Yanko Design - Form Beyond Function

There’s the glorious past… the traditional Swiss-made watch. The forgotten past… the digital watch. The innovative future… a miniature computer for a watch. And the appropriate future, the analog smartwatch. I say appropriate because it isn’t difficult shrinking computers to fit around our wrists. Moore’s law pretty much predicts that computers will get twice as fast/small every year. However, it’s a true challenge integrating a computer’s vast range of functionalities into something that’s sole purpose is to be an indicator of time, and a person’s taste/style. The analog smartwatch is a true design functionality challenge, and that’s why it’s the appropriate blend of tradition and technology.

The SWINGS seamlessly merges classic Swiss and futuristic Silicon Valley. While outwardly being an analog timepiece, it possesses the bragging rights to call itself a hybrid smartwatch, taking pros from both worlds and fusing them into a timelessly classic wristwatch. Encased in a 316L Stainless Steel case is some of the finest Swiss engineering backed by a next generation chipset that’s capable of powering the watch with unmatched accuracy and battery life. The Sapphire glass on the top covers a dial that’s hybrid in its visual language too, allowing it to go well with classic leather as well as metal bands, giving the watch its different personas. It borrows from the idea that watches should perform everywhere including underwater, and like most good traditional watches, is waterproof up to 300ft, and boasts of an IPX8 rating. Most smartwatches only go up to an IPX7 water and dust proof rating and can only go a couple of feet underwater (for only half an hour).

At the heart of the SWINGS is its chipset that is exclusive only to this one watch model in the world. While your smartwatch/fitness tracker can give you up to 24 hours of run-time on a single charge, the SWINGS doesn’t measure its battery capacity in hours, or days, or weeks. Not even months for that matter. On a single full-charge, the SWINGS can power itself for nearly TWO whole years! With an unmatched performance, the SWINGS needs battery replacement only once every 24 months…

Outwardly styled like a dapper timepiece, the SWINGS includes certain features that allow it to be called a smartwatch. With one regular dial and 3 subdials, the watch is capable of giving you alerts and notifications (even allowing you to snooze phone reminders and dismiss calls). Built with a world-class gyroscope, the watch even functions as a fitness and sleep tracker, sending all the collected data to your phone. Armed with 3 pusher buttons (one at the crown’s position), SWINGS connects to your phone, allowing you to control music playback, while even working as a remote camera trigger for some remarkable remote selfies (because outstretched arms are so yesterday). The smartwatch even comes with a find my phone feature that you can manually trigger, or have automatically go off if your phone gets too far from your watch.

Designed for a duality of audiences, the SWINGS works for both men and women, for both analog and smartwatch enthusiasts, and for both the working professional and the fitness enthusiast. With its automatic time-zone detection, the SWINGS tells time with remarkable accuracy. Its analog watch face doesn’t stop it from working as a smartwatch too, with its ability to track messages, notifications, calls, fitness and sleep while also allowing you to operate your music player and camera. Plus, with its stunning battery-backup which can only be described as practically eternal, you won’t just be able to tell time, you’ll be able to save time too!

(Assuming you charge your smartwatch once a day, you have to charge the SWINGS seven hundred and twenty nine times less since it lasts two years on a single charge. Now if that isn’t time saving, I don’t know what is!)

Designer: Derek Mao

Click here to Buy Now: $149.00 $299.00

Click here to Buy Now: $139.00 $299.00

The only thing that makes underwater playtime more fun is by reliving it! Now, kids can do so with the 360° Underwater Toy Action Cam. This sealed camera is safe to use in and under water and durable enough to withstand all the throwing and splashing you can give it. With included accessories like a buoy holder, grapple mount, underwater selfie stick and wearable strap for first-person perspective, kids can customize their shots and hone their moving making skills with a variety of differing shooting styles.

Designer: Jung Myeongha

Over the past few years, several techie products have been launched to combat dehydration. As we know from various journals, dehydration leads to a severe lack in concentration. Of late, rehydration has taken the front seat in a lot of work spaces with the introduction of more water dispensers and more laid-back liquid container at-the-work-desk rules – leading to more and more products and apps telling us when and how to rehydrate better. However, Droog Design have taken an entirely unique approach to dehydration indication in the form of a sweat-sensitive textile coating SOAK (created by designer Paulien Routs), a color changing material, which is responsive to the composition of the micro-fluids found in our sweat.

