This insane modular camera rig lets you mount hexagonal cameras for higher-resolution 3D video capture

Posted on 04/10/2021 by Sarang Sheth

The RayShaper BeeHive works on principles of computational photography/videography… something your smartphone already does but on a much bigger, more powerful scale.

A winner of the Red Dot Product Design Award, the RayShaper BeeHive is trying to reinvent professional photography/cinematography by borrowing a clever trick from the most popular camera in the world – the one in your pocket. You see, as smartphones were struggling to compete over who could build a bigger, better camera, someone figured out that the secret to better photography was to just introduce multiple cameras. Famously, the iPhone X’s dual-lens setup kickstarted the trend of using two cameras to handle the workload of one single powerful camera. One lens captured color detail, the other focused on black and white detail, and working just like the rods and cones in your eyes do, both those photos were composited together to make one single image that was vastly better than what a single camera lens could do. In fact, two lenses could help the smartphone identify depth too, allowing the iPhone to click ‘Portrait Mode’ photos – a trend that really picked up back in 2017.

RayShaper’s cameras follow the same principle. Their unique hexagonal shape allows you to create a ‘honeycomb’ of multiple cameras snapped together. This array has two main benefits – firstly, the slightly offset cameras allow you to capture a wider shot without using a wider lens, and while provide spatial resolutions of over 1 billion pixels at 120fps. Secondly, the offset cameras allow you to capture depth information too, and even perform spatial recordings with 6 degrees-of-freedom (6 DoF) that are necessary for VR headsets. “Compared with ultra-high-resolution and light field camera systems currently on the market that use legacy architectures, BeeHive provides higher performance at a much cheaper cost”, say the folks at RayShaper. The modules allow you to add or subtract lenses on the fly, and give you the power to build up your camera setup without necessarily needing to upgrade by buying the newest cameras. Just add a few more modules and you’ve got a camera rig that’s much more powerful!

The RayShaper BeeHive is a winner of the Red Dot Product Design Award for the year 2020.

This ultimate tiny home finds luxury in simplicity while traveling with you on your dream holiday!

Posted on 05/06/2021 by Shawn McNulty-Kowal

We’re all getting a little sick of talking about getting away and escaping to our dream destination‒ the sandy dunes of our favorite childhood beach, the quiet of the forest, the rocky cliffs and summit of a mountain trail we can’t stop thinking about– instead of talking about it, we want to finally just do it, and do all of it. Building a caravan that also functions as a stationary home, the new Astella from Adria offers a new luxury mobile home experience reminiscent of 1950s luxury airline Pan Am, for the traveler whose dream vacation is as changeable as the wind.

Following a brief to design an inspiring, new luxe edition of the traditional holiday home and put it on wheels, Adria concocted Astella. With luxury in mind, less is more with Astella. In a similar fashion to the famed luxury of Pan Am cockpits, Astella features an open floor layout that hinges on a simple design to highlight sophisticated elegance. Inside, the mobile home is as expansive as it is clean and subdued. Adria aimed to create Astella with clean, focused lines throughout its interior to enhance the mobile home’s high ceiling and spread-out floor plan. Featuring a living area, kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom, Astella manages to pack a lot of luxury in a small space thanks to its simplicity of design. Built to be ergonomic and intuitive, the simple layout of Astella was inspired by hotel luxury experiences that highlight the home’s functionality and simplicity.

Embracing the home’s open and smooth layout inside and out, Astella’s versatility extends to the panoramic glass doors that sweep across the mobile home’s exterior. Adria set out to create a mobile home devoted to connecting an indoor lifestyle with the outdoors, which culminated with broad, sweeping glazed windows that open up the night sky for twilight star gazing and wide-open sliding doors that dissolve the barrier between the interior and outdoors. Astella’s exterior facades were also devised based on aerospace industry standards, coating the silky shell of Astella and each rounded edge with a glazed steel finish shaped by the wind to permit plenty of airflow for easy towing.

Designer: Adria

Rounded edges and LEDs give Astella an understated sophistication reminiscent of a Pan Am aircraft.

Inside, the refined elegance of Astella finds an open layout and simple design.

Leaning on cues from the aerospace industry for a windswept, aerodynamic exterior finish, Astella is as efficient in tow as it is luxe on the inside.

Panoramic windows and doors open the indoors to the outdoors, dissolving the boundary between the home’s interior and the surrounding environment.

The aerodynamics-inspired build of Astella allows it to be towed with ease and a lightweight feel that moves with the wind.

Equipped with a kitchen that features a stove, sink, and preparation area, Astella manages to pack a lot of functionality into its simple layout.

A refrigerator, stove, oven, and sink fill out the kitchen’s inside.

The bedroom is spacious and benefits from the mobile home’s integrated heating features.

Panoramic doors bridge the outdoors with the home’s interiors for a seamless transition from the home’s cavernous feel into the great outdoors.

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.