#industrial-design

#industrial-design

The main unit rises vertically under a tall transparent dome, and the first impression lands somewhere between illuminated glassware and a miniature architectural model. A sculpted cone sits inside the chamber, channeling warm LED light upward through fine vertical ribs that stretch the glow into elongated streaks. The gradient begins deep amber at the base, fades toward soft cream near the midpoint, and dissolves into near-invisibility at the dome's crown.

Many of us already practice tiny acts of destruction when we're stressed. Shredding receipts, crumpling paper, or picking at packaging feel oddly satisfying even though we usually hide them. They're little releases that most designs ignore, treating them as guilty pleasures instead of real human behaviors. Art of Destruction is a concept that leans into those impulses and asks what happens if industrial design treats them as experiences worth designing.

Early humans scratched lines on stone walls with rocks, and that primal act sits at the root of every sketch we make today. Most modern pencils are optimized for control and detail, shaped like sticks to give you precision over every line and curve. Alberto Essesi's unnamed pencil concept takes a deliberate step back toward that raw, gestural way of drawing, translating it into a highly refined spherical object that looks more like a polished pebble than any conventional pencil.

I remember being in the third year of design college when I was introduced to this massive book titled "Indian Anthropometric Dimensions." For the uninitiated, this book contained practically all the dimensions of the average (and non-average) Indian person, male and female, old and young. The purpose of such a book was to understand ergonomics numerically, rather than visually. And for designers, this meant adding the ultimate constraint to our wild designs... so humans could actually use them.

Remember those wooden labyrinth games where you'd tilt a board to guide a tiny marble through a maze? You know, the ones that turned even the calmest person into a bundle of nerves? Well, BKID Co just gave that childhood classic a major upgrade, and honestly, it's kind of brilliant. Balance Maze is exactly what happens when industrial design meets nostalgic play. This concept isn't your average tabletop game. It's a modular marble maze that's part puzzle, part physics challenge, and entirely more interesting than scrolling through your phone for the hundredth time today.

Before releasing the official Xbox console, Microsoft was skeptical whether prospective gamers would be able to keep their software image distinguishable from the new hardware venture. To ensure the inaugural gaming console would be perceived as a standalone product, the company created a prototype that looked radically different from a desktop product. At the 2000 Game Developers Conference, Bill Gates and Seamus Blackley showcased the X-shaped version to build the brand image.

For companies, this means we now have case-studies of design firms that understand commercial dynamics: manufacturing, material sourcing, brand story, global distribution. When an enterprise aligns with designers like Barber and Osgerby, it's not about making something pretty, it's about making something profitable, repeatable, and meaningful. In today's economy, that's a powerful proposition. And their approach demonstrates how design thinking can move seamlessly between art, manufacturing, and management: exactly the kind of hybrid intelligence that defines modern creative business.

During Japan Mobility Show 2025, Honda presents its EV Outlier Concept, an electric motorcycle with a sloping front panel and a bucket-style seat. Instead of the typical short or frontless face, the concept two-wheeler puts an umbrella at the front, a semi-translucent hooded panel, which makes the body look flowy. This theme continues through the seat, and if viewers look closely, the seating and the engine panel are merged into one, as the designer only places bucket-style backrests to complete the setup.

Meet the SW-1, a player that embraces tradition but not traditional design. Watch the video above and you'll understand what vision they're going for. The conceptual player features an edge-to-edge display. The front fascia, which looks like metal, is actually a screen that comes to life when the display is maximized from its otherwise smaller container. Obviously, it's all a concept, but let's take a second to appreciate exactly how clean and beautiful the SW-1's design is,

Remember when COVID-19 tests felt like this rare commodity you'd wait hours for? What if a clinician could detect not just COVID-19, but cholera and a range of other pathogens in minutes with a device small enough to fit in your hand? That's exactly what Boston startup OmniVis wanted to create, and they tapped industrial designer Vuk Dragovic to make it happen.

Audio equipment usually forces you to choose between visual appeal and acoustic performance rather than getting both. The Transparent Acoustic Sculpture Speaker addresses this frustration by blending organic form, tactile materials, and crisp, immersive sound into a single sculptural object. This Swedish-designed piece is as much about visual presence as it is about delivering music with clarity and depth, making it a centerpiece rather than something you hide away.

The world before Jony Ive was beige. Not metaphorically. Literally beige. Computers in the 1990s came in one color: the pale, institutional tan of filing cabinets and government offices. They squatted under desks like appliances. Humming, hot, hostile. Thick cables snaked across floors. Fans whirred. Monitors flickered with the sickly glow of cathode rays. The interface was a command line: green text on black, cryptic strings of code that demanded fluency before granting access.

This little device represents a very specific philosophy of industrial design, one that prioritizes seamless integration into a person's life over raw power. In a world where smartphone cameras offer staggering digital zoom, carrying a dedicated optical tool seems almost archaic. But the experience is fundamentally different. It is tactile, immediate, and free from digital artifacts. Nikon is betting that there is still a market for a beautifully crafted, single-purpose tool, especially one that solves the core problem of traditional binoculars: their sheer, awkward bulk.

The coat hanger is forged from 2 mm stainless steel, laser‑cut and reinforced with screws for added durability, turning a simple closet accessory into a sculptural element. Priced at $115 for a three‑pack, the hangers promise long‑term performance without the typical flex of thin, plastic alternatives. They also prevent clothing from slipping or becoming misshapen, a common issue with thinner alternatives.

Where the Nothing Headphone (1) was all sharp angles and see-through panels, the CMF version is chunky, colorful, and aggressively normal. Where the flagship cost almost three hundred bucks, this one will probably land somewhere around the hundred-dollar mark. Most telling of all, where the original headphones seemed designed to make you explain your choice to everyone who saw them, these new ones look like they're trying to blend into every coffee shop and college campus in America.

Each ring was once part of a train strap handle on the Tokyu Den-en-toshi Line 8500, gripped by thousands of daily commuters before the series retired in 2023. Now, London-based design studio Akasaki & Vanhuyse has reimagined those resin rings as a limited-edition table lamp, turning the everyday gesture of holding on during a rush-hour ride into a luminous reminder of the city's past.

The humble tape measure might be one of the most underappreciated tools in any creator's arsenal, quietly doing the heavy lifting in workshops, job sites, and design studios around the world. Yet for something so essential, most tape measures are surprisingly frustrating to use, with their tendency to snap back unpredictably, scratch your fingers during retraction, and struggle hopelessly when you need to measure anything that isn't perfectly straight.

As an ergonomic keyboard owner myself, there's often a weird design trade-off we make for the sake of comfort. Not a single ergonomic keyboard I've seen is made to be sleek. They're all created in the same vein of exaggerated anthropometrics, designed to evoke a sense of tactile comfort but visual bulk. Even the ones that sidestep the bulky design often treat 'ergonomics' as a medical issue, rejecting the need to make the keyboard look cool.

A hand crafted wooden scale model of the Sony Alpha 7R, built to exact proportions. The process began with detailed technical drawings and dimensioning based on the original camera.

The Mute Lamp embodies adesign philosophy that prioritizes linear minimalism, stemming from a single, uninterrupted vertical pole that redefines elegance and function.

Peter Phillips transformed contemporary art by merging mechanical tools, comic book imagery, and vintage pin-up cards into vibrant, collage-like compositions that shifted artistic paradigms.

"I had this idea, turned it into a CAD model, and saw it come off of a 3D printer. I realized I could make things real, and that thrill never left."