Tag Archives: iF Design Award 2022

This Wearable Helps Visually Impaired People Make And Receive Online Payments

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The minute you sit and dissect our world and how much of it relies on an innate visual understanding of things, is the minute you realize how unfriendly the world is for the visually impaired. Credit cards don’t come with braille markings, and QR codes are innately visual, and require cameras that are controlled visually too… So how would blind people make payments or receive money from friends or family? Technology seldom designs itself for the minority, which is why devices like Shimmer really make a difference. A winner of the iF Design Award, Shimmer is a neck-worn contactless payment terminal that allows visually impaired people to make and accept payments. The device comes with a braille keyboard, an easy-to-activate and user-friendly camera, and a screen that displays a QR code to facilitate accepting payments.

Designer: Hefei LCFC Information Technology

A purpose-built device made especially for the visually impaired, the Shimmer sits around its user’s neck, letting them spend or receive money without needing traditional solutions that aren’t accessible to them. The device comes with a handy design that features a braille keypad on one end, and a screen on the other. A parting line running along the middle allows you to separate the upper and lower halves to reveal a camera too. The camera helps scan QR codes and make payments, while the display shows a QR code of its own while receiving payments. The braille keypad also has a built-in fingerprint scanner to help authenticate payments too, making it easy and secure to use.

“Mobile payment is very popular in Asia, but the current most common method of using a smartphone is not friendly to the blind as it requires screen reading software, which is cumbersome to operate and potentially exposes private data,” say the designers at Hefei LCFC Information Technology. The Shimmer helps these people keep up with the technological requirements of urban life in today’s world, because online payments need to be overwhelmingly inclusive.

The Shimmer makes some really clever design decisions to help the visually impaired stay up-to-date with current technology. For starters, it comes with a beautifully sleek design and a metallic finish that lends the wearer a keen sense of style. The handheld unit of the Shimmer is easy to use, with a braille keyboard and fingerprint sensor that’s virtually foolproof, and a hideaway camera that adds another layer of security. The Shimmer’s band straps around your neck and comes with built-in earphones too, allowing the user to get audio confirmations of payments made or received!

The Shimmer is a Winner of the iF Design Award for the year 2022.

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Universal attachment turns any water bottle into a makeshift fire extinguisher

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Designed for third-world countries or places where fire-fighting infrastructure isn’t readily available, the Fire Conqueror helps turn a regular water bottle into a fire-fighting device. All you really need to do is mix vinegar and baking soda into the water to create an effervescent solution that generates CO2, and the Fire Conqueror module lets you spray the solution onto a fire, helping neutralize it.

The Fire Conqueror, a winner of the iF Design Award, was conceptualized by the students of Dalian Minzu University. Fire extinguishers aren’t readily available or accessible in public spaces, even though the presence of one can be the difference between life and death. The Fire Conqueror helps makes fire-fighting materials much more accessible by literally allowing you to turn a regular water bottle into an extinguisher.

Designers: Yu Zhang, QingGuang, Chen HuaYing & Xu Jia Xu

The Fire Conqueror snaps onto the top of any standard bottle with a 28mm neck. Screwing onto the top, the device then provides the perfect mechanism to spray the contents of the bottle on command. To use the Fire Conqueror, all you do is add vinegar and baking soda to the water inside the bottle. This generates bubbles containing CO2, which when sprayed onto the fire, can help cut the oxygen supply to the fire and cause it to die down almost instantly. Pressure within the bottle begins building up, and a valve on the Fire Conqueror lets you deploy the contents of the bottle in a focused spray, much like a fire extinguisher.

The Fire Conqueror is a winner of the iF Design Award for the year 2022.

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Ever wondered what happens to the coins you throw in wishing wells? This ‘Algae coin’ has answers

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Whether that quarter you throw in the wishing well grants your deepest desires or not, it definitely wreaks havoc on the marine environment. Marine animals can sometimes mistake the coin for food, and there have been thousands of instances of turtles and fish choking to death because of trying to eat a coin. Sounds like a rather morbid trade-off for getting your wish granted, no? The Wishing Feed solves that problem. Made from a marine animal-friendly dried algae material and shaped into coins, the Wishing Feed provide an organic alternative to coins, and can easily be thrown into wells where they naturally disintegrate and become food for water-borne animals. It’s a win-win, really.

