By Rain Noe - Jul 05

Japan's Litter-Cleaning Samurai

It's like plogging, but with more style

From Sweden came the trend of Plogging, whereby joggers rid the streets of litter while running their routes. Japan has wandering litter cleaners too, but they're dressed in kimono and wield fire tongs like swords: The group is called Jidaigumi

By Rain Noe - Jun 14

Crash Footage Shows Two Well-Placed Bollards Saving Pedestrians' Lives

Design for antisocial impact

Our previous bollard coverage (I love that I can write that) looked at how they protect buildings from damage and stymie vehicle-based terrorists. Here's a look at how two well-placed sacrificial pillars saved two people's lives at a donut shop last week: Admittedly the support column should be credited with

By Charlene Sequeira - Jun 05

Making a Ding in the Single-Use Plastic Bag Universe

One designer's approach to making sustainable change

The cover of National Geographic Magazine last month, and the multiple alarms that have been ringing over the past two decades, is testament to the fact that we have a huge plastic problem that needs to be fixed. Lucky for us, designers can actually help solve problems. Sustainable Design, design

By Rain Noe - May 28

British Company Designs and Builds Staircases That Transform Into Wheelchair Lifts

Sesame Access turned an unlikely idea into a successful product line

When you're at the bar with fellow creatives, ideas for inventions can flow. After four IPAs you think you're da Vinci. But few of us ever see these brew-borne ideas to fruition. UK-based engineer Charlie Lyons, however, actually did. Years ago Lyons was at a pub with a pal. Said

By Flo Peters - Apr 04

Access+Ability Exhibition Features Products Developed by and with People with Disabilities

The Cooper Hewitt is using their platform to educate the public on the growing movement toward accessibility and inclusive design

Access+Ability is an exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum on view now through Sept. 3, 2018. It features products, projects and services developed by and with people with disabilities—physical, cognitive and sensory—in an effort to improve their ability to lead independent lives and engage with the world.

By Core Jr - Mar 26

A/D/O's Water Futures: A Safe Space for Scientists and Designers to Address Our Water Crisis, Together

This past Wednesday night kicked off Water Futures, a first-of-its-kind research program hosted by A/D/O in collaboration with Jane Withers. The year long program of events and workshops will focus on water in the urban environment, from the tensions around how we manage water in large cities to the push

By Core Jr - Feb 14

Looking for a Valentine's Day Gift?

These parody videos will give you a design alternative!

The clichéd gifts for Valentine's Day are always flowers and chocolates, but things have been changing in this holiday business for a while now (Galentine's Day, for example). This year, enter Racket—a grassroots organization aimed at de-shaming menstruation and providing hygiene products to women in need, have written, produced, and

By Core Jr - Feb 05

Sponsored Post: If You're a Product Designer Who Wants to Have Social Impact, You Belong Here 

An MFA in Social Design from DSI at the School of Visual Arts can help you transform your career

Last week, the head of BlackRock, one of the biggest investment companies in the world, sent a letter to the CEOs of each of the companies in which his own $6 trillion company invests: "Consider the social implications of your business," he said. From now on, BlackRock will be evaluating

By Rain Noe - Dec 28, 2017

The Give Back Box Organization: A Free Way to Upcycle Those Cardboard Shipping Boxes

…and de-clutter your home at the same time

Following this gift-giving season, many of us probably have a boatload of cardboard shipping boxes lying around. Instead of breaking them down and tossing them into the recycling, there's an easy way for you to put them to good use. An organization called Give Back Box works together with charities

By Rain Noe - Nov 02, 2017

A Look at Pop-Up Vehicle Blockers as a Potential Solution to Automotive Attacks

Design vs. death, again

The Hudson River Greenway, a two-lane bicycle and jogging path along Manhattan's West Side Highway, is one of the best places to cycle in the city, providing car-free cruising and a pleasant breeze off of the Hudson River. It's also the site where terrorist Sayfullo Saipov killed eight people and

By Allison Fonder - Oct 10, 2017

frog's 'Yona' Project Reimagines the Awkward Gynecology Visit Experience

And a redesign of the speculum, a medical instrument that hasn't been refined in years

For anyone who has experienced it firsthand, a visit to the gynecologist can easily be a dreaded one. Some purport the experience to be so awkward, they skip the opportunity to visit a doctor entirely, which can be seriously detrimental to a woman's overall health. Last week designers at frog

