Red Dot Award: Product Design 2020 Winners announced! Check out the Best of Best designs here!

Posted on 03/07/2020 by Sarang Sheth

Along with the Summer Solstice, International Music Day, International Yoga Day, and Father’s Day, the design community has one more reason to look forward to the present. It’s also time to reveal the winners of the Red Dot Product Design Awards for the year 2020! The Red Dot Design Awards are considered one of the preeminent award programs in the design field. Being hosted since 1955, the Red Dot has become one of the most sought-after symbols of great design and innovation. Now in its 65th year, we look at some of the ‘Best of Best’ winners of the 2020 Red Dot Awards: Product Design, right from the home of the award in Essen, Germany!

Click Here to See 2020 Winners

YD Handpicks: Best of Best Winners – Red Dot Product Design Award 2020

01. AirPods Pro by Apple

The AirPods were ground-breaking for making truly-wireless earbuds the status quo. Now, with the AirPods Pro, Apple hopes to upgrade its wireless technology to provide better, clearer, and more advanced audio to its listeners. The AirPods Pro take the features of the AirPods and introduce it to better drivers, active noise cancellation, adaptive EQ, and a new design that fits better in the ear, thanks to silicone tips.

02. Aquno Select M81 by Hansgrohe

The Aquno Select M81’s purpose, apart from elevating the kitchen’s style, is to also provide unparalleled functionality when it comes to using water to wash utensils. Not only does it feature a slick pull-out spray on the top, it even comes with an array of horizontally positioned sprays that help focus water in a way that rinses food off plates easily without splashing water in every direction (or on you).

03. Touchswitch by Niko nv

Have you ever walked up to a switchboard and spent a good 5 minutes trying out every switch to see which one controls what appliance? Well, that indecisiveness is what the Touchswitch hopes to tackle, with its smart touch-enabled display interface. The touchscreen becomes a fresh, more informative interface that overhauls the rudimentary switchboard. Not only can it display information, it uses intuitive elements, colors, and visuals to help you understand what you’re doing too. Besides, rather than just switching things on or off, you can now tap, slide, and turn elements. Now who wouldn’t love that?!

04. 1919 Globetimer UTC by Porsche Design

“If you analyze the function of an object, its form often becomes obvious,” was the credo of Ferdinand Alexander Porsche and the starting point of many of his designs. The 1919 Globetimer sports the appearance of an elegant wristwatch, albeit with a slight difference. Built into its side are two buttons that allow you to easily and conveniently switch time-zones, cycling through all zones across the world.

05. MotoRAZR 2019 by Motorola

The 2019 MotoRAZR easily remains one of my favorite designs of all-time, so the fact that it’s deserving of a Red Dot Award feels pleasantly validating! The phone, which debuted in 2019, reimagined a classic, bringing a new, cutting edge flexible display to the incredibly sleek iconic design from the 2000s. It’s every bit a RAZR, and also every bit an incredibly capable smartphone. What more could one really want?!

06. Sema Whirling by Hefei LCFC Information Technology

The Sema Whirling is to barcode scanners what the Rolls-Royce is to automobiles. Absolutely captivating, convention-challenging, and just a reinterpretation of designs that we usually take for granted, the Sema Whirling is a barcode/QR-code scanner that looks like a million bucks! It retains the ability to be gripped and pointed at objects, but ditches the weird gun-shaped design for something that looks more like a luxurious bottle of perfume!

07. Mabot by Shenzhen Bell Creative Science and Education

Learning is a complex process that is always centred on and guided by individual interests. Children learn much easier and faster when they encounter something that piques their curiosity by challenging them. Mabot is an educational robot that was developed to present children with a challenge and the ability to build the toy they want. As fundamental as LEGO blocks, but equipped with motors, sensors, and electronic parts, Mabot equips kids with the ability to plug modules together to build their own robot and define the distinctive functions of their tech-wonder!

08. ThinkPad X1 Fold by Lenovo

The ThinkPad X1 Fold is perhaps the best use-case of a flexible display. Designed to make tablets as accessible and portable as notebooks, the X1 Fold gives you a device with a 7.2″ screen, but in a footprint that’s small enough to fit in your palm as you dash from your cabin to the presentation room. The ThinkPad X1 Fold, true to its name, also comes with a nifty stylus that lets you articulate your thoughts, note down points, and capture graphs, minutes of meetings, and slip in a doodle or two between long meetings too! Besides, its folding screen format and bookish design make it perhaps the best e-reader ever!

09. CleanAIR® UniMask by MALINA

The CleanAIR® UniMask comes at an absolutely opportune time. Designed for use around industries with exposure to gases like aerosols, the CleanAIR® UniMask is a mask with a full-face visor that creates a seal around your entire face with a soft cushion that enables you to wear it for prolonged hours. UniMask weighs in at just 380 grams and offers good optical and mechanical features that make for an extraordinarily light face shield with high functionality. The inner airflow regulation enables users to adjust the direction and intensity of the air to be delivered and direct it either to the face or directly into the breathing zone. The visor possesses high mechanical resistance and a special anti-fog coating that prevents fogging and delivers a clear and undisturbed view at all times.