Designers: Shengyan Gao, Xiaowen Lai & Jiongjie Wang

It’s customary in a lot of eastern as well as western cultures to toss coins in water bodies as you pray for good luck. Those coins, however, exact a price on the animals that mistake them for food. What Wishing Feed does instead retains the practice but swap out the metal coins for discs made out of dried algal material and other ingredients used in fish food. These discs can be purchased around such wells, fountains, and water bodies, and can be thrown into the water as an alternative to metal coins. When the Wishing Feed is thrown in the water, it naturally breaks apart and ends up feeding the marine ecosystem instead of choking it! Now that’s what I call good luck AND good karma!

The Wishing Feed is a winner of the iF Design Award for the year 2022.

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State-of-the-art steering wheel concept comes with touch-sensitive inputs and a recyclable design

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Here’s a fact I definitely didn’t know up until right now. Steering wheels don’t get recycled. They inevitably always end up in landfills, and while almost every part of a car can be stripped for parts, repurposed, refurbished, or recycled, a steering wheel usually isn’t. The ‘Cercle’ changes that. With a design that is both advanced as well as recyclable, the Cercle adopts a circular economy approach to design. It comes with touch-sensitive inputs that bring a cutting-edge experience to your ride… but more importantly, the Cercle can be pulled apart, repaired, and recycled. Internal tech can be swapped out, external housing can be replaced (if broken), all without compromising on the Cercle’s user experience.

Designers: Dominik Bini & Stu Cole

The Cercle upgrades the steering wheel by opting for a sleeker design that gives you haptic touch-based controls right under your fingertips. You’ve got a wheel with a backlit logo in the center, horns on each side, and arrow keys that trigger the indicators.

“More than 20 million vehicles reach the end of life each year in the EU and the US”, say the designers. “With their complex, multi-material construction and integrated controls, Steering wheels defy recycling.”

Designers Dominik and Stu decided that in order to make the wheel more advanced, it had to be more repairable. The Cercle, to that end, has a design that’s easy to disassemble, repair, and refurbish. It’s hard to imagine a single steering wheel being a standard (just the way seatbelts are an unwavering standard), but Cercle was designed for a speculative world where car brands could just opt for a standard steering wheel design that also happened to be repairable, helping reduce landfill waste.

The Cercle is a winner of the iF Design Award for the year 2022.

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This ‘rolling hairbrush’ helps detangle extremely frizzy hair while also evenly applying haircare products

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Designed primarily for afro-textured hair (which can be notoriously difficult to work with), the Nyfasi is a unique detangling hairbrush that separates curls while also uniformly applying creams/shampoos/conditioners. It comes with a 3-part design, including a wide-toothed comb, a textured roller, and a lid. Built with a hollow design, the Nyfasi opens up to let you pour shampoo, conditioner, or mousse into it. Once closed, use it as you’d use a normal comb and the roller helps uniformly distribute the contents inside the brush while gently detangling extreme frizz.

Designer: Dominik Bini

“There are few haircare products designed for the particular requirements of the Black and Afro Hair community, which has largely been ignored by the major beauty brands”, says designer Dominik Bini. Built with a patented mechanism to do two crucial things simultaneously, Nyfasi helps detangle frizzy hair while also applying haircare products evenly onto the frizzy locks. This could be any sort of creamy or gel-based product, be it shampoo, conditioner, mousse, etc. “The product has been extensively designed and tested by the users themselves to celebrate and support natural, healthy Black and Afro hair”, Bini mentions.

Uniquely designed for highly textured hair, the Nyfasi comb makes applying lotions onto your hair easier. Current methods involve taking ‘coin-sized amounts’ of products in your hands and then applying them manually. With Nyfasi’s patent-pending release mechanism, the comb does it with simple strokes, while also separating the hair into individual locks to make them look better. The Nyfasi can be used while bathing or even before/after, and its inner chamber can be used to hold and apply shampoos, conditioners, or a wide variety of haircare products. The products need to have a thick lotion-like consistency, and the Nyfasi doesn’t work with thin hair oils. Studies show that the “application of conditioner [using the Nyfasi] at the point of detangling has been shown to cut lotion use by as much as 70%.”

The Nyfasi is a winner of the iF Design Award for the year 2022.

