Tech NewsDesign

American Architects Pick the 11 Best Buildings of the Year

There’s no better compliment—and no more blistering insult—than one from your peers, especially when it comes to professions that trade in super-specialized knowledge like architecture. So when your peers talk, you listen. That’s definitely the case with the American Institute of Architects’s annual honors, which is one of the most telling awards out there; 11 … Continued

Tech NewsDesign

Bang & Olufsen Invented a Giant $2800 iPod 

Something about Bang & Olufsen’s BeoSound Moment looks familiar, huh? The aluminum and glass slab is basically a big iPod that’s supposed to power wireless music throughout your house. This thing is going to cost a damn fortune, but there’s a lot of lovely design to admire—even if no normal human will be able to … Continued

Tech NewsDesign

Classic Metal Albums Redesigned As 1950s Jazz Records

Look at the covers of all your favorite metal albums. While they’ll probably fall into a few different schools of design, you can bet not a single one looks like anything that came out of the 1950s jazz scene. But judging from Brazilian designer Rafael Melandi’s redesigns—maybe they should have. The project, appropriately if not … Continued

Tech NewsDesign

The Hotel From The Shining Wants You To Design Its Scary New Hedge Maze

You’ve probably heard of the Stanley Hotel. This century-old landmark in Estes Park, Colorado is the spooky spot that inspired Stephen King to write The Shining after he and his wife stayed there*. Now, you can design a giant hedge maze—inspired by the giant hedge maze in The Shining—on the Stanley Hotel grounds. The Stanley … Continued

Tech NewsDesign

This Lego-inspired furniture shouldn’t just be for children

When you were a kid, did you ever imagine living in a house filled with Lego furniture? Well, thanks to the Lola Glamour, now you can—sort of. The Spanish designer has created a line of Lego-inspired furniture for kids. Of course, fun-loving adults are obviously allowed to buy it, too. The collection is all handmade … Continued

Tech NewsDesign

3D-Printed Guns Are Only Getting Better, and Scarier

A couple years ago, when a 25-year-old law student in Texas said he was going to 3D-print a gun, nobody took him seriously. Then, he actually did it. And then, a lot of people started doing it. Now, it’s so easy that some protestors are going make a gun inside the Texas State Capitol with … Continued

Tech NewsDesign

Here’s Your Chance to Design a Logo For a Nuclear Sub

Nearly every government mission—from spy satellites to classified aircraft—has a mission patch, often designed by the crew itself. But even if you’re not a crew member on America’s new $2.3 billion nuclear sub, the USS Colorado, the Navy wants your designs anyways. The USS Colorado, which was commissioned back in 2012 and isunder construction right … Continued

Tech NewsDesign

Color-Changing E Ink Is Here, But Not In eBook Readers

This morning E Ink Holdings announced the availability of a new color-changing film known as Prism that’s based on the company’s electronic paper technology used in devices like Amazon’s Kindle and the Pebble smartwatch. But the new material isn’t destined to finally bring a dash of color to your electronic books. Instead, it’s being positioned … Continued

Tech NewsDesign

The Coolest Churches, Mosques, And Synagogues of the Year

Religion is changing—from thestained glass industry to Portlandia’s perfect parody of a desperate pastor’s plea that “church is an option.” At the same time, there’s been a major renaissance in religious architecture over the last few years. “The landscape of sacred space is changing, along with dramatic shifts in organized religion,” explains Michael J. Crosbie, … Continued

Tech NewsDesign

Our 14 Most Interesting Stories About Architecture and Cities In 2014

We wrote hundreds upon hundreds of stories about the built world around us this year—ranging from the discovery of how Egypt really built its pyramids, to a tour of the building where NYC’s poop goes. Odds are good you didn’t see every last one, so take a look at the best of the year. Scientists … Continued

Tech NewsDesign

The 7 Most Important UI and UX Ideas of 2014

This year, we saw Google introduce a sweeping new design language to overhaul is long list of products. We saw independent designers building their own hardware. And more than anything, we saw experimentation on a huge scale—resulting in one of the most eventful and interesting years for UI and UX design in recent memory. End-of-year … Continued

Tech NewsDesign

This Lamp’s Very Structure Is Its Light Source, Too

Are you looking at the outline of lamp or just the glow of a bulb? Or maybe it’s both? This lamp, you see, is made entirely from the fluorescent tube which is used to emit its light. Lamp neo-N is the brainchild of Atelier dsgn. As minimalist as you can get, its form doubles as … Continued

Tech NewsDesign

Aww, a Bunch of Architects Designed Santa’s HQ

On any other day of the year, you might write this off as sentimental schmaltz. But hey! It’s Christmas eve—a day when the fact that hundreds of architecture students actually designed Santa’s logistics center is actually pretty fun. Almost 250 designers submitted plans and renderings of their vision for Santa’s “logistics center,” as part of … Continued

Tech NewsDesign

Chevy’s Insane PowerWall Display Has More Pixels Than an IMAX Theater

Used to be that even the smallest tweaks to an upcoming automobile’s design could require weeks of fabrication to produce the modified clay, wood, and metal models. And while physical representations of prototype vehicles are still a big part of the production process today, a new 4K UHD monitor wall from Chevrolet could soon supplant … Continued

Tech NewsDesign

How Defense Has Shaped Our Cities

So in your spare time you’re looking at an aerial view of London on your favorite online mapping service (as one does), when you notice a street called London Wall. And as you’re looking at your map, you notice other wall-y things, like Old Bailey and Houndsditch. And then you notice that perpendicular to these … Continued

Tech NewsDesign

The Strange Medieval Origins of Modern Logos 

When we think of early logos, we think of 19th and 20th century classics like Levi’s or Coke. But the origins of logos and trademarks go back way further than that—back thousands of years, when merchants and craftspeople used “merchant’s marks” to designate the origins of goods and their authors. But I was curious about … Continued

Tech NewsDesign

Before the Hashtag, There Was the Octothorpe

If you want to follow conversation threads relating to this show on social media—whether Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, Tumblr—you know to look for the hashtag: #99pi. In our current digital age, the hashtag identifies movements, events, happenings, brands—topics of all kinds. The “#” didn’t always have this meaning, though. It’s had a few different lives. … Continued

Tech NewsDesign

Rare World War I Propaganda Shows the Biomech Soldier of 100 Years Ago

One hundred years ago, at the beginning of the 20th century, the first golden age of advertising met humanity’s deadliest conflict: the First World War. The emerging art of graphic design, aided by the invention of lithography and later chromolithography, was suddenly used for propaganda—and the results were terrific: a bold, optimistic, merry and extremely … Continued

Tech NewsDesign

Mirrored Tea Cups Perfectly Match These Patterned Saucers

You’ve probably heard the story of the painter who was able to perfectly match the color of a room to a priceless vase by simply painting the vase to match. That’s the basic idea behind this matching Waltz Cup & Saucer set, whose mirror-finished tea cup will match any surface on which it’s placed. Designed … Continued

Tech NewsDesign

This Hazmat Suit Peels Off Like a Big, Yellow, Ebola-Covered Glove

Hazmat suits are great for keeping you safe from pesky things like ebola, but there’s one difficult part that you just can’t avoid: You have to take that suit off at some point. Infecting yourself (or others) with the very suit that’s been protecting you is a real danger, which is why Johns Hopkins developed … Continued