By Timothy Prestero - Oct 06, 2017

Tutorial: How to Create Tough, Lightweight and Waterproof Gear Bags From Dyneema and Tyvek

In this tutorial, I'll show you how to make a variety of useful zippered gear bags that are incredibly tough, lightweight and waterproof. This tutorial is intended for someone like me: familiar with rapid prototyping tools like 3d printers and laser cutters, reasonably competent with hand tools, but pretty clueless

By Elizabeth Johansen - Oct 06, 2017

Design Experience That Matters: Equipping A Local Social Enterprise to Communicate Ideas Using Prototypes

Listening in the hardest market

Rapid prototyping is a core human-centered design skill. Design that Matters uses prototypes to better communicate with stakeholders across languages and cultures, quickly testing assumptions to efficiently converge on a final solution. This essay includes six examples of insights we gained using prototypes and how we taught these methods to our social enterprise partner, MTTS.

By Rain Noe - Oct 06, 2017

Tesla Sends Hundreds of Powerwalls to Puerto Rico, and Elon Musk Says He Can Power the Island

On Wednesday, Earther.com ran an article pointing out that with its power grid mostly destroyed, Puerto Rico has "an opportunity to completely transform the way electricity is generated [locally]." It described a local woman who had solar panels on her roof, granting her with electricity, unlike most of her neighbors

By Rain Noe - Oct 05, 2017

Suggestions for Physical Anti-Vegas-Shooting Countermeasures

Lasers, grenade drones and more

As designers, we naturally think of what systems could be devised to prevent tragedies like the mass shooting in Vegas. Realistically it would require a cocktail of procedures well beyond the scope of mere design, but let's go through some ideas here, some supplied by readers, as a mental exercise.

By Emily Engle - Oct 04, 2017

Google's Live-Translating Earbuds Attempt to Squash all Language Barriers

The translation goes both ways, allowing seamless conversation between multiple languages

Google just announced their new Google Pixel Buds, which are way more exciting than they appear. About halfway through Google's product presentation, it was revealed that the buds are live-translating, meaning they allow seamless face-to-face communication between people that speak different languages. The presentation is the only demonstration out at

By Rain Noe - Oct 04, 2017

What a Bump Stock Does, and Why People Want Them

Examining the psychology

Humans will always invent mechanical contrivances that help them solve particular problems. By shaping materials and assembling parts in novel ways, these contrivances increased efficiency, whether they're eggbeaters, deli slicers or something more nefarious. Here we're going to look at the bump stock, which Stephen Paddock used to murder 58

By Rain Noe - Oct 03, 2017

Billionaire Steve Wynn Reveals His Secret, Covert and Extreme Casino Security Measures

"We have done extraordinary things to make sure that we protect our employees and our guests at the hotel"

As authorities search to find a motive behind Sunday's horrific mass shooting in Las Vegas, others are re-examining security measures. The police now state that 23 firearms were found in Stephen Paddock's suite, and it seems incredible that he was able to transport that amount of guns and hundreds of

By Rain Noe - Oct 02, 2017

What Can We Do to Prevent Events Like the Las Vegas Mass Shooting?

There are things that we design to keep us safe from those who would do us harm: Pylons and cordons, bulletproof vests, security checkpoints, facial recognition software, personal firearms, criminal databases. But the tactics used by last night's mass killer in Las Vegas defied all of them. At 10:08pm

By Rain Noe - Sep 28, 2017

Ex-Army Catering Specialist Developing Edible Drone for Disaster Relief

Windhorse Aerospace's Pouncer UAV would be made up of 50 meals

Engineer Nigel Gifford, who has completed over 1,000 parachute jumps, had a job you've probably never heard of: As a Captain in the British Army Catering Corps, his job was to feed soldiers in hostile environments. Given his specialty, after retirement he was approached by the British military and asked

By Rain Noe - Sep 28, 2017

Air Drop Alternative: Military Develops Supply-Dropping Drone/Hoverbike

The "Picatinny Pallet" will be able to deliver with precision

Delivering crucial supplies to people on the ground is a logistics problem faced by both military and humanitarian organizations. One way to do it is via air drops, and we showed you some awesome footage of that here. But "The biggest problem we have with dropping relief supplies is, they

By Rain Noe - Sep 25, 2017

Design That Matters Now Selling Their Dyneema Field Research Kits

Buy one and help save babies' lives!