10. Ferrari SF90 Stradale by Ferrari S.p.A.

Ending this countdown on a high note, the Ferrari SF90 Stradale reinterprets the well-known sporting proportions of the Berlinetta model with its mid-rear-located engine the SF90 Stradale, and is the first PHEV model (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle) manufactured by Ferrari in series. The use of a pioneering technology based on a combination of a combustion engine and three electric motors also represents a step into a new stylistic direction, while always staying true to Ferrari’s design DNA and rich automotive heritage.

Click Here to See 2020 Winners

The Design Intelligence Awards incubates great designs into industry-leading products

Posted on 27/06/2020 by Sarang Sheth

The purpose of an award, just speaking in a literal sense, is to reward something based on a set of guidelines. Awards are symbols of achievement, but aren’t therein, symbols of complete success. Think about it for a second – Is a design considered great if it has an award to its name? Or is it considered great based on its ability to affect positive change in the life of its users? Awards and real-world impact can sometimes be mutually exclusive, but the Design Intelligence Awards are actively trying to bridge that divide. China’s premier awards program, the Design Intelligence Award (DIA) doesn’t just reward good design. It incubates it. An award may be a symbolic achievement, but with the DIA, the award is often directly tied to real-world impact, because designs that participate in the Design Intelligence Award, go from brief to prototype to product pitch all in the span of the award’s timeline. It’s a long, arduous, meticulous process that’s less of your standard awards program and more of a crash course in design refinement, development, presentation, and the business of design. At the end of the program, all participants come out with insights and skill-sets to take their product from sketch-book to the marketplace, while the winners of the award are additionally awarded a hefty cash prize of 1 million RMB (approx. $145,000 USD).

What sets the DIA Awards apart is its intricate and methodical judging process, conducted over a period of days by as many as 500 multidisciplinary design experts who review each design with personal attention. Feedback and criticism are constructive, and the DIA Award approach to judging projects is extremely holistic, taking into account everything from the quality of its concept, to its usefulness, feasibility, impact on a personal as well as global scale, its sustainability as a product and as a business, and its marketability. Its judging process is broken into three segments too. The judging procedure happens in three rounds, the first of which is held online as jury members spend an entire week analyzing projects with potential. The second round involves looking at the product up close, as jury members interact with the physical product, judging it on a tactile level by looking at its proportions, testing it out, and interacting with it as a consumer would. The third round begins once this evaluation is complete – giving designers the opportunity to introduce their product to the masses. Held on a stage in front of an audience of judges, business heads, media personnel, and consumers, the third round is similar to a TED Talk, allowing you to pitch your design directly to consumers and gauge their reception.

Currently in its 5th year, the DIA Awards are now accepting entries for their 2020 edition. Advocating the core value of “Intelligence of Humanity, Wisdom of Life, Fusion of Tech & Art, and Intelligent Industry”, the awards, which span 4 broad categories, involve closely inspecting and reviewing every aspect of every product, down from its brief, intent, to its visual expression (your presentation and rendering skills), to description, proof-of-concept, and finally to your ability to talk about your product. The emerging winners of the DIA Award receive a hefty cash prize that goes up to 1 million RMB (approx. $145,000 USD), and are armed with all the skills and assets needed to take their product to the next step. Winners of the award also get inducted into the “DIA Platform”, a platform that integrates hundreds of venture capitals, incubators, manufacturing enterprises, and governments. Excellent participants are also invited to industrial events including capital docking, product hatching, intellectual property auction, etc. The very ethos of the DIA Awards is to turn potent ideas into impactful, world-changing designs. More than just a trophy and logo, the DIA Awards bestow upon its winners and participants all the exposure, skills, and tools they need to help kickstart their product journey. Besides, that 1 Million RMB surely helps along the way!

Sending your project through the Design Intelligence Awards helps accelerate its growth and put the project as well as you on a trajectory to success. Scroll below to look at some of the winners of the DIA Awards from the year gone by. Chances are you’ve probably heard of or seen them somewhere or the other, just because they’re so brilliantly defined, designed, and executed!

Click Here to Submit Your Designs Now! Last Date for Submission: July 6th, 2020.

– Registration is Free
– Gold Award (2 Prizes – $145,000/Prize)
– Silver Award (8 Prizes – $29,000/Prize)
– Bronze Award (10 Prizes – $ 14,000/Prize)
– Honorable Mention (around 300 prizes)

Winning Designs from DIA 2019

Hero Arm by Open Bionics (GOLD Winner)

Designed as a low-cost, high-impact tool to help increase mobility and accessibility in handicapped children, the Hero Arm by Open Bionics is a 3D printed arm that offers market-leading functionality at a fraction of the cost of its nearest competitor. Moreover, the arm can even be customized with patterns, textures, and color-combinations pulled from superheroes and famous comic-book or movie characters! The Hero Arm is the world’s first 3D-printed bionic hand and the first to be available for children as young as 8 years old.

