Better Design India

Changes to Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service

2012-01-28T03:51:00.001-08:00

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Dear Google user, We're getting rid of over 60 different privacy policies across Google and replacing them with one that's a lot shorter and easier to read. Our new policy covers multiple products and features, reflecting our desire to create one beautifully simple and intuitive experience across Google. We believe this stuff matters, so please take a few minutes to read our updated Privacy Policy and Terms of Service at http://www.google.com/policies. These changes will take effect on March 1, 2012.
One policy, one Google experience

Easy to work across Google Our new policy reflects a single product experience that does what you need, when you want it to. Whether you're reading an email that reminds you to schedule a family get-together or finding a favorite video that you want to share, we want to ensure you can move across Gmail, Calendar, Search, YouTube, or whatever your life calls for with ease.	Tailored for you If you're signed into Google, we can do things like suggest search queries – or tailor your search results – based on the interests you've expressed in Google+, Gmail, and YouTube. We'll better understand which version of Pink or Jaguar you're searching for and get you those results faster.	Easy to share and collaborate When you post or create a document online, you often want others to see and contribute. By remembering the contact information of the people you want to share with, we make it easy for you to share in any Google product or service with minimal clicks and errors.

Protecting your privacy hasn't changed Our goal is to provide you with as much transparency and choice as possible, through products like Google Dashboard and Ads Preferences Manager, alongside other tools. Our privacy principles remain unchanged. And we'll never sell your personal information or share it without your permission (other than rare circumstances like valid legal requests).	Got questions? We've got answers. Visit our FAQ at http://www.google.com/policies/faq to read more about the changes. (We figured our users might have a question or twenty-two.)

Notice of Change March 1, 2012 is when the new Privacy Policy and Terms will come into effect. If you choose to keep using Google once the change occurs, you will be doing so under the new Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. Please do not reply to this email. Mail sent to this address cannot be answered. Also, never enter your Google Account password after following a link in an email or chat to an untrusted site. Instead, go directly to the site, such as mail.google.com or www.google.com/accounts. Google will never email you to ask for your password or other sensitive information.

Yanko Design - Latest Posts

2010-02-25T09:08:00.001-08:00

Yanko Design - Latest Posts

The Spicy Hug Of Yin And Yang
9 Spots For Your Eye
Entertain Yourself: Sony BRAVIA NX800 3D HDTV
Ambient Lights Get Powered By Nothing
Hawking on Table
Drink More Ink
The Headphones that Captured All

The Spicy Hug Of Yin And Yang

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 03:26 AM PST

There is nothing more comforting than a warm hug from your mother. It's the most natural form of reassurance, and metaphorically speaking, an embrace can help us conquer our fears and achieve aspirations. My point is that a hug says a lot about human emotions, be it a bear hug or side-shoulder embrace. Depicting this raw gesture is the Hug Salt & Pepper Shakers delightful with a zing. Because when viewed from above, they also resembles Yin & Yang!

Designer: Alberto Mantilla [ Buy it Here, Hug Salt & Pepper Shakers is available for $24 @ YD Store ]

Hug Salt & Pepper Shakers is available for $24 @ YD Store

9 Spots For Your Eye

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 02:26 AM PST

The Motion Global Eye by China Telecom aims to create a humanistic platform for the vision impaired, one that will enable them to interact with today’s modern technologies in a much more natural and intuitive way. The devices has 9 points and a central guide. This setup mimics today’s most commonly used key input – the alphanumeric keypad. The unusual feature is the video recording capability. I’m curious as to what a blind person might record.

Designers: Shanghai Research Institute of China Telecom Corporation Limited

Entertain Yourself: Sony BRAVIA NX800 3D HDTV

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 02:07 AM PST

In this first of a three-part series called “Entertain Yourself”, I’m going to put together a quick and dirty home entertainment center out of three products I’ve reviewed earlier this year. Mind you, this won’t please the hardcore video or audiophile. I wanted products that seamlessly balance industrial design with home entertainment and as designers, we all know that’s how the general consumer perceives products. I call it utilitarian sex and first up is the stunning BRAVIA NX800 HDTV from Sony.

Designer: Sony (Buy it here)

My first introduction to the BRAVIA NX800 was thru a little video Sony produced about the auspicious design and the designers themselves. A brief glimpse into Sony’s Japanese headquarters and short interviews with the surprisingly young group of designers served its purpose by changing my mind about a company whom I once thought was extremely long in the tooth. These young people spoke of revision and change, admittingly taking responsibility for Sony’s lackluster design in the past decade. They saw 2010 as an opportunity to change everything. This time, they would define their own agenda. Instead of playing catch-up to other first rate brands, Sony would forge ahead with what they once dominated the ID landscape with; slick Japanese electronic design.

The NX800 is the first of many products to embrace this new design aesthetic Sony calls Monolithic. Think tall, sleek, angular, and statuesque. There’s nothing organic about it. It’s meant to stand in opposition to everything else around it. Love it or hate it, it draws you in. This is the first time in a long time where I’ve felt Sony has a win. This isn’t like anything else on the market. It doesn’t look like LG, Samsung, Vizio, Toshiba or Apple. This is uniquely Sony.

This is a good thing. Sony has always had great technology but they could never find a way to package it in a compelling way. Designed to create a remarkable sense of space, the 52″ NX800 has an innovative six-degree tilt, so you can position the TV at lower levels. Mounting on walls is so passe now. The entire screen is Edge LED backlight providing instant on/off. The latest BRAVIA Engine lives up to its reputation by delivering incredibly saturated imagery rich in detail and color. The 240Hz screen means action oriented imagery never “ghosts” or blurs as the refresh rate attempts to compensate. It’s all crystal clear, like glass.

Having a razor sharp screen isn’t enough these days. All the major manufactures now share their panel tech and just slap on buzz words to make it all sound alluring. To be successful you’ve got to embrace where digital entertainment is moving towards – the internet.

It’s got built in Wi-Fi and with your in-home broadband connection, you can access online content from Netflix, Slacker Radio, and YouTube. Although widgets are old news for computers – they’re new for TV’s. The NX800 lets you watch programs with multiple widgets open and arrange them however you want.

Spec wise it’s loaded. To name a few, full 1080p, 5.1 channel audio out, 16:9 aspect ratio, XMB interface, and of course the Sony logo illuminates. The one really interesting feature is “3D enabled”. Trade shows were abuzz this year with talks of 3D televisions. We’re getting close to the stage where imagery is beginning to move away from flat two dimensional representation. Of course it’s all an illusion and with the NX800, you’ll need Sony 3D glasses to get the effect. It may seem like a gimmicky feature but it shows Sony is serious about the future and this time, they will not be left behind. You can read the full specs here.

I’ve looked at upcoming panels from LG, Samsung, Toshiba, Sharp, and JVC. None of them resonate with me like the NX800 does. The TV stand by itself has more engineering in it than meets the eye. Most TV stands are a plasticky afterthought. This one holds up the display like a gigantic picture frame yet it’s delicate enough to adjust with a gentle touch, and touch is the name of the game here. There are no tactile buttons. All controls are embedded into the screen bezel which seamlessly blends into the frame. As you graze the glass-like surface, the controls illuminate as if they’re breathing life. It shows extreme attention to detail. Kudos Sony.

So now I’ve got my awesome TV. What’s next? Speakers! Watch out for part two of the “Entertain Yourself” series. Cheers!

Ambient Lights Get Powered By Nothing

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 01:00 AM PST

Well almost nothing. Here's how the deal works: you have a multiple socket strip and probably using up all the sockets to power your gadgets. Its switched on and you keep forgetting to unplug or switch off the unused gadget from the strip and waste energy. With the Saving Energy Multitap, the so called wasted energy is no longer wasted….it gets sucked up to power this set of cool looking touch-sensitive ambient lights on the wall. The job of these ambient lights is to subtly remind you that you need to power off buddy!

The video of the working prototype convinces me that this is a neat idea!

Designers: Dong Hoon Han, Hwa Yong Shin & Dong Jin Shin

Hawking on Table

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 12:10 AM PST

I dare you to decipher that clever two-level title. I dare you. The project I’m about to talk about is called the “Continuum Table,” and it’s really great. It’s made out of chromed steel and folds in space-time. Actually that’s what it’s informed by. Yes, the Continuum Table is inspired by models of space-time in which “spaghetti-like structures form an invisible network of fold of space and time in our universe.” What do you say to something like that? You look at it heavily and give it a thumbs up.

Look at that monster. It’s just spectacular. It’s got all these statistics too:
Designer: Jason Phillips (United States)
Manufacturer: The Phillips Collection (United States)
Inspired By: the space-time-continuum
Material: chromed steel and 3/4
Colors: Metallic/Clear
Dimension: 96×42x30″h
Price: available upon request

So what do you think about that? I think it’s pretty. I don’t know how I’d clean the dust off of it though. Maybe it would be really fun! Also I imagine that if I owned a lot of birds, they would enjoy it.

Designer: Jason Phillips

Drink More Ink

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 12:04 AM PST

No don’t do that! Only the plant should! No not that plant! This one! This is a plant that’s inside a pen, and it isn’t even alive. Except in your imagination. This is a concept design from Igor Lobanov would have you believe that not only do plants live inside pens just fine, even in the dark, but that also they can live on ink. That’s crazy talk! What are you even saying! Just let it sit there in the inkwell for a little bit and experience the magic.

Yes siree, this plant basically inflates with ink. The containment plant inside the bulk of the pen acts the same basic way a vacuum cleaner does, inflating as it takes in more ink. The ink is inserted through the tip as it sits resting in the inkwell, and as the blue ink fills up the yellow plant, it becomes a more natural green.

How spiffy!

Designer: Igor Lobanov

The Headphones that Captured All

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 12:03 AM PST

Hey so I know you want to capture everything that you experience. Wait you don’t? Then don’t read this. You’ll get all mad probably. This is a concept design about a set of wireless headphones that also have a 10.1 megapixel digi-cam on one side and a digital image projector on the side. You can capture your world all the time and put that stuff on the internet right away. Instantly.

Here’s basically the manifesto of this project: Support the act of exploration by giving people better tools. Deepen image’s meaning by supoprting as much information as possible. Bring people together by enabling individuals to express themselves.