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Award-winning Smart Guitar comes with a foldable design and a beginner-friendly interface

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A winner of both the Red Dot Product Design and iF Design Awards, the U-Lab 001 isn’t your average guitar. Sure, if you glanced at it, you’d recognize it as one, but the U-Lab 001 is far from the traditional Spanish-style guitar you’ve come to love. For starters, it has a hollow cutout, doesn’t have any strings, and folds in half on demand. The reason why the U-Lab 001 does all these things is because it’s designed not on the principle of acoustics or electromagnetics (in the case of an electric guitar), but rather on the framework of a smart electronic music device.

Designer: inDare Design Strategy Ltd. for Unknown Galaxy Ltd.

Designed for novices with little formal training in guitar-playing,  the U-Lab 001 provides the perfect launchpad in strumming, chords, finger-picking, and all-around musical theory. For starters, it comes with an impressive folding design that allows it to occupy 1/3rd of its original space when closed down (made possible thanks to the absence of strings). Open it up, however, and the U-Lab 001 becomes a blank canvas for you to sonically paint on with your left and right hands. The right hand rests on two rocker switches that emulate the act of strumming all strings or picking on individual strings, while the fretboard under the left hand comes with a touch-sensitive light-up surface that teaches notes, chords, and overall music theory, along with a companion smartphone app.

The U-Lab 001, being an electronic device, also comes with a built-in speaker that plays back the audio, allowing you to listen in on your performance without needing an amp. A rotary knob above the speaker lets you control volume, and instead of tuning keys at the end of the fretboard, a single knob lets you change your guitar’s scale on command. Want to practice/jam solo? There’s even a headphone jack built into the U-Lab 001 for silent jamming!

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The Tmall Genie dashcam puts an Apple HomePod Mini-inspired smart camera in your car

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Sitting on your car’s dashboard like a little minion, the Tmall Genie Dashcam is a bunch of things – it’s a speaker, a voice AI, and a dashcam that captures your ride. Connecting with your existing Tmall Genie ecosystem, the dashcam can even detect when you get into a collision and contact emergency services for you, providing all the information to them on your behalf. The best part? It attaches to any car to uplift your driving experience – yes, even the non-smart ones.

Designer: Zhejiang Tmall Technology Co., Ltd.

The dashcam also serves as a smart speaker, which explains that rather familiar-looking colorful blob on the front. Almost looking like a HomePod Mini that’s been placed in your car, the dashcam lets you talk to it, tying into all of Tmall’s existing services. Connected to Chinese giant Alibaba, the Tmall Genie voice AI offers a wide host of functions that go beyond just ordering items or playing music. The voice AI also reads news and allows you to control aspects of your smart home, and with the dashcam, Tmall Genie gains importance in yet another aspect of your life. The dashcam can automatically identify driving conditions, capture and upload footage in the event of an accident (while summoning local authorities/services), and there’s even the option to have the dashcam automatically identify when you’re pulling into your garage and open the door or switch the home lights on at just the right time.

The Tmall Genie Dashcam is a winner of the iF Design Award for the year 2022.

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This Keurig-style appliance dispenses shaved-ice desserts and slushies on demand!

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Designed for kitchen and frozen-appliance brand Crownful, the Slush Machine is a rather memorable, iconic-looking device that’s simple on the eyes and simple to use too. Looking almost like an inverted ice cone, the machine shaves ice on demand, dispensing fine slush into the vessel below to make frozen desserts, slushies, or to just upgrade your iced tea or iced-coffee game!

The Slush Machine is an incredibly intuitive-looking appliance with a single-button interface on the top. The appliance stands upright on any countertop surface, with a hollow space underneath for collecting the shaved ice. Just plug it in and press the PUSH button on top for as long as you want and the Slush Machine will keep dispensing shaved ice.

Designer: Whynot Design for Crownful

“You only need to plug in the power adapter, add ordinary ice cubes, and press the shaved ice“, says Whynot Design. You can then upgrade the Slush Machine’s abilities by topping the ice with your favorite syrup or juice, or using it to concoct frozen cocktails and non-alcoholic cocktails, or just top the ice off with some fruit for a fresh, natural low-calorie pick-me-up!

