Design Experiment: Yamaha Has Product Designers Switch Roles
Yamaha, which produces both musical instruments and two-wheeled vehicle, recently undertook a fun experiment: Take designers from one department, and have them design stuff ordinarily handled by the...
View ArticlePayback: Fortified Bicycle's Inexpensive Device Prevents Bike Seat Theft
Slava Menn is not only a clever engineer and entrepreneur, but he and Fortified Bicycle co-founder Tivan Amour have a knack for dramatic marketing. To launch their theft-resistant bike light two years...
View ArticleBrilliant or Lazy? Amazon Creates a Physical "Buy" Button
When you block a troll on social media, you realize the internet has given you Mob Boss powers: You can press a button and make someone disappear.Now Amazon has created a product that's sort of the...
View ArticleThe World's Oldest, Simplest Chair Design?
This type of chair was a build project for America's Boy Scouts since the 1930s, though they didn't design it. It's been referred to as a Camping Chair, a Bog Chair, an X-Chair, a Stargazer Chair, a...
View ArticleFeel the Beat: Soundbrenner creates the First Haptic Metronome
Unless you've done a deep-dive into patent history, you may not know that the creation of the metronome is originally attributed to none other than the German inventor and engineer Johann Nepomuk...
View ArticleWhat Type of Desk Does the President of the United States Use?
As each new American President moves into the White House, they have their choice of what kind of desk they'd like in the Oval Office. Not all of them stick to tradition, with some opting to swap out...
View ArticleTon Matton's Chicken Cabinet
Dutch designer Ton Matton teaches at the Wendorf Academy, a design lab in the German countryside that creates "productive urban living concepts." As raising "backyard chickens" is notoriously difficult...
View ArticleWhy MIT's New Design Program Will Get Designers a Seat at the Table
As designers we know that good design is not just a pretty rendering or a cool concept. It's a process—understand the problem, generate concepts, test concepts, repeat. Real design is a holistic,...
View ArticleInnovative Outlet-Based USB Socket Add-On is a Crowdfunding Smash
When someone's asking for 35 grand on Kickstarter but clocks half a million dollars less than a week after launching, they have our attention.Electrician-turned-entrepreneur Jeremy Smith has clearly...
View ArticleHow Dalziel + Pow Realized This Awesome Interactive Touch Wall
The branding and retail design studio Dalziel + Pow sparked some interest at London's Retail Design Expo last month with a remarkable interactive display created with conductive ink. Attendees were...
View ArticleExperimental Modular Storage Furniture
It's more of a curio cabinet than a functional piece of storage furniture, at least where space efficiency is concerned, but the ROOM Collection is nevertheless an interesting experiment. Designers...
View ArticleFun With Lava
Of mankind's many scientific endeavors—space travel, materials science, weather control—perhaps no undertaking is as important as the science of pouring lava onto stuff. Unless we can understand what...
View ArticleQuestioning Implicit Linearity
"I don't think you can design anything just by absorbing information and then hoping to synthesise it into a solution. What you need to know about the problem only becomes apparent as you're trying to...
View ArticleTonight at Curiosity Club: Karl Anderson's DIY Telephone Company
Tonight at Curiosity Club we'll learn about exercises in futility and social good with Karl Anderson! Starts 6pm at the Hand-Eye Supply store, and streaming online on the Curiosity Club homepage. At...
View ArticleHadrien Monloup on Making Super-Slim Wallets and Why Designers Should Aim for...
Name: Hadrien MonloupOccupation: Co-founder and product design director of Bellroy and CarryologyLocation: Jan Juc, Victoria, AustraliaCurrent projects: We have built a great, fast-growing wallet brand...
View ArticleAn Alternative Design Approach to Expandable Tables
"I love to design," writes Andrea Brugnera, "and I like to manufacture by myself the prototypes that I draw, getting my hands and glasses dirty. I prefer to use wood for my projects, because it spreads...
View ArticleShouldn't We Combine Amusement Parks with Fitness Centers?
A well-known American lament is that if you visit Disneyworld, you'll see just how out-of-shape we are as a country. Our obesity problem is on full display in the hordes of plump Yankees queueing up...
View ArticleIf Indiana Jones was a Klutz: Folks Trying—and Failing—to Outrun the Boulder
Zorb is the New-Zealand-based company that invented that huge inflatable ball that humans can run around inside of. At their Rotorua facility, thrill-seekers climb inside a Zorb globe filled with water...
View ArticleHigh-Level DIY Finishing Skills: Faux Marble Countertops on the Cheap
I don't know what's more impressive, that Ronda Batchelor is a stay-at-home mother of six, or that she's got some serious finishing skills. When looking into a marble countertop for her home, she was...
View ArticleA Duffle Bag for the Global Nomad
SDR Traveller, makers of high-end travel gear, recently introduced a duffle designed by Jan Chipchase, the former Executive Creative Director of Global Insights at frog and Principal Scientist at...
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