There’s all kinds of wireless going on with this project. It’s got P2P, automatic backup into your computer, and instant wireless uploading to the internets. And! And! With the projector, you can project as you record. How useless is that? Not at all. I need people to know what they look like.

*Don’t forget to look at that really, just, good looking, guy at the bottom of this post.

**Lookin good, guy.

Designer: William Gerwin

Yanko Design - Latest Posts

2010-02-24T09:39:00.001-08:00

Yanko Design

Yanko Design - Latest Posts

Breakfast In Bed Or Anywhere
Lighting The Oceans With Wave Power
Shopping That Leads To Recycling And Better Living
Sands Of Light
Hydromagnificence on Two Wheels
A Fusion of Flower Framework
Steppy Steppy Clean

Breakfast In Bed Or Anywhere

Posted: 24 Feb 2010 04:37 AM PST

Breakfast in bed or at Tiffany's, it doesn't matter anymore because the adorable Downtown Breakfast Set is what me wants! The modular tray (conceals the lithium-ion battery within) elegantly carries a pad-based coffeemaker, milk foamer, and toaster and is meant to be placed just about anywhere. Question is, what about the ingredients like bread slices, preserves etc. Need to figure out how to make this handier that it already is. But I love this idea!

Designer: studioMEM

Lighting The Oceans With Wave Power

Posted: 24 Feb 2010 01:22 AM PST

The Wavelight concept coverts mechanical energy captured by ocean waves into electrical energy to illuminate a series of LED lamps. Each lamp is tethered to its neighbor with a weight anchored to the sea floor. The lights are designed to attract attention for rescue operations or to warn passing ships to steer clear. A very intriguing design but are LEDs powerful enough? What happens if the anchor isn’t long enough to reach the sea floor?

Designers: Zhang Yakun, He Siqian, Zhu Ningning, Chen Chen & Mu Zhiwei

Shopping That Leads To Recycling And Better Living

Posted: 24 Feb 2010 01:15 AM PST

Quick question: How many of us think about product life and recycling Before we buy any items? I belong to the group that said “I don’t”, and yes I am ashamed. Luckily for us Philips is developing a concept where product life, recycling methods, shopping environment and client needs are taken into consideration. Welcome to the Circle of Life, featuring a creative shopping environment that considers the product life cycle with recycling options….all before you make the purchase.

Philips Design Explains:

Circle of Life is a concept for a truly informed and heightened shopping experience, where old products are returned, recycled and re-used, and where new products are assembled on-site and co-created with the customer. In a closed loop that ends at ‘Ownership’, but starts with ‘Recycling’, it delives responsible goods as well as meeting the customer’s needs.

For the moment there may not be much substance to this concept, but I’m sure since biggie Philips is involved here, we can expect this or something similar popping up in the future.

Designer: Philips Design

Sands Of Light

Posted: 24 Feb 2010 01:00 AM PST

The notion of time slipping through our fingers is well represented by the sand timer, but how about light slipping through? This effect is captured by the Lime Light – Solar Fled Lamp and is well depicted by the tiny glass bulbs that refract light as they cascade down the hourglass and illuminate the room. The clock is ticking….glass balls fall through to the bottom half, and when they run out…the lamp switches off. Elegant and with a strong message to conserve. Time (light) is running out….

Designer: Seichi Tomari

Hydromagnificence on Two Wheels

Posted: 24 Feb 2010 12:12 AM PST

Welcome to one magnificent looking BMW concept bike. It’s white, it’s blue, it’s black, it’s beautiful, and it’s hydrogen powered. That’s for realzies. Executed by several students of the ISD of Valenciennes (France), made lovely by a vision for the ecological future of motorbikes. Technologies abound, the “BMW HP Kunst” employs a cryogenic hydrogen tank, battery Li-Po, electronical brakes and controls, and electromagnetic suspensions.

These lovely designers position this bike in the HP range of BMW Motorrad, combining what they call the “player temperament” of the supermotard and the sportivity of a roadster. Asymmetry, dynamism, and one fantastic overall look. I’d do it.

Technic :
- Aluminium frame, tubular parts in steel and carbon parts
- Brushless engine 100kw
- Fuel cell
- Cryogenic hydrogen tank (capacity 20L)
- Battery Li-Po
- Electronical brakes and controls
- Electromagnetic suspensions

Designer: Arik Schwarz, Benoît Czyz, Charles Edouard Berche, and Vincent Montreuil

A Fusion of Flower Framework

Posted: 24 Feb 2010 12:03 AM PST

Not so much to keep the flower upright, but to keep it alive! It is two in one. It is the most basic brilliance, the most simplistic, smart design – two of hearts, two hearts that beat as one! In this case, two bits of pottery, made one. Instead of there being a pot with a hole or holes below it being held by a saucer that would hold water, it’s both of those things in one piece! Take a peek and drip a little dribble.

Just pour, step back, and appreciate. That’s how simple it is to use this new fabulousness. A large amount of water can be held by this new pot cuff, water that can then be absorbed at any rate the plant chooses through its roots. That’s how nature works! Very nice.

Material: Terracotta
 Size: 320×260x270 mm 

Designer: Uli Budde

Steppy Steppy Clean

Posted: 24 Feb 2010 12:02 AM PST

How many showers do you know that’r self-sufficient? None! Except what, what is this? A shower that powers itself! It’s called the “Eco Shower,” designed by Paul Frigout, and it’s rather steppy. Steppy, you’ve got to move your feet to make it work. As you step, you generate the power you need to make the water go woosh! As water flows through a turbine in the showerhead, electricity is produced, energy that’s used then to heat the water. Then there’s the blocks…

The blocks that make up the floor of the shower depress as the user stands upon them. As each block is depressed, a metallic cylinder appears through the center. As that cylinder arrives, the foot reacts, making you kind of do a dance, lifting and lowering your feet, pressure pumps water to the showerhead.

The shower does not use ceramic, as ceramic is evil and cannot be recycled – instead, Ice Stone is used, a product made of recycled glass, concrete, and steel.

Designer: Paul Frigout

Yanko Design - Latest Posts

2010-02-23T09:08:00.001-08:00

Yanko Design - Latest Posts

Time Shant Stop Until We Reach…
Smart Street Lights Know How To Bloom
It’s Not Rollercircle, It’s 3D!
Made to Light You Up
Robot Lovers, Spike Jonze, and Absolut
Touch The Whale Tail
Sit On The Canadian Flag
Pencil Printer Part Two

Time Shant Stop Until We Reach…

Posted: 23 Feb 2010 03:45 AM PST

Equilibrium! Yes, until all scales are equal, all minds at rest, every video program recorded to VHS cassette, time must go on! And if you want to know where it is, where it was, and where it’s going, you’re gonna need a watch! And what better watch to slap on your wrist at a time like this than the “Equilibrium Watch” from Projects Design. It’s got all the creative time display you need.

Inspired by the artificial horizon instruments in the cockpit of an aircraft, the Equilibrium Watch has an aesthetic all its own. It’s quite simple to read once the wearer understands the simple sense of it all: that being the tiny circle in the center to show the seconds, the next largest circle with the smallest red dot showing minutes, and the largest showing hours.

Designers: Projects Design [ Buy it Here Equilibrium Watch ($95) is available @ YD Store ]

See how this watch displays time:

Equilibrium Watch ($95) is available @ YD Store

Smart Street Lights Know How To Bloom

Posted: 23 Feb 2010 03:44 AM PST

The street lights in my area have a mind of their own and flicker into life on whim. So when I hear of concepts like the Sustainable City Lights, it makes me go green with envy. It's not asking too much for an intelligent lighting system that harnesses the solar and wind energy for itself. Lampposts intuitive enough to beam up the LEDs only when people are around, else emit a soft glow! Ah, Wishful Thinking

Adapting itself to the environment, Sustainable City Lights mimic the opening and closing of a flower bud while harvesting the energies. Any surplus accumulated goes back to the main grid for powering other city things…

Designer: Philips Design

It’s Not Rollercircle, It’s 3D!

Posted: 23 Feb 2010 03:24 AM PST

It’s called “Rollersphere,” and it’s coming to run you the heck over! I would not get in the way of this one, let me tell you that. I’d mostly expect it to be the work of otherworldly being if I saw it rolling smoothly down the highway. What the heck! Let’s have a little discussion about it! It’s designed by Krasimir Emilov Asenov out of Bulgaria and it’s dependent on electricity. Not just one electrical engine, but several, each of them powered by an accumulator battery and a nice new solar energy system.

Woo doggy can you imagine going over some large ramps in this? I don’t know what would happen. I do know the potential for this is fast. The accumulator batter and solar energy system work in concert like this, there’s a folio of solar sensitive cells on the outside that collect power, supplying it then to the electrical engines. Seem simple enough? Oh that’ll be no problem I bet!

The vehicle moves on a kind of tire mechanism. This mechanism is based on a “speed track system” which means that many treads, each of them covered in elastic, flexible, and strong material, work together to make the car rock and roll.

On the other hand, the designer notes that the vehicle could also employ driving-belts alternatively, making it possible to rotate around the vertical access of the vehicle.

It’s all based on a gyroscopic system, the handling to be handled by joystick. When the driver wants to go left, the vehicle tips (or bends) in left, to go right, the vehicle bends (or tips) right. Just like one of those speedy motorcycles on the fast track.

As for landing after a huge jump — this vehicle does have shock absorbers. The materials used in creating the vehicle will be light, materials like carbon or titanium, so the cage must be strong. The bones must be strong if the skin is soft, you see? The guts (you) must be kept safe.

Also, just for kicks, there are also furrows on either side of the vehicle so that it might some day run on tracks, like a modern day train system.

Designer: Krasimir Emilov Asenov

Made to Light You Up

Posted: 23 Feb 2010 02:54 AM PST

This particular design is called the “Grass Lamp.” It’s designed by Marko Vuckovic to bring warmth into your environment through the fabulously cunning combination of cool human design with natures lovely natural elements. Same word. Its huge, yet discreet. Grows grass, yet it’s PVC. Only light will tell. It’s difficult to display anything other than flowers inside a home, items that are meant to remain outside. And yet, here it is! A rather magnificent display for grass!

On the wall it goes, to refine the space it goes is where it goes. It goes there, and it does that. The Grass lamp helps the grass grow with its light, and lightens the room at the same time.

Made of light PVC plastic material with thin walls, its inside reserved for soil, water, and yes, grass.