A winner of the iF Design Award for the year 2022, the Slush Machine’s design evokes a minimalist simplicity that’s just worth appreciating. There aren’t extra features, voice commands, or internet connectivity – there’s just crushed ice! The appliance separates its motor from the rest of the product’s housing by using a brushed metal cover around the device’s electrical components. The rest of the Slush Machine’s ‘fuselage’ is made from ABS plastic, known for its reliability and impact-resistance while the internal ice mold boxes are made of PP material (polypropylene), a recyclable food-grade plastic.

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Unique microwave oven design comes with a vertical-popping tray, like a toaster

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Dubbed the Range Pop, this microwave isn’t quite like any other. It does have a door and a microwave tray, but they aren’t located on the front of the appliance. Instead, the door and tray both open upwards, allowing your food to descend into the microwave for heating, and ascend upwards when heated. This, according to designers at WINIA Co. LTD., “enables the user to keep their distance and naturally avoid contact with electromagnetic waves.”

The Range Pop’s new format presents a different experience that has its own set of pros and cons. For starters, the chances of electromagnetic waves leaking out through the chamber is reduced, and it’s easier to access your food without bending over or spilling something. On the flip side, the Range Pop requires vertical space – something that most homes and a few office canteens may not be able to provide… and unlike conventional ovens, you don’t get to see your food rotating on the turntable as it heats. However, the upper door does enable you to place food on top of the oven, thanks to a set of 4 colorful trays that fit right into the door’s slightly concave design! Those trays then slide directly into the microwave, allowing you to heat your food in them, and easily remove them once you’re done, so you’re never touching a hot utensil.

Designer: WINIA Co. Ltd.

The Range Pop takes a unique approach to the microwave experience in a way that does feel like it has a bit of a learning curve, but not for long. The microwave’s entire front acts as a display, working as a clock when not in use, for temperature selection before you warm your meal, and as a timer while your food reheats. You can place your food in two different tiers (something you couldn’t previously do in a microwave), and the lid of the Range Pop also has a small tray for adding water, so your food doesn’t become dry and rubbery – a trick that works especially well with bread-based items. The same tray could be used to add lemon water to help remove grime if the microwave becomes dirty after prolonged use!

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This modular appliance concept reuses a single motor for different purposes

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There has been a strong trend recently in people preferring more modular products, particularly when it comes to furniture like desks and tables. Modular furniture often saves space and allows owners to use the product as they need, expanding or reducing depending on the situation. Unfortunately, that trend doesn’t easily lend itself to appliances, where a product’s life almost always begins and ends in the form it came with. While that makes manufacturing and use simpler, it is also wasteful and unsustainable in the long run. Thankfully, there are a few visionaries that are challenging the status quo and thinking up new ways to protect our future, like this modular motor system that can be used in three different appliances, depending on what you need at the time.

Designer: Daniel Wu

There are quite a few appliances in our homes that require a motor to run. Admittedly, not all of them use the same type or size of motors. Part of the problem in developing a modular appliance system is figuring out which parts can actually be reused and which parts are so specific to a function that there is nothing like it. In the case of the M-1, a powerful motor can be used to drive not only appliances but also power tools you might need in maintaining your house.

The primary function of the motor is in an electric fan, an appliance that admittedly makes less sense in countries where a heater is much more needed. But even in regions where electric fans are common, you might not need it all year round or all the time. Being able to use that motor for something else saves time, money, and resources for both manufacturers and consumers.

For example, the M-1 motor can be removed from that electric and then slotted into a new chassis to become a leaf blower. Unfortunately, the motor might not be suited for going in the opposite direction to suck up air and particles like a vacuum cleaner. It is, however, strong enough to also be reused as an industrial mixer but is probably too powerful for anything else. Admittedly, a motor might have fewer possible applications, but probably because very few have designed appliances around the concept of modularity.

A modular appliance system wouldn’t just be about having flexible features that consumers would enjoy. It is also about reducing waste when it comes to production and the use of resources for production. Instead of manufacturing multiple motors for specific purposes, you can have just a single motor for two or three applications.

Furthermore, it can also help extend the life of those appliances, even when parts break down. Instead of having to buy a new electric fan, a new leaf blower, or a new mixer, you can simply buy only the parts you need to replace, like the motor, and plug it in. These again save up on resources and money, but, unfortunately, our current consumer economy thrives on making a profit out of buying new complete products all the time.

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