Design

YouTube In Your Browser Is Becoming More Like YouTube On Your Phone

Once upon a time, in the early days of smartphones (y’know, a few years ago), a company would do everything possible to make its app look as similar to its website as possible. Now everything is topsy-turvy. Today YouTube revealed that some of the website’s new look is going to be borrowed from its mobile…

This Awesome Machine Knits a Fully Formed Sweater, Sleeves And All

This awesome OpenKnit machine can weave a sweater from a digital pattern in about an hour—that’s cool. I mean, look at it go! Even cooler is that you can actually construct this awesome OpenKnit machine yourself. Welcome to a brave new world of textile design. GitHub‘s got the plans to put the whole thing together,…

When Edgar Allan Poe offered Americans interior design advice

While we might picture Edgar Allan Poe hunched over his writing desk in a drafty, sparsely furnished home, the famed horror writer actually had quite specific tastes when it came to interior design. And he believed that Americans simply did not know how to furnish a room. In his 1840 essay “The Philosophy of Furniture,”The…

Here’s Why Ikea Is Discontinuing Everyone’s Favorite Shelf

Expedit, we hardly knew ye. Ikea recently announced that the popular shelving system is not long for this world, and the internet responded with rage. But there’s a really good reason for Ikea to get rid of Expedit. And in fact, it’s not really going away at all. Ikea says it’s replacing Expedit with a…

Ice-Climbing Structures Are Mind-Blowing Experimental Architecture

The design and fabrication of artificial ice-climbing structures is an incredibly creative yet widely overlooked form of experimental architecture. The resulting constructions are often astonishing: ice-covered loops, ledges, branches, and towers reminiscent of the playful 1960s experiments of Archigram, yet serving as some of the most spatially interesting athletic venues in all of today’s professional…

The Plan to Make DC’s Central Library a Home for More Than Just Books

Libraries used to be places for doing bookish things. It’s not that simple anymore. Washington DC just announced the winning proposal for renovating its historic central library. The winner? An ambitious plan to turn the building into a place where ideas are born—and things actually made. In a city full of monuments and august government…

This Perfectly Counterbalanced Supervillain Table Will Never Fall Over

When decorating their over-the-top headquarters, supervillains need to choose bold office furniture that matches their even bolder schemes to take over the world. And designer Toni Grilo delivers with this gravity-defying coffee table, which looks like it’s perpetually on the verge of falling over. But like any great supervillain, the Lithos Table is actually really…

Farmer Turns an Old Star Wars Billboard Into Greatest Chicken Coop Ever

This may just be the epitome of baby chick luxury: A coop made out of vinyl repurposed from old movie billboards. The Oregon poultry farmer responsible for this spectacular feat of ingenuity, Mark Anderson, uses the colorful barn as a shelter for chickens in the first phase of their lives. And the accompanying photographs on…

An Alien Cocoon? No, It’s an Alpine Shelter For Mountain Bikers

For a mountain biker, the place where you start your run shouldn’t really matter. But this transparent, fabric-enmeshed cycling pavilion is the kind of place you might find yourself wanting to hang around in. The 300-square-foot platform is perched above Chile’s Central Valley, a broad piece of verdant green that’s sandwiched on either side by…

One of four shortlisted designs shortlisted for a new arts center in Arnhem, the Netherlands, this twisted cube by Bjarke Ingels Group curved upward at each midpoint to create public park space underneath its eves. Let’s just hope those mirrored louvres don’t light any fires. [Rijnboog]

It’s not a jellyfish or a mushroom cloud or some time-delayed warp-gate undulating in midair—or maybe it’s some extra-dimensional combination of all three—it’s a sculpture by artist Janet Echelman, who uses colorful nets to create beautiful and hypnotic topological shapes for public spaces. [Sploid]

A $35,000 Renovation Turned This Suburban Home Into a Cat Palace

You love your pet a lot. You buy the fancy food and only the best toys. You have a collection of sweaters so she doesn’t get cold in winter. But do you love your pet enough to spend $35,000 converting your spacious California home into an animal fantasy land? This California man does. It’s sort…

Cover Story: The Fascinating Anatomy of a Magazine Cover

You know the saying: you can’t judge a book by its cover. With magazines, it’s pretty much the opposite. The cover of a magazine is the unified identity for a whole host of ideas, authors, and designers who have created the eclectic array of stories and articles and materials within each issue. And, some would…

Muslim Wonder Woman redesign puts Diana in a headscarf

Artist flowercrownprincess envisions Wonder Woman as a hijab-wearing Muslim superhero, who is ready to battle evil in both armor and a headscarf. The one tweak I’d suggest for this design is to add sleeves extending down to the gauntlets, but otherwise, this is a lovely take on Wonder Woman, with the star-spangled skirt over the…

How Many of These Major Museums Can You Identify By Silhouette Alone?

Check it out: This print features the notable profiles of some of the world’s most recognizable museums. There’s a key, but quick, without peeking—how many can you name by sight alone? Graphic artist Yoni Alter reduced these cultural institutions down to super basic forms, then doused them in neon hues because hey, why the hell…

These Modernist Sand Castles Are Cooler Than Any Architectural Model

All buildings eventually die: Sometimes sooner, sometimes later. But artist Calvin Seibert’s work lasts no longer than a turn of the Earth. Seibert spends his free time sculpting incredible models on the beach—and they’re unlike any sand castles I’ve ever seen. Seibert, who goes by Box Builder on Flickr, has been making sand castles since…

Construction workers scramble through scaffolding that surrounds a massive urn-shaped glass atrium, which will eventually house meetings of the Council of the European Union. The building—which was supposed to be finished by 2012—is more than $100 million over budget. [AP Photo/Virginia Mayo]

Why Your Mouse Cursor Is Slanted Instead of Straight

Have you ever wondered why your mouse cursor rests ever so slightly to the left? Chances are, that little arrow on an incline is so ubiquitous that you’ve never even thought twice about its 45-degree angle. As it turns out, there’s a very good reason for it. Or was, anyway, back in a more pixelated…

The Design Of Abba’s Clothing Was Actually A Form Of Tax Evasion

The design of disco supergroup Abba’s stagewear was not just influenced by the sequined needs of being a dancing queen; the design of their clothes was also a form of tax evasion. According to a new book by Björn Ulvaeus, as reported by the Guardian, “the band’s style was influenced in part by laws that…

Inside a World War II Bunker Turned Massive Underground Farm

Last week, we wrote about a project in London that sounds straight up apocalyptic: A massive underground farm inside a 60-year-old bunker, originally built to protect Londoners from Nazi bombs. Now, we have video—and it’s every bit as spooky as you’d think. https://gizmodo.com/londons-newest-farm-is-an-abandoned-bomb-shelter-deep-1515310190 The entrepreneurs behind the project, Zero Carbon Food, uploaded a number of…