Designer: Marko Vuckovic

Robot Lovers, Spike Jonze, and Absolut

Posted: 23 Feb 2010 01:30 AM PST

Lovers of indy video, robot heads, and the masterful mind of master director Spike Jonze, you’re in for a treat. Spike Jonze has created a short film, “I’m Here,” about how enriched a life can become having been introduced to creativity – in a female robot. It’s the story of the male robot librarian who is gaining this enriched life, the adventurous, free spirited lady robot who helps him, and a little bit of music too! Moonrats to the rescue!

Well check it out: one member of the Moonrats, Aska Matsumiya, along with Yeah Yeah Yeah’s guitarist Nick Zinner, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ bassist Flea, and bookstore owner* David Kramer form a fake band that go by the title The Lost Trees. In this movie they play a song called “There Are Many of Us”, written and sung by Matsumiya, that incidentally is also for sale already on iTunes.

*David Kramer owns lovely bookshop “Family” in the LA, CA area, where the characters in this film “I’m Here” play out their lives. You’ll notice the famous Absolut Vodka copyright information on the trailer here because they were kind enough to make this whole project possible.

Find out more about this project soon at http://www.absolut.com/uk and watch the trailer on YouTube or below, then take note at the amazing news for all you UK residents out there:

The global on-line release of this film is March 1st, 2010, but it’ll be shown several times the week before, with a splash of drink!

Thursday 25th Feb

Somewhere in central London…
1st Screening 19.00hrs
2nd Screening 20.45hrs

Friday 26th Feb

Somewhere in central Manchester…
1st Screening 19.00hrs
2nd Screening 20.45hrs

Saturday 27th Feb

Somewhere in central Edinburgh…
1st Screening 19.00hrs
2nd Screening 20.45hrs

There’s two viewings per night, and a couple glasses of Absolut after each. But you need tickets! You can get those on the official I’m Here/Absolut site: http://absolut.com/uk/imhere/events, which isn’t quite open yet but will be soon.

Designer: Spike Jonze

Touch The Whale Tail

Posted: 23 Feb 2010 01:14 AM PST

I have this awesome yet odd fascination with whales. There’s a majesty about them you can’t quite touch so I live vicariously thru cetacean inspired design. The Whale Humidifier doesn’t do anything extraordinary but it’s in the shape of a whale for godsakes! That’s an automatic win in my book. The touch sensitive tail activates the device and as expected, steam comes out of the blowhole. A hoi hoi!

Designer: Arthur Xin

Sit On The Canadian Flag

Posted: 23 Feb 2010 01:06 AM PST

To celebrate the 2010 Winter Games, Ligne Roset and Livingspace collabed (not a real word but using it anyways) on the “Ottoman”. Well that’s a straight forward name. If you look real close, the two-toned 100% wool piece has contrast stitching highlighting the familiar maple leaf. Yay Canada!

Tho it celebrates the winter games, it won’t be available until the summer which is a bit odd.

Designer: Ligne Roset and Livingspace

Pencil Printer Part Two

Posted: 23 Feb 2010 12:02 AM PST

The refined Pencil Printer part II comes with detailed explanations and a better understand of saving the environment from paper trash and permanency of Ink! In here we see how the lead shavings feed the cartridge toner and prints effortlessly on paper. Mistakes are easily erased, and once the crappy memo is done with…you can erase all the gibberish and re-use the paper. A true test of erasing skills!

Designers: Hoyoung Lee, Seunghwa Jeong & Jin-young Yoon

Yanko Design - Latest Posts

2010-02-22T09:09:00.001-08:00

Yanko Design - Latest Posts

Doomed Table
Do Origami For Play
Cooking Up The Eco Greens
Eiffel Broom & Vroom!
Not a Tiny Airplane – On the Ground
Fear of Laundry

Doomed Table

Posted: 22 Feb 2010 01:44 AM PST

Most often designers produce encores, totally diminishing the meaning of exclusive and limited editions. This Table Will Self Destruct is a series of tables that are so unique and will not go into second productions. The top of the table is structured as a grid of concrete pixels, so with each new piece one pixel is removed from the design, thus following the rules of self-destruction! Mass production and handmade craftsmanship are both addressed with this design…it will be in production until the shape is no longer practical.

Total pixels removed: 33

Designers: Donna Piacenza & Jody Work [ Buy it Here, This Table Will Self Destruct ($980) is available @ YD Store ]

This Table Will Self Destruct ($980) is available at @ YD Store

Do Origami For Play

Posted: 22 Feb 2010 01:43 AM PST

The unique part of the PLAY MP3 Player is the way it works. It functions by either folding or sliding. To play the music, fold the player into half to form the icon ” ▶”. To rewind the music, slide one of pieces to make icon ” ▶▶”. To stop the music, unfold the play triangle to a square or ” ■ “. PLAY MP3 Player most definitely adds a new dimension in MP3 designs! What do you think?

Designers: Jun Pyo Kim, Keun Sol Kim, Sung Mi Kang & Joo Hee Park

Cooking Up The Eco Greens

Posted: 22 Feb 2010 01:23 AM PST

The Green Cuisine takes inspiration from the Japanese Teppanyaki steakhouse style of cooking and serving. Hosts and guest get comfy in the cooking area where preparation and consumption form the part of the eco-routine. Food is cooked in appliances like the Healthy Steamer, Smart Kettle & Cups, and Cooking Modules, that work together on an interactive Kitchen Table. The integrated performance indicator monitors and displays energy consumption, giving you a fair idea of how Green you have been!

The bottom line: with this futuristic kitchen you can reduce energy consumption and optimize waste management. Philips will dish out the details on questions like “How will this work?”, much later!

Designer: Philips Design

Eiffel Broom & Vroom!

Posted: 22 Feb 2010 01:14 AM PST

Ah! Only if Harry Potter could use this for Quidditch, but a rounded broom won't help him fly higher or faster. It will merely help him catch all the cobwebs and dust from his quarters in the Gryffindor dorm. Now that the House Elves like Dobby have Hermione's support… it's the Eiffel Broom, as the next gift for Harry and Ron!

Designers: Min Seok Song & Jung Gi Seo

Not a Tiny Airplane – On the Ground

Posted: 22 Feb 2010 12:02 AM PST

Let me explain first the title: a single-engine Cessna is a type of small airplane, while this project is called “VESNA”, and is an auto that stays flat on the ground. But it’s fantastic! The Vesna is a single-seat electric car. The body of this car is made entirely of a single piece of natural resin with built-in wiring. How wild is that?

The wheels in the front go round and round. They also take the form of a reinforced, perforated rubber belt affixed to the electric motor. They also have an offset center of rotation. And they work with MAGNETS!

The motor is non-synchronous and runs on direct current with high-powered permanent magnets. The motor works with a geared cylinder with teeth matching apertures in the belt tire. Regenerative breaking x mechanical breaking. Steering via “edistribution of torque and braking on the leading wheels, depending on how the steering wheel is turned.”

The rear wheel is even more wild. Even more. The rear wheel? It’s a reinforced-rubber sphere. Fastened to a suspension clip that’s got four pedals, each of which contains a roller for free rotation of the sphere. Breaks and assisted steering work on this as well, as each clip is also connected to the main electrical system.

Refueling of this amazing machine happens via the network of wires that, when the vehicle is parked on it’s special “electro-floor”, connect to a working electric channel which connects to sockets that you can plug in using your regular electric plugs.

So simpo!

Designer: Kristina Magnitskaya

Fear of Laundry

Posted: 22 Feb 2010 12:01 AM PST

I don’t know anyone who intentionally LOVES doing the laundry in their life, be it for their self or for their loved ones, and goodness forbid they enjoy doing it for an employer of theirs. But there it is. Laundry. And it has to be done! The designer of the subject matter contained in this post: the “Laundring” laundry machine, has some information of rather more important than just -having to do it- concern, and thus says that’ll be taken care of by this lovely concoction!

Yes indeed, designer Shang-Che Wu relays information that renters in the area Wu designs who share washing machines with strangers are worried about the bacteria that flies around inside of the machine may cause infections through underwear. But. They simply do not have time to use the next best alternative means: hand washing.

Then came Laundring! This amalgamation uses pedals to drive a coaxial bi-directional rotating machanism that generates high cleaning two-way flow to clean all dirty laundries. It saves time, strength, and energy that’d normally be used by hand-washing, not to mention irritated hands and the dreaded wrinkle-fingers.

And! And! It could be used by renters in no-machine areas to avoid the laundromat down the street. Unless of course they’re into that sort of thing.

Designer: Shang-Che Wu

Yanko Design - Latest Posts

2010-02-19T09:17:00.001-08:00

Yanko Design - Latest Posts

Tab The Power Strip
Best Of Two Watch Worlds
Chaos in Clothes Hanging
A Bike Who Hates Lowriding
Is it One Chair, or is it More?
Friday Giveaway: Tweet And Win Three Vino Arielle Wine Aerator

Tab The Power Strip

Posted: 19 Feb 2010 02:44 AM PST

What a zippy world it would be if we had designs like the Multi-Tab Power Strip fitted in our homes. This crazy thang takes aid of pictogram and energy efficient LED lights to help you keep a track of your hooked up gadgets. Unwanted tabs and sockets easily detach with a tug-up on the tab! Users can configure the power strip with as many or as few outlets required. And that's about it…get adding and detaching, now will ya!

Designer: Soon Mo Kang

Best Of Two Watch Worlds

Posted: 19 Feb 2010 01:00 AM PST

Men are greedy and want only the best, so Designer Josh gives into their whims, by designing a classy Digital Analog Watch. The watchface hosts a modern digital display but still functions like a traditional analog watch. Details like date, day of the week, AM/PM are focused to the center. The AM/PM option switches to the seconds counter and a magnetic wrist band secures the watch around the wrist. Josh is all smiles coz his design has been picked by Cadence Watch Company and will go into production soon. Bravo!

Designer: Josh Chadwick

Chaos in Clothes Hanging

Posted: 19 Feb 2010 12:10 AM PST

Hello outlines! This is the hanger you’ve got to have. It’s fanciful! It’s just a riot. It plays on the chaos of clothing hanging on a chair. For really. The form this design takes is that of a clothing hanger or a human shoulder. It’s called the “Siluet.” They’re for organizing or throwing clothing about (on top.) Store your clothings up on this.