Here's your chance to contribute to a Kickstarter where you can not only get some sweet product, but you can also support a company that harnesses the power of design to save babies' lives. Design That Matters, Tim Prestero's nonprofit design firm (which produces our Design Experience That Matters

By LinYee Yuan - Sep 05, 2017

5 World-Changing Projects Win the 2017 INDEX: Award

The world's first sustainable design prize is also the largest monetary prize, awarding a total of € 500,000

For the past 16 years, the Danish non-profit INDEX: Design to Improve Life, have been recognizing and supporting design innovations that pave the path towards a more sustainable future. Through education programs, investment and a bi-annual awards program that is not only the world's first sustainable design prize but also the largest monetary design prize, INDEX is a call to action to the design world.

By Core Jr - Aug 18, 2017

A Clever Piece of Graphic Design in Protest of the Current State of Affairs

Artist Mike Mitchell says "Spread it far and wide"

Artist Mike Mitchell actually created this back in May, but it's suddenly more relevant now that our President has waffled on whether to denounce neo-Nazis and white supremacists. "Here's a high res copy which I'm allowing for personal use (signs, shirts, buttons)," Mitchell writes. "Spread it far and wide."

By Rain Noe - Aug 04, 2017

Norwegian Billionaire Funding World's Largest Superyacht—to Vacuum Plastic Garbage Out of the Ocean

Having made his fortune on the sea, Kjell Inge Røkke wants to help clean it up

A gent named Kjell Inge Røkke is one of Norway's richest men, worth some $2.6 billion. He made his fortune in the shipping and offshore drilling industries. "The sea has given me great opportunities. I am grateful for that," Røkke told Aftenposten. "I will give back to the community the

By Rain Noe - Jul 11, 2017

Brilliant Design: A Gravity-Powered Light

Jim Reeves and Martin Riddiford's game-changing invention requires no batteries nor electricity

Here's an example of solving an impossible problem using clever design. First off, the arena in which the problem exists: Roughly 25% of the world's population have no access to electricity. In these areas using kerosene lamps for lighting is common. The potential for fires and burns from these lamps

By Core Jr - Jul 10, 2017

TRIAGE: Design Interventions From SVA Products of Design

This year's work explores design and politics

As part of NYCxDesign, the students of the MFA in Products of Design at the School of Visual Arts presented TRIAGE, an interactive exhibition that reframed contemporary political urgencies through the lens of design. The work debuted at WantedDesign Manhattan, and welcomed visitors from all over the world. TRIAGE consisted

By Timothy Prestero - Jun 09, 2017

Design Experience That Matters: How Will Your Design Fare Over the Long Haul?

Lessons learned from the Kinkajou adult literacy aid

The Kinkajou Microfilm Projector is a teaching tool for nighttime adult literacy courses in rural communities without books or electric lighting. It was DtM's very first projected, started back when the company founders were still graduate students at MIT. It's been more than a decade since the Kinkajou pilot in

By Rain Noe - Jun 06, 2017

Solar Panel Window Blinds!

SolarGaps can turn any window into a source of free energy

If you own your home, it may make sense for you to invest in kitting it out with solar power. But for the millions of folks who rent, it's not possible to go green in this way. That will change if SolarGaps, a system of solar-panel-laden Venetian blinds, work as

By Tenny Pinheiro - Jun 05, 2017

The Ins and Outs of a Design Sprint 

Finally, a design approach you can't afford to ignore.

When was the last time you choose the harder, more expensive approach to solve a problem? That is the reason why the adoption of the Design Sprint practice has been skyrocketing worldwide. But before backing up that claim, let me set the stage with some foundation for the reader that is unfamiliar with the term Design Sprint

By Kat Bauman - May 31, 2017

Move Over Boston Dynamics: Mech Cyborgs Are Working At Lowe's

Powerup requested in the paint department

Did you know that Lowe's had a robotic innovation lab? Well you've been missing out. While we've been hand wringing over creepy new cyberdogs and oddly graceful rollerskaters Lowe's has calmly been rolling out a robot exosuit for its human employees. The Lowe's Innovation Lab started its human+ journey

By Kat Bauman - May 16, 2017

Spotted On Coroflot: An AR Concept For Dementia Assistance

A slick student treatment for a smart simple tool

When sifting Coroflot for interesting projects and design thinking to highlight, we usually skew towards work that has at least made it to prototyping. Conceptual ideas are important, but they're like [a rude analogy]: everybody's got them. That said, the AR Cane concept caught my attention by answering a familiar