innovation – Page 4 – DesignApplause

Kupu photoelectric smoke alarm. Harri koskinen.

Jun 22, 2012

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Designed by Finnish designer Harri Koskinen for Jalo Helsinki, Kupu is a beautiful, stylish and easy to use photoelectric smoke alarm. It is very easy to install due to its 3M tape and does not require screws or power drills. The external casing serves a a test button, rather than traditional smoke alarms that feature obnoxiously small push buttons. Lastly, Kupu is lightweight and has a 5 year battery. It was awarded the Red Dot Design Award 2011.

designer: harri koskinen
producer: jalo helsinki
award: red dot
materials: textile cover
period: 2012

Porta-bote.

Jun 15, 2012

This summer something caught my eye on top of a neighbor’s SUV. It looked like a lighter – than – air aircraft wing but found out it was a collapsable boat. It looks much better in vitro than in these photos.

Adding collapsability into the design criteria can be a bit of a challenge. Here is a product that is not new and because of it’s design is quite popular.

This is a Porta-Bote, a flexible V-hull craft. Its keel and concave “vee” section provide exceptional directional stability. The hull design means the Bote is more comfortable to ride in because the flexible polypropylene hull absorbs shocks and does not bounce like an inflatable or pound like a rigid boat. The flexible hull allows for easy, stable standing. The inside of the hull is rough-surfaced for traction, even when wet.

When you stand up, the hull flattens against the water’s surface with a suction effect adding to the stability. Because of the wide 5-foot beam, the boat is exceptionally stable even when fully loaded and planing at full speed. The same suction effect that allows you to stand up safely also keeps the boat solidly on the surface. It feels good to stand up and stretch, look out over the water and comfortably fly cast with no worries about the Bote tipping over.

The Porta-Bote Company says there over 50,000 Porta-Botes afloat around the world. Some are as old as 30 years and still floating. Porta-Botes attribute their durability to the unique design hinges and lightweight, flexible polypropylene hull. The hinges are waterproof and can take a stress of over 90,000 pounds per square inch. They are designed to take a beating.

The hull utilizes an ultra-violet filter and anti-oxidant for resistance to sun and saltwater damage. This hull material is used in Astro-Turf, car bumpers and highway signs. Porta-Bote’s “Flexi-Hull” flexes inward and absorbs wave energy and disperses its force.

The same flexibility allows the Bote to “give” safely when bumping against underwater obstacles. The Porta-Bote’s hull is almost �1/4 inch thick, thicker than an aluminum hull. It never needs painting and only requires an occasional wipe down the outside hull and hinges with a some vinyl-protectant.

The Porta-Bote can be used on ponds, lakes and rivers. It can be a fishing boat, a sailboat (with optional sail kit), a duck-hunting boat, a ship-to-shore dinghy or just a weekend family pleasure boat. It can easily be transported on top of most vehicles, RVs, seaplanes and yak. The British Royal Air Force Climbing & Rescue Team used it on their record setting climb up Mt. Everest. The team used the Porta-Bote at 20,000 feet to cross a glacier lake. Inflatables were too puncture-prone and unreliable while ordinary rigid boats were too heavy to carry up Everest.

It takes about 20 minutes to set up and 10 minutes to fold it back up at the end of the day. It is four inches thick when folded.

more info at porta-boat tackle tour

Paralyzed woman moves robotic arm with her thoughts.

May 17, 2012

Paralyzed woman moves robotic arm with her thoughts. the first demonstration of reaching and grasping by a brain-controlled prosthetic arm. via washington post [RK]

Tap-to-pay will become commonplace with next iphone.

May 3, 2012

Tap-To-Pay Smartphones: will become commonplace after Apple introduces the next iPhone. via forbes [RK]

Cork flashlight by joseph guerra.

Apr 11, 2012

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RISD furniture design student Joseph Guerra has a noble ambition “to design useful, mass market objects that exhibit a simplicity and beauty that challenge traditional societal notions of value.” This is a goal he’s gotten closer to reaching over the past few years. Much of his early work is more art object than practical design. His latest piece, Utility Mirror, is probably the most practical, but his Flashlight is, to me at least, the most beautiful.