Visual Assisting Glasses II by Hangzhou Design Innovation (GOLD Winner)

These sunglasses are more than just a symbol of visual impairment. They act as a set of eyes, allowing the visually impaired to ‘see’ what’s around them. A camera mounted on the side of the glasses helps record objects, environments, and people around the wearer, while a pair of bone-conducting earphones help the visually impaired wearer by translating the camera’s feed into audio. The bone-conducting earphones not only give the wearer audio feedback, they do so without sitting within the wearer’s ears… so the ears are still free to hear sounds from all around!

The glasses use lightweight plastic titanium fuselage which houses the internal chip that helps with image recognition. Paired with the use of a mobile app, the glasses greatly improve the quality of life of blind people, especially outdoors. The second-generation glasses even sport touch-sensitive panels to help access features like the video assistant, character recognition, and map-routes.

Pop-Up Booster by Studio Gooris Limited

The Pop-Up Booster is a portable, foldable booster seat that relies on origami folding patterns to become a strong, sturdy seat when opened, and fold down to a flat profile when you’re done using it. The super-strong origami structure is designed to withstand as many as 20,000 impacts of up to 75kg. It’s also designed to securely hold your baby using its 5-band harness, fits most chairs, and is perfect for on-the-go families and hospitality spaces.

Collaborative Food Robot by Gree Electric Appliances

In the professional kitchen, it’s all about being able to consistently replicate a set menu of dishes day in and day out. In short, this is exactly the kind of job meant for a robotic arm. The Collaborative Food Robot turns the kitchen into a factory-line, recreating dishes to sheer perfection. The robots rely on 2D and 3D inputs to help them recreate dishes, and the multiple-axis robotic arms move with the degrees of freedom of human hands, but with the intricacy and accuracy only robots can achieve. Bon appetit!

Disposable Tooth-clean Fingerstall by Sun Yu

Made from food-grade natural latex, the Disposable Tooth-clean Fingerstall is a simple finger-glove with a textured tip that serves as a single-use toothbrush. Perfect for hotels, restaurants, picnics, or even airplanes, the Fingerstall is a neat, effective alternative to plastic toothbrushes. It slips right onto your finger allowing you to scrub your teeth clean efficiently and dispose of it when you’re done. The natural latex construction helps it easily biodegrade too, so it doesn’t end up clogging the earth or polluting the oceans like the millions of plastic toothbrushes do each year.

Adidas Futurecraft 4D by Adidas

The very notion that beams of light can participate in the design process sounds pretty revolutionary, doesn’t it? The Adidas Futurecraft 4D midsoles come 3D printed using a process called Digital Light Synthesis where beams of light allow products to be cured within a resin bath. This results in being able to print impossible designs with zero wastage, and is exactly why the Futurecrat 4D looks and feels so incredibly stunning and comfortable!

WT2 Real-time Earphone Translator by Innozen Design

The very idea behind the WT2 earphones was to be a shared experience. It’s perhaps for that very reason that the earphones come with a split-case design that allows you to hand one half to someone else, enabling both of you to have one earphone each. Once you’re both wearing the earphones, the WT2 allows you to actively converse in your own individual languages while the hardware and AI in the TWS earbuds record, translate, and play-back speech in realtime! The WT2 translation headset is the world’s first translation device that truly realizes natural communication, thanks to its “1+2” translation system which supports a real-time two-way translation in 40 languages.

Ona Radio by Lexon

It’s a shame that the smartphones (the iPhone in particular) killed the radio. The radio’s perception has always been that of a retro product, and the Ona helps redefine that with a design that’s equal parts vintage and contemporary. The cool, quirky, vibrant radio comes with a funky-retro vibe and connects to smartphones to double up as a Bluetooth speaker when you’re not tuning in to a radio station. If you do feel like listening to the radio, may I interest you in that beautiful transparent dial on the top that lets you fine-tune your radio’s frequency to find your favorite channel? Pretty alluring, eh?

Portable Intelligent Electrocardiogram by IU+Design

Yes, your smartwatch has an ECG/EKG built into it, but for people who want something more reliable, accurate, and affordable, the Portable Intelligent Electrocardiogram offers the ability to collect ECG data anywhere. The tiny device is no larger than a thumb-drive, and comes with two contact-points that help you capture your heart’s health in a way that can then be used by medical professionals to aid their diagnosis. The product is powered by button cells and runs for an entire year before needing any replacement. Designed with portability in mind, the medical device slides right into your pocket, or can easily be slipped into a wallet too, giving you the ability to carry your health with you wherever you go.

Neolix Autonomous Driving Vehicle by Neolix Technologies

Built to function with level 4 autonomy, the Neolix Autonomous Vehicle is designed to meet the EU’s homologation of Light quadricycles (L6e) standard and is capable of operating for a full 24 hours on a full charge. The EV sports a skateboard chassis and a modular setup on the top that allows it to transform based on the use-case, giving it the ability to serve multiple purposes. With the ability to take on loads as much as 500kg, the Neolix can easily serve as a cargo-delivery pod, a vending/retail experience on wheels, or even a patrol vehicle!

Click Here to Submit Your Designs Now! Last Date for Submission: July 6th, 2020.

