Yanko Design - Form Beyond Function

Grooveat is here to disrupt the music streaming and audio industry in one big swoop. Grooveat is the music app and audio set that provides a suitable tracklist for you in real- time, based on your current taste of rhythm, not genre. What really makes the Grooveat something different, is the collection they appear to provide. Beginning with the music streaming app and following onto its own personalized Grooveat audio equipment – something we haven’t seen with the likes of Spotify. The earbuds here are edgy, maybe a little harsher than needs be at first glance, but it makes a lot more sense when looking at their integration with the speaker. The speaker has an interesting material mix – the outer shell being made from glass, housing the internal electronics and bridging the main interaction points and the speaker itself. The glass is disrupted at the rear with what seems to be a cone shape housing the audio equipment. I must say, I do enjoy the use of the headphones having a second function here, being used to navigate the menu and control the volume but I do wonder will this lead to more wear and tear for the headphones with prolonged use. That being said, this is a very cool concept and I’m sure if this hit the shops tomorrow it would do exceptionally well.

Designers: Jaejin Bong, Myung Nyun Kim, Hyojeong Lee, Yoonkyung Cho, Dong Dong Ha & Sang-Jin Han

Ladies and Gentlemen please welcome to the world, the all-new Kindle Oasis E-Reader. The first ever waterproof (IPX8) kindle on the market, complete with anti-glare and Audible so that you can listen to the world’s largest collection of audiobook on the move. Boasting a huge battery life cycle of weeks, weighing in at a crazy 194 grams, this one-handed beauty is the perfect companion any time, anywhere. The Kindle Oasis has an even bigger and better screen than before – 7-inch glare-free screen with an adaptive front light making it perfect to read in any condition.

What makes the Oasis an effortless use, is the page turning buttons located on the side of the device, within perfect reach for the user’s thumb – a lovely compliment to the design and the human-centered design approach taken here by Amazon. The rear of the Oasis has a tapered cut-away shape which splits the E-Reader into two thicknesses – 8.4mm and an alarming 3.4mm. This cut-away was not just an aesthetic choice from Amazon’s hardware team but this shape gives way to the slim, form-fitting cover options available for the Oasis and is designed to closely wrap the bezel like a glove. Snapping securely into place magnetically – wake up your Kindle or put it to sleep by simply opening or closing the cover.

Designer: Amazon

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Less is more, and this can be evidently seen through the design styles sprouting out of Japan and Korea over the past decade. The likes of cloudandco, Muji, and Almond Design being the most prominent advocates. They have indeed made their mark globally and continuing to do so, influencing the design language as they go. One person that’s following suit is Park Yong-woo, the designer behind the NMS (Needle Machine for Skin).

What is NMS right? Well, it’s the ideal technology for skin lifting, tightening and rejuvenation by utilizing minimally invasive micro-needles to deliver controlled high-frequency radio waves directly into various depths of the skin, leaving it looking riches and fuller. Given the nature of the treatment, there are multiple depths required throughout the appointment – the NMS enables the user to accurately execute the level necessary with the user-friendly dial located towards the top.

Designed for intuitive use, the NMS can be held in either a pen grip or a joystick approach, accommodating for a variety of hand sizes and user styles. This eye-catching device is accented by its equally beautiful charging station. The station is smartly designed, taking up minimal desk surface, capturing only a small surface area of the NMS – making it easier for the user to locate the device onto the station. Although the station is slanted, Yong-woo gave the station a sharp taper towards the end of the slanted cutaway, keeping the device in place throughout its charging period. A nice piece of design and popular material choices, I’m excited to see what Yong-woo will make next.

Designer: Yong-woo Park

“Kangaroo care” is just as it sounds – the practice of keeping newborns close because babies develop best when they are safe and sound in their parents arms. When they cuddle, parents and babies co-regulate their temperature, breathing and heart rate. Nothing works better, even for the tiniest and most vulnerable premies. The results are improved bonding, better brain development, reduced stress, deeper sleep, and better immunity, just to name a few.

Unfortunately, there are times when moms and dads simply can’t embrace their baby. For these moments, there’s Hugsy! It’s a smart blanket that mimics a parent’s presence – such as their warmth, smell and unique heartbeat. This means kangaroo care can continue any time or any place, even outside the hospital!

Designer: Sylvie Claes of Hugsy

Hugsy is a 2017 Red Dot Design Concept Award winner.

Bringing their funky, playful, retro design sensibilities to yet another product, BKID reinvents the artificial intelligence concierge for SK Telecom with their product, the Fairy.

Designed to go head-on with the likes of Amazon’s Echo, Google’s Home, and Apple’s Homepod, the Fairy is probably the first ever AI assistant to enter your home, coming from a national telecom service. Personally, it seems like a great product for a telecom company to truly enter the homes and lives of its consumers.

BKID is perhaps one of the few independent design studios that has its own visual language. All products under BKID’s design umbrella make use of soft forms and extremely well selected color palettes. The Retroduck from a few months follows the same trend. This style works wonderfully for innovative technological products, because not only do they make them beautiful and desirable, they also make them approachable and look friendly, rather than intimidating, allowing consumers to accept new technology and not fear it. For instance, when you talk to the Fairy (what an adorable name for a magical AI assistant), it immediately turns to face you, almost as if it’s paying attention. Companies could truly learn a thing or two from BKID’s design philosophy!

Designer: BKID

This toothbrush doesn’t just look streamlined and great, it’s designed to be the next step in oral hygiene. It ditches nylon bristles for something much better. Rather than those hard bristles that hurt your gums and scrape away precious enamel, and don’t last very long, the Boie Brush comes with a single piece silicone head that has silicone bristles molded right into it! Silicone as a material has been the closest to human skin, so the bristles feel great against the teeth and don’t scrub away the protective enamel layer, but instead gently and effectively cleanse your mouth. Coated with silver particles, the bristles even act as an antimicrobial scrub, killing harmful germs in the process. Lastly, silicone lasts twice as long as regular bristles, so that means monetary savings, as well as saving the earth from unnecessary plastic pollution. To minimize this further, the silicone heads are interchangeable, so you retain the handle and all you do is switch brush heads every time you want a replacement!

The design of BOIE immediately indicates that it’s something absolutely unique. The single color scheme helps differentiate the product as most brushes have a minimum of two colors, since the bristles are usually a different hue from the handles. The streamlined design of the brush gives it a minimal feel, bringing focus to function, rather than form, and available in four rather pleasant-to-look-at colors, the Boie is clearly the toothbrush of the future… both functionally and visually!

Designer: Boie USA