Tag Archives: privacy

A smart speaker concept you might actually want to keep track of your face at home

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There are ongoing privacy concerns about smart speakers and smart displays that always listen in on you, but this concept actually has a valid reason to.

Speakers and screens that act as hubs for our smart home are becoming more common these days. From Amazon to Google to even Apple, there is no shortage of companies that have products always ready to listen to your voice or even see your face. Those scenarios can sound a bit uncomfortable and almost frightening for some people, but a brand design agency is trying to reframe these technologies in a more positive light by giving smart assistants a more friendly face, almost literally, too.

Designer: Recipe Design

The Soove doesn’t look like your typical smart speaker aside from its conical shape and the customary use of fabric that wraps around the product. It has an odd collar-like ring near the top, actually a sound cone that makes it more sensitive to almost every audio nuance around it. The most eye-catching part of the design, however, is the black glass ball on top and the two eyes that seem to be looking back at you and express some emotions by changing the eyes’ shape.




This gives Soove a more friendly face compared to the more utilitarian smart speaker and smart display designs. It is both disarming and comforting, looking like a friend that’s ready to lend you an ear on your stressful day. That’s exactly the kind of emotions that its designers want to evoke because the smart speaker is more concerned about your well-being than turning the lights on or off.

In addition to listening for audible cues, Soove uses facial tracking to recognize a person’s emotions through their facial expression as well as physical states. It can also take into account data coming from other smart devices like wearables or smart appliances. Soove will then adjust the house’s lighting, temperature, or music to create a more pleasant atmosphere or recommend that the owner take a nap or get some fresh air.

Rather than making a blanket condemnation of face-tracking technologies, Recipe Design wants to demonstrate how they can be put to good use as well. The designer says that “SOOVE aims to change the meaning of existing face-tracking technology by reframing it as a positive enabler beyond surveillance and security. By reframing existing domestic and commercial surveillance technology there is potential to disrupt home monitoring and create an innovative new category designed to influence and drive sensory cues around the smart home to improve our sleep behaviors.”

The post A smart speaker concept you might actually want to keep track of your face at home first appeared on Yanko Design.

Flatpack cardboard room dividers made from repurposed shipping containers are the easy-to-store furniture you need!

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Nook is a collection of desk and room dividers made from repurposed cardboard shipping containers.

It’s said that it takes a little over twenty minutes to get back to work after a distraction. Whether you’re working from home, your local coffee shop, or a busy office–distractions are everywhere. Designing a means for privacy, Just Booth is a Polish acoustic pod brand that develops sound booths where you can retreat for privacy during the workday. Following a competition held by Just Booth and the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź where designers were asked to repurpose Just Booth cardboard boxes, Patrycja Gorzela designed Nook.

Designed in two different sizes, Nook is a collection of desk and room dividers made from disused Just Booth cardboard shipping containers. Amidst busy offices, distractions can come at any moment. Conceptualized as a means for workers to get quiet concentration time, the collection of smaller dividers can be configured on desks to create a small working zone. Then, to divide larger rooms into working sections, Nook comes in a fuller size to create a sense of privacy. Super lightweight and slim by nature, the collection of desk and room dividers can easily be rearranged to fit various needs.

No matter where we work, private zones help get the job done. When we’re in need of a little extra privacy during the workday, Nook is able to provide just that. Initially designed for a competition hosted by Just Booth and the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź, Nook is a sustainable and practical means to provide quiet working zones in busy places.

Designer: Patrycja Gorzela

The post Flatpack cardboard room dividers made from repurposed shipping containers are the easy-to-store furniture you need! first appeared on Yanko Design.

An introvert-friendly semi-enclosed chaise lounge chair that doubles as a private resting area for public spaces!

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‘Esc.’ is a semi-enclosed chaise lounge chair designed to double as a resting space in public to get away from overpowering outdoor stimuli.

Nowadays, the world is at our fingertips–it can be hard to get away from it all, even for only a minute. Distractions come in the form of digital timelines, midday traffic, lunch rushes, and our own smartphones. Our minds and mental health could benefit from a moment’s rest. Realizing the need for a piece of furniture that could double as a place of respite in public spaces, student designer Toine Baert of Two One Design created ‘Esc.,’ a semi-enclosed chaise lounge chair.