This no-screws Dougong Table assembles like Lego and looks like art

Posted on 16/02/2020 by Ruchi Thukral

Alright, who is ready for a table that looks like art and does not come with a frustrating IKEA assembly guide? Because Boston-based designer Mian Wei has created this beautiful piece of furniture that marries minimal aesthetic with cultural heritage. The Dougong blocks from ancient Chinese architecture play a central role in the build and concept of the grid table – think of it as an advanced Lego challenge! Mian Wei won the Silver A’Design Award for this grid table in the homeware and furniture category, showcasing his exceptional skills as a multimedia artist who brings to life ideas that blend industrial design and emotions seamlessly.

This is a no screws assembly – yes – there is no need to keep a track of the different screw sizes and the tiny anvil! The grid table relies on the ages-old Dougong method of interlocking blocks so effectively that it not only distributes weight evenly but also lays a strong foundation while experiencing history. The supporting structure (Dougong) is made of modular parts that can be easily disassembled and reassembled in need of storage and moving. The bracket connectors (Gong) slide easily into the beams (Dou) to form the weight-bearing structure and retain structural integrity when the table is being lifted. It is made of ash, maple, and plywood which brings tone and texture ‘to the table’ (I just had to take that opportunity!).

“This project, on the one hand, tries to go back to the root to reinvestigate the practicality and scalability and bring new life to the ancient tradition. On the other hand, the project seeks to explore new aesthetic possibilities of the structure with modern forms and production techniques” says Mian Wei. The grid table gives form to the visual of wisdom and can be a stand-alone accent piece in the room (while also holding your tea and books!) without being too bold. The table is minimal yet so intricate in what can only be described as ‘engineered art’. As the owner builds the table, the complexity fades away, and the sensible nature reveals itself – the complete opposite of what I have ever felt while assembling the simplest chest of drawers in my home.

Designer: Mian Wei

The International Design Excellence Awards 2020 are open for entries – Here are a look at last year’s winners

Posted on 10/02/2020 by Sarang Sheth

The International Design Excellence Awards are considered to be the most prestigious design accolade in the world. The year 2020 marks the 40th edition of the award program, conducted by the Industrial Designers Society of America. Originally conceived to reward industrial design, the award has blossomed into one of the biggest interdisciplinary design awards with a 4-decade long, illustrious legacy. IDEA winners include both exceptional design students and designers from world-class brands like Google, Samsung, Logitech, LG, and many more.

Currently in its 40th year, IDEA 2020 aims to recognize and reward exemplary products and services that encourage, inspire, and push the industry forward. Each year, the awards program sees some of the most eminent figures in the design industry come together to form the IDEA jury. This year’s panel will be led by Jonah Becker, IDSA, VP of Design at Fitbit.

The International Design Excellence Awards have gradually branched out to cover all industries and aspects of design, from Automotive Design to Medical Design, Furniture, Consumer Technology, Packaging Design, Branding, Design for Social Impact, and even Service Design. IDEA also commits to rewarding student work with its Student Design category, putting young designers on par with top industry leaders and design studios. IDEA winners receive the highly coveted, puzzle-shaped IDEA trophy on stage at the IDEA Ceremony & Gala, this year in Seattle, WA on Sept. 14 as part of the International Design Conference. The winning works also are permanently housed in the Henry Ford Museum, where they remain ever-present symbols of ingenuity and mastery of craft. IDEA-winning designs are published in the annual Yearbook of Design Excellence issue of INNOVATION magazine, on IDSA’s website and social media channels, and on popular design blogs and websites (much like ours!). Above all, IDEA winners go on to become some of the most talked-about and shared designs around the world.

Head down to look at some of the top designs that won IDEAs in 2019. You can submit your own work to IDEA 2020 by visiting their website below. Entries are open until March 16, 2020. Hurry!

Submit your Design project for the International Design Excellence Awards 2020: Last Date – March 16, 2020

01. Essentia by Genesis Design Center

Best described as one of the most cutting-edge automotive designs we’ve seen in a while, the Genesis Essentia concept is an all-electric high-performance concept car that embodies “Athletic Elegance”. The car comes with a spectacular windshield that goes all the way from the hood to the front, over to the top, and right to the back, giving the riders on the inside a pristine, panoramic view of their surroundings. The car even comes with a carbon-fiber monocoque that uses a diamond-like infill pattern on the inside to add strength without weight. Designed to dominate roads and hearts, this all-electric stallion could go from 0 to 60 in 3 seconds.

02. MX Vertical Mouse by Logitech

Arguably one of the most iconic ergonomic mice (mouses?) of our time, the Logitech MX Vertical’s design is inspired by the handshake. Designed to be as comfortable as gripping someone’s hand, the MX Vertical’s form tilts at a precise 57° angle that’s both comfortable to use as well as productivity-boosting, allowing you to work for hours without feeling any strain whatsoever.

