Core77

Once again, we'd like to congratulate the winners of the App to the Future Design Challenge, as well as the numerous honorable mentions and notables who were hand-picked by a highly selective jury team by designing a Windows Phone app to "create, connect or simply impress our future selves."

We're also pleased to announce that several of the apps are available now in the Windows Phone app store, including several of the honorable mentions! From a private microblogging app to a "scrapbook for designers" and a meta-level app prototyping tool to a "personal bookie," it's wonderful to see these concepts come to fruition, just over six months since the initial call for entries. Absolutely, positively amazing work, guys!

See our gallery of the Notable finalists—those that have launched in the Windows Phone app store—alongside the five winners and previously-announced finalists.

» Windows Phone × Core77 - App to the Future Design Challenge Gallery

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From L to R: Communication, Bonding, Air Quality

This past spring semester, Western Washington University's Industrial Design department teamed up with Anvil Studios, who were proud to sponsor a Senior I.D. studio, led by professor Dell King, focused on the intersection of health and mobile technology. We're pleased to present the results, courtesy of WWU ID and Anvil Studios.

Design Brief
Overview for Medical/Biometric Device and/or System:
Personal health monitoring and tracking with body worn sensors is becoming a big business. Several companies are addressing a variety of focused health monitoring systems from simple pedometers and calorie counters to fatigue sensors and full biometric activity tracking.

Comparative Market:
Nike fuel band, FitBit Flex Band, Adidas MiCoach, Metria, BodyBug, Basis, MioAlpha

Design Exploration Opportunities:
Wearable technology, Interface, User Experience, Docking or nesting, Modularity

Inspiration images from the original brief

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Elemen'tary Screwdriver sets are made in a London workshop, based on the design of a cabinet maker who was dissatisfied with the grip of screwdrivers that he had purchased. As any maker worth his salt would do, he sat down and crafted grips that fit his hands comfortably. The handles are made from beech and are finished by dipping in linseed oil. Unlike rubber, the wood surface is kind to hands and won't encourage blisters. After prolonged use the handles will develop a natural patina. Available from Hand-Eye Supply as a set for $50 or individually for $24 and $35, respectively.

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Photography by Glen Jackson Taylor for Core77

The Campana Brothers' exhibition at New York City's Friedman Benda gallery marks not only the duo's first solo show in the U.S. but also the 30th anniversary of the studio. Simply titled Concepts, the exhibition delivers exactly that with a collection of superbly well-executed one-off pieces made from exotic materials and their signature labor-intensive handcraft techniques. At first glance, it's a natural materials-fest: showstoppers include the "Pirarucu Cabinet," a free standing dresser upholstered in pirarucu fish scales; the Boca (Portuguese for "mouth") collection covered in patches of cowhide; and an incredible "Alligator Sofa," 'upholstered' with tiny stuffed leather alligator toys by Orientavida, an NGO that teaches underprivileged women embroidery skills.

The heavy emphasis on material experimentation and any notions of sustainability are reinforced with the galleries walls and floor covered entirely in a coconut fiber matting, imparting a womb-like warmth and suggesting a humble setting for what can only be described as design collectibles. Freed from the constraints of designing for production, the brothers have taken the opportunity to explore ideas, processes and forms without concern for outcome, in fact it feels very much like the objects themselves (be it a table or chair) are just a means of demonstrating proof-of-concept for new techniques.

One of the most iconic pieces in show—a tough call, given how much everything begs for attention—is the "Racket Chair (Tennis)," featuring a hand-stitched motif made from remnant backings of Thonet chairs. Another striking piece, made from leftovers, is the "Detonado Chair," which is crafted out of the scraps of caning that are discarded after a chair is repaired (At the press preview, Humberto joked that it took a lot of persuasion to convince the artisan to seriously consider producing a chair for them with these worthless scraps).

The exhibition runs till July 3rd and all the highlights can be seen in our latest gallery here.

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wants a Sr. Industrial Designer
in Chicago, Illinois

Do you want to create new products for one of Inc. Magazine's fastest growing companies and make kids of all ages super happy at the same time? When you work for Radio Flyer, that's literally part of the job description.

Radio Flyer is looking for a Senior Industrial Designer with 5 to 10 years of experience in toy and/or consumer product design. To succeed in this role, a positive attitude, sense of humor, and openness to give and receive constructive feedback are a must.

Apply Now

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As the origin of an increasing proportion of cultural touchstones, so too has the Internet spawned its own genre of memorabilia. Inspired by "the way designers showcased their work by holding it in front of them," Nadia Ahmad's "Handvas" is among the more successful examples we've seen—a clever way to display a poster or print, modeled after a popular trope of product photography.

