By Jennifer Rittner - Sep 29 New

What Would Nature Do?

Danielle Trofe Urges Designers to Ask

Designers and consumers have an urgent challenge to confront in the current discussion around sustainability. How can we distinguish between goods which seem eco-friendly, but actually contribute to a culture of waste, and those that are truly green? Designer Danielle Trofe had to challenge herself to look at every aspect

By Shannon Rogers - Sep 29 New

Hand Tool School #4: A Design is Born From Ugly

Sometimes you find design inspiration lying on the ground. (I mean the inspiration is lying on the ground, not you.)

I finished a bed recently for my guest room. I'm really happy with the build but now more than ever I really hate the flanking Lingerie chests that my wife and I bought decades ago. Truthfully I didn't much care for them when we bought them but this was before

By Core Jr - Sep 29 New

Live Tweeting the 2016 Core77 Conference

Follow along all day using #Core77Con

And we're live from sunny Los Angeles today! Follow along as we live tweet the conference from @Core77 and be part of the conversation using the hashtag #Core77Con. Weren't able to join us for the best design party of the year? We'll also be doing some interviews via Facebook Live

By Jeri Dansky - Sep 29 New

10 Desks With Storage Space

Because all those pens, files and more have to go somewhere

Even the most digitally-focused clients I've worked with want something other than just a laptop close at hand when working at their desks, and they struggle a bit when using a desk with no storage space. So I'm always interested in seeing the many ways designers have incorporated storage into

By Rain Noe - Sep 29 New

Why Sawdust Explodes: Video of an Explosive Incident at a Furniture Factory

Learn how and why sawdust can combust, and how to prevent it in your own shop

We usually think of sawdust as a long-term hazard to our lungs. But accumulated in large amounts, as in a woodshop or a furniture factory, sawdust carries the short-term risk of explosion. Watch this video of firefighters attempting to quell a smoking dust hopper when the unexpected happens:

By Ray Hu - Sep 29 New

Map Shop Presents the Industrial Design Process at London Design Festival 2016

The London studio offers a behind-the-scenes look at crowdfunded collaboration

First, there was the likes of Studio Neat, Craighton Berman, and Don Lehman; then came Scott Wilson, Pebble, and Yves Béhar. Fast forward a few years, and products are among the most successful projects of all time — albeit not without the proverbial “risks and challenges” that a new company

By Core Jr - Sep 28 New

Live! Tune Into Our #Core77Con Social Feed Today

We're broadcasting live from the Core77 Conference all day!

It's finally here—our Core77 Designing Here/Now Conference starts tomorrow! Stay up to date with the happenings by following our Facebook Live feed this Thursday September 29th, featuring interviews with some of our conference speakers.

By Rain Noe - Sep 28 New

Reflective Camouflage: The Mirror Spider is Covered in Controllable Reflective Patches

Seven years of bad luck if you step on it

In Australia there's a spider known as Thwaitesia argentiopunctata, a/k/a the Mirror Spider. Apparently they have cousins in Southeast Asia as well, as photographer Nicky Bay has been shooting them in his home city-state of Singapore. Writes Bay: For several years, I have been observing the odd behavior of the

By Molly Millette - Sep 28 New

Why Design Matters in the Context of Government and Law

Exploring how presenters at the 2016 Better World by Design Conference are involving themselves in American politics

A design conference seems like an unusual place to deeply examine politics, but no event held on a college campus would be complete without deep examination of American politics this year. Public policy was a hot topic at 2016's Better World by Design, during which several presenters examined designers' roles

By Joel Moskowitz - Sep 28

Tools & Craft #16: Why You Should Pay Attention to Material Safety Data Sheets

Take the proper precautions and preserve your health

A lot of the chemicals we use in woodworking, especially in finishing, are toxic. Now there is toxic and TOXIC. There is long term exposure toxicity and one-whiff-drop-dead toxicity. If you want to work safely, you need to know. Not only do woodworkers need to know, everyone needs to know.

By Rain Noe - Sep 28

A Two-Point-Perspective Drawing Cheating System

Now this is just lazy

Hopefully you've been following along with our Sketching section, building your drawing skills with the tips provided by Michael DiTullo and Spencer Nugent. Our resident sketchmeisters of course draw freehand, because they're pros; but for the lazy and shiftless among you, an unknown artist has devised the following two-point-perspective cheating

By Rain Noe - Sep 28

Snapchat Releasing Sunglasses That Can Record Video

They're creating a physical product that supports their app

Too early to tell if it'll work, but this is interesting: Snapchat is reinventing themselves as Snap Inc.--and now calling themselves a camera company. "We believe that reinventing the camera represents our greatest opportunity to improve the way people live and communicate," they write. To reinvent the camera, they've made

By Core Jr - Sep 28

Why Film Might be the Most Important New Tool in a Designer's Toolbox

Screening design films from Studio SWINE at the Core77 Conference

We first encountered the work of SWINE at the RCA graduate show Paradise for a Better Future in 2012 where their first work, the Sea Chair, was on show in Milan. A peculiar looking stool crafted from salvaged marine plastics, the project looked towards a future where fishermen would trawl