I think you’d be best to buy or attain through theft about five of these and set them up there along your big long empty wall, where on each of them you put a different shirt. Can you say week planned out? Yessir.

Designer: Stephanie Estoppey

A Bike Who Hates Lowriding

Posted: 19 Feb 2010 12:09 AM PST

Lemme do a quiz on you, bikers. How well do you love gravity? Not? I really hate it man, it’s terrible. So here’s the thing: you’re in luck. There’s a bike right here that defies it. Like a standard rebel. It’s called “Flying Bike” and it’s quite the magnetic levitator. By using the impetus of the bicycle, power is generated and magnetism brings the back of the bike up, up, up, until the gear is literally in the center of the back wheel, unconnected by anything other than the powers of the magnet.

The the magnet is strong! Kinetic energy brings the back of the bike upward as speed increases. This allows for decreased wind resistance and absorption of impact from bumps, stones, squirrels, etc.

But wait, isn’t that a sort of gear situation I see on the back wheel? Does that become dissipated once the bike goes fast enough to lift off the ground? Yes! There is a point where the force changes. This is similar to what happens in the front, but with a much smaller gear.

The biker’s gonna have to get used to this sort of situation.

Flying’s always a sort of “learning experience.”

Designers: Hoyoung Lee, Youngwoo Park, and Jungmin Park

Is it One Chair, or is it More?

Posted: 19 Feb 2010 12:02 AM PST

There is more! But there is also one. It is like a spore. A good spore! As the designer Jie-Jyun Lyu says, those who live in a small apartment like to have few pieces of furniture. But when too many people come over, you’ve gotta have more! So you need an amazing chair device such as this, one that’s both a single chair, but a bunch of shoot-off chairs that work just as nicely as the original. But with less bumps.

Each cushion chair combines to become Voltron, which is really big awesome and comfortably powerful. But as you know, when Voltron is apart, it’s five lions instead of just one big dude. That’s what this design is!

It’s the “Shair.” And as an added bonus: when the chairs are down off the frame, the frame becomes a rack for all your guests coats, hats, and whatever else they’ve decided to take off.

Designer: Jie-Jyun Lyu

Friday Giveaway: Tweet And Win Three Vino Arielle Wine Aerator

Posted: 19 Feb 2010 12:00 AM PST

We have discussed the Vino Arielle and its benefits on YD and now it's time to give you Three…For Free! To say that we expect you to do NOTHING in return would be So False! We need you to tweet "Vino Arielle: Instant Aeration, Fuller Flavor, Better Aroma, Best Wine Aerator. Follow @Yanko Design retweet http://bit.ly/ahqc8I to win one of the three". To refresh your memory on how this thing works, take a peek ahead…

vino arielle™ is designed based on the principle of fluid mechanics, intelligently introducing the ideal amount of air into your wine through a seemingly simple yet precisely calculated mechanism. It is also made from food-grade plastic materials.

1. When wine is poured through, the filter serves to retain and remove any sediments in the wine resulting in purer wine and also act as the first aeration process.

2. As wine flows through the openings on the filter, the right amount of air is drawn through the centre shaft of the aerator into the mixing chamber thereby oxygenating the wine.

3. Vortices are then formed as the wine exit the aerator and these bubbles will aerate the wine for the second time.

You can buy one here at the YD Store or Tweet and Win!

Contest Ends: February 21st, 11:59 pm PST

Yanko Design - Latest Posts

2010-02-18T09:36:00.001-08:00

Yanko Design - Latest Posts

Totally Oinked By The Coink!
It’s All About Picturesque Music
Modular Living On Barcelona’s River
When DuPont Corian Married Fashion
Chairs from Space
Get Hexy
Big City Full of Electric Bikes

Totally Oinked By The Coink!

Posted: 18 Feb 2010 02:21 AM PST

One of the most effervescent styles in personalized banking is the trusty Piggy Bank. Some have it for real Dimes 'n Dollar savings; others keep it for pure novelty reasons. I for one, could never manage to save a single penny; yes I'm guilty of being a spendthrift! So if you're still into home savings or want to teach your kids how to; this ceramic COINK Piggy Bank is the way to go. Its neatness-quotient comes from the wide mouth that allows you to empty your pockets faster; withdrawals are also from that same wide mouth!

Designer: Scott Henderson [ Buy it Here, COINK Piggy Bank is available for $36 @ YD Store ]

COINK Piggy Bank is available for $36 @ YD Store

It’s All About Picturesque Music

Posted: 18 Feb 2010 02:06 AM PST

If listening to music isn't soothing enough, then how about teaming it with some nature-scape? The Sound Scape system does just that. The system beams out relaxing images (via the LED projector located in the circle) of clouds, water and other "nature-beauty" stuff. The size of the projected image can be customized via the sensor parameters that accompany the system. Basically it focuses on making you happy with visual treats, when you play some music.

Designers: Hyunsoo Choi, Hyori, Kim & Gisung Han

Modular Living On Barcelona’s River

Posted: 18 Feb 2010 01:37 AM PST

The focus of this project is to have happy homes across the fluvial surroundings of Barcelona. Self-efficient loft units measuring 45m2 that are solar-powered and completely energy self-efficient, look pleasant enough to dot the landscape. The basic premise is to use one single multi-purpose open space which gets partitioned into the kitchen, living room, bedroom, bathroom and a deck. It has a studio apartment vibe, albeit on the river. Proposed to be sold at 80.000 € / unit, it's a playground for the rich and famous!

Designers: Toni Clariana, Magma Design & Enoc Armengol

When DuPont Corian Married Fashion

Posted: 18 Feb 2010 01:02 AM PST

In the wicked mind of designer James Thompson, this marriage is the perfect platform to explore the possibilities of fashion accessories, namely rings and awesome pendants. The unlikely twist comes in the form of titanium as the metallic base. Hand crafted and a far cry from the Haoshi X Rings that Long Tran reviewed, tell me which ones are more your style? The Black Badger or the Haoshi X?

Photo © Hans Stålhandske

Designer: James Thompson for Black Badger Advanced Composites

Chairs from Space

Posted: 18 Feb 2010 12:10 AM PST

Welcome to chairs… in… space! This bit of furniture is called “Invasion Chair” and it’s designed by none other than Jean-Jacques Jungers for MT4 Architects. It’s from space. It’s meant to investigate the limits between “abstraction, figuration, and functionality.” For the greatness of Surrealism. Colorful, changeable cushions, two different sizes (child and adult), and an alien physique make for a rather dream-invading seat.

Made for adults and kiddies.

The adult model’s made to be an anthropomorphic science fiction sculpture.

The child version, a toy and a protector.

Designer: Jean-Jacques Jungers for MT4 Architects

Get Hexy

Posted: 18 Feb 2010 12:10 AM PST

Welcome to the nest. It’s not a bird’s nest. It’s a nest for hexes. And when I say hexes I mean lights. Made in order to remind the user of home, where the heart is, where one can truly relax. Like a home whose components are all plug-and-play, the frame acts as the gopher holes, and the hexagon-shaped lights like the gophers. But hanging from the ceiling. And each hole makes the bulb burn brighter.

Slap those hexagons right in the hexagons. Each of the holes makes a different result. And as you can see, they’re all good! Find a fabulous larger room in your house or office or amazing building from whens you serve fabulous foods.

Designer: Hsiso-Yuan Huang

Big City Full of Electric Bikes

Posted: 18 Feb 2010 12:04 AM PST

This project is about an amazing set of bikes designerd by L.H.C. the fantastic pro student. Leigh Hendrik Cosentino is a student at Monash University. Not just another bike project – this one’s a bit electric. It addresses storage space, weather resistance and alternate efficient power, lightness and accessibility of a human powered vehicle and visual appeal of a small car. What in the perfect?

One rider. Semi-recumbent seating arrangement. As all you recumbent riders know, that frees up the legs a lot and allows for more airflow around the rider. Speaking of that, there’s vents at the bottom underside of the cabin, bringing in that circulation. That air then escapes via vents under the top fin.

Telescoping steering for users of all sizes. Steering tightness made for packed streets and tight car parks. Shaped so four can fit in a single car space. Boarding and un-boarding done via a hydraulically controlled vertical tilting door opening a big ol’ entry space. Or you could just jump in using the grab handles.

Generic wall plug for charging through all the normal plug locations. The tilting mechanism is also maintains stability while turning. Made for leaning.

Forward and rear LED lighting for that most amazing left and right signaling ability as well as night biking. Indicator lights places above the front wheel arches for 360 degrees of visibility.

And it’s relatively cheap to produce.

And with all that flat open real-estate on the sides, it’s gonna be perfect for promotions.

– AND IT’S MADE OF GOLD. AND IT’S FROM OUTER SPACE!

Designer: Leigh Hendrik Cosentino

Yanko Design - Latest Posts

2010-02-17T09:14:00.001-08:00

Yanko Design - Latest Posts

Radiator Mug For Cold Hands
Only Photogenic Pictures Please
While You Were Trying To Get Some Sleep On The Bus…
Happy Rested Feet
Un Capsize Able
How to Keep The Nose
A Knee-t Crutch on Wheels

Radiator Mug For Cold Hands

Posted: 17 Feb 2010 03:49 AM PST

There is a reason why this coffee mug is called the Radiator Mug, the bottom fins (called heat sinks) take inspiration from the radiator mechanics found within the PC or an engine, to keep things cool. Likewise these ceramic fins eliminate the need for a handle and keep your hands cool while holding a steaming cuppa coffee/tea.

Designer: Stephen Reed [ Buy it Here, Radiator Mug is available for $24 @ YD Store ]

Radiator Mug is available for $24 @ YD Store

Only Photogenic Pictures Please

Posted: 17 Feb 2010 03:48 AM PST

At times it's the photographer's fault that your picture came out weird and at times you're plain ugly! Ha! So scrutinize and be in control over which picture of yours is groovy… So, Are you camera-shy? Not with this funky digital camera that has two separate sections, one is the Lens part and the other the screen. Both stick together via magnets, but when someone wants to click pictures, the screen part detaches and is kept with the subject and the clicked shot comes over to the screen via wireless USB. This means crappy pictures can be dumped and only cool ones approved. The photographer doesn't see what exactly he has clicked, so he's pretty much clueless about the his photography skills.

