By Emily Engle - Jul 17 New

Evita Bouwmeester's Scanned and Rearranged Footwear Designs are Challenging the Fast Fashion Model

Seeing double (and triple)

Has anyone else become exhausted from seeing every brand on the face of the earth from Zara to Balenciaga to Nike attempt to wow teens with their latest iteration of the dad shoe? All the different options now blend together, and I'm beginning to yearn for the day the trend

By Core77 Design Awards - Jul 17 New

Announcing the Winners of Our 2018 Core77 Design Awards Community Choice Prize

The votes are in! After tallying up your votes on who had the most exciting work of 2018 in the Core77 Design Awards, we have a grand prize winner of this year's Community Choice prize as well as 13 category winners. The grand prize winner doesn't just earn a brag-able

By Rain Noe - Jul 17 New

The Occupational Outlook for Industrial Designers, According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Employment growth rates, what skills are trending, and where in the U.S. industrial designers work

If you're an industrial designer and you want to find out if you're getting paid the right amount, well, that's why we have the Core77 Salary Guide. But those of you simply interested in the profession as a whole may wonder if, in this age of digital, our profession's importance

By Rain Noe - Jul 17 New

How Long Do the Appliances and Objects in Our Homes Last For?

Here's the data, according to professional home inspectors

For those of you that design appliances and/or household fixtures, how long do they last for? Some of you are privy to the client's planned obsolescence figures, but I'm guessing most of you just watch the BOM get whittled down, then reduce your estimate of that moving part's longevity.

By Rain Noe - Jul 17 New

The MoJack and the Jungle Jack: Two Different Approaches to Quick Lifting

Now relocated to a rural environment, I'm learning about all sorts of new tools and objects I'd had no exposure to in the city. I've just purchased, and am now familiarizing myself with, a lawn tractor/riding mower. While researching the required maintenance routines I came across the Mo-Jack and the

By Tom Murray - Jul 16 New

How VR Is Changing the Game for Product Designers

Goodbye foam core mockups, hello VR environments

A few years ago when my colleagues were designing an aging-in-place walk-in shower for Jacuzzi, they rented a nearby virtual reality facility to evaluate a simulated version of an early prototype. The VR facility staffer donned a suit packed with sensors, and the designers on Bresslergroup's project team were able

By Rain Noe - Jul 16

Prototyping a Dust Mask with Integrated Eye Protection, Phase Two

Here in Phase Two of creating a dust mask with integrated eye protection, industrial designer Eric Strebel demonstrates the balance between digital and manual: When to CAD and when not to CAD, and the benefits of modeling vs. leaving yourself room to shape things by hand, finding the form in

By Rain Noe - Jul 16

Adam Savage Releases EDC Two Bag

A smaller, more affordable version of the EDC One

After Adam Savage debuted his EDC One bag last year, based on an old NASA design, he "immediately decided that I wanted to make a second bag," he writes, "for two reasons." "First, the EDC ONE was sized for me and my specific needs, but I could see use for

By Rain Noe - Jul 16

Brilliant Materials Insight: Human Hair Can be Used to Clean Up Oil Spills

Using free waste materials to mitigate ecological disasters

Here's a perfect example of analyzing a material's properties, then exploiting them to solve a problem. In 1989 an Alabama man named Phil McCrory was watching footage of the Exxon Valdez oil spill on television. The sad footage showed an otter drenched in oil--and McCrory observed that the water immediately

By Rain Noe - Jul 13

Trump Wants New Paint Job for Air Force One, Here are His Guidelines. Your Submissions Please!

Is AF1 tired AF?

Did you know that Raymond Loewy designed the paint scheme for Air Force One? It was approved by JFK and Jackie Kennedy and has been the AF1 signature livery ever since. But Axios is reporting that changes are afoot, as "Trump wants a color scheme that 'looks more American' and

By Rain Noe - Jul 13

Resource for Designers: Here's How to Get Instant Quotes for On-Demand Manufacturing

With the merger of Xometry and MakeTime, making things in America is about to get a lot easier

"The ease of being able to upload a part," says Josh Haldeman, an industrial designer for protective gear company Bullard, "and instantly know what it's going to cost me is phenomenal." Haldeman is referring to the instant online quoting process for Xometry, a company that connects manufacturers and fabricators with

By Rain Noe - Jul 13

Manhattan's Lost Skyscraper: The Singer Building

Once the tallest building in the world, now demolished and forgotten

Core77's NYC headquarters are in what is informally called the Singer Building, located in SoHo. Aside from the distinctive red and green façade, the building is easily discernible by the throngs of Core77 fans surrounding the entrance at all hours, eagerly hoping to catch a glimpse of our staff and

By Rain Noe - Jul 13

Drought in Wales Reveals Hidden Subterranean Monuments

Ancient Roman forts buried beneath farms begin to reveal their outlines

Architecture is supposed to be permanent, but take a good look around you, and ask yourself if the house or building you're in will be around in a thousand years. We have access to better materials science than the Romans did--well, except for concrete--yet the architectural evidence of their existence

By Core Jr - Jul 12

Pitch a Workshop for the 2018 Core77 Conference in New York City

Win a conference pass and present your best ideas to your peers!

