Yanko Design - Form Beyond Function

I’ve owned Google Cardboard for about two years now. It’s gathering dust somewhere in my cupboard. The thing with VR is that people thought of just the obvious. 3D content that puts you in a different place. One minute you’re in the arctic, the next minute you’re underwater. Simulation like that does one thing. It makes your eyes see something your body can’t feel, and that looks fantastic, but it also looks unbelievable. The VR Touch Kit for National Geographic takes the approach to VR differently. It makes VR incredibly believable and educational too. The VR Headset comes with three attachments that mimic binoculars, a telescope, and a microscope. Making the aspect of exploration highly believable, the VR headsets pair with these attachments to present VR content that’s relevant to it. You can use the telescope to examine galaxies, for instance… or the microscope to look at micro-organisms. For example you could use your Wii remote to drive a car, but having an attachment that simulates a steering wheel adds a layer of, shall I call it ‘honesty’, to the entire experience.

Anyone can place a screen in front of your eyes and make you view content. The VR Touch kit weaves a much more complex, tactile, and believable experience!

Designer: Junbyung Choi

The science of tea brewing (Gongfu tea) is such that the water should always stay at 80ºC and the tea should not be steeped for long. Bitter taste and reduced aroma can spoil the experience, and to ensure none of this happens, we have here the Memory-Metal Screen. A unique filter adopts the concept of a shape-memory alloy to control the tea-brewing time in a technical manner.

The way it works is this: you pour hot water over the tea leaves, which makes the tea filter stretch to the maximum depth. The tea leaves within brew till the temperature of the water is hot. In about eight minutes, the water cools down to 50ºC and the filter retracts with the steeped tea leaves.

An intelligent design that makes the art of brewing tea very scientific.

Designers: Yeh Shu-Hung & Hu Siqi

There is legit waste of water when you boil a kettle full but use only a cup. The extra energy could have been used elsewhere – like lighting streetlamps! Any ways, the MIITO Precise hopes to overcome this problem and can heat any liquid, directly in its container. Simply place your cup on the induction plate and immerse the rod into the liquid.

As explained by the designers, “The plate creates an electromagnetic field, which only heats ferrous materials.” I like the sleek design, which makes it easier to get rid of lime scale build-up. The silicone handle insulates the rod and you can heat the liquid between 30° and 100°C. In short, you can expect to use 30% less energy than conventional electric kettles. Nice!

Designers: Jasmina Grase & Nils Chudy