Designer: Xi Zhu

While You Were Trying To Get Some Sleep On The Bus…

Posted: 17 Feb 2010 03:11 AM PST

Someone stole your bag, kids sitting next seat were screaming, the nap in the bus sucked and now you have a muscle pull in the neck! Ah so many reasons, but the situation still remains unresolved; how do you catch your forty winks during a commute? Easy, you need a Napper! It's a set of comfy hooded shawl with concealed earphones (that work with Bluetooth), combined with a Bluetooth lock for your luggage, and NapApp. Intrigued? Hit the jump for more info…

Napper aims especially at sleeping in public transport.
It consists of a hood, whose padding makes it comfortable to lean against window panes.
It's wide cut and the scarf make it possible for you to shield yourself from the environment and create your own private cocoon.
Bluetooth headphones are integrated in the hood, which, together with software for the mobile phone, provide sound to fall asleep with.
The entire system is foldable into a compact bag and can be easily used for daily commuting as well as for longer.
The hood's inlay is padded with 3Mesh material, which has a soft cushioning effect and high shock absorption against the vibrating windows.
On the outer side of the headphones is covered in Sorbothane, a plastic foil which has noise absorbing properties.
Inside the hood, Napcap'are integrated Bluetooth headphones which, together with the traveler's mobile phone, play music, send the wake-up alarm and the warning signal, in case the traveler's luggage is moved.
The headphones can easily be taken out of the hood, when you want to wash it.
Small LED lights on the headphones give information about the remaining battery life and Bluetooth connection. The headphones lithium-polymer-battery is charged via USB, which is integrated in the headphone and can simply be plugged into your computer. There is also a mini-jack on the headphones, if you want to use them with a device which doesn’t support Bluetooth.
To ensure a carefree sleep, the hood NapCap comes together with the luggage lock NapSecure. It doesn't only lock your luggage, but is connect to your mobile phone via Bluetooth. If the luggage should be moved away from its owner further than one meter, he will be warned by an alarm on his headphones, his mobile phone and the lock itself.
The lock can be opened by using your mobile phone, but also through a mechanical lock, in case your battery is low or your phone is lost.
The Bluetooth lock is charged, same as the headphones, using an integrated USB port. The luggage lock and the headphones communicate via Bluetooth with the software NapApp which can be installed as well on touchscreen as on keyboard mobile phones.
Next to the control of the luggage lock, it contains a alarm clock which helps to wake up at according to your preferred time, location (if the mobile supports GPS) or sleep stage. With the help of a reaction game, which should be played directly after waking up, the software analyses how recreational your nap was and whether or not you should shorten or extend your next nap. Furthermore the software has a build in voice recorder, to capture the ideas you have just before dozing off.

Designer: Simone Wittmann

Happy Rested Feet

Posted: 17 Feb 2010 02:00 AM PST

One of the coolest things you can do for your feet is to pamper them. A little bit of TLC never hurt. This is why we have been cajoling you folks to rest them a while on the Webble Active Footrest or better still treat them to a good massage. I'm sure there is no dearth of good foot massagers in the market, but the Foot Massager by designer Xiaoxsi has taken my fancy because it's modeled similar to the Webble, only difference is the two counter-rotating massagers and heating options.

Designer: Xiaoxsi

Un Capsize Able

Posted: 17 Feb 2010 12:10 AM PST

The indestructible car! Inconceivable! As one might think, there’s no real such thing as a completely safe way of auto-mobiling around the Earth. That goes double, triple, 10x as much for people who use rally racing as an excuse to drive insanely fast around a treacherous death trap of a track. But there’s such a thrill! That’s why designers are here to design safety measures for the crazy at heart. What’ve we got here? Impact resistance, a self-righting system, and pit climbing features.

This design is indeed called “Structural Skin.” Designed by Chu Hyung Kwon to make the death-defying even moreso that, this design brings the structure to the skin.

Basically what’s going on here is that now the core of the car will still be the strongest, while the outer extremities (the structural surface) will be made of materials with relative flexibility. Shock resistance. With modern advances such as the following, even the most severe of impacts will be dissipated: AeroGel, Carbon/Kevlar composite, and liquid metal.

This, along with the formentioned simple self-righting system and the ability to climb right up the side of a pit make this Structural Skin car quite the formidable foe.

Designer: Chu Hyung Kwon

How to Keep The Nose

Posted: 17 Feb 2010 12:02 AM PST

How much do you appreciate the photos you have? The videos you’ve filmed yourself? How about your collection of old smells? What do you mean they don’t have that!? I’ll tell you who has that: Kawamura Ganjavian. In his design, the “Scenter,” Ganjavian owns smell. How else do you plan on keeping the smells you’ve grown accustomed to once you can’t go to the places where you smelled the smells? You gotta have little jars, and in the jars, big smells.

Smell it.

Concentrated personal fragrances stored inside compact cartridges, released through the nozzle of your Scenter upon pressing the bellows.

Right into your nose.

Right into your brain.

The closest thing I’ve got to this now, me, is an old Batman wallet. It’s a wallet that I found one time at a garage sale my mother and father were hosting (aka, someone had lost it while shopping.) I couldn’t find the person who it belonged to, so it belonged to me. At that time, I’d started collecting comics. Incidentally, after I was done collecting comics, I quit using the wallet. I kept the wallet in a drawer for many years and forgot it. After many years, I found it, opened the wallet to see if anything was inside – and there was – that smell of comics. Comic shop smell. Real deal.

Designer: Studio Kawamura Ganjavian

A Knee-t Crutch on Wheels

Posted: 17 Feb 2010 12:01 AM PST

Ohh that is clever. This is a project whose main function is to get you around in two kinds of style. One prerequisite: your leg has to be broken. What the weird!? Or if you want to fake it just to use such a wild and wonderful design, well that’s your own business I suppose. What this design, the “Stryder,” does, is act as both a one-legged crutch AND as a knee-standing scooter. It’s a transformer!

What designer Dat Huynh does here is take that extra step, don’t mind my word use. Made specifically for people with non-weight bearing lower leg injuries. Made for people to get around quick! Scoot around! With less strain and fatigue on the body than the usual one-crutch.

But for those situations where the wheels just don’t roll, it’s also transformable into old-reliable Y-wing single crutch. (That, with the wheels visible and all, definitely reminds one of an Auto-Bot.)

Designer: Dat Huynh

Yanko Design - Latest Posts

2010-02-16T09:19:00.001-08:00

Yanko Design - Latest Posts

The Fad Of Molecular Cooking
No More Sitting on Books
Breathe Fresh Even In Smoke Emergency
Kettles in Detail
The Hanging Fetish
For When You’re Up There
To Grow Herb in da House

The Fad Of Molecular Cooking

Posted: 16 Feb 2010 03:19 AM PST

Gourmet Guru Michelin star chef Juan Mari Arzak, thinks Molecular Cooking is the next step in gastronomical heaven. Presented here are three design concepts – Lunar Eclipse (bowl), Fama (long plate) and Bocado de Luz (serving plate), that take culinary expertise to celestial planes. Juan Mari & his daughter Elena Arzak feel that presentation skills not only entice the palate but also dynamically alter the sensory experience during a meal. "The simple act of placing food on the plates or pouring liquid into the bowl triggers sensory stimuli and causes them to react."

Juan Mari Arzak says, "Molecular gastronomy has developed from a handful of exponents into a global phenomenon. It has led to the adaptation of scientific laboratory equipment and the invention of new kitchen technology, which makes it a small step to explore the presentation of dishes. The combination of our food creations on the multi-sensorial bone china concepts adds an extra dimension to the dining experience."

Images Courtesy The Philips Design Food Probe Project.

Designers: Philips Design

No More Sitting on Books

Posted: 16 Feb 2010 01:59 AM PST

Yeh! For now the books will have boards between them and the butt! The person shall be able to sit down without fear of bad bindings! Without fear of dusty pages ruining their new suit! I say to thee! This is a chair that’s also a bookcase. It is called Chair Bookcase Bookcase Chair, and it means business! It means so much business that it comes in more than one wood: Walnut, Birch, and CDX Ply.

Get your seat and sit in it forever. No need to get up! Finish one book and start the other. It can hold more than 400 paperbacks for cripes sakes. And the seat allows for several different adjustments for comfort. Your comfort – you, the real-life book reader. It’s all for your preservation of the art.

Designer: Gail Peter Borden [Chair Bookcase Bookcase Chair ($750) available @ YD Store]

Chair Bookcase Bookcase Chair available @ YD Store

Breathe Fresh Even In Smoke Emergency

Posted: 16 Feb 2010 01:58 AM PST

It may sound as a random fear to some, but the Uphar Cinema Case makes me shudder at the thought of asphyxiation, smoke and fire. No one can really tell when things can go wrong and a simple trip to the movies turns bad. Only if we can equip ourselves with economical, functional, countertop aids like the Firescuba. A simple design using cardboard and carbon filter, it cups your mouth and nose to facilitate easy breathing (through smoke) till help arrives. Sometimes small things like this make the difference between life and death.

Designer: Dang Jingwei

Kettles in Detail

Posted: 16 Feb 2010 01:15 AM PST

Folks at Product Tank have redesigned the kettle for many reasons but the focus still remains on easy carrying and filling. Let me get into the specs of this particular design, it's got an attached lid that flips out and is used as a mechanism to help fill the kettle. The multiple hand grip positions make it easy to carry, fill and pour the water. A hybrid between the traditional and jug handled design; this kettle provides multiple grip points and has thick insulated walls.

A clear display modeled on the car petrol gauge, shows the how much water you have left in the kettle. As the designer explains….

Filling can either be done traditionally, through the central aperture, or the lid, which can be swung out to any angle and filled through an anti splash mesh opening. I conducted several experiments to find the best aperture ratio to let enough water through, (without running across the top of the mesh) whilst eliminating splashback. This solves the problem encountered when filling many traditional kettles of holding the kettle whilst providing enough space to get the tap past your knuckles. When the lid is closed, it compresses an annular rubber seal, so there can be no burns from escaping steam.

Designer: Product Tank

The Hanging Fetish

Posted: 16 Feb 2010 01:00 AM PST

What fetish do you have? Come on be honest about it. I know of a designer who has a fetish of designing stuff that hangs…but honestly it's really cute stuff. Like the last time I showcased his Hanging Tea, which we all appreciated. So does ID also include novelty stuff like this cute Hanger Dog? Only thing with this prop is that it's not restrictive to teabags, you can hang your keys around its neck, and it sits sweetly around the edge of your cup, frames etc. I think I have a "cute stuff fetish", what about you?