03. Helm Personal Server by New Deal Design

This small custom-built server gives you autonomy over your data. Designed to sit within your own home, the Helm is a private server that connects to a user’s home or small-office network and sends, receives, and manages email, contacts, and calendars, and even photos. Designed by New Deal Design for Helm, the showpiece-worthy server looks nothing like a piece of tech, but is a powerful privacy-protecting tool. It takes a mere 3 minutes to set up, and even features a stackable design that lets you add more servers to the mix. Besides, it literally looks like a roof, echoing its message of security and privacy, and acting as a home for all your data.

04. Tetra Dishwasher by Frog Design for Heatworks

Meet Tetra… a dishwasher that looks more like an aquarium for your crockery! Its unique 3D printer-inspired aesthetic (and countertop-worthy size) makes the Tetra a truly delightful appliance that demystifies the process of washing your dishes. Just lift the clear hood, add your utensils in, close the hood, and get washing. In just 10 minutes, the Tetra can wash anything from dishes, to glassware, to baby bottles, to even food ingredients! Extra points for that beautiful water-inspired detail on the top of the clear hood!

05. EDGE Travel kit by Cho Yonghun, Lee Taekkyung, Park Chanhong

Combining a hairdryer and an iron into a single product is, in itself, an idea worthy of an award! The EDGE uses a single air-heating electrical component in two ways, allowing you to dry your hair as well as swiftly iron your clothes by simply switching attachments. How incredibly ingenious!

06. Zip-Top Reusable Containers by Rebecca Finell

Arguably the biggest food-storage innovation since Tupperware, the Zip-Top is a zip-lock bag made out of silicone. This simple but revolutionary material-swap makes it infinitely reusable, non-toxic, fridge-safe, dishwasher-safe, oven-safe, microwave-friendly, and that flat base lets you use the Zip-Top to store everything from snacks to soups. You could literally use the product to sous-vide food too… and here’s the cherry on the cake. The Zip-Tops with the circular base are size-optimized to fit right into the cup-holder in your car!

07. Coat+ by Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute

This regular jacket has an inner expansion mechanism for pregnant women! Realizing that fashion should be more accommodating for women in their maternity period, the designers decided to reinvent the coat so it fits women who are pregnant as well as even after pregnancy. It doesn’t make sense having to buy separate clothes just because you’re expecting a child, only to throw those clothes away after the child is born, right? Coat+ is a coat that women can wear all through their lives! An extra fabric attachment zips to the coat allowing you to expand it… when you don’t need the expandable attachment, you can wear it as a scarf!

08. Molded Pulp Packaging by BenQ

BenQ’s molded pulp packaging tackles multiple problems headfirst. Designed to house delicate appliances like BenQ’s projectors, the molded-pulp packaging does a significantly better job of protecting the items inside than most regular boxes. Made from non-composite molded pulp, the packaging is environmentally-friendly, easy to recycle, and utilizes waste rather than creating any.

09. Lava Me Pro Guitar by Lava Music

The Lava Me Pro guitar comes crafted in single piece, entirely out of carbon fiber. With a curved single-piece construction that goes from body to fretboard without breaking continuity, the Lava Me Pro is undoubtedly strong as well as lightweight. The carbon fiber construction also lends a very unique set of features to a guitar. Aside from making it practically unbreakable and possibly quadrupling its lifespan, it lends a unique timbre to the guitar. Carbon-fiber’s all-graphite construction brings a crystalline and detailed tone to the guitar while also allowing the instrument to have greater acoustic volume.

10. Microplastics Sensing Autonomous Underwater Vehicle by Draper and Sprout Studios

I’ve always maintained that drones should be designed to do what humans either should not do, like rescuing people or fighting fire, or cannot do, like scanning vast bodies of water for microplastic particles that are too small for the human eye to detect. When the Draper is deployed, it skims the top nine meters of the water where most microplastics are located. It then scans for microplastics, tests the water for specific types of particles, and ultimately relays GPS coordinates to its hub, which enables scientists to understand where they are originating from.

IDEA 2020 Trophy

Submit your Design project for the International Design Excellence Awards 2020: Last Date – March 16, 2020

Roundup: Karim Rashid x Asia Design Prize’s top design projects of 2019

Posted on 16/12/2019 by Sarang Sheth

2019 was a pretty big year for the Asia Design Prize, with Karim Rashid presiding as head-juror. Conceptualized in 2017, and currently on the road to its fourth edition in 2020, Asia Design Prize has really evolved from an idea to a massive awards program that’s been supported by and organized with partnership from design institutions and professionals around the world. With 46 top designers from 14 countries, and a judging procedure that prides itself in being unbiased, ethical, and accurate, Asia Design Prize rewards the best concepts and products from around the world. At the end of the program each year, ADP organizes an awards gala for its winners, where they receive their certificate and memento, and also network with one another as well as with their jury panelists. Winners of the ADP award are also included in Asia Design Prize’s annual yearbook, a permanent place in the Asia Design Prize’s online exhibition, and even have their works featured in prominent design magazines and journals across the world, truly bringing attention and credibility to their work and their skill sets!

As the wheels begin moving for next year’s Asia Design Prize competition, we look at some of the top winning projects from this year’s program, hand-picked for the award by Karim Rashid himself, along with the 41 other esteemed jury members from around the world. Cycle through to see some of our absolute favorites, but more importantly, use them as a barometer to measure the worth of your own design concepts, because come 2020, your work could win a prestigious award too!

