Design

These Awesome Books Don’t Exist Yet—But Should

Forget the finding the next instant classic, great American novel, or literary tour de force—we need to get humanity’s greatest writers and intellectuals (sit down, Nic Cage) together to work putting stories behind these incredible faux book covers. Like, now. Tyler Adam Smith, a Masters of Branding student New York’s School of Visual Arts, began…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola Jun 6

Get Out of the Way: A History of How Ambulance Lights Save Lives

For as ear-piercing as ambulance sirens are, you’d think they’d be better alert systems. Truth is: they’re shockingly ineffective. Drivers register the sound only at close proximity and at very low speeds. Guessing from which direction the ambulance will appear is always tricky, too—especially when the new Daft Punk is turned up really loud. In…

Tech News Rachel Swaby Jun 6

The Supermaterial That Could Make Plastic Obsolete Is… Mushrooms?

Fungus is, almost universally, not a good thing to have in your walls or personal belongings. And normally, selling certain strains could lead to federal charges. But a company called Ecovative is violating both of those rules, creating packaging and building materials from fungus—and they’re being lauded as visionaries for it. Ecovative was founded by…

Tech News Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan Jun 6

Refuse to Drink Wine From Anything But These Crazy Anatomical Carafes

Next time someone offers you a glass of wine, refuse unless its presented from a carafe as incredibly attractive as this. All example of “bio-tableware” by sculptor Etienne Meneau, these beautiful, branched structures are artistic takes on wine carafes. Mimicking the blood supply networks and airways in our bodies, they’re each capable of holding a…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe Jun 6

How Americans Speak Differently in Various Regions, Visualized

Depending on where you’re from and where you’ve lived in the United States, you probably say things a little differently than people from other parts of the country. You’ve experienced this, but you’ve never seen how the regional dialects of the United States break down quite so cleanly. Ph.D student Joshua Katz has applied some…

Tech News Mario Aguilar Jun 5

There’s a Whole Amusement Park Hiding In This Beautiful Cube of Trash

Amusement parks are sprawling places, made of equal parts cotton candy-flavored summer fun and sweat-soaked, grease-coated despair. Artist James Dive of the Glue Society managed to squeeze that all down into one beautiful but horrifying 4 by 4 meter cube that has all the grease and none of the fun. Built for Denmark’s Sculpture by…

Tech News Eric Limer Jun 5

This Gigantic Building Will Be Lego Paradise on Earth

Lego has been creeping its way into the architecture market for years now—see their Mies van der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright models for reference—but they’ve steered clear of building full-scale buildings based on the modular plastic bricks. No longer: today, the company unveiled designs for a visitor center that will open in 2016. And…

Tech News Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan Jun 5

Beyond Flat: Six iOS 7 Fixes Apple Needs to Make

Black, white, and flat all over. Those are the much-ballyhooed words of an anonymous source quoted by every tech blog on the Internet last week, describing the future of iOS. And indeed, if early glimpses are any indication, some flatness may be in our future. But there’s a more important question out there that has…

Tech News Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan Jun 5

TweetDeck Redesign Walkthrough: Smooth, Smooth Navigation

This morning, Twitter pushed a redesigned TweetDeck, featuring a new expandable sidebar that makes navigating the app way easier Here’s a walkthrough of the entire suite, and as you can see, the new design brings new order to the uncivilized barrage of tweets we stare at every day. https://gizmodo.com/tweetdeck-redesign-post-goes-early-and-christinas-gon-511424542 Indeed, while we’ve always loved that…

Tech News Mario Aguilar Jun 5

All Signage Should Be as Smart as This Hyper-Local Wayfinding Kiosk

We’ve already got smartphones with GPS radios, data connections, and mapping software that can tell us where we’re supposed to go. Why on earth would we need additional smart devices in the world to help us get around? Quite simply because sometimes the smart gadgets in our pockets aren’t hip to what we want to…

Tech News Mario Aguilar Jun 5

How Yahoo Smartly Re-Designed Its Search by Not Changing Much

Yahoo search looks different today. It’s likely you haven’t noticed because, well, many, many, many, many people have moved on from Yahoo. To those remaining, or anyone rubbernecking in this morning, it sort of looks like just frumpy old Yahoo, slightly re-organized. But that’s by design. And keeping it visually consistent while improving the overall…

Tech News Kyle Wagner Jun 5

A Classic Fiat 500 Had To Die So You Can Keep Your Drinks Cool

Though it was reborn back in 2007 as a similarly compact model, the original Fiat 500 showed the world, not just Europe, that you didn’t need a giant land yacht of a vehicle to be comfortable. So it’s a little sad to see that Smeg is working with Fiat to hack apart these iconic rides,…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski Jun 4

The Private Yacht of Kitchen Sinks Has Room For Weeks of Dirty Dishes

If you can’t help but stare in awe whenever you get the chance to peek inside a professional kitchen at a restaurant, you’ll be ecstatic to hear that KWC’s Waterstation is actually designed for home use. Albeit a home with a very big kitchen and enough disposable income to afford a $15,000 sink, but it’s…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski Jun 4