Psst….expect this soon in the Korean Markets….come on Korea, send me some when it hits the shelves!

Designer: Soon Mo Kang

For When You’re Up There

Posted: 16 Feb 2010 12:06 AM PST

Do not fall down! This is for staying up! I’m always for more extension ladder accessories, especially if they mean I can bring as much paint up there as I can at once. The design your about to look at not only innovates on the bucket, it innovates on the rug. Lots more space on the bottom, lots more space on the top. Light, sturdy, and above all, the magic word: functional.

Don’t waste another wink on that $10 wooden ladder you purchased at a flea market six years ago. Donate it to the needy children searching for a way to play superhero. And get your hands on this.

A retractable foot platform increasing the space for your feet by 10. Four sides of guardrail while your up top. Thirty-tow times more ladder to wall surface traction than the average ladder when working on flat surfaces. Toolbox. Amazing toolbox. A variety of work height options.

And it’s such a nice shade of blue.

Make sure it speaks Bocce.

Designer: Martin Gibson

To Grow Herb in da House

Posted: 16 Feb 2010 12:03 AM PST

Far when you got to get up and make the herb that’s mad decent. Or just plain nicely grown, from your home. The designer of this project, Albert Kwon, notes that this project is made in reaction to the multi-national corporations who have centralized food production to make it have perfect profits. Well to that say nay! Get up and get down with your own food! We’ve got the tools, we can build them!

All you’ve got to do to make your own indoor growing festival is thus:

A short bit of assembly time,

regular tending to of the water supply,

pruning of the plant(s) for shape, size, health, and extended growing season,

re-potting of the plants when they outgrow their pots,

and a monitoring for pests and diseases.

Pots in three sizes, all around 5 inches in diameter, cones and pots arranged on a cedar-wood table that’s 22 inches square and can hold up to 9 3inch pots. The counter must be 34 inches from the ground, and the water reservoir should be noted to hold 4 L which is enough to feed 9 young plants for 2 weeks.

Very neat! Growing little fellas isn’t just for kiddies!

Designer: Albert Kwon

Yanko Design - Latest Posts

2010-02-15T09:08:00.001-08:00

Yanko Design - Latest Posts

Portable Subwoofer For Your MacBook
A Car For All Us Cyborgs
Zero Has Some Value
Only Seats One Thank You Very Much
Bathroom Meditation With A Hint Of Enso
Doggy Table for Kids BY Kids
Paul Bunyan Approved!
Always Handy Cam
Get a Bit Nesty

Portable Subwoofer For Your MacBook

Posted: 15 Feb 2010 02:15 AM PST

Not happy with your MacBook speakers? Sound a little flat don’t they? The Bassjump is a USB powered subwoofer that turns your MacBook into a sweet sound system. It looks like an aluminum Mac mini which perfectly compliments the new unibody aluminum MacBooks. Hit the jump for my review.

Don’t get me wrong, the built-in speakers are pretty sweet but if your computer doubles as your stereo, you might want to invest in this awesome little peripheral. The Bassjump makes sound fuller and richer by enhancing the mid and low frequencies. The software drivers come with snazzy analog VU meters but they’re really just for effect. The fact that you use customized audio profiles to meet your needs makes it even better. I myself prefer to use the “electronic” profile because I love full bass and treble when listening to my tunes.

As always it’s difficult to review anything having to do with audio because so much of that is subjective. Although my MacBook isn’t my primary audio system, it is the hub for all my media. Aside from listening to music, I always watch DVD’s and videos online. Everything benefits from the enhanced sounds. It doesn’t make anything sound louder or provide that bone rattling shake you automatically associate with a powerful subwoofer, but it does add to the overall experience. I love my Bassjump.

What we loved:

Beautiful design, clean and matches the Mac aesthetic
Richer, fuller sounds
Simple installation
Compatible with MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air
Affordable, only $80

What could be improved:

Wouldn’t mind if it were a bit punchier and more powerful

Specs:

Drive Unit 77mm subwoofer speaker cone

Frequency range -6dB at 50Hz-20kHz

Signal-to-noise ratio 80dB

Connection USB minijack

Designer: Twelve South [ Buy it here ]

A Car For All Us Cyborgs

Posted: 15 Feb 2010 01:49 AM PST

Hold on to your head because you’re mind is about to be blown away by this concept called C.S.V. (Cyborg Sensation Vehicle). Inspired by the Mercedes F400 concept, this off-road capable 2-seater is targeted to young adventurous professionals in 2040.

It’s pretty obvious, (thanks Captain Oblivious) what the core concept of this vehicle is just by name. Technology and organics are bound to merge sooner or later. Imagine driving just by thinking. When you sit in the driver’s seat, your though patterns are sent to the vehicle, thus becoming an extension of your body. There’s no need for analog controls.

The implications for such technologies means someday we’ll know how to interpret, map out, and respond to human neural patterns. If you can put that thought aside for a second, lets focus on the design. There’s a lot of F400 in there but the designer wanted to give the vehicle an organic flavor, hence the muscle fibers flanking each side, neatly tucking into a hidden skeletal system. The result is a design takes Mercedes Benz DNA and evolves it into an organic object mimicking its pilot.

Designer: Derek Chik Kin Ng

Zero Has Some Value

Posted: 15 Feb 2010 01:45 AM PST

Zero has an enormous amount of value when you are calculating and even on your ruler. The specialized Zero Point Ruler places "0" plum in the center of the stick so that it's easy to measure out or draw lines. Traditionally rulers or scales start off with "0" flushed to the left; this ruler has it placed in the center as a matter of convenience. Wonder if it will make any difference to your measuring skills! BTW, there is a solar panel running along one length of the scale, and no specific reason mentioned. Anyone willing to venture a guess?

Designers: Hoyoung Lee, Seunghwa Jeong, Jin-young Yoon & Youngwoo Park

Only Seats One Thank You Very Much

Posted: 15 Feb 2010 01:42 AM PST

Sometimes designers submit ideas that aren’t revolutionary but when they include descriptions that read like personal vendettas, I pay attention. This BRD concept is a single seater, totally driver-centric for Formula One like driving.

“…for the racing enthusiast who wants to have the ultimate driving experience without all the extra room and the annoying girlfriend…”

Designer: Beau Reid

Bathroom Meditation With A Hint Of Enso

Posted: 15 Feb 2010 01:01 AM PST

Pearl is an elegant concept for a bathroom that befits a spiritual experience, when you use it. It reflects calmness and peace with the choice of materials & colors used in its construction. Akin to the pearl in an oyster, you're supposed to feel the same sense of serenity within its stone and gray interiors. The washbasins, bidet, toilet table etc. take cue from Japanese gardens and the round window is a stark Enso Buddhist reminder. Essentially if you follow the noble intentions of the bathroom, porn mags and bathroom sex fly out the window!

Designer: Rustam Isanchurin

Doggy Table for Kids BY Kids

Posted: 15 Feb 2010 12:40 AM PST

That’s right, this table was, unbeknownst to them, designed by a bunch of five-year-olds. Designer Quentin de Coster had a team of five year olds and thought “what better way to design something that young children can relate to than to have the children design it themselves?” And thus he spake to the kids: “draw me some tables and some doggahs.” And they did, and it was good.

All of the drawings drawn by the kids were interpreted and transformed into this intuitive dog-table amalgamation. It’s the kid size, it’s the kid shape. It’s even got a kid-container for all the drawing utensils and whatnot the kid is gonna use to draw all over the walls!

Yes!

What a lovely form.

Designer: Quentin de Coster

Paul Bunyan Approved!

Posted: 15 Feb 2010 12:20 AM PST

Or at least, I’d like to think ol’ Paul would approve. I was just up at his home town in Bemidji this weekend! He was a tall lumberjack man with a taste for good wood. Ya know why he’d approve of this concept called “Timber?” Because it’s made of ten easy-to-assemble pieces that break down for easy transport. You know what that means? Easy bulk! And what’d Paul approve of most? The name, of course: “TIMBER!”

Designer Julian Kyhl obviously holds a kindship with the earth-friendly lumberjack because this table is one that makes a dude appreciate the fine excellence of a hunk of wood. FSC certified!

4 identical legs, 2 identical crossbars, 2 identical mid-section planks, and 2 identical outer planks. That’s what’s here! And all of these pieces come naturalistic – no glue, no lamination, no screws, no nails.

A word from Kyhl himself:

This will be a living piece of furniture. As humidity and temperature changes the planks will try to twist slightly, but the crossbars and legs will bind them to a planar surface. The prototype shown in the pictures is not made with the aid of any advanced machinery, but with a lot of templates and a power router. New models are being manufactured now, using five-axis CNC machinery.

Designer: Julian Kyhl

Always Handy Cam

Posted: 15 Feb 2010 12:19 AM PST

It's such a touristy thing to hang your camera around your neck, it's a dead giveaway! Being sleek and discreet about you is more of the trend and HAN.DI Camera fits the bill. It's the sort that fits snugly around the palm of your hand or around the wrist like a bracelet; plus it gives you the independence of taking your own pics via the detachable remote control. Two expanding joints allow its size to be adjusted, making it suitable for all shapes and sizes….of hands!

Designer: Zo Woo Geun

Get a Bit Nesty

Posted: 15 Feb 2010 12:02 AM PST

Welcome to the “Nest Light.” That’s nest, like the one the bird makes with the twigs and the whatnot, not to follow and not to nesty nasty. The Nest Light is a lovely lamp that’s sure to make your house into a home. Not only will it make you feel like a warm mother hen because of its soft glow, the light inside works like an egg: removable and transportable.

Take the egg out and move it to where you need the light most! See the description for the engineering science behind the technology. Spread the light of love around the world! Or just around the room.

I thank you nature for this lit-up eggiwegg!

Course Director: Dr. Hsien-Hui TANG @ NTUST Design Dept.

Designer: Li-Xuan Sun

Yanko Design - Latest Posts

2010-02-12T09:04:00.001-08:00

Yanko Design - Latest Posts

Unique As It Gets!
Polaroid Movie
R to the Izzy, G to the Izzay
Flamenco Shineathon
Lillies on Wheels
Bond With The Best: Three Sets of Versatile Exuvius Titanium Collar Stays To Be WON!