In fact, Ahmad isn't a product designer by training or trade: the Sydney-based art director works in advertising by day and simply wanted to make her idea a reality. "I didn't have the skills or knowledge to produce it," she noted by e-mail. "So I went in search of a company that could help [me] bring my idea to life."

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One hundred and seven degree heat. The height of the monsoon season. A country recently ruled by a brutal military dictatorship where US sanctions have just been lifted and foreigners are free to investigate and invest: time, thinking, money. What could be a better location for a design workshop?

Last week, 300 colleagues of mine—fellow members of the World Economic Forum's Young Global Leaders cohort - convened in Myanmar for our annual meeting. About 100 YGLs are selected each year from around the world for their work in the public and private sector to serve a five-year term to exchange ideas and collaborate on projects that create new value on topics such as the circular economy, gender parity, food security, human trafficking, and political reinvention. The mission is to help reinvent our global economy by advancing the concepts of dignity, equality, and fairness in innovative ways.

Before attending the WEF East Asia meeting in the new strangely sci-fi capital of Nay Pyi Taw, eight of us representing six countries went into the field to collaborate with Proximity Designs, a 10-year old social enterprise founded by Skoll Entrepreneurs Jim and Debbie Taylor. Proximity is a Myanmar organization that looks for high-impact opportunities to increase income for the 70% of the Burmese population (of 60 million) who are dependent on agriculture to survive, and they use design methodology to try to lift them out of poverty. Our goal for the daylong workshop was to brainstorm solutions for two important strategic issues with Proximity and to come up with actionable plans.

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It is items like MisoSoupDesign's Anti-Loneliness Ramen Bowl (below), from earlier this year, that fuel my "Hell in a Handbasket" posts and tweets.

But now Brazilian art director Mauricio Perussi (and his team at ad agency Fischer&Friends) have designed an opposite sort of device with their Offline Glass, which can only stand if there's a cell phone under it:

Yes, it's just a gag, done in conjunction with the Bar Salve Jorge in Cacador, but it's a trenchant one. The idea of creating a co-dependent drinking glass for the sole purpose of subsuming your drinking mate's celly is sadly attractive. So why does this post still get the HIAH moniker, given that the design is attempting to rectify a social ill? Because the fact that Perussi needed to make this comment at all shows we're all going to Hell in a Handbasket. Put your freaking phone down or find more interesting people to drink with.

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Get your cameras ready. On June 23rd the celestial event known as the Supermoon will happen. The sun, Earth and moon will be in alignment, with the moon hitting its perigee; that means it will be closer to the Earth than normal, making it bigger and brighter. And yes, it will be full.

A Supermoon isn't as rare as, say, a comet sighting; it happens every 14 months or so. During this time, NASA says, it will appear 14% larger and 30% brighter than when it's at its furthest, and you're surely going to see a rash of awesome photos.

[image by Sean Parker]

You're also going to hear all kinds of kooky theories. Its scientifically documented that the Supermoon will only raise the tides by a matter of a few feet, but Tweeters will insist it's causing flooding, earthquakes, tsunamis and tornadoes, none of which will be true.

Conspiracy theorist and comedian Bill Burr will probably use the Supermoon to once again insist the moon landings are fake. "How come when you look at the moon," he's said onstage, "you can't see that jeep we left up there?"

[image by Ian Doktor]

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This is a true story. Descriptions of companies, clients, schools, projects, and designers may be altered and anonymized to protect the innocent.

Editor: This True I.D. Story is a good one! Fitting in that it comes to us from "Good Ol' Boy." Enjoy!

The Design Grad Blues

Maybe it's not fair to say my school's industrial design program, at a well-known university in a big-ass city, didn't adequately prepare me for the real world. But I'll say it anyway. As one example of the low demands placed on us, during my final year I basically spent an entire semester making Muppets. And I got an "A."

Illustrations by Alex Basio

By the time I graduated, I had a portfolio full of weird stuff. The school encouraged us to do bizarre conceptual work and my portfolio was loaded with it. When I look back at that stuff now, I don't know how anyone made heads or tails of it. And people who interviewed me for jobs, particularly the job that I badly wanted, couldn't either.

My Plan to Get a Job

During senior year I'd heard of [Hot Design Consultancy], and I very badly wanted to work there. That was the only ID job I wanted. They did awesome work, they had great clients and they were located in [Cool City], where I really wanted to live.

But I figured I'd better cover my bases. I moved back home to [Below the Mason-Dixon, East of the Mississippi] after graduation and looked through I.D. Magazine—remember them?—to locate 50 ID firms, then I faxed out 50 resumes. And waited. And waited. And waited.

Turns out 12 of those fax numbers were no longer in service. I got two faxes back saying Thanks But No Thanks, they weren't hiring. Then I got two other faxes back saying I could come in to interview.

One of them was from [Hot Design Consultancy]!

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