Yanko Design - Form Beyond Function

Senior Social-networking

Posted: 30 Jun 2016 12:00 PM PDT

While the possibilities of Senior Chat are diverse enough to change communication as we know it, I’ll speak purely from the design intent point-of-view. The Senior Chat allows elderly people who are cooped up at home to converse with one and another. Simply put, it’s instant messaging, done in a way that retains the older ways of communication while allowing technology to do its thing. One simply writes a letter and scans it, sending it out anonymously to all the other people using Senior Chat. Pull the rope on the device and your received letter prints out in all its hand-written glory. More like a bulletin board at home, the Senior Chat allows elderly people who feel lonely to converse with each other in a way that seems comfortable to them, but still manages to retain an element of surprise and awe!

Now imagine being able to maintain a tiny, exclusive social network among your close friends with the Senior Chat! That’s my personal prediction for the future of this novel little device!

Designer: Choi Jae Yeon

Fashion + Function Bag

Posted: 30 Jun 2016 10:00 AM PDT

The guys at Vicious Venom have a point. Most bags are one of two things. Stylish, or waterproof. We are yet to see bags that takes up both mantles. Or rather, we were, until ViciousVenom gave us the Elements Dry Pack. The design of the Elements Dry Pack focus on fashion and function at the same time. The achromatic design with the dark olive body works well by allowing the bag to make a statement, but not too loud a statement.

The bag’s subdued/chill style allows it to blend well with any type of usage, because your sense of fashion, like your personality, should always stay the same!

Designer: Kelly Chan

Buy It Here: $219.00 $330.00

Seriously Smart Coffee

Posted: 30 Jun 2016 07:56 AM PDT

As any coffee connoisseur will tell you, making fresh coffee is as much an art as it is a science. Many will also agree that truly awesome coffee starts with two things: fresh beans and a great grinder. The designers at GIR have taken these two critical elements – fresh beans and consistent grind – and combined them into one amazing machine: Voltaire. This smart appliance features fresh-sensing tech that monitors your coffee beans and automatically reorders when you need new beans! Better yet, it’s perfectly portable – Voltaire’s high-performance LiFePO4 batteries will last through over 3lbs of beans and hold a charge for up to three weeks. This means you can have top-notch coffee anywhere you go and have fresh beans waiting for you when you get back!

Designer: GIR

Weather Or Not

Posted: 30 Jun 2016 03:00 AM PDT

It’s one thing to READ the weather and something entirely different to FEEL it. That’s the idea behind Dandelion, named after the flower signal for springtime. Soft “spores” on top of the unit let your fingers detect the temperature/wind strength by haptic experience.

Like your smartphone, Dandelion receives the temperature and wind strength information by wireless connection but differs in that it transfers that info into tactile feedback. The fan blowing below the spores controls the wind strength. When the spores shake more, it means the wind outside is stronger.

The heating/cooling module inside mimics the external temperature of the wind along with ambient lighting that changes colors visually emphasize the temp. By gently touching the spores, you can feel the breeze/temperature outside and choose your wardrobe accordingly!

Designer: JungHoon Lee

The Ultimate Running Machine

Posted: 30 Jun 2016 12:00 AM PDT

The latest from BMW Group’s Designworks, the X-CAT DISC is an athletic fashion statement that takes inspiration from the legendary GINA Light Concept car. GINA stands for “Geometry/Function In Adaptions” and this athletic shoe holds true to that idea.

The car sported a seamless, flexible, fabric outer shell stretched over a movable substructure, and the shoe utilizes the same innovative material. Instead of using laces, this system works with a rotating disc that pulls internal wires to close and open the shoe. Using only one thin layer of stretchable and super-light GINA material, the shoe wraps around the foot like a second skin. Additional seams are no longer necessary and dynamic movement feels very natural.

Another design cue taken from the original GINA concept is the functional aesthetic of revealing the underlying structure when tightening the shoe. The designers also re- thought the concept for the sole and the Puma DISC, applying BMW engineering approaches to add greater precision. They viewed the sole as the engine of the foot, the driver of movement. This produced a unique design which was inspired by interconnecting gears and integrates both engineered flexibility and interlinked stability.

Get your hands on the X-CAT DISC starting July 1st in a limited selection of Puma stores across the world!

Designer: Designworks

Light reading!

Posted: 29 Jun 2016 02:30 PM PDT

Good design is as little design as possible, says the design stalwart Dieter Rams. The Light Bookmark goes to show that sometimes the idea takes a center-stage, while aesthetic embellishment goes down to an absolute minimum, resulting in good design that’s solely driven by the good idea.

Not compromising on thickness, the Light Bookmark is a slick looking flexible PCB bookmark that can light up to make your reading easier. All you do is fold the bookmark so that the ends meet, and put a cell battery between them. The impregnated LEDs instantly light up, giving you a super-minimal makeshift lamp (that kind of looks like a bulb too, in its bent avatar!).

The Light Bookmark, if mass produced, could also work beautifully as portable emergency lighting for people with no access to a phone flashlight. Brilliant! Literally!

Designer: Kyouei Design

Hot Beverage + Hot Beats

Posted: 29 Jun 2016 12:30 PM PDT

Given the option I’d probably want an audio system in everything around me. The people at Dubgear share that disposition of mine, which explains the birth of Dubstein, the world’s first Speaker + Thermos Duo. Its unusual design allows it to pump out stereo sound as well as comfortably dock a sipper-flask. The speakers also come with a mug-shaped handle, allowing you to pump in fluids as well as pump out sick tunes. The Speaker unit is wireless for obvious reasons, but does come with an aux and MicroUSB input. Controls are laid out right above the handle in an ergonomic manner, meaning one can thumb-operate the speaker while holding it. And to answer your question, no, the music doesn’t heat the beverage! It just turns up the heat in the party!

Designer: Dubgear