-
Tech NewsDesignThese Crazy Transforming Cabinets Use Old-School Woodworking Tricks
Cabinets are the last place most of us would look for interesting design—but the artist Sebastian Errazuriz specializes in them. As it turns out, there’s plenty of interesting things you can do with a few slats of birch and a knowledge of super-super-precise woodworking. Errazuriz makes “functional sculptures” that often fall more on the sculpture … Continued
-
Tech NewsDesignAbandoned Shipyard Halls Look Magical After Heavy Rain
The abandoned halls of the Ganz Danubius Shipyard and Crane Factory in Budapest are the haunting remains of a once-flourishing industry established more than an hundred years ago in the Austro-Hungarian empire. During its long and complicated history, hundreds of boats and ships were designed, built, repaired and modernised here, on a small peninsula in … Continued
By Attila Nagy -
Tech NewsDesignMcDonald’s Has Created Brilliant Bike-Friendly Takeout Packaging
You can say what you want about McDonald’s food, but the one thing you can’t argue is the fast food giant’s mastery at marketing itself to an incredibly diverse demographic. The company is now even specifically targeting cyclists with some very clever bike-friendly takeout containers. McBike isn’t the most clever name for the new packaging … Continued
-
Tech NewsDesign
These Impossibly Twisted 3D-Printed Faucets Somehow Actually Work
Besides being able to produce prototypes quickly and efficiently, 3D printers are also able to create complex shaped pieces that are impossible to make using traditional manufacturing techniques. That’s why American Standard has embraced 3D-printing for its new line of twisted faucets that seem physically impossible. 3D-printed from actual metal so they’ll last just as … Continued
-
Tech NewsDesign
How Beats Tricks You Into Thinking It Makes a Premium Product [Updated]
The sneaky designers at Beats by Dre employ a clever trick to make you think that the company’s plastic headphones are durable products worth the premium price. Beats by Dre headphones are garbage. Besides their crappy sound, they’re basically designed to break. And yet they sell millions of pairs of headphones. It’s practically a perfect … Continued
-
Tech NewsDesign
The Statue of Liberty Has Her Own Patent
Liberty Enlightening the World. That’s the title of patent #USD11023 granted to one Auguste Bartholdi on February 18, 1879. You might know it better as the Statue of Liberty. The Statue of Liberty is 130 today. But that anniversary marks its arrival in New York, not its actual creation, which goes back as far as … Continued
-
Tech NewsDesignHow This Simple Landscaping Project Quiets an Airport’s Roar
Two years ago in the Netherlands, artist Paul de Kort designed an 81-acre park near Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. His assignment? To use nothing but landscaping to dampen the noise of airplanes. Such a project had never been attempted—and a crucial element of the design was discovered almost by accident. I live about 15 miles from … Continued
-
Tech NewsDesign
Could The Empire State Building Be Built With Wood?
High-rise buildings constructed from wood are having a bit of a moment. And that begs an important question: could the Empire State Building, the quintessential skyscraper, be built using wood? Finnish forestry company Metsä Wood teamed up with Canadian architect Michael Green to tackle that question, as part of Metsa’s Plan B project. The final … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech NewsDesign
Not Safe For Play? The Evolution of Pinball Machines
Game of skills or evil gambling? It is hard to believe that there was a long period in the history of arcade games when pinball machines, these amazing mixtures of art, design, engineering, technology, gaming, sport, culture, and so on, were banned. It was illegal to own even just one. The following images draw the … Continued
By Attila Nagy -
Tech NewsDesign
Finally, Someone’s Designing a Fix for the Nightmarish Open Plan Office
When the door slid closed, everything went silent. I couldn’t hear any of the chatter or construction outside. It was weirdly cozy. I was sitting in a tiny pod—wrapped in a deep green felt, with its own built-in bench, desk, and lighting—designed by a company waging war on the open office. The pod was set … Continued
-
Tech NewsDesignThe Plan to 3D Print a Steel Bridge in Mid-Air
In two years, a one-of-a-kind construction project will commence over a canal in Amsterdam. It won’t involve any humans at all, but rather, a six-axis robot that can craft molten metal in mid-air. Two months later, a 24 foot-long steel pedestrian bridge will arc its way across the water. That, at least, is the plan. … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
Tech NewsDesign
A Map That May Have Led Columbus To America Is Finally Being Deciphered
The primary way we share ideas today is the internet. In the 15th century, it was cartography. And now, researchers at Yale are giving us a glimpse of one of the most influential maps in history—parts of which, up until now, had been too faded and aged to read. Henricus Martellus isn’t a name you’d … Continued
-
Tech NewsDesign
Weird Art Brings Plastic Shopping Bags Closer to Nature
Plastic bags might be the most annoying and harmful byproducts of our consumer society. There are few more sorrowful views in nature than a tree covered with polyethylene. Unless, of course, you’re talking about the work of Endre Koronczi. Hungarian artist Endre Koronczi had a strange vision of plastic bags becoming a living, breathing part … Continued
By Attila Nagy -
Tech NewsDesign
Extremely Bad Reasons Why Waterless Urinals Were Illegal
We take it for granted that urinals flush. With each pull of the lever, gallons of clean water come to whisk away a few ounces of pee. If you think about it, it’s actually pretty wasteful, and the current drought is convincing facilities to consider waterless urinals. But these waterless bathroom contraptions have had to … Continued
By Sarah Zhang -
Tech NewsDesignI Went to the Place Where There Is Nothing But IKEA
When you walk out of the Älmhult train station, there’s not much to see. To the west is a string of filthy box cars on the railroad, and to the east, a small park with no people. TripAdvisor will tell you that there is only one thing to do in the tiny Swedish village: Go … Continued
-
Tech NewsDesign
A Map Of The World’s Straightest Roads Proves The Midwest Is Really Dull
If data journalism has proved anything, it’s that you can make an interactive map of almost anything. Today’s exhibit: a map that ranks the world’s roads by bendyness, once and for all conclusively proving that the Midwest is really incredibly boring — to drive across, of course. The map was made by Rory McCann, who … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech NewsDesign
I Got To Be A Mountain Hardwear Designer For A Day
Mountain Hardwear designs some of the most technically-advanced outdoors apparel and gear on the planet. I just got to spend a day working alongside their designers. This is what their process is like. The invitation was intriguing enough: “Come be a Mountain Hardwear designer for a day.” Having graduated with a design degree (albeit not … Continued
-
Tech NewsDesign
Check Out a Miniature Machine Catalog From 1961
Back before computers were ubiquitous, salespeople had a hard time showing their customers what stuff looked like, especially big stuff. Sure, there were photographs and drawings, but for a full three-dimensional effect, you needed a physical model. That’s where Topping, Inc. came in. Having developed new injection molding methods, Topping was the place to get … Continued
-
Tech NewsDesign
The Typographer Whose Elegant Work Shaped Your Emoji
When we think of the people who shaped early computing history, we think of inventors, engineers, CEOs. We might not think of Hermann Zapf, the German type designer who died this week at 96. But we should. Zapf’s name might sound familiar to you. Maybe because it’s eponymous with several typefaces on your computer right … Continued
