Yanko Design - Form Beyond Function

A retro lowriding lawnmower!

Posted: 18 May 2017 11:58 AM PDT

I can’t take my eyes off how amazingly antiquated this lawnmower looks! This personal DIY project by a mysteryman named Jeep2003 on the internet pulled off this lawnmower revamp, giving it a beautiful retro finish, complete with a chrome trim, bullet taillights, and what I can’t get enough of, a miniature Army Man figurine painted silver to look like what I imagine is the Spirit of Ecstacy remixed! Plus would you look at that mini fuel tank on the back!?

I wonder if it sounds like a vintage automobile too!

Designer: Jeep2003 (Read more here)

The Ultimate Fitness Headphones

Posted: 18 May 2017 09:00 AM PDT

There’s nothing like a good beat to get your heart rate going in the gym… and now you can measure it with the Nike PHYSICAL+ headphones! Rather than wear a fitness band on your wrist, this sporty, sweat-proof headset features integrated motion and health sensors to record and transmit biometrics and performance data in real time to your smartphone. Better yet, when you aren’t wearing them on your ears, the ear units detach, connect to you device wirelessly via Bluetooth, and act as a portable speaker!

Designer: Changho Lee

Transportation design: Kiddie edition!

Posted: 18 May 2017 06:00 AM PDT

Toys are designed to do three things. Engage, educate, inspire. They don’t necessarily have to fulfill all three conditions. In fact most toys can get past the first, or the second. The Hot Wheels cars aren’t most toys. They are engaging through good design, they teach children principles of physics and design through their tracks, and they’ve been known to inspire kids into joining the automotive industry later in their lives.

The Hot Wheels Car Maker is just one of those jaw-dropping products for car enthusiasts both young and old. Using basic principles of injection molding, you get the opportunity to create your own die-cast hot-wheels cars and then decorate them with vinyls before racing against your friends.

The Maker comes with a completely child safe design that prevents children from touching hot components or materials. The design features a manual hand-cranked system that allows melted wax sticks to be injected into a plastic mold. The maker even comes with tools that let you pry the car’s exterior off and remove all wax-flares before mounting it onto the pre-made chassis. Cars can be molded in different colors using the wax sticks, and by the looks of it, the finish quality on each automobile is just stunning.

Designer: Hot Wheels (Mattel)

Images courtesy Hot Wheels and EvanTube HD

Sound Sculptures of Stone

Posted: 18 May 2017 04:41 AM PDT

You won’t find any power cords, buttons, screws, or glue on this minimalistic music tool! It’s called “Le Bloc De Pierre” and it’s formed entirely of concrete. Designed for use with any 4.7″ iPhone, this cleverly crafted block is acoustically adapted to amplify sound from your phone’s speaker up to 50%! No tricky Bluetooth connections or AUX wires to fumble with, just drop in your phone for an instant boost of your favorite tunes!

Unlike true speakers, it’s almost unrecognizable as an amplifier and makes for a sculptural accent to your desk, countertop, den, bathroom or kitchen. Better yet, unique flaws and character marks created in the forming process ensure no two designs are exactly alike, so each user’s will be special!

Designer: Huang Chen Hsun

The Adidas City Sock Revealed!

Posted: 18 May 2017 12:00 AM PDT

The latest from Adidas Originals is an NMD tribute to minimalism that combines the best of Primeknit and Boost! Called the “NMD City Sock”, this urban style/runner hybrid footwear features a Primeknit upper sock-like strap construction that wraps the foot in adaptive support and ultralight comfort as well as a Boost sole offers ultra-responsive cushioning. In a dual tone white and grey combination, this pair is aesthetically on point for summer!

Designer: Adidas

Design Details We Love: Innowave Headphones

Posted: 17 May 2017 04:00 PM PDT

The InnoWave headphones, for me, go into the design hall of fame for their wonderfully funky aesthetic, pulled straight from music, and applied into physical and visual design. The headband, possibly the most memorable part of the headphone looks almost like the music you listen to, with its dense waveform shape. Aside from looking like sound energy itself, the headbands actually use their clever design as a shape-memory mechanism, letting the wavy shape act almost as a spring, making sure that the headphones stay secure around your skull. If that isn’t clever design, I don’t know what is!

The InnoWave headphones are a past-winner of the iF Design Award.

Designer: Inno Design

If Spiderman carried a laptop to work

Posted: 17 May 2017 02:58 PM PDT

There seems to be no other way to describe the functional web that is so characteristic of Cocoon’s gear! Take for instance this laptop sleeve. Unlike any other laptop sleeve, this one comes with an elastic band mesh that can hold any and everything. No more carrying pen-drives in pockets, or having “dedicated spaces” for only select items. The mesh on the Cocoon Grid-It laptop sleeve holds all your gear in a beautiful organized grid that looks like a spider-web from OCD heaven!

Beneath this wunder-grid, and behind a soft cushioning layer of neoprene, sits your laptop, impervious to dents and scratches; while your shoulders stay light because you don’t need a laptop bag to carry all that extra paraphernalia. Doesn’t that just sound wonderful?

Designer: Cocoon Innovations

Literally a blue’tooth’ wearable!

Posted: 17 May 2017 12:31 PM PDT

Ah yes, the terror of braces are back! But these ones are different. Called the YAYA, these braces don’t scar you for 2 years (or more if you’re unlucky) of your life. They’re designed to be snapped on and off (for a recommended 20 hours a day) so that you can take them off when you eat chewing gum, or brush your teeth, or appear in photographs without looking like you’ve barbed-wired your mouth.

These braces are designed to be wireless (literally) and work automatically, minimizing trips to the dentist. The braces use magnetic energy to move teeth into place and can move each tooth individually, painlessly.

The design comprises standard micro-controller units that sit at the back, housed in white plastic, making them easy to spot dirt on (hence encouraging you to keep them clean), and a transparent 3D printed mold of your teeth that are connected to the micro-controller at the back.

The YAYA even comes with an app that aside from reminding you to wear your braces periodically, allows you to get live stats of your progress, even letting you to see your teeth move and align in 3D as time goes by! Too bad the YAYA’s a concept, or I’m sure 4 out of 5 dentists would recommend it!

Designers: Chenan Ni & Zhangyan Ling.