Click here to grab your free registration coupon for the Asia Design Prize 2020! Hurry, valid only until December 29, 2019!

01. OAVE Microwave by Youngwoong Kim & Jungbae Gong

Unlike conventional microwaves that exist as a box-shaped oven with a door and a rotating plate on the inside, OAVE takes on a much more ornamental approach to gadget’s design, giving it a cylindrical structure and a cloche-shaped lid you can take off to reveal the food inside. OAVE gives your microwave oven a much more aesthetic, table-friendly avatar. The two-part design comprises a rotating base, and a perforated metal and glass cover that sits over your food. Visible from all sides, the food rotates on its lazy-suzy base, illuminated by an overhead light. When you’re done, lift up the lid to reveal the fresh hot meal beneath!

2. Bium Wi-Fi Router by Jonghoon Yoon

Probably one of the most interesting takes on appliance design, the Bium Wi-Fi Router and Wireless Charger assumes the demeanor of an incense-stick burner. When active and transmitting data, the antennas of the router glow with an orange tip, looking like burning incense sticks. When the power runs out, or the internet connection goes down, the antennas go black, almost as if the sticks have been extinguished. The fact that the router charges your smartphone wirelessly is just a cherry on the cake!

03. Pocketea by APLOP Limited

Almost like the Nanopresso of tea, Pocketea is a pocketable tea-infuser that you can easily carry around, either in your pocket or in your bag. The tea infuser occupies the same amount of space as a large-ish thumb drive, and comes with an infuser chamber made of perforated metal on the inside, with an outer plastic cover. The plastic cover’s purpose is dual-fold. Not only does it enclose the infuser while not in use, it also opens up sideways to become a platform that suspends your infuser in a cup filled with water! You can easily load Pocketea with the tea-leaves of your choice, taking it wherever you go!

04. ZAMO by Thecreamunion

ZAMO’s building blocks aren’t like your usual stackable block toys. Their unusual shapes are in fact characters in the Korean alphabet which, when joined together to create a word, light up and read the word out for the child. ZAMO brings a novel approach to enhancing a child’s cognitive skills by giving them the building blocks of language. Rather than teaching them how to create stable buildings and structures, ZAMO focuses on building a working knowledge of Korean grammar. Each block comes powered by Arduino, with LED lights on the inside, and magnets around the rim that let you snap individual pieces together.

05. MPOW Earbuds by Shenzhen Qianhai Patuoxun

Designed as wireless earbuds that actually complement the shape of your ear cavity, MPOW’s earbuds are as comfortable as they’re functionally top-notch. With customized 8mm drivers delivering pristine audio that’s balanced across all frequencies, and an organic design that sits comfortably within your ear, the earbuds are good enough to be worn for hours, without ear fatigue or the danger of them slipping out. The earbuds come with their own charging case, as well as a series of silicone sleeves to fit different ear-types.

06. Onda by Giacomo Fava

The 14-storeyed Onda by Giacomo Fava is a celebration of fluidity and a wonderful use of the Gestalt law of continuity, creating an organic transitioning building by overlaying different floor-plans on one another. The 14-storeyed condominium comes with 18 separate apartments, all with their own dedicated terraces, thanks to the organic design, creating running balconies on every floor. Designed as a sea-front property, it almost looks as if the sea-breezes are sculpting and molding the outer form of this incredibly attractive, fluid building!

07. Squaring Bookshelf by Yisestudio

This neat shape-shifting bookshelf practically doubles in storage, thanks to the use of hinges and the ability to rotate and expand at the same time! The Squaring Bookshelf by Yisestudio sits squarely on a wall, with its 3×3 storage allocation. However, rotate the squares and you get four extra storage spaces, by expanding the negative zones between each of the original squares. Pretty cool, isn’t it?

08. Magic Stretcher by Dalian Minzu University

This stretcher is more than a transportation device, it’s an advanced diagnostic tool. Designed to shorten diagnostic times by performing some of the tests while in transit, the stretcher comes with its own X-ray imaging device that can perform a full-body scan by simply sliding up and down the rails to scan any part of the skeleton, testing for fractures or anomalies on the spot, saving both time as well as lives!

09. Accurate Fire by Dalian Minzu University

The Accurate Fire Extinguisher from students of the Dalian Minzu University helps allow you to focus on a particular area while putting out a flame. The extinguisher body comes with an integrated nozzle that expands, allowing you to go deep into the roots of the fire while maintaining your distance. When collapsed back, the hose sits flush inside the extinguisher’s cylindrical form.

10. Catching Truck by Dalian Minzu University

Designed as an addition to a fleet of firefighting trucks, the Catching Truck from the students of the Dalian Minzu University comes with hydraulic arms that create a safe landing-net for people trying to evacuate a burning building. The hydraulic arms can adjust the height of the net to ensure people jumping from higher floors land safely, while cameras on the top of the cockpit help the driver calculate the best place to park the truck to ensure everyone evacuates the building safely.