SOAK changes color when it comes in contact with the perspiration due to human contact. The indication is simply beautiful – when a person is sufficiently hydrated the SOAK coating turns blue, when a person is dehydrated it turns yellow, warning of low hydration levels. Droog Design partnered with Nissan to apply this innovative textile coating across the custom made, perforated leather steering wheel and seats of Nissan Juke. Routs had ideas of his own for the technology initially but soon after Nissan approached him “with plans to implement the technology in a Juke to demonstrate the technology as a concept in their ‘do drink (water) and drive’ campaign” Routs says he ‘thought it was fantastic”. Having such a cool and striking impact visually, it won’t be long before we start seeing this technology everywhere, especially the office chair.

Designers: Droog Design & Nissan

The resting upright design of current clothing irons leaves pets and kids susceptible to dangerous burns. The PUSHE iron, however, introduces an innovative and intuitive new way to leave your iron at rest. Its default mode elevates the plated hot section of the iron off the surface. To activate it, the user must simply push down on the handle. When finished, simply let go and it will elevate the plate and keep it concealed and safely out of reach from kids and pets.

Designer: Hwang Daye

Suunto have been the world leaders of sports precision watches for quite some time now so it comes as no surprise that when they release something – its going to be awesome. The Traverse Alpha is no exception. The Suunto Traverse Alpha comprises of a serious set of outdoor features and tools specifically developed for everything outdoor – fishing, hunting, hiking and all things rough and rugged, not to mention the incredible battery life of up to 100 hours. But that’s not all, you can track your daily activity with steps and calories, and use the GPS timekeeping to keep a track of your trails. The Traverse Alpha also comes with smartphone integration, allowing you to stay up to date with incoming calls, texts and push notifications on your wrist.

The Traverse Alpha comes with barometric trend predictions for when the weather begins to change or when storm alarm alerts are sent out and it’s time to find some shelter. For when you find yourself in a cave or exploring the mysteries of the night, the Traverse Alpha’s backlight kicks in automatically to give you the best view to help you check the map. The Suunto Traverse Alpha is as rugged as they come – designed and tested in Finland, the Traverse Alpha is water resistant up to 100m and protected with a stainless steel bezel which comes in a knurled finished too, protecting the recessed screen.

Designer: Suunto

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With work life becoming more digitally accessible – the work space becomes even more and more portable. Having the ability to set up and work anywhere is becoming more and more popular with the increase of co-working spaces. According to Si Chen – the designer behind The New Normal – the problem with the majority of these spaces is that “they are often in a confined and isolated space that can feel stressful” and she envisioned this project to provide “soothing and energizing elements to make any work space more comfortable”.

The New Normal comprises of a removable backrest which has multiple functionality as – a blanket, a moveable recorder pillow and a foot ramp to accommodate leg movement. Chen’s goal behind The New Normal is to address the lack of play in the work place. The foot ramp can give people both foot rest and foot exercise. Regarding the ramp – there are two very important parts to the ramp; there is a foot rest made form memory foam for added comfort and then the wooden part is rigid for foot movement, rocking the foot rest side to side. What makes The New Normal very special is the recorder pillow – used for both arm resting and napping. There’s more to it than just that, the recorder pillow plays pre- recorded environmental sounds to help the user relax and decompress.

Designer: Si Chen

Explore parts of the world that nobody has ever seen before – the new U-Boat Worx Cruise Series does just that. Providing multipurpose luxury submersibles, U-Boat have some of the most beautiful underwater vehicles I’ve ever set my eyes on. The Worx Cruise Series has a collection of of submersibles facilitating 5, 7, 9 or 11 people – with the ability to dive as deep as from 300 meters to 1,700 meters. What makes for a truly enjoyable experience is the ability to revolve the seating orientation, preventing missing even a second of the true wonders hiding underwater.

The ocean is the lifeblood of Earth, covering more than 70 percent of the planet’s surface. Yet according to NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, 95 percent of the seas remains unexplored, unseen by human eyes. There are some true wonders to be experienced regarding underwater exploration and at U-Boat Worx, it’s always been a design priority not to miss a single moment. This is evident with their unimpeded viewpoint – achieved by their remarkably clear, fully acrylic pressure hull which is positioned at the front of the submersible giving the passengers the best view possible.

The U-Boat Worx Cruise Series has it all – minimal maintenance, easy boarding, revolving seats, an effortless control system and a huge capacity. These submersibles are slick, if they had any set of rotary blades on the top, it could easily be misinterpreted as a flying vehicle. With the ability to re-dive again and again, delivering up to 80 people pay day for underwater trips, the Cruise Series is at the top of it’s game.

Designer: U-Boat Worx