Yanko Design - Form Beyond Function

Build your own Bose!

Posted: 31 Mar 2017 11:32 AM PDT

I’ve heard of making music, but the BOSEbuild wireless speaker takes it literally! This badboy is a hi-fi audio speaker, but it comes absolutely disassembled, like an IKEA piece of furniture. Designed to be put together from scratch, this speaker aims at educating youngsters on the basic principles of sound and speaker design. The speaker comes as a kit, containing everything from the inner circuitry to the audio driver, cables, and even a transparent cube-shaped speaker body that can be easily assembled without the need for power tools of any kind.

The transparent design of the speaker really separates it from most of Bose’s products, however keeping true to its cause of being an educational gadget. Rather than settling for the premium aesthetic, the BOSEbuild works towards building curiosity in children with its transparent body, allowing kids to stare right into the heart of the speaker at the circuitry and the audio driver moving back and forth to deliver rich sound.

All the parts and components on the BOSEbuild are designed specifically keeping children in mind. Parts are made rugged and resilient, cords are colored in visible vibrant hues, and circuit boards are labeled clearly, so that children can easily and effectively put the speaker together. The BOSEbuild comes with an app that that guides children through the process of making the speaker from scratch while even going the distance to explain to them what they are doing and the principles of physics behind how the speaker produces sound.

What an incredible initiative to get children engaged on a completely different level with the technology around them! The BOSEbuild truly delivers on audio, as expected by Bose, but it also gives children the sense of pride and accomplishment that comes from being able to say that they actually built a wireless audio speaker from scratch!

Designer: Bose

BUY IT HERE: $149.00

Dramatic Digs in Shanghai

Posted: 31 Mar 2017 09:42 AM PDT

The Drama Hotel lives up to its name in every sense of the word! Inspired by the immersive theater piece “Sleep No More”, every detail of these artistic accommodations is thoughtful curated to inspire the imagination.

The 26 guest rooms are designed in British style. Each room is unique, and has its own secrets to be dug out. Even the staff, whether a waiter or front desk attendant, are hired actors who help guide visitors to explore. Guests can make a reservation of a book, a movie, or a weekly dinner with a playwright, drama star, drama critics or movie critics. “The Drama” offers a free exhibition platform for any and all things drama!

Designer: Taipei Base Design Center

Most Buzzed Designs of March 2017

Posted: 31 Mar 2017 05:39 AM PDT

Below you’ll find the most popular designs we’ve tracked over the last 30 days – an overview of designs you shouldn’t have missed in March 2017.

Levitating timepiece that orbits around a wooden base, counting the hours, minutes or even years.

The Boost Case turns your MacBook into nothing short of a performance laptop. With six different ports/readers and not one, but TWO 3300 mAh battery cleverly hidden inside its sleek design, the Boost has the body of a laptop case, but the personality of a multi-port dongle and a power bank.

Designed for individuals with hearing impairments, instead of a regular chime, the doorbell triggers a light signal using a specialized Bluetooth bulb.

Its minimalism and purity look quintessentially Apple and it feels like something straight out of the brand’s heyday.

Selfly’s drone is roughly the size and thickness of your phone. When it folds up, it snaps right onto the back of your regular smartphone.

The Ollie chair has a unique folding design that makes it only 2 inches thin when folded, and looks like an innocuous piece of art. When opened out, it becomes a rather sturdy chair with built-in lumbar support.

NIWA is a wrist-watch that literally uses nixie tubes to display the time!

Vaquform has done something pretty spectacular. This desktop mounted vacuum forming machine only downsizes without compromising on quality.

Wondercube works as a data transfer cable, charging cable, OTG USB, Card Reader, Emergency Phone Charger (with a 9V battery), Emergency Flashlight, Phone Stand, AND a Keyring!

The donut/torus shape of the Hydr’s hand shower helps cut water flow by half. Plus, it makes for easy docking on the Hydr’s wall mounted stand.

This stripped-down, phone may look as minimalist as its candybar-style predecessors, but it actually looks to artificial intelligence to manage tasks.

This far-out footwear design is a twist on the winter boot that ditches the regular, rounded form we’re familiar with for a sharp, angular aesthetic.

Recon Jet puts a small screen in front of your eye, feeding you information from a small corner… so that you can still see everything around you.

The KTM Unicycle is an all-electric, one-wheeled wonder that utilizes current gyroscopic tech to stay balanced.

This self-cleaning, auto-feeding fish tank requires almost no maintenance, meaning you get maximum benefits of gardening without much work!

Hats off to this lamp!

Posted: 31 Mar 2017 03:00 AM PDT

In the same way a hat can be a functional and fashionable statement for us, so can the shade for a lamp! The FLAVOURS S01E01 lamp mimics the way in which we dress up our look with a removable shade.

For times when you need more direct light, simply hang the shade on the integrated hook. When you’re looking for a more subtle glow, just drop it on! In a smooth, black powder-coated finish and with a sleek, single-button on/off switch, it’ll look right at home in your space whichever you choose!

Designer: FLAVOURS DESIGN

If Future Faraday Made a Watch

Posted: 31 Mar 2017 12:00 AM PDT

While we play the waiting game for Faraday Future’s FF 91 release, we can count the hours and minutes on this Faraday Future watch! Called the Extraordinary Timeteller, this conceptual timepiece puts a twist on telling the time.

Similarly to house Faraday Future is turning automotive design on its head, this watch also flips our preconceived notions of reading a watch. Rather than look at the face as with normal watches, the wearer can see the time on the side from tiny multi-projection system. Hours and minutes are brightly displayed in a never before seen way!

Designer: Juneyoung Bae

Electronics Exploration Equipment!

Posted: 30 Mar 2017 03:00 PM PDT

If you’re even remotely into gadgets, you’ve heard of the name iFixit. These people tirelessly work toward giving you an inside scoop (literally) on your technology allowing technicians, rookies, and enthusiasts to see what the insides of their favorite gadgets look like. Obviously, fixing a phone today is nothing compared to tinkering with a radio from 20 years ago. Technology makes products slimmer, more compact, and tamper-resistant.

The Essential Electronics Toolkit comes with iFixit’s years of expertise in prying open, dis-assembling, and reassembling gadgets of any and every kind. The toolkit has inside it every single tool used by, and recommended by iFixit for the nerds inside us who just want to be able to open their phones up and replace batteries, or do other things like replace broken screens (saving you a tonne of cash). Or maybe you could start your own YouTube channel dedicated to DIY gadget teardown and fixing tutorials… sky’s the limit!

Designer: iFixit

BUY IT HERE: $19.95