August: extrimity MRI concept
Extremity MRI concept
Why do we still put an entire body into a magnetic field to scan an arm or a leg when the magnets in magnetic resonance systems are becoming smaller? That was the spark behind the Extremity concept. The fully adjustable chair moves to meet the magnet, so only the area that needs scanning will be scanned. Plus, the unexpected reference to furniture with use of ash wood and light strips help put patients at ease. Design by Lionel Wodecki of GE Healthcare (France)
pico collection for mutina
French designers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec have developed the ‘pico collection’ for Italian ceramics company Mutina. Composed of compressed sand and mixed minerals, this series of tiles maintains the rawness of handmade cement and traditional earth floors, letting the materials convey their natural characteristics.
Omhu Cane
The Omhu Cane is a walking stick with attitude. Inspired by Scandinavian furniture, bicycles, hockey sticks and skateboards, this joyful design brings style and performance to mobility aids. The generous birch handle has grip strips for better hold, and doesn’t slip when leaned against a wall.
Kicker Tea Tumbler
Kicker Tea Tumbler is a combination of tea kettle and pot where water heats on the bottom of the device while tea leaves are placed into an infuser at the top. User can heat the water up to the desired temperature for the type of tea and flip the pot over to let the water lands on the tea leaves. Once the tea is done steeping, the user can flip the pot back over.
WS1204
The WS1204 is an innovative system specially designed for wheel-chair bound patients. It consists of four low profile wireless weighing pads. Weighing is simple; a weighing pad is placed in front of each wheelchair wheel. The wheelchair is rolled onto the four pads, and the pads send data wirelessly to the remote display where the patient’s weight is calculated and stored.
Masterpieces
“Masterpieces” is a string art kit from MO MAN TAI Design based on famous paintings.
Performance vs Preference
Sometimes the best products and business models do not win in the market, while lesser products get the triumph. The well-known QWERTY-layout from the keyboard was designed to prevent that the mechanical parts would grab each other during typing on old typing machines. The efficiency of typing and its connection to the place of the letter on the keyboard was not considered as a priority that time.
The Dvorak-layout, which is not that broadly known anymore in our days, on the contrary was based upon deep research and has shown good results in improving the speed of typing. The results of a comparative test show an improvement of 30% in terms of efficiency of work. Nowadays computers do not have those mechanical parts of the typing machines, so you would say, the Dvorak-layout would be the first choice layout for most of the people. But where the Dvorak wins in terms of efficiency QWERTY wins in terms of preference.
This great example teaches us a good lesson: obvious improvement of performance does not give a guaranty for success. People make their choices and build preferences upon many factors, and most of the time unconsciously. What you think is good for people, it is not necessary the same what people would find themselves best for them. Even more: people very often do not go for the good thing. More often, they go for a feeling-good experience.
Design Tips
The best way to find a balance between performance and preference is good observation. Do not trust only what people say, watch them doing things. Make conclusions, create design, and test it, observe and improve again.
Quickstart
Did you not work before with a design studio? Or do you like to try out our way of working, compared to your partner design office?
Then the Design Quickstart is an excellent project, offered to you for reduced rates. Read more about a quickstart project /
Turn-key product design
Do you want to realise a turn-key design project from plan to production? Do you need extra knowledge or capacity for your product development? We love to work with your team and take care of your concerns.
Our speed of product development and the possibility to develop both the product as the electronics and software are two reasons why companies work with us. Read more about turn-key product development /
Design News
Amphibian Inspiration
Named after it’s inspiration, the Auratus chaise lounge by designer Wilson Niño mimics the form of a poison dart frog and has brilliant coloring to match.
Finest paperware
The paper cup from Rebecca Wilson’s “Finest paperware” is a transformation of the ultimate throwaway into a “cast paper”, an art object.
SavePaste
SavePaste is a new toothpaste packaging design has a three-point agenda: to eliminate the hard-to-squeeze dead space, minimizing toothpaste residue left inside the container and reduce two packaging to one.
Musical gloves
Developed specially for the musician Imogen Heap, these gloves are equipped with an accelerometer, magnetometer, gyroscope, wireless mics and a bunch of other sensors. It’s making music just out of the hands.
Jewelry
These series of accessories don’t include jewelry. Anything you find and put up becomes your own “Jewelry”. Find wonderful jewelry in your daily life.