Unique As It Gets!

Posted: 12 Feb 2010 07:20 AM PST

Totally Unique & Awesome, that's how I like to describe Rocking On The Beach. Be it you actually grooving on the sandscape or rocking yourself to La La Land in this glorious chair! This is one of the things you really got to see to believe so I recommend you hit the jump and catch the two videos that brilliantly showcase the breeze, the sound of waves and the sandy beach via clinging pipes of a rocking chair!
Main material used: ABS, plywood & sand

Designers: Joon&Jung Designteller

rocking on the beach by studio joon & jung from matylda krzykowski on Vimeo.

Polaroid Movie

Posted: 12 Feb 2010 05:13 AM PST

Taking our obsession for home videos and technology, designer Kim Hyun Joong has come up with an idea that explores the possibilities of instant gratification that Polaroid picutes gave us. The Movie Polaroid Camera prints movies on a flexible display that hopes to use Touch grapheme* technology to its advantage. The concept is a combination of analogue Polaroid film and digital touch technology and contains a built-in movie printer, which immediately "prints" the footage after the user has filmed it.

The device captures movie and sound which are "printed" on a substrate that mimics traditional Polaroid film paper. The camera gets powered by giving it a few good shakes and also juices up the Polaroid Film for viewing. The compact size of the film screen makes it easy to carry around in your wallet or pocket.

Except for having a charming novelty value, I don't see much application to this device…but it will be good to see technology being to good use.

*Graphene is a flat sheet of carbon rings just one atom thick, which is being studied for a range of electronic applications.

Designer: Kim Hyun Joong

R to the Izzy, G to the Izzay

Posted: 12 Feb 2010 01:09 AM PST

Hey how’s it hangin? So well? Excellent! How are you doing on lamps today? Could use a few more? I’ve got one for you right here. A weird one! It’s called the “Riga” lamp and designer Markus Maurer made it just weird enough for your wild industrial design sensibilities. The Riga asks Maurer and its entire audience: how does one make balance perfectly visible?

In lamp form.

This is an LED suspension lamp. It’s freely moveable and gives off a ton of light. It’s name is alternatively “RIGA” in all caps, so remember that when they stat selling out the designer lamp stores around the world.

RIGA hangs by just one steel cable which is also the conducting cable for power. Patterns form on the floor when the two strips intersect. Relax and change, live and move.

Designer: Markus Maurer

Flamenco Shineathon

Posted: 12 Feb 2010 12:02 AM PST

A chandelier from the outer reaches of space and inspiration. A dance, a movement, and a powerful expression. For the designer, a very special moment captured, a very strong emotion turned into sculpture and hung from the ceiling. Made of brass and tied together with screws. White outside of pieces for a grayscale effect, inside reflections of shiny fabulous brasses for shadowplay inside the piece itself and inside the room it blesses itself with.

Joyous chandelier experience! The reflections on this piece shine on the room when it’s switched on and continue to shine around the room when it’s off. It’s a magnificent shinefest!

Designer: Johanna Körberg

Lillies on Wheels

Posted: 12 Feb 2010 12:02 AM PST

Perhaps you’d like to do your part to beat down environment destroying monsters. Maybe you’d like to do your part in being supergreen. In an ideal world, you’d be the one to be the superhero Greenzo. Well here’s your chance in automotives! It’s a car that’s barely a car, if you consider a car to be made of more than 2 main components, running on fossil fuels and lookin all traditional and whatnot.

This project is called “Anything Moves a Bucket of Lillies” and it’s meant to draw attention to the waste involved in the creation of cars, trucks, and so forth in todays auto industry.

This vehicle is made up of an upper and a lower body. The design requires non of the welding and painting techniques used today. Electronic modules are placed in the low center of the car, pushing the center of gravity below the roll center and placing it in a safe area incase of crashbangbooming. This battery is recharged using induction coupling technology that allows the car to get powered up during parking time.

In high honor of computer networking, these cars use that theory and the concept of batch production for net production (aka postponement) allowing flexibility in production, lowering corporate expansion costs, and cutting down on CO2 emissions. Production in the way this envisions uses existing distribution networks, excluding the need for special transports like car carries or ships, which are basically terrible.

Look at this very wild video to explain to you what’s going on with the reduced complexity presented by this project:

Designer: Marcos Costa

Bond With The Best: Three Sets of Versatile Exuvius Titanium Collar Stays To Be WON!

Posted: 12 Feb 2010 12:00 AM PST

One of the reasons why James Bond is able to overcome any given situation is the clever gadgets and tools that he carries. The Exuvius Titanium Collar Stay looks like it could have come straight from Q’s lab in London. Not only will this collar stay keep you looking like a sharp and dapper gentleman, but this laser cut titanium multi-tool can be your secret aide. Work hard, but party harder…totally Bond style…read on to know how Three Lucky People can win this versatile accessory!

The Exuvius Titanium Collar Stay was designed to work on both flat head and phillips screws, and to help you open a bottle of your favorite celebratory drink afterward. Here’s how Three Lucky People can win the Three Sets of Titanium Collar Stays:

Fan Exuvius on Facebook.
On the Exuvius fan page wall, use the @ symbol to call out a friend who best fits the “Bond” profile, or better yet- the “Bond girl” profile.

Titanium Collar Stay Details:

2.5 inches in length; 5/16 inch wide; Less than 1/8 inch thick
Fits all spread, wide spread, close spread, and semi-spread collars
Very lightweight
3x Harder than stainless steel
Non-magnetic
Set of 4 (2 pairs); 0.1 oz each; 100% Titanium

Contest Closes: 14th Feb, 11:59 PST

Yanko Design - Latest Posts

2010-02-11T07:11:00.000-08:00

Yanko Design - Latest Posts

Electrolux To Unveil Exciting New Kitchen Concept at Designboost
Correct Tea Angle
Refrigerator That Grows Plants
Hanging Out With Sun
You Mouse Around Here Often?
Ripple Sink Bipple
Are You the Keymaster?

Electrolux To Unveil Exciting New Kitchen Concept at Designboost

Posted: 11 Feb 2010 04:19 AM PST

All those in awe of the Electrolux Design Lab Competition and are gearing up to enter it, may want to keep an eye on their presentation at the DesignBoost forum in Sweden. Apparently Henrik Otto, Senior Vice President of Design at Electrolux will present an exciting new kitchen concept on the 12th of February 2010 at the forum. You can follow the seminar live from the Architecture Museum in Stockholm on this site from 14:40 CET.

Correct Tea Angle

Posted: 11 Feb 2010 02:46 AM PST

Stuff like strength, color, flavor, brew and steeping are commonplace to tea connoisseurs; plebs like me get by with simply boiling water & milk with some tea masala and that's that. Fusspots who consider the most important thing for making tea is the time to steep it, and finding profit time for strength of the tea is bothersome, can indulge in the T-cup. It's this special cup with an angle on the bottom so that it can be tipped to a side. The tipping controls the strength of tea without taking out the tealeaves or teabag from the water. The tea infuser slides to the side when you want to sip the tea.

Oh the fuss, anyone wants to share my Masala Chai?

Designer: Jung Dae Hoon

Refrigerator That Grows Plants

Posted: 11 Feb 2010 01:35 AM PST

So you lack the green thumb but still love fresh green vegetables. Facts like light, water, temperature, space, moisture, nutrition, supervision and knowledge are all gibberish to you. No worries because Ms Hanna Sandström has been doing some homework for you, she's worked in sync with Green Fortune & Whirlpool to come up with a refrigerator that will nurture a seed to a plant. Of course it's restricted to herbs and greens, and details on HOW it would function are sketchy. All we know is that by placing lettuce plants and herbs purchased from the supermarket into the Kitchen Garden system, you can prolong their life and continue to grow them. The system automatically waters and gives light to the garden. Alternatively, by changing a few settings and some trays, it helps you grow a seed to a robust plant for chomping.

Going by the demand for organic fresh greens, this could be a hit idea!

Designer: Hanna Sandström with Green Fortune & Whirlpool

Hanging Out With Sun

Posted: 11 Feb 2010 01:09 AM PST

Hanging out with the sun has many solar benefits; yep you can whip up a concept design that harnesses the solar energy and then juices up your gadgets. How does this Sunbox work then? It plays on this theory that on your way out to work, you hang out the device on your clothesline and when you get back in the evening, it's all charged up. Latch it on to your TV, Music System, hairdryer; basically stuff that you use only when you're back home!

Designer: Jinsic Kim

You Mouse Around Here Often?

Posted: 11 Feb 2010 12:10 AM PST

This mouse is called the “G-Spot” – I am not even effin with you. Where to find the mysterious spot of pleasure’s center? With which woman will it be found? Can it be found? These are all questions. Is this spot to be found within devices? Perhaps a mouse? And if so, what would happen if that spot were found?

To where would it lead?

Any sensible person’s mousy G-Spot would lead directly to Yanko Design, of course! Oh my goodness! The shame! I’ve told you the truth. This mouse has a secret spot. When you find it, to your favorite place on the computer it’s connected to you will go, be it your email provider or your favorite industrial design blog news website. There ye shall be.

Designer: Andy Kurovets

Ripple Sink Bipple

Posted: 11 Feb 2010 12:01 AM PST

The name of this bathroom collection right here is “Aqua.” Designed by one Pavel Ivanov for a future feeling bathroom for water appreciators around the world. Designed to be a full installation for a bathroom area in a home, panels, mirrors, sinks and all. The wall panels, made to be an envelope for the entire room, acts as not only a lamp, but a cupboard storage system as well.

This system’s facade also replicates the topography of the plumbing as well, making this deal a whole new-age way of looking at the full package. I’m really digging the stone-treatment of the panel above the sink most of all. And that light system!

Designer: Pavel Ivanov

Are You the Keymaster?

Posted: 11 Feb 2010 12:01 AM PST

Well that is nice, but I am not the Gatekeeper. What we’ve got here is the “Dreamgate Wallband” from Studio 1a.m.. What it does is cover a portion of you wall with light, easy to apply material with a lovely pattern hand-screenprinted on. It takes the position of what’s normally the headboard above a bed or a couch in a room. Easy to cut down as well, making it ideal for any space in your house.

