By Matteo Licata - Aug 20 New

How Car Design Works Part 2: Types of Projects

This article was originally published on Automotive Designer Matteo Licata's blog, Roadster - Life. In my time, I've been part of many projects and designed pretty much everything, so in this second installment, I've decided to summarize the process of your average car design project. Saying "I'm a

By Emily Engle - Aug 20 New

Foscarini and Studio Natural Introduce Versatile Wireless, Rechargeable Lamp

Glamping must-have

Foscarini recently introduced CRI CRI, a wireless lamp with an internal rechargeable battery designed in partnership with Studio Natural. The more casual, functional addition to Foscarini's product lineup is made to thrive both indoors and outdoors, ideal for 'glamping' or dinner on the backyard patio. CRI CRI's handle allows easy

By Core Jr - Aug 20 New

"Ask an Expert" & You Could Win a Ticket to Our 2018 Conference! 

Got a question about how to run a creative business? Send it in and you could win

The success of this year's Core77 Conference "Now What? Launching & Growing Your Creative Business" hinges on the advice coming from seasoned creative entrepreneurs and consultants to help answer the question that will be on every attendee's mind: what does it take to run your own creative business and help

By Rain Noe - Aug 20 New

How to Make Your Own Mini Miter Saw, Jigsaw, Drill and More

The Easy HomeMade Projects channel provides do-able examples of DIY power tools

Here's one of those channels that makes you thankful YouTube exists. The anonymous craftsman behind Easy HomeMade Projects shows you how to DIY all manner of unlikely objects, the most impressive of which are in the small power tool space. Wanna see something crazy? Check out his small-scale DIY miter

By Rain Noe - Aug 20 New

Here's How They Mill Handrails That Are Already Curved

Alternate title: "Crazy German router attachments"

I'd always assumed that curved wooden handrails were first milled, then steam-bent into shape. Turns out that's not always the case. German power tool manufacturer Scheer has modified their HM 17 router to work on square stock that's already been steam bent: The SCHEER handrail-router FG 308 ist used for

By Rain Noe - Aug 20 New

Hideaway Solutions' Brilliant Fold-Out Kitchen Stairs

Fold-flat stairs that deploy from your base cabinets

A Rhode-Island-based company called Hideaway Solutions has designed the Step 180, a clever and compact stepladder that seamlessly integrates into one's kitchen: The seemingly simple device has a host of well-thought-out features: Amazingly, it only takes up 1.5 inches of width within your base cabinets. It might be a pain

By Rain Noe - Aug 17

Anglepoise Releases "Mini Mini" Version of Their Iconic Task Lamp

Tiny, tote-able, powered by USB

By now you've surely absorbed our must-read series on the Angelpoise, the classic task lamp invented by a 1920s freelance car designer. The iconic design has been put into service by everyone from architects to Pixar, and now the company's producing a half-size version that can be toted around--and plugged

By Rain Noe - Aug 17

Adding a Simple Design Improvement to Chopsticks

Hover Chopsticks are shaped so that the tips don't touch the tabletop

After you get the hang of 'em, chopsticks are pretty darned handy; and once you've eaten a salad with them, particularly a messy one, you'll never go back to using a fork and knife. Because the design is so simple and thousands of years old, you'd figure there's nothing you

By Rain Noe - Aug 17

Volkswagen's Spektrum Program Offers a Whopping 40 Different Color Options

40vergnügen

This is my car. There are many others like it but this one is mine. Following my "A Designer Buying a Car" saga, yes, I purchased a 2018 Volkswagen Golf Alltrack. I've logged 2,500 miles and am super happy with it--except the color; I wanted it in silver, but VW

By Core77 Design Awards - Aug 17

This Mobile Interface Aims to End Your Phone Addiction Through Simple Design

A public use OS designed by Hoan Pham

TrapOS is a productivity and performance driven mobile operating system designed for simplicity and ease of use across cultural and physical boundaries. It is intended to be a truly universal global interface where users

By Rain Noe - Aug 16

Sketching Up a Tesla Tank

Follow along with Eric Strebel's marker and pen rendering

This week industrial designer Eric Strebel's got a sketching video up. "I recently visited Norfolk, Virginia and was inspired by all the military hardware on display in the area," he writes. "You can see some of the amazing ships in the beginning of the video. This got me to thinking

By Rain Noe - Aug 16

Women's Pockets Really Suck

Designer Jan Diehm and journalist-engineer Amber Thomas visualize the data for you

Last month at the DMV, I was switching my driver's license over to my new state of residence. The clerk showed me a screen where I could double-check my data, and I saw that she had accidentally listed my gender as female. "Can you backspace over that," I asked, "or

By Rain Noe - Aug 16

The Digit, a Retro Mechanical-Keyed Calculator

Design firm Lofree has found success by combining modern technology with retro styling

Hong-Kong-based Design firm Lofree came out of nowhere last year, quickly racking up three six-figure crowdfunding successes: $744,199 for their Dot Keyboard, $183,618 for their Four Seasons Keyboard and $185,499 for their Poison Speaker. In this age of hard-looking glass rectangles, the company's tactile, geometric, soft-radii-sporting retro-styled objects seem to

By Rain Noe - Aug 15

A Portable, Convenient, Swappable Renewable Energy Source: Honda's Mobile Power Packs

Trials will begin this year in Indonesia

With their Mobile Power Pack, Honda's got a brilliant plan to make renewable, zero-emissions energy super-convenient. To see if their plan will work, the company is beginning trials this year in heavily-populated, heavily-polluted Indonesia, the world's third largest emitter of greenhouse gases. Indonesia is the world's third largest market for

By Emily Engle - Aug 15

Michael DiTullo on Why Designers Shouldn't Limit Themselves to a Single Product Category

"If you want to be successful, the first thing you have to do is define what success means to you."

