

Product Development & Product Design Director
Kikkerland
New York, New York

Our friends at Kikkerland are seeking a Product Design & Product Design Director who will be responsible for developing gifts, gadgets and toys, home goods and accessories; directing in-house designers (1-4 persons) as relates to product development and packaging; and communicating with outside designers (12+). Additionally, he or she will be responsible for coordinating and confirming drawings, CAD models, materials and other product and packaging specifications, acting as engineering consult for production and areas where such technical expertise is required. The Director will oversee sourcing and coordinating production details with more than 100 factories and contacts in Asia, and assessing and advising on costing, prototypes, and product iterations.

Previously, if you wanted to make an object out of plastic you had to get an absurd amount of people involved. Investors in the tooling, plastics suppliers, moldmakers, people to work the machinery, et cetera. Only corporations could muster that kind of scratch and manpower, leaving a huge gulf between themselves and the independent designer.

Inexpensive 3D printers have narrowed that gulf, enabling individuals to make plastic parts without leaving the house or picking up the phone. But they've been limited to working with mostly ABS-like plastic. So now we see a new gulf opening up between individual maker and corporation, one of materials science. Large chemical companies and their deep-pocketed patrons will have access to materials currently impossible for the lone maker to afford.

A good example of this is the glass-fiber-reinforced polyamide we saw BASF use to create plastic automotive rims. A similar material, this time produced by an automotive parts collective patronized by Ford, has popped up as an award winner in this week's sexily-named 42nd annual Society of Plastics Engineers Innovation Awards Gala. This is a bit convoluted, but bear with us: Ford designed the bracket you see above, which is made out of a material called LGF PP—that's Long Glass Fiber Polypropylene Resin—developed in collaboration between global materials company Styron, system supplier and molder Magna Exterior, and toolmaker Advantage Mold. In other words, yeah, there were a lot of people on that e-mail chain.

So what does the thing even do, and why is it noteworthy? That little bracket is used in the Ford Fusion for mounting bumpers and headlights to cars. This almost beggars belief, but because the glass fibers add an unusual amount of "stiffness, strength and impact-resistance" to the part, they reduce the Head Injury Criterion of motorists involved in an accident by some 30%, which helped Ford take home that trophy.

Individual makers still have plenty of wiggle room with the limited plastics available for 3D printers, as seen by ArtizanWork's "Sweater" Case. If advanced materials like Styron's ever trickle down to us, it will be a while yet. We still hope that it will happen, of course, and charitably assume Styron isn't taunting us by re-naming their material—while its scientific name is LGF PP, the company is calling it INSPIRE™.

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After a tumultuous two weeks, we're back to business as usual here at Core77 HQ in New York City. Thanks to all the friends who sent well-wishes our way. While we're doing well in our offices, there are plenty of people on the Eastern seaboard that could use a helping hand. Core77's editors sent Dispatches from the Dark during the recovery and for those outside the tri-state area here's some resources for how to help those affected by the hurricane.

Elsewhere around the globe, our writers are sharing design insights and inspiration from Kampala to Beijing, Chicago to British Columbia. And of course, we've been filing live reporting from Design Festivals around the world. See full coverage of Tokyo (which wrapped up this week) and highlights from Vienna, Beijing and London!

Flotspotting

Stefan Reichert, Santa Barbara, California

Karl Mynhardt, Cape Town, South Africa

Mathieu Baptiste, Switzerland

Susan Christianen, Netherlands

Alexandra Baker, Asheville, North Carolina

» Check out our full
November Newsletter here

Core77's affinity for producing and following technology that blends old and new, analog and digital, was directly inherited from our new-media design shaman Tom Klinkowstein. Tom—whose tales from the 70's, of applying analog film techniques to videotape editing (with the help of iron filings to identify otherwise invisible tracks) still inspire us—now has an example of that ethos enshrined in the hallowed archives of the MoMA permanent collection: a poster from 1980 for Laurie Anderson which synthesizes a number of totemic technologies in a fashion that suits the eclectic performer. This marks an excellent score for everyone involved—Congrats!

With NBA season underway here in the states, ESPN has shifted from baseball jargon to more bombastic neologism such as 'lob city,' 'highlight factory,' etc. Not that they'd know anything about it, but Dublin-based creative duo Mark+Paddy have invited fellow Irish creatives to 'posterize' clients—or at least their inane bromides—in "Sharp Suits," a series of limited edition prints for Temple Street Children's Hospital.

Ireland's creative community have gotten together to release a lot of pent up anger and sadness through the medium of the A3 poster, all in aid of Temple Street Children's Hospital.

Ad creatives, designers, animators, directors, illustrators and more have taken time out to dress up their favourite worst feedback from clients, transforming quotes that would normally give you a twitch, into a diverse collection of posters.

The resulting graphics are a mix of Coretoon-worthy visual puns and cheeky graphic treatments—I've posted some personal favorites here, but all of the 70+ designs can be seen in the online gallery. The group exhibition at the Little Green Cafe & Bar wrapped up two days ago, but the prints are still available online as of press time, at the very reasonable price of €10, with all proceeds going to the children's hospital.

In about a month, Walt Disney World (that's the one in Florida) will open a new design-related attraction produced in conjunction with Chevrolet. Called Test Track, the large-scale, interactive exhibit aims to provide "an authentic, inside-the-studio look at the actual automotive design process, while empowering guests themselves to create their own designs, possibly inspiring the next generation of automotive designers."

While the concept cars on display provide the physical eye candy, the hook is meant to be the four-part interactive element: kids get to design, virtually test-drive, and virtually race their own cars, and afterwards get to film a mock commercial of them and their vehicle.