We're looking for dynamic workshops to add to our exciting list of 2018 Core77 Conference presentations! This years theme is all about launching and growing your creative business or product line. Do you have practical knowledge around this topic? Are you passionate about working as an independent designer? Do you

By Core77 Design Awards - Jul 12

You Have 2 Days Left to Vote for the 2018 Core77 Design Awards Community Choice Winner!

Help one designer win our extra special grand prize....

On Saturday, July 14th, voting for this year's Community Choice Prize Winner in the 2018 Core77 Design Awards will come to a close, which means you still have time to: A.) Vote for your favorite design award-winning project of 2018 to win B.) Promote your own winning project for a

By Rain Noe - Jul 12

Better Butter Dispensing

The Butter Twist measures, cuts and spreads

I'm skeptical of kitchen gadgets in general, but this one seems genuinely useful, at least if you're a frequent consumer of butter. Most of us store butter in a butter dish, and cut slices off of it with a knife. If you refrigerate your butter (a Northeastern America thing? I

By Joel Moskowitz - Jul 12

Tools & Craft #100: The Finest Water Fountain in New York City

I'm a big fan of pastrami, and I go to Katz's to get it. Katz's has been on Ludlow Street since 1888, and aside from superb pastrami, and what must be the largest restaurant seating capacity in New York City, they have the single coolest water fountain I have ever

By Rain Noe - Jul 12

Brilliant Design for a Gas Can: The SureCan

Innovative features vastly improve the UX

Now relocated to farm country, I recently needed to gas up a lawn tractor. I went to Lowes to purchase a gas can. I grabbed the standard $20 one, which looks like this: But next to it I spotted another gas can, listed for an absurd $50, that looked like

By Emily Engle - Jul 11

The Pink Coffin Pool Floatie 2018 Deserves 

Rest In Paradise

Designers Andrew Greenbaum and Ian Felton of Pom Pom just served 2018 exactly what it deserves—a pink inflatable coffin. We caught wind of the satirical twist on the designer pool floatie trend yesterday morning, and put it to the Instagram poll test, which revealed many people are interested in the

By Emily Engle - Jul 11

RUNVI: Smart Insoles that Track Performance & Help Reverse Bad Running Habits

Only 20 hours left to pledge on Kickstarter

Knee injuries, ankle injuries and straight-up laziness are three common excuses for living a lifestyle without running, but according to NWTN Co-Founder Daniel von Waldthausen, two of those three excuses can simply stem from running improperly our entire lives. While NWTN's smart insole, RUNVI, can't help in the laziness department,

By Steven Johnson - Jul 11

Steven M. Johnson's Bizarre Invention #44: Bumper Shopping Carts

Steven M. Johnson's "Patent Depending" series of inventions range from social commentary to plain ol' bizarre, and they always give us a laugh. So we've contracted him to let us publish one every week.

By Rain Noe - Jul 11

Getting Every Last Drop of Product Out of a Bottle, Part 2: The Zero Waste Cap

It's a little absurd that it's the 21st century, and we're still filling nearly-empty shampoo bottles with water and shaking them. We looked at some design solutions to fully evacuate a bottle's contents here. An addition to this series is the helpful Zero Waste Cap: Of course, we wouldn't

By Rain Noe - Jul 11

CeramicSpeed's Bearing-Based Chainless Bicycle System

Bear with them while they work out the mechanicals

In conjunction with the University of Colorado's Mechanical Engineering Department, bicycle parts manufacturer CeramicSpeed has launched an ambitious initiative: To produce a bicycle with no chain nor derailleur. At this year's Eurobike show they unveiled Driven, a 13-speed "prototype" ("concept bike" would be more accurate, as the thing doesn't

By Emily Engle - Jul 10

Elon Musk's Tiny "Submarine" Turned Down During Thailand Cave Rescue Mission

Timing is everything

Have you ever frantically designed a project over the weekend only for it to be shot down the following Monday? Well, Elon Musk and his team of SpaceX engineers feel you. In light of the flooded cave incident in Thailand, Musk put his team to work on Saturday designing a