Click here to grab your free registration coupon for the Asia Design Prize 2020! Hurry, valid only until December 29, 2019!

Klipsch is challenging European designers to visualize products for their iconic heritage line!

Posted on 04/06/2019 by Sarang Sheth

I go on and on about design competitions, but honestly my motivation as an Industrial Designer myself is truly just one simple thing. Seeing my designs translate into real products! There’s no bigger joy than knowing that your concepts, sketches, design directions have influenced the end-design of a product that now sits on display, waiting for people to look at it, fall in love with it, and purchase it. Awards, honestly, are nice, but to a designer, there’s nothing more rewarding than having your ideas help create new, beautiful products… and the Klipsch European Design Competition is a great way to have your ideas form the backdrop of Klipsch’s line of hi-end audio products!

Klipsch is challenging industrial/product design and engineering students and young designers under 30 from France, the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy to visualize products in their heritage line. Winners are entitled to a cash prize of up to €5,000, along with the opportunity of bringing influence to Klipsch’s design direction with your winning work.

Tapping into young design talent for Klipsch’s Heritage Line is perhaps one of the best ways of getting a completely new and redefined perspective on a timeless collection of products. The hi-fi audio company is looking for young designers to develop new aesthetics and design details of products that have formed Klipsch’s 73 year old legacy. The brief is simple… redesign the outer form of the speakers and headphones of tomorrow, with a form language and CMF that one would consider premium and timeless (wood, rose gold, matte black metal, fabric, any CMF that’s regarded as a classic).

The Klipsch heritage line comprises their One and Three wireless speakers, as well as the HP-3 headphones, and the company is looking for fresh design talent to help redefine the company’s brand aesthetic. If you’re up for the Klipsch European Design Challenge, head to the website down below and register to participate! The last date for entry is 15th June, enough time to create a series of very intriguing renders! Besides, who can deny the absolute sense of pride one gets from pointing at a product on display and saying “I helped make that”!

Click Here to Submit Your Designs Now. Ends June 15th at 11:59pm CET.

1st Edition Klipsch Design Competition

In 1946, Paul W. Klipsch, genius, madman and maverick designed and hand-built the legendary Klipschorn loudspeakers with the goal of bringing life music into his living room.

The Klipsch design contest is part of the brand DNA (avant-gardism, innovation) but it also perpetuates the will of Paul W. Klipsch which was to offer a unique audio experience while using beautiful products. With this contest, the goal is to ask students to conceive the future « Heritage » products.

Theme is « HERITAGE »

Young talents will have to revisit their roots to imagine the products which could fit in our Heritage line of products (only the look of the products, not the technology inside). They are looking for products that their customers want to hear and feel.

The 2 Categories: Active Speaker & Headphone

– Active Speaker: create tomorrow’s speaker in the line of the One and the Three.
– Headphone: imagine the new Heritage headphone (over-ear)

Heritage The One Speaker

Heritage HP-3 headphone

Prizes & How to Submit

– 1st Prize 5000€
– 2nd Prize 2000€
– Participants must have undertaken their studies and lived in one of the following countries: France, the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy.
– Open to: Students in Engineering, Product Design, Industrial Design.
– Under 30 years old who graduated from one of the above fields.

Click Here to Submit Your Designs Now. Ends June 15th at 11:59pm CET.

The ExpoWanted Design Competition is the first to use Instagram as a Launchpad

Posted on 25/02/2019 by Sarang Sheth

It seems only natural that Instagram, a purely visual social network, would be the perfect ‘battleground’ of sorts for a design competition. ExpoWanted, a design competition organized by the minds behind the design blog DesignWanted, aims at helping use the ubiquity and leverage of Instagram as a social platform to launch and award products, individuals, and teams. ExpoWanted is accepting design submissions currently on their website, and aim at showcasing the work of 10 winners at the Milan Design Week in 2019.

Milan becomes the very mecca of design every year around the annually held Design Week. With visitors from all around the globe, and companies showcasing their very best work at locations all around the city, it’s perhaps one of the highest honors to have your work showcased at the same week and on the same platform as powerhouses like Kohler, Nendo, Samsung, etc. Ten winners of the ExpoWanted design competition will see their work showcased at the Tortona Design District in Milan, with a footfall of nearly 150,000 people, comprising designers, peers, clients, buyers, journalists, and enthusiasts. This will also be followed by an extensive communication campaign powered by DesignWanted.

The free-entry competition will be conducted online, with a star-studded jury panel of design leads from Ogilvy, Tatic Designstudio, Ventura Projects, and more. With a simple theme that reads “Products that impact on our everyday life”, the ExpoWanted jury panel will select 7 winners while the remaining 3 will be selected via Instagram, using the social network’s visual focus and global outreach to turn it into a launchpad for good design. Designs that cross the preliminary judging round will need to pay a judging fee, but are eligible for a 5% discount if you use YD’s coupon code: YDDW19

Head to the ExpoWanted website by clicking on the link below and submit your work for free. You just may stand to win a chance to showcase your projects at design’s biggest international event ever… the Milan Design Week! And you’ll also gain a healthy handful of Instagram followers too!