The flashlight’s components are housed in a CNC-cut cork case that can be disassembled to replace the batteries, making production easier. But that’s not the only practical aspect of this design. The fact that its rectangular and sits flat instead of rolling around like a typical flashlight is, perhaps, one of the unintentional bonuses. Not unintentional at all is the choice to use cork and a contrasting white handle. Cork is one of my favorite materials, and I love to see used thoughtfully or unexpectedly. Flashlights are usually made of cold, hard metal, but Guerra makes the flashlight a touchable, almost comforting object, one that you want to leave out instead of tucking it away into the tool shed.

about perrin drumm

Update on terraflugia's car/plane

Mar 21, 2012

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After our post about “Transition”, Terraflugia’s car/plane went up yesterday, I got an email from Cliff Allen, the VP of Sales, who wanted to clarify one pretty important point: don’t drive Transition on the road!

We envision the Transition pilot leaving their home and driving to a nearby public-use airport (there are over 5,200 in the US, on average, one within 30 miles of any point in the US), shifting the Transition into flight mode, then flying to another public-use airport near their destination, landing, converting the Transition back to road mode, and driving the last few miles to their destination. The Transition pilot should not take-off or land on a public road, this is illegal in most states (every state but Montana and Alaska, I think).

Thanks, Cliff! And be sure to check out Terraflugia at the NY International Auto Show.

about perrin drumm

REK coffee table by reinier de jong.

Mar 7, 2012

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Not since Josef Alber’s brilliant Bauhaus-era nesting tables have I seen a similar design that does it better, and while nothing really tops Bauhaus for me, Rotterdam-based designer Reinier de Jong’s REK coffee table comes awfully close. Like Alber’s design, REK offers an elegant, space-saving solution. It’s three tables in one, which basically triples your available surfaces for when you have guests over. When company leaves, it tucks away neatly into a central cube-like shape.

“REK is a coffee table that grows with your coffee needs. When you have visitors, just get some chairs and extend the table any way you like. Built-in stops make sure you will not extend the sliding parts too far.

The top and two sides of REK are white HPL and the edges are finished with your choice of solid wood: oak, berch or beech. The end grain side of the wood is beveled in order to get a grip: A subtle detail. The dimensions of REK table obviously vary with its configuration: 60 by 80 cm in collapsed state, its maximum lenth is 170 cm and its maximum width is 130 cm.”

de Jong’s other furniture is surprisingly different, like the bright yellow, Beetlejuice-esque Volt table and the fire engine red Keer chair. He does offer one other design in the REK line, a bookcase that, like the coffee table, expands and folds away depending on how large your library is.

about perrin drumm

Pouch packaging insights.

Mar 7, 2012

heinz new 10-ounce pouch | click > enlarge

Heads up, this pouch post will take statements from an article and serve them up “out of context.” Probably because one statement caused me to take pause.

“The trend is being driven by savings on packaging and shipping costs as well as aesthetics — an upscale pouch sporting elaborate graphics offers a modern look and premium appeal, marketers say.” ~ Emily Bryson York, Chicago Tribune reporter

“Manufacturers can cut packaging costs 10 to 15 percent by going to the pouch.” ~ John Kalkowski, editorial director of Packaging Digest

“It’s a different approach for us, but we’re going to listen to consumers, we’re going to develop the products that they want, but then they need to buy them.” ~ Denise Morrison, CEO Campbell Soup Co

“They see the pouch as a very contemporary packaging alternative and they relate that packaging to a better quality experience coming from the food that’s in (it).” ~ Charles Villa, vice president of the consumer and customer insights department for Campbell’s USA

starkist introduced tuna in a pouch in 1999

“The pouch business took about five or six years to be self-sustaining and said seeing more products in pouches now is ‘exciting’.” ~ Jennifer Albert, director of marketing at StarKist

“The latest wave of pouch conversions appears to be about ‘providing creative consumer solutions,’ as opposed to simply introducing a new package because technology was available.” ~ Lynn Dornblaser, director of consumer packaged goods insights at Mintel

“The typical shopper in a developed market like the U.S., said Heinz CEO William R. Johnson, is ‘now intensely focused on value,’ adding that buying decisions are based more on price ‘and less about product design.'”

[ full story ] editor: an aside, worried that the current shelf with rigid containers neatly arranged and all labels front and center will evolve in a sock drawer aesthetic.

Ambiente 2012 interview previews: Jørgen bodum and richard and antony joseph.

