Here's what we looked at this week:Why do humanoid robots move like humans? For efficiency's sake, oughtn't they have their own movement style? In Amsterdam, a hotel room with an airplane inside of it.KraussMaffei's ColorForm production method: Injection molding and painting in one production process.When bad UX is the point: A no-handle coffee mug for rock climbers.Trusscore: This user-friendly DIY sheetrock alternative requires no heavy lifting, taping, mudding, priming and painting.This Jetlaser strips finishes in seconds. No chemicals, no mess.Registration is open for Buildner's Architect's Chair Design Competition.Industrial design case study: Minimal's solution to combat single-use package design.Kazuya Shibata's Smartphone Face Shield provides in-bed emergency protection for when you drop your phone on your face.CycloTech's form evolution of a new type of flying vehicle, designed around six enclosed "CycloRotors."No one agrees on what a true flying car should look like. But if the folding-wing crowd wins out, these will be complicated to maintain.The Elitech Protean is a gamer's desktop platform designed for swappable user interfaces.The Onion's magical election touchscreen provides unique insights.Two striking urban vehicles: The Duo and the Bento, by Mobilize.Olight's Baton 4 is a tiny LED flashlight with its own charging case.Airback: Backpacks and luggage that can shrink their contents with a vacuum.Kia's funky PV5 WKNDR, an EV camper van concept.Industrial design case study: An infant car seat by DesignThink.

Dorel Juvenile is the world's leading juvenile products company. When they wanted to develop a new infant car seat, they turned to Pennsylvania-based ID firm DesignThink.DesignThink as the Innovation Incubator for the Ultra Lightweight Maxi Cosi Coral XP A Cold January Day in 2017The team at DesignThink was asked to visit Dorel Juvenile Group USA to review a "Special Project". The development team at Dorel JG wasted no time introducing us to their latest infant car seat (ICS) project. They were experimenting with the idea of developing a seat that would reduce the struggles parents faced when trying to transition their baby from the car and carry their baby in the removable seat portion of the ICS. The team at DesignThink has designed several car seats over the years and we instantly recognized the unique opportunity, as well as the challenge that this project offered, and were eager and excited to get started.Our Role as the Innovation IncubatorWe partnered with Dorel to act as the innovation incubator to lead the project team through the fuzzy front-end and define the product's overall features and characteristics of use. Upon successful concept definition, the project would be positioned under the Maxi Cosi brand and ultimately transferred to the Maxi Cosi team in Europe and a European design group to carry the innovation to production. The Problem at HandBy removing the seat from the base that is installed in the car, parents can take the baby with them while running errands or visiting people and places. However, a problem associated with this system is that some removable seats can weigh up to 16 lbs. and the baby can weigh up to 35 lbs. for a combined arm-crushing weight of 50+lbs.!! We established two primary goals: 1) reduce the overall weight of the seat to lighten the load, while maintaining structural integrity as to achieve a top crash test rating, and 2) develop new methods that enable parents to more easily lift the seat when moving in and out of the vehicle and when transporting the child in the seat. Our Approach (Decades of Experience and User Understanding Put to Test)DesignThink is one of the leading firms in car seat development having brought several seats to the market and has a long history of creating break-through innovation, but this project pushed our team in new ways. The structure for the project utilized DesignThink's simplified "DEEP" process;Define that for which we will solveExpress possible solutions as quick thumbnail storiesExplain the "what why wow" related to user needsPrototype to demonstrate the merits of the idea How the Project UnfoldedA series of innovation workshops were hosted at our studio to enable the team to think and problem solve with product at hand. The objective was to think in the "ideal" (do not worry about cost and construction initially) and to "fail fast" (explore, evaluate, and evolve). The following provided the high-level framework for how the team identified and pursued their ideas.Established Design TargetsLed by our usability team, along with team members from Dorel, we hosted a several day innovation workshop at our studio. We began with a collaborative defining of the design targets based on use, expectations, pain points, and opportunities, which we affinitized and moved directly into physical prototyping to address and evaluate how well the concepts improved the user experience during day-to-day interactions.DEEP: Innovation Workshops to prototype your idea. You are encouraged to be chaotic and messy! Fail fast! Dorel made sure plenty of product was on hand to fuel the innovation.Inutitive Carry Enhanced Confidence Improved Transitions Development of Design Targets Role-Play is the Best WayTo truly understand and empathize with users, we role-played, exploring typical use-case scenarios to inform our ideation. Placing ourselves in the same situations helps us quickly evaluate and improve our concepts.Handle-Carry:Evolution for improved ease when attaching the seat to the base and removing the child from the vehicle Cradle-Carry:Exploration to improve how parents can bond with the baby in a more natural holding position Cross-Body Strap:Exploration to provide alternate ways to carry the baby while reducing the effects of weight and fatigue on the parent Iterative User Evaluation CycleOur early thoughts and ideas were evaluated by the team and with parents in our research lab. These ideas were then refined to strengthen the evolving direction. The learnings obtained through this method enabled the team to focus on the most meaningful directions and build their value. Listening, understanding, and empathizing allowed our team to develop new ideas in this category that were previously unexplored.DesignThink presents the refined design direction. A series of prototypes and user evaluations enabled us to reach a stage of concept definition for an ultra lightweight car seat that provides parents with improved ways to carry, hold, and secure their baby. Our ResultsUser-Centered Insights lead to Market Defining SolutionsHaving developed many juvenile products such as car seats, strollers, and highchairs, DesignThink understands the day-to-day challenges parents face, both physically and emotionally. We embarked on this project with Dorel to define a new car seat with features that take into account those challenges and offer relevant and meaningful solutions. Exploring innovation that is rooted in user insights enabled our team to quickly define those solutions and overcome technical hurdles to deliver new experiences to address real problems faced by parents when using an ICS.Defining the DirectionAs mentioned, DesignThink was hired as the innovation incubator in the fuzzy front-end to develop and define a new architecture for this seat. Our work was documented and handed off to the Maxi-Cosi team in Europe. The output of our innovation incubation became the driving framework used by the teams in Europe to create a truly meaningful and relevant solution for parents in this category. The DesignThink team is very proud to have been selected by Dorel to play such an important "behind the scenes" role in setting the direction for, and contributing to the success of, the Maxi Cosi Coral XP. It takes a Village to Design a Car SeatSnapshot of the iterative concept development that led to the final product You can see more of DesignThink's work here.

The Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) is known for creating extraordinary and unique buildings, they recently designed their own headquarters, and were really quite curious to know more about it. The HQ is called Piranesian, and it is situated in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is tucked away in a popular section of the Nordhavn Harbor neighborhood. It isnt as extravagant as some of BIGs creations and instead adopts the form of a chunky concrete building with a height of 89 feet. A 460-ft staircase wraps around the exterior of the building, forming an outdoor terrace and fire escape for all seven floors.Designer: BIGThe building is made from Uni-Green concrete, which was developed in collaboration with Unicon. A section of the cement clinker was replaced with calcined clay and lime filler, leading to a carbon dioxide reduction of around 25% in comparison to a traditional concrete mix. The interior adopts a lot of concrete, and some wood too. It also features another large staircase that seems to zigzag through the multiple floors. The inside is designed to be free-flowing, with an ample amount of floor space left available. Natural light was maximized, and an elevator and a small secondary staircase were placed at the northern edge of the structure.Quite a bit of greenery was incorporated around the building as well. The outdoor staircase features wind-tolerant species of trees, shrubs, herbs, and perennials. The herbs are utilized by the chefs for cooking in the staff canteen. The rooftop terrace is equipped with wood from a local sawmill and plenty more greenery. The terrace also offers lovely views of the surrounding landscape. A park was also constructed for visitors.At the tip of Sundmolen in Nordhavn, weve transformed what was once a parking lot into a 1,500-sq-m (roughly 16,000-sq-ft) beach park a hidden gem in the heart of the city, said Giulia Frittoli, Partner and Head of BIG Landscape. Inspired by Denmarks beautiful coastal landscapes, we envisioned a place where people can relax, play, fish, and connect with nature. The park reflects what would have naturally grown here before the harbor emerged, making it an homage to both the past and future.BIGs HQ is designed to be pretty energy-efficient, given its size and type. The roof is marked with solar panels to cut down on grid-based power use. A combination of a geothermal energy system and natural ventilation delivers 84% of heating requirements, and 100% of its cooling.The post Bjarke Ingels Groups New HQ In Copenhagen Is An Energy-Efficient Concrete Wonder first appeared on Yanko Design.

Its been a while since Ive been a student, spending hours preparing for exams. But, I do recall vividly the anxiety and stress that seemed to dominate those times. If youre a student struggling with good study habits, or even a professional prone to getting distracted, and suffering from unproductivity, then there is a desk to help you through this dilemma. Named Peask, this furniture design is a self-directed and focused desk.Designed by Minjeong Kim, Soyeong Kim, and Yumin Seo this conceptual desk design was created to help students study efficiently, inculcating healthy study habits. The designers noticed an increasing number of students feeling stressed with academic expectations, and being unable to study productively due to anxiety and a lack of self-direction. Hence, they created Peask to help students overcome these hurdles, enabling them to focus better and perform their best.Designer: Minjeong Kim, Soyeong Kim, and Yumin SeoPeask was designed to encourage students to self-study, pushing them to develop a habit where they can study by themselves, without any external pressure or force. This self-directed study desk is equipped with multiple components and elements such as a pen holder, partitions, storage space, and a touch bar and panel. Custom height-adjustable partitions and handy storage space have been integrated to ensure students have a well-organized and tidy desk, enabling them to focus better. You can move the partitions around, to create an ideal desk setup. While the pens can be neatly organized using the additional pen holder.There is a nifty storage space placed under the desk, so users can easily store their books and other learning equipment to create the perfect study environment, where everything is easily accessible. The touch bar can be used be adjust certain settings, for example, students can set a timer to ensure they study for the required hours. They can also set their learning record to better manage their learning curve. These nifty features help students to better understand and control how much time they spend studying, and how much spend they spend on breaks.The partitions can be adjusted to differentiate between study time and break time, ensuring students focus while studying, and relax while taking a break. Currently, the Peask is a concept, but such a smart furniture design could help students improve their learning and concentration capabilities.The post Innovative Self-Directed Desk Is Designed To Help Students Study & Focus Better first appeared on Yanko Design.

A top-down tactical shooter with a quick time-to-kill and destruction: It's weird, but it works.When I wasn't getting ganked by Krafton devs, Project Arc was great fun.

Deceive Inc. is a hero extraction shooter with a brilliant disguise twist.This zany Spy vs. Spy-inspired extraction shooter is well worth a spin.

Black Friday has already started over at Honor, with some unmissable deals.

Huge savings on Apple, Dell, Asus, Microsoft, Lenovo and HP laptops.

Swifties say theyre leaving X over Elon Musks support of Donald Trumpand the rhetoric that has erupted on the platform following Trumps win.

A judge tossed out a case against OpenAI brought by Alternet and Raw Story, in what could be a significant ruling in the larger battle between AI companies and publishers.