Important Information

Submission Deadline: 5th March 2019
Submission Details: Click Here
Submission Form: Click Here
YD’s Coupon Code: for 5% Discount: YDDW19

Amazon simplifies gaming competitions and prizes with ‘GameOn’

Posted on 19/03/2018 by Engadget RSS Feed

Much as it has with every other retail sector, Amazon has steadily expanded its gaming presence, especially since it purchased Twitch in 2014. Now, it's unveiled a service that will allow it to break into another gaming arena. Built on Amazon's massi...

Your absolute last chance to win a Red Dot Design Concept 2017 award!

Posted on 24/05/2017 by Sarang Sheth

If you’re a designer, you’ve obviously heard of the words “Red Dot”. They’re arguably the most coveted words that every designer wants to flash on their product, or resume. The Red Dot Awards are by far the most anticipated awards in the design circuit and hey, I’ve got some breaking news for you. Today’s your last day to submit your entry for the Red Dot Design Concept Awards this year!

With not more than 15 hours to go before the gates shut, if you have a design concept buried in your portfolio, or accumulating likes and appreciations galore on Behance or Coroflot, you’re armed with just enough time to make an entry and stand a chance to win a Red Dot Award!

The Design Concept award is open to design studios, companies, universities, research laboratories, inventors and students, the only criteria being that your entry be a design concept or personal project or a product that isn’t in the market (before 2nd June 2017). While submitting entries, note that you can specify whether your design is a “Concept” or a “Ready to Launch” product.

The Red Dot Awards are judged by a diverse and esteemed jury panel of 20 Design professionals and Academics from around the globe. You can read more about the Judging Criteria here, and about the Submission Format here.

Visit this link to make your design submission before it’s too late. We’re rooting for you! Submit NOW or forever hold your silence!

Here’s a look at some of our favorite designs from last year that went on to win the Design Concept Award.

The Heng Lamp by Zanwen Li reinvents switches with its clever magnetic orbs! The orbs are suspended by a string and have a magnet inside them. The strings are short enough to allow both the orbs to be attracted to each other, yet still not touch. When the lower orb enters the magnetic field of the upper one, the lamp switches on. Release the lower orb and the lamp goes off. I’d be playing with this all day!
heng_lamp_1

heng_lamp_2

The Espire Full Face Gas Mask by Carlos Schreib depicts by far the most ideal mask design. Not only does it purify the air going into your nose and mouth, it even guards your eyes from smoke, dust, and harmful chemicals. The clever clear visor for the mouth ensures you can even speak more effectively, because the transparent mask makes lip-reading more effective. What’s more, it cleverly creates a wall between the breathing zone and the viewing zone so you don’t have to worry about your visor fogging up with your breath!
espire_02

espire_04

One cast fit’s all with the Bone Aid by Yu-Chi Wang. This piece of medical equipment comes flat-packed and depending on whether you need an arm-brace, or a foot-brace, you fold the Bone Aid along its pre-determined folding lines. Made out of medical-grade PolyPropylene, the Bone Aid is perfect for remote areas that have little to no access to proper medical equipment and expertise.
boneaid

boneaid4

boneaid5

I don’t ever remember seeing a saline bag that looked portable. You end up having to carry the bag along with the large clunky metal stand, looking like a hospitalized grim-reaper with his sickle. The Nu-Drip saline bag by Wang Yu-Chi and Huang Yu-Man gets rid of that metal eyesore and takes on a more unique design that goes around your neck like a neck pillow. At first glance it looks like a wonderful solution, and I can only hope that this award winning design solution goes beyond the realm of concepts and becomes a reality soon!
nu_drip_saline_bag_1

nu_drip_saline_bag_3

Here’s a classic example of A.) The kind of product that is best suited for the Red Dot, and B.) How winning a Red Dot can popularize a concept so much so that it becomes almost a household name. Being awarded the Best of the Best at last year’s Red Dot Awards is the Phone-Brella. Designed for one-handed use or rather, one armed use so your hands can be occupied elsewhere, the Phone-Brella by KT isn’t just great for texting while waiting for rains to stop, or booking your Uber on a rainy sidewalk, it’s ideal for the disabled too!
phonebrella_1

phonebrella_2

Intrigued? Inspired? Submit your entry now!!

World Design Rankings 2016 – See if your country made it!

Posted on 09/01/2017 by Sarang Sheth

wdr_2016_1

For six years now, A’ Design Awards and Competition have been going about viewing, reviewing, and rewarding the best design works across the world. Now with six years of collated data, the World Design Rankings provide a pretty clear picture of where each country features on the design map of the world. The list below contains data gathered over the 6 years since the A’ Design Awards and Competition was established. The numbers below show how many entries from each country were awarded the A’ Design Award. With every year it gets more accurate, more cemented, and more mature.

You can even take a look at this alternative rating that sorts and ranks design disciplines rather than countries… and right below we’ve curated a special little set of our top 5 winning designs from last year. Do take a look! They’re pretty neat!

wdr_2016_2