Designed to provide people with a secluded resting area, ‘Esc.’ is essentially a chaise lounge chair that’s partly wrapped in an overhead umbrella-like awning. Baert felt inspired to create a private nook for the Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) to look forward to when the stimuli of everyday life become too much. The overhead awning buffers any noise coming from outside to offer an acoustically, visually, and emotionally quiet hideaway inside. The awning can even be adjusted to varying positions to tread the spectrum between enclosed and semi-enclosed, offering anything between an open bench to a dark zone for sleeping. Made from 100% recycled PET felt and durable wood, ‘Esc.’ was made responsibly and built to last.

With upcoming generations giving more credence to the needs and stressors of mental health, design-focused industries are following suit. ‘Esc.’ was developed in part to showcase the ways that furniture can work as a conduit for change within the field of design, creating solutions for today’s and tomorrow’s obstacles.

Designer: Toine Baert x Two One Design

Indoor Pop-Up Privacy Work Tent: Nothing to See Here

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With an increased number of employees working from home in spaces they may not have anticipated being their new office, what’s a person to do to ensure some privacy so they can focus and get their work done uninterrupted? Personally I lock myself in the bathroom. Alternatively, there’s the $120 Sanwa Home Privacy Tent available from the Japan Trend Shop.

Just like a fun sports car, the Home Privacy Tent includes a sunroof. It also features a side window, measures 35″ x 43″ x 59″, and folds up easily for transport in its included carrying case. It’s perfect for telecommuting, gaming, studying, use as a small photography studio, and more. Still, it’s not exactly what I had in mind when I imagined myself with a home office.

So, is a Home Privacy Tent going to be my new Fortress of Solitude? Given that my wife removed the lock from the bathroom door, I’m afraid I don’t have many other options. Are my cats going to constantly try to lay siege to the tent whenever I’m inside? I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to learn they’ve already built a catapult.

[via Japan Today]

This modular office solution fuses collaboration with privacy to create cubicles ideal for returning back to work!

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As parts of the world slowly open their doors back up to the public, offices are steadily following suit– eager to get back to the ‘old normal.’ As we re-enter office buildings and social hubs of which we haven’t been inside for over a year, many are holding tight onto COVID-19 protocols and mandates to ensure the health and wellness of those inside the building. With this in mind, Mexico City-based NOS Design Studio created Hug, a modular office solution that encourages collaboration, but not without the protective barriers and private working zones born out of necessity during the pandemic.

While the topic of normalcy is moot, this upcoming transition into what some might call a post-COVID world carries with it a fusion of design– the maximum occupancy number might be thrown out the window in some areas, but the plastic barriers might not. NOS Design’s Hug is a modular, collaborative office solution with a cubicle-inspired design that allows for face-to-face interaction and maintains privacy via plastic barriers that surround each module. Each individual module that comprises Hug can be put together to form round cubicles using a relatively simple assembly process. A single Hug cubicle is formed by attaching multi-layered panels to the module’s sofa base by using washers and nuts to connect each piece.

The sofa keeps a power unit in its center that functions as a sort of cornerstone for the rest of the module to assemble. Lumbar support panels and cushioned seats with underlying storage units border the power unit to form the cubicle’s bench. Then, a metallic frame rounds the perimeter of the bench, creating an exterior barrier consisting of privacy screens, as well as wooden and fabric panels. Attached to the bottom of each module, four wheels allow for the cubicles to be moved around office spaces wherever workers see fit. Workers can also configure each individual module into a shape that coincides with their specific collaborative process, allowing for modules to connect and grow with other modules to create new office environments.

Designer: NOS Design

Each Hug module forms a round cubicle, creating private work zones and protective barriers.

Each module can also function as a collaborative working zone.

Four wheels tread the bottom of Hug to allow movement around the office.

Power units function as each module’s cornerstone, forming the rest of the cubicle around them.

Different configurations can transform office spaces into totally new environments.

Each module consists of a sofa bench, wooden and fabric exterior panels, and a metal frame that adds support and stabilizes the panels.

Each component of Hug is put together using a system of nuts and washers.

Lumbar support panels add cushioned support for workers.

Depending on the office, each module can be customized with different exterior panels, such as wooden, fabric, and plastic panels.

Workers can configure Hug according to the collaborative space needed.

A power unit provides a place for workers to charge their phones and carry drinks, while a swinging table provides working space.

Shelving units and cork panels create spaces for workers to store their supplies and get creative with new ideas.