By Ray Hu - Sep 28

Central Saint Martins Presents Brain Waves at London Design Festival 2016

A cerebral yet accessible exhibition concludes a trilogy of graduation shows

With an acronym that sounds like a college radio station or killer Scrabble word, the new King's Cross Creative Quarter launched during London Design Festival 2016. Spearheaded by designjunction, which now calls the KXCQ home, at least one tenant has already settled in nicely. Central Saint Martins moved into the

By Rain Noe - Sep 27

Unexpected Design: Check Out How This Traditional Chinese Foot-Powered Lathe Works 

It's significantly different from the Western treadle lathe

It's incredible that over the centuries, folks on different continents devised different-but-similar solutions to the same problem. Both Europeans and Chinese developed foot-powered lathes to turn items on, for instance. But while I'd seen the Western design for a treadle lathe, I could not have imagined what the Chinese variant

By Rain Noe - Sep 27

Yea or Nay? The WorkBox, a Hideaway Workstation and Storage Unit

For those who do desktop crafts, the WorkBox is a made-in-the-U.S.A storage unit and workstation that folds in on itself and hides everything away when not in use. Take a look: The design of the storage units is undeniably intelligent. But after watching the video, I teetered back and forth

By Rain Noe - Sep 27

Wonderful Furniture and Object Designs from Anna Lindgren and Sofia Lagerkvist

Eyes on Front

Anna Lindgren and Sofia Lagerkvist are the design duo behind Front, the Stockholm-based Swedish design group. The fresh, innovative work they do makes it hard to click away from their portfolio. Check out, for instance, this clever coatrack they did for Materia: Or this beautiful Water Steps faucet for Axor:

By Kat Bauman - Sep 27

ID Student Uses Einstein-Designed Refrigeration to Deliver Vaccines Better

This James Dyson Award winner is cool as hell

While you were busy doodling hover cars and sharpening your Wacom stylus, William Broadway developed a final year project that might save millions of lives. Annually. His project, the ISOBAR, aims to help temperature stabilize vaccines for safer delivery in regions with hot climates or barriers to delivery. The cold

By Kat Bauman - Sep 26

An Architect's Take On Cake

3D printing and modeling software meet delicate ganache

An innate fascination with food is a structural part of being human, but what about structural food? Dinara Kasko is an architect-trained pastry chef, and her work melds classic desserts with stark geometry and 3d printing. While inviting, Kasko's creations look less like food and more like architectural renderings or

By Rain Noe - Sep 26

Bad UX: Wireless Emergency Alert Asks Public to Spot Terrorist, But Can't Include Pictures or Links

Why can we Tweet cat videos, but the government can't message a thumbnail?

When a then-unnamed bomber detonated his homemade bomb in New York City on September 17th, injuring dozens, he used a cell phone as a timer. Several mornings later, I was in downtown Manhattan when my own cell phone made the "emergency alert" noise. Here was the message:

By Rain Noe - Sep 26

Why "How Much Does It Cost to Make an iPhone" Analyses are Misleading to Consumers

Please explain this to your non-ID friends

Please circulate this among your friends who are not industrial designers. Because just when we think an awareness of our role has finally permeated society, we see we've still got a ways to go. Take, for example, the rash of "How Much Does It Cost to Make an iPhone?" videos.

By Core Jr - Sep 26

Countdown to the Core77 Conference

Don't miss out on the best design party of the year!

In just a few days we'll be gathering in Downtown Los Angeles for the annual Core77 Designing Here/Now conference. Join luminaries from the disciplines of arts, science, engineering and business this Thursday and Friday (September 29-30) as we share insights on leading successful projects from concept to launch. The

By Carly Ayres - Sep 26

Soon, You Too, May Bedazzle Your Home in Internet

Plume's Adaptive WiFi system is reinventing home WiFi distribution

Anyone who's experienced slow-loading videos and seemingly never-ending downloads knows the pain of a poor WiFi connection. It's a problem many are trying to solve (just take a look at Starry and OnHub), but newcomer Plume thinks they have the solution: magic internet jewels. Advocating for users to ditch

By Emily Engle - Sep 26

This Week: Join us in LA for the Core77 Conference, Analyze Frank Lloyd Wright and Philip Johnson's Relationship, and Get Your Textile On One Last Time

Our Weekly Roundup of Design Events for September 26 - October 2

Jumpstart your week with our insider's guide to events in the design world. From must-see exhibitions to insightful lectures and the competitions you need to know about—here's the best of what's going on, right now.

By Core Jr - Sep 26

Sponsored Post: Ever Wish You Could Photorealistically View Design Modifications While You Work?

The NVIDIA® Iray® for Rhino rendering plug-in helps improve design decision making with fast, predictable visualization

Product designers have used photorealistic rendering of final designs for years. But one area has been impractical until now—using photoreal visualization early on during the design process, while still iterating on a product design. In fact, most designers are just used to doing without it or saving it for the

By Rain Noe - Sep 26

Today Only: Ridiculously Inexpensive Shelf Brackets!

Get your shop organized with 36 brackets for less than ten bucks

For those of you with workshops, nothing is more handy for organizing than building quick shelves. It uses up dead wall space and gets items off of your worksurfaces. Well, I just found out that Lee Valley is having a sale--which unfortunately ends today--where they're selling 36 freaking brackets (12