Feb 16, 2012

jørgen bodum, ceo of bodum | click > enlarge

The following excerpts are previews of two interviews taken at Ambiente 2012, Frankfurt. We talk to the leaders of each company, Jørgen Bodum of Bodum and Antony & Richard Joseph of JosephJoseph :

[DA] Jørgen, tell us about Bodum’s tagline “Make taste not waste.”
[JB] The tagline is about five years old, about the time of the introduction the capsule coffee system. The capsule coffee system makes coffee 10 times more expensive, and secondly, if you take one of the big capsule companies, they produce 9 billion capsules a year, just one company; six-thousand tons of aluminum. There were many court cases against us when we made that statement. They were saying at the time they were 60% recycled and they’re not even 10% recycled. And so far we’ve won all the cases.

l > r: richard & antony joseph, founders and head of josephjoseph

[DA] JosephJoseph is known for good looking and well-functioning products. Can you say your products are design-driven or is there another way to describe the concept-to-completion of your products?
[AJ] We’d say our products are function-driven. Every product has a functional story. A lot of people say “oh yeah, that’s the colorful kitchenware stuff. Yes, color is part of our identity though that might change as it could be black and white in two years time. But we feel the constant, the overall driver is function.

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above: The new Bistro Pour Over Coffee Machine. Give Bodum a degree of credit for trying to make a better cup of coffee by tweaking their famously successful french press. [ details ]

<br clear="left"
above: JosephJoseph add a twist to the whisk. As a flat whisk, Twist™ is ideal for mixing sauces in low pans or for making gravy in roasting trays. Then, with a simple turn of the handle, Twist™ morphs into a balloon whisk, allowing egg whites to be whipped into peaks of perfection. [ details ]

Keep your eyes peeled for the full interviews and more images right here on DesignApplause. [ ambiente 2012 ] [ bodum ] [ josephjoseph ]

LED is a very hot cool light bulb . preview.

Jan 31, 2012

philips L prize bulb | designed to replace a 60-watt incandescent, LED consumes 10-watts. set to debut in june in the u.s. for about $50 |click > large

switch60 warm white | a liquid cooled LED bulb. available in early 2012 | $20.

[ preview of upcoming feature ] 2012 brings in a new energy-saving lightbulb [ see background ] standard. In anticipation many light bulbs sold in the U.S. will typically use about 25% to 80% less energy and thereby meet these new standards, including incandescents, CFLs, and LEDs, and are already available for purchase today. The newer bulbs provide a wide range of choices in color and brightness, and many of them will last much longer than traditional light bulbs. The bottom line, all bulbs must be at least 25% more efficient by 2014. The incandescent bulb ( 1879 – 2014 ) is not expected to survive, going the way of the dodo bird.

[ background: energy independence and security act of 2007 ]

In 2007 the U.S. Congress passed legislation to ban the incandescent light bulb via the bipartisan Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA 2007). The phaseout officially begins with the 100-Watt incandescent light bulb on January 2012 and ends with the 40-Watt bulb in 2014. [ note: the Act remains in place but in January congress pulled funding to enforce the law. ] Light bulbs outside of these requirements are exempt from the ban. The bill mandates that all light bulbs must use 30% less energy by 2014 and by 2020, all light bulbs must be 70% more efficient than bulbs used in 2007 and produce a minimum of 45 lumens per Watt.

[ need-to-know terms when buying a bulb ] LUMENS
The amount of light a bulb produces. This is “brightness” or “light output.” Your reference point: A standard 100-watt incandescent produces about 1,700 lumens.
WATTS
Not a measure of brightness but a measure of how much energy a bulb consumes to reach its claimed brightness.
WATT-EQUIVALENT
Sure to confuse, here’s how the LED’s are going to be presented: If a 100-watt incandescent produces 1,700 lumens, and a 20-watt LED does the same, the LED will be sold as a 100-watt equivalent.
EFFICACY
The number of lumens a bulb produces for each watt it consumes. The higher the number, the more efficient the bulb. A good number for incandescents is around 18, CFLs around 60, and LEDs around 54.
BULB LIFE
LEDs dim over time. They’re considered effectively dead when they produce no more than 70 percent of their original brightness. For LEDs, this lifespan is given in hours or years, the latter an estimate based on three hours of daily use.
ENERGY COST
Based on an assumption of three hours of use per day at 11 cents per kilowatt-hour. For a 60-watt incandescent, it’s just over $7 per year. CFLs and LEDs both come in at about $1.50 per year.
COLOR TEMPERATURE
Expressed in degrees Kelvin, this is how we measure things like soft white or daylight. A pleasant soft white will have a color temperature of 3,000 K. White light ranges from 4,100 to 6,000 K, roughly equal to midday sun. Higher numbers get increasingly blue.

[ coming: bulbs to choose from, and more ] [ philips $10 million L prize bulb ]