Beneath the benches, plenty of storage space can be found for bulkier items like briefcases and purses.

This retractable office solution provides privacy and isolation for remote work and WFH days!

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Working from home has tested our staying power regarding prying eyes and peering over our shoulders. Whether it’s a matter of peeling away from your kids for an office call or muting yourself to keep the background noises from promoting you to Zoom speaker, a little private time is always needed. While many designs have come from the pandemic to help us with working from home, not too many first looked to privacy for inspiration. From Dizz Concept, designers have created the Office Shell, a compact workstation with retractable sliding panels that morph the booth into a private cubicle.

An interior furnishing brand, Dizz Concept creates innovative solutions for small spaces with a focus on sustainability. Dizz Concept set out to design a convertible working booth that provides privacy to reduce distractions and enhance working conditions for an energized workflow. The current office solutions to come out of the pandemic and work-from-home movement tackle noise levels through acoustic barriers and run too big to fit into small living spaces. The creators at Dizz Concept designed Office Shell as a workstation solution that can entirely enclose to manage noise levels and get some privacy while only taking up a total of 4 m2 of office space. In addition to the Office Shell providing privacy for quiet and remote working, the retractable panels work to keep the spread of airborne viruses at bay.

Many office space solutions to come out of the past year were born from the struggles that come from the pandemic having us work from home. Office Shell’s innovation hinges on its versatility and the privacy it provides by creating a physical barrier between workers and airborne viral infections. Entirely made from natural and recyclable materials, Office Shell was created following biophilic design principles to maintain Dizz Concept’s commitment to sustainable design.

Designer: Dizz Concept

When fully enclosed, Office Shell creates an isolated work zone for private matters.

Inside Office Shell, workers can enjoy ample room for a simple work setup including a desk, chair, and storage cabinets.

Constructed from recyclable and natural materials, Office Shell remains committed to sustainable design.

The reed panels unfurl from Office Shell’s doors to provide a fully enclosed working space.

Even when Office Shell is closed, window openings allow plenty of airflow for workers.

 

These fabric acoustic panels absorbs sound and double as a room divider for a great open office space!

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Open office spaces might have replaced cubicles, but we still need some privacy. Products like wooden partitions and pipe-and-drape screens can do a good job of visually separating space, but sound travels and the issue of privacy remains. To provide a means for sound isolation and visual privacy without compromising the inclusive aspect of open office spaces, Milan-based Claudio Bellini design studio created FP7, a collection of acoustic panels that double as room dividers and noise absorbers.

Designed specifically for the open office space, FP7 functions as an acoustic panel to absorb soundwaves without entirely blocking out background noise and as a room divider to visually delineate areas of privacy throughout any given office. The panels that make up the collection come in various colors, all giving off either a bright and exuberant or a subtler, toned-down display which can be chosen depending on the office’s design scheme. Designed to form a set, each panel comes in varying sizes, properly resembling a sort of visual soundwave when positioned together. The panels, which are made from embedded cushioning that’s overlaid with soft fabric, can be organized however the office sees fit.

Privacy is non-negotiable in office settings, and in public spaces, a space for more intimate conversations should always be accessible. Ideal for busy locations like the lobby, group workstations, or even the library, the FP7 acoustic panels can be grouped wherever extra privacy is needed. Qualifying for 2021’s Final Jury at iF Design Awards, FP7 embraces today’s office culture’s openness while creating a way for workers to access private areas for conversing or brainstorming.

Designer: Claudio Bellini

Available in an array of different colors and patterns, FP7 is designed to form a set.

Areas with heavy foot traffic, like lobbies and recreation areas, can form private spaces for conversing through the use of FP7.

The simple, refined fabric and options for additional color schemes enhance FP7’s design versatility.

Acoustic panels can surround smaller conversations or larger group meeting spaces to absorb sound and define private areas.

Google is policing itself on privacy because it knows it has to

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Most people have known for years that technology giants like Facebook and Google make a ton of money by knowing exactly what people do online and selling that knowledge to advertisers. The advertisers, in turn, get better and better at serving people...

Google updates Gmail and other iOS apps for the first time in months

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Google has updated the Gmail iOS app for the first time in months, along with Meet, Sheets, Docs, Calendar and Tasks. Aside from Tasks now supporting widgets on iOS 14, these are minor updates centered around bug fixes and performance improvements. I...