Throughout his professional career, seasoned industrial designer Michael DiTullo has put an emphasis on designing everything instead of pigeon-holing himself into a single category. This mentality has not only led him to work for companies like Nike, Frog and Sound United, but it has also exposed him to exciting side projects, like designing custom cars with ICON Motors.

By Joel Moskowitz - Aug 15

Tools & Craft #103: How Drawbore Pins Work

Since we introduced Ray Iles's draw borepins last fall, we've gotten a ton of questions about why real ones such as these work better than concentric tapered pins - that is, pins that are sometimes misconstrued as drawbore pins but really are just tapered drift pins. Drift pins are just

By Steven Johnson - Aug 15

Steven M. Johnson's Product Design Lesson: Practice Creating Variations

Not a Bizarre Invention this week, but a practical exercise

To limber up my lateral thinking "lobes," I draw faint horizontal lines in pencil on a sheet of white paper and think up several dissimilar shapes. Working left to right, I draw combinations in ink

By Rain Noe - Aug 15

Great Features in Klein Tools' Tradesman Pro Tool Master Backpack

I'm a big fan of Klein Tools for their clever Katapult Wire Stripper, and I'm happy to see the company has applied their design talents to tool bags as well. Their Tradesman Pro Tool Master Backpack has a host of great features that show the designers have studied how tools

By Rain Noe - Aug 15

Kikkerland's Compact Suit Folder

Obviates the need for a garment bag, easy enough to use that even a simpleton manservant can operate it

While Core77's bosses typically spend their evenings wearing tuxedos, us lowly folk in editorial have the luxury of wearing whatever we want. Which is a good thing; when acquaintances of mine inconsiderately die or get married, forcing me to attend their funerals or weddings, I've found transporting a suit in

By Rain Noe - Aug 14

The Cero One, a Modular, Electric Cargo Bike Based on Japanese Utility Bicycles

The "Mom's Bike" has never looked sexier

Take a trip to virtually any region of Japan and you'll see plenty of mamachari; translated as "mom's bike," mamachari are no-frills utility bicycles with a handy basket used as grocery getters, kiddie haulers and commuter vehicles. The Cero One is a cargo bike that takes its inspiration from the

By Core Jr - Aug 14

Sponsored Post: Unreal Engine's VR Technology is Ready to Make a Difference in the Design World

Unreal Studio is now in free beta. Get it while it's hot!

Designing something as complicated as a car can take years. Even though CAD and rendering technology have improved tremendously over the past two decades, there is one major time sink in the automotive design process that there's been no way to get around: The "review" step that occurs throughout the

By Emily Engle - Aug 14

Reebok Announces Sneakers with a Corn-Based Sole

This morning, the Reebok Future team launched the NPC UK Cotton sneakers, the first product from their "Cotton + Corn" sustainable products initiative, which was announced last year. The Cotton + Corn program aims to produce footwear with "things that grow"instead of materials like petroleum and synthetic rubber. The NPC

By Rain Noe - Aug 14

An Over-the-Top Puzzle Cabinet by Craig Thibodeau

This Wisteria design features tons of secret compartments and hidden mechanisms

To us, nothing can beat the elegant complexity of cabinetmaker David Roentgen's ingenious pieces from the 18th Century. But that doesn't stop people from trying. Here, San-Diego-based furnituremaker Craig Thibodeau tries to out-Roentgen Roentgen, with this incredibly complex Wisteria Puzzle Cabinet, created in collaboration with puzzle designer Robert Yarger:

By Emily Engle - Aug 13

Panasonic Is Serious About Their Fancy Electronic Shoe Deodorizer

Get those funky odors outta here!

Say goodbye to putting baking soda and air freshness in your smelly sneakers because Panasonic recently announced, "There's a machine for that." The Japanese electronics company's new MS-DS100 is a shoe deodorizer device that works overnight for up to 7 hours to freshen those smelly, nasty, gross, dank sneakers you've

By Rain Noe - Aug 13

Video of the Day: Overhead Time Lapse of Dogs Herding Sheep Resembles Computational Fluid Dynamics

A Wellington, New-Zealand-based hunter named Matt Bircham captured the astonishing footage you see below. Upon encountering a sheep farm in Marlborough, Bircham sent his drone up to a distance of 180 meters to capture the sheep dogs doing their herding work, then sped the footage up: "They were moving 3500

By Rain Noe - Aug 13

Hilarious Japanese Automatic Handheld Dishwashing Device

It's ingenious and really dumb at the same time

This vaguely insectoid plastic contraption from Japan was created to wash dishes, bowls and even utensils. No, it's not a gag. It's real and can be purchased for just 8,800 yen! (That's about eighty bucks.) Of course, there's no telling as to whether it actually works on dirty dishes.

By Rain Noe - Aug 13

The Mehlville: A Super Designey Dual-Compartment Carabiner

The James Brand is a Portland, Oregon-based group of designers who create modern, minimalist knives and tools. They also make this dual-compartment carabiner called the Mehlville that caught my eye. It's machined from a single piece of aluminum and uses stainless steel for the hardware. Look at the amount of

By Rain Noe - Aug 13

Yeti's Durable, Comfortable Folding Outdoor Chair

The Hondo Base Camp Chair looks to be an uncompromising design

Yeti, manufacturer of high-end coolers, has applied their fastidious design skills to outdoor furniture. "With a reputation to uphold for durability," the company writes, "we looked to wilderness-tested gear – from climbing harness fabric to downhill mountain bike frames – to create a nearly-indestructible, incredibly comfortable place to park yourself."