Gorgeous Windswept Photos of Dubai’s Booming, Bloated Metropolis

Ten years ago, there were more than 800 individual buildings under construction in Dubai at any given time. Today, Dubai and Abu Dhabi suffer from a vast oversupply of real estate: some claim that as much at 40 percent of buildings are vacant, though plans for more development are in the works. Matthias Heiderich, a…

Tech News Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan Jun 3

Cameras in the Future Might Not Need Lenses

Every camera you’ve ever used in your life has a lens that focuses incoming photons on to a light-sensitive surface. But in the future, cameras might not need lenses at all, and this Bell Labs prototype illustrates how this could be done for cheap. Technology Review reports the Bell Labs concept, which relies on a…

Tech News Mario Aguilar Jun 3

The Age of the Anti-Logo: Why Museums Are Shedding Their Idenities

Designing a museum logo used to be a simple. Maybe you chose the outline of the building facade. Or a staid serif logotype. Or hell, just the heraldic seal of whatever aristocrat was underwriting the whole operation. But in an era of faltering endowments and fickle audiences, many museums are turning to high-concept graphic design…

Tech News Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan Jun 3

Could Pop-Up Hotels Be the Answer to Manhattan’s Office Vacancies?

The problem? Vacant office space in Manhattan has spiked over the past few years. One possible solution? Replicable pop-up hotel rooms designed by Danish firm Pink Cloud. Now, keep in mind: this is an entirely theoretical idea. But it’s not a bad one. Pink Cloud’s plan works like this: 36 prefabricated boxes with the dimensions…

Tech News Leslie Horn Jun 3

The Story Behind Music’s Most Important Symbol

Even the musically illiterate can appreciate the intricate beauty of a physical piece of sheet music—though, to them, the score itself means jack shit. But even the notationally disinclined can now, thanks to the Smithsonian’s design blog, know where those pretty little pictures at the beginning of those big long lines come from—otherwise known as…

Tech News Ashley Feinberg Jun 3

Anatomy of a Logo: Star Wars

The film, Star Wars, premiered on May 25, 1977. To celebrate its 36th anniversary, I’m examining the evolution of the film’s logo. During the film’s pre-production, a decal (below) was produced. In the first Official Star Wars Fan Club newsletter, reprinted in the Star Wars Scrapbook (Chronicle Books, 1991), there was an explanation about the…

Tech News Alex Jay - Tenth Letter of the Alphabet Jun 3

This Clever Chair Becomes a Ladder in a Snap

Here’s a welcome concept for people who live in small spaces: Chairway, a chair that becomes a step ladder with one simple action. Chairway was created by a young Dutch designer named Sjors van der Leest, who builds them for customers upon request in a variety of woods and colors. When you need to reach…

Tech News Leslie Horn Jun 3

These Awesome Books Don’t Exist Yet—But Should

Get Out of the Way: A History of How Ambulance Lights Save Lives

The Supermaterial That Could Make Plastic Obsolete Is… Mushrooms?

Refuse to Drink Wine From Anything But These Crazy Anatomical Carafes

How Americans Speak Differently in Various Regions, Visualized

There’s a Whole Amusement Park Hiding In This Beautiful Cube of Trash

This Gigantic Building Will Be Lego Paradise on Earth

Beyond Flat: Six iOS 7 Fixes Apple Needs to Make

TweetDeck Redesign Walkthrough: Smooth, Smooth Navigation

All Signage Should Be as Smart as This Hyper-Local Wayfinding Kiosk

How Yahoo Smartly Re-Designed Its Search by Not Changing Much

A Classic Fiat 500 Had To Die So You Can Keep Your Drinks Cool

The Private Yacht of Kitchen Sinks Has Room For Weeks of Dirty Dishes

Gorgeous Windswept Photos of Dubai’s Booming, Bloated Metropolis

Cameras in the Future Might Not Need Lenses

The Age of the Anti-Logo: Why Museums Are Shedding Their Idenities

Could Pop-Up Hotels Be the Answer to Manhattan’s Office Vacancies?

The Story Behind Music’s Most Important Symbol

Anatomy of a Logo: Star Wars

This Clever Chair Becomes a Ladder in a Snap

Southwest Is About to Limit Power Banks on Flights

Damn, the ‘Power Rangers’ Reboot Could’ve Had Four Movies

The Live-Action ‘One Piece’ Team Wants to Go the Distance

‘Lee Cronin’s The Mummy’ Will Please Gross Horror Fans

Somehow Paramount’s ‘Avatar’ Movie Has Leaked, Too

The World Is Basically Begging for Another iPod

Anker’s EufyMake E1 Finally Brings Printers Out of the Dark Ages

OpenAI Says Elon Musk Is ‘Injecting Chaos’ with Recent Legal Maneuver

This Loud-Ass Party Speaker Almost Got Me High AF

Asus Zenbook A16 Review: Start Considering Snapdragon on PC, for Real

Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 Review: Almost Better than My Ecobee

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

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