The pattern printed on the Dreamgate is inspired by star formations and vintage tufted leather furniture. Pretty!

Material Reclaimed cork from the bottle stopper industry
Dimensions 2′H x 10'W x 1/8″D

Designer: Studio 1a.m. [ Dreamgate ($98) available @ YD Store ]

Dreamgate Wallband available @ YD Store

Yanko Design - Latest Posts

2010-02-10T07:19:00.001-08:00

Yanko Design - Latest Posts

From Daylight To Darkness And In-between
Mouse Pen?
Sometimes Using The Finger Is Better
Rome’s Resurgence by H2O
One Pot, Two Lives
Dis is no Chicken Egg

From Daylight To Darkness And In-between

Posted: 10 Feb 2010 03:03 AM PST

Fade in Fade out, 20 seconds lapse and then fade in fade out (repeat), folks with all the time in the world can really kill time, staring at this hypnotic watch! Twilight Watch is for the leisure folks who don't mind people stopping them on the streets, just to have a look at time fading in…and… out; light to black!

Designer: Daniel Will-Harris for Projects [ Buy it Here, Twilight is available for $120 @ YD Store ]

Twilight Watch is available for $120 @ YD Store

Mouse Pen?

Posted: 10 Feb 2010 01:53 AM PST

Flattery is going to get you everywhere Mr Marcial Ahsayane, and I love the way you describe this concept project as a standard mouse that can be used as pen sensor for specific design works such as designing this entry for Yanko! Hugs! Shifting focus to the "eVouse", this one is meant for your laptops and iPads and flits effortlessly between being a mouse and a pen sensor for specific design works.

"The design of the mouse is a mix between a classic mouse and a tablet pc. The actions buttons and the scroll are tactile. It becomes illuminated by green light in every action movement as a feedback for its use. In fact, eVouse is, like the Minotaur, a design with body of a mouse and the head and tail of an optical pen."

Designer: Marcial Ahsayane

Sometimes Using The Finger Is Better

Posted: 10 Feb 2010 01:20 AM PST

If you ask me I'd say yes, but spoons and stirrers are there for a reason too. While you linger over the double meaning, let's just grab some coffee in this special cup and imagine how we would stir in the milk and sugar if none of the above implements were at hand. With our fingers of course! And that too via its flexible lid; poke a finger through and get stirring mister! “Finger Coffee” Anyone?

Designers: Li Cheng & Zhang Xun for Newplan Design

Rome’s Resurgence by H2O

Posted: 10 Feb 2010 12:10 AM PST

Behold the greatness of Rome. You know where it lies? In the water. Incase you’ve never been(!) : you should know they’ve got public water fountains all around the city in gorgeous shapes and sizes. What could the rest of the world do with these sorts of water dispensers? Live in joy! Designer Michael Tomlin has a key to jam into your ground, world. It’s called “Cascade” and it’s a magnificent water fountain.

Two different heights for the drinking panels, ripple design for the user to experience the sounds and the sights of flowing water. All essential plumbing components are located in the center and can be easily accessed for easy installation and maintenance.

Constructed of stainless steel or translucent material to emphasize the falling water. Easy to break down for winter months in places where that’s gonna be a problem (hello me in Minnesota!)

And to establish a sense of sense of belonging, engravings of locally appropriate symbols come basically standard. If it were in my garden, it would have the letters engraved: S – P – Q – R.

Designer: Michael Tomlin

One Pot, Two Lives

Posted: 10 Feb 2010 12:10 AM PST

No drugs! Only fishes and plants. Not weed! Thought I bet it’d be extra cool if-no! This is a planter and a fishtank. You put your regularly potted plant in this pot on top, and a goldfish on the bottom. What could they provide for eachother, you might ask? Waste! Yes, the fishes turn their eaten bait remnants into nutrients for the plant, while the water fed to the plant is filtered as it passes though and becomes clean for the fish. It is a totally natural and lovely system.

Let us discuss something – the size. Do you think this tank is too small? I’ve got a bit of a concern for that little fishy, but what are your standards for a gold?

Using this system of cycling materials keeps the fish poo from staying in the water long enough to turn it acidic. It also can reduce the use of chemical substance such as nitrifying bacteria and other materials, “maintaining the steady neutral PH quality of the water.”

Benefits!

The soil remains humid, extending the watering period by about one week.

The product's middle layer is the filter layer, which accumulates fertilizer as the nutrient for outdoor pot plant.

So… I’m also adding this to my gift list.

Designer: Sheng-Zhe Feng and Ling-Yuan Chou

Dis is no Chicken Egg

Posted: 10 Feb 2010 12:01 AM PST

Let’s get to planting for a moment here, yes? Let’s discuss how this design called the “EggPot” really works. It’s all about humidification. Humidity? Yes. The way the egg sits in the pot there, it collects. Collects the sweat of the world through the natural processes of Mother Nature. And you don’t even have to work out to make it get fed! Come with me, fellow designers, and crack this egg on your mind grapes so we can make jelly.

Talk to me. How real is an egg such as this? Of one thing I am certain: the form of this project is loveliness. Even if the natural magic doesn’t make this a hands-free project, the plant pot itself is pretty darn cute. Just think of a giant row of eggs, each one cracked a bit different, each one of them growing a tiny plant. Sounds like a fun school project if you ask me.

Keep on pottin.

Designer: BANG ki ryoul

Yanko Design - Latest Posts

2010-02-09T07:13:00.001-08:00

Yanko Design - Latest Posts

Kitsch Styling Bags
Stackable Bottle
Play The Razor Prank
Get A Jiffy Ride
One Loud Table
For Want of a Lunch Tray
My Little Lockie USBee!

Kitsch Styling Bags

Posted: 09 Feb 2010 02:08 AM PST

How you accessorize can change the way you carry yourself dramatically. In an odd way, your office bag is an extension of your personality as well. Sixr, Papr & Papr II are a series of bags that add the right amount of sophistication to your persona and come with amazing variations and colors. Have a look….

The Sixr comes in 2 variations: Camel & Black
The Papr comes in 3 variations: Camel, Black, Black AmericanRedCross LimitedEdition
The PAPR II shoulder bag comes in 3 variations: Camel, Black, Black AmericanRedCross LimitedEdition

Designer: KIMKIM Artifacts [ Buy it Here Sixr | Papr | Papr II ]

KIMKIM Artifacts are available at the YD Store

Stackable Bottle

Posted: 09 Feb 2010 01:30 AM PST

You don't need complex words to best describe an idea; sometimes a simple image can do the trick. What we have here is the 5 Gallons Mineral Water Stackable Bottle. A simple indent at the base of the bottle provides a nestling space for the neck of the bottle below. Stack them up and save space. I love the impromptu flower-vase-by-the-water cooler idea!

Designer: Yujin Kim

Play The Razor Prank

Posted: 09 Feb 2010 01:15 AM PST

One of the pranks that you could play with your friends travelling by air is to slip this pill-sized box into their hand luggage. The pill box actually holds a folded sheet of razor! Yup a disposable razor that neatly rolls up into a pill! Which is obviously not allowed in hand luggage. Convenient, hygienic and safe!

Designers: Hoyoung Lee, Youngwoo Park & Seunghwa Jeong

Get A Jiffy Ride

Posted: 09 Feb 2010 01:00 AM PST

Skoota can be the ideal commute for me, to get around the congested by-lanes of my overcrowded city. This compact urban electric scooter transforms from a full-bodied rider to a compact companion in five easy steps. It uses the latest Super Charging Lithium Ion technologies and an in-wheel brushless hub motor to add efficiency. Features include an LED blue halo headlight, simple two button interface, five minute super charging lithium batteries and front calliper/ rotor braking system. In essence, get reduced physical footprint & carbon footprint!

Designer: Stuart Emmerson

One Loud Table

Posted: 09 Feb 2010 12:02 AM PST

From the creator of Pepper Knuckles and Music Blocks comes this wild and crazy table for your music collection. It’s called “Amusity” and it’s rather full of music and amusement, if I do say so myself. The designer Idan Arbel says that this is a tangible user interface coffee table for your entire music library. Toss it all on there and let the circus begin.

You can play music videos, access information on the artist, song, album, etcetera, and using such information control the flow of the songs. Meta data like popularity and genres control the way the music is displayed, with popular songs in the center, rarer songs emanating outward.

Activating one song or video will reveal a list of possible paths you might take toward other recommended songs, and then there’s the objects.

The objects are what control the music and video. The circle pieces are the speakers (really nice speakers it seems from the video) – wherever you place them on the board, that’s what song plays.

The Rectangle with antenna are the ones that activate the music videos. You can place them both, or just one at a time. There’s a plus object that shows textual information, and a dome that controls the view of the whole situation, allowing you to zoom in or out.

Fun!

Designer: Idan Arbel

For Want of a Lunch Tray

Posted: 09 Feb 2010 12:02 AM PST

The cafeteria was lost! What do you consider when you think of a lunch tray? Flat. The plate sits on it, the cup of soda or beer sits wobbling on it too. Well what if it was a bit more minimized? How about if the only kind of food you were eating was noodles, rice, a meat, and some dipping sauce? I know that’s what I eat when i go to my favorite restaurant. Well check out this simple design called the “Palate” – made for cup safety!

It’s a strange game, the restaurant world. Each place has its own method, it’s own plate for its own food. I’m sure you’ve used the circle, the rectangle, and even the separated squares of the school commons tray. But how about this one? What say you? While you’re walking, there’s not much chance anything’s gonna fall off, the pop is safe, and the dipping sauce is right there in the middle when you wanna get in.

Designer: BANG ki ryoul

My Little Lockie USBee!

Posted: 09 Feb 2010 12:01 AM PST

What’s the consensus, do you use external harddrives to keep your information safe, or do you trust the USB? Or GASP do you keep your important information on your computer itself?! This is blasphemy. This is madness! Your stuff can be totally accessed there! Don’t you know about the dreaded hacker gang Gonna Getchas? They’re harsh. Well! Designer Yun Hwan Sung has a handle for you. It’s called “Bill’s USB.”

What does Bill’s USB have to do with informations security? It’s a lock! Turn one knob, turn the other, and when the combination is hit, you may access the USB. Simple as that.

Oh and it’s a ring!

Quite clever, yes?

Designer: Yun Hwan Sung