Yanko Design - Form Beyond Function

Cycling at night is a risk in itself, not to mention cycling in poor visibility. Having a high visibility jacket and various illuminating products are useful, but many of them fall below eye line from the driver of the car. This might be the reason why many cyclists have a habit of retrofitting their backpacks with lighting systems or high-vis strips for maximum visibility. Thankfully Uncommon Goods have developed a stylish and rugged backpack ideal for any cyclist in any condition.

The Turn Signal Commuter Backpack does exactly what you’d think it does – enables the driver behind you to see your actions. They’ll see a flashing, left-pointing LED arrow right in front of them. You control it with a wireless remote unit on your handlebar: Left, Right, Stop. And sometimes, it thinks on its own: a sudden, big change in your velocity will make it blink red, thanks to the integrated brake sensor. This backpack isn’t just brains; it’s tough too. Lightweight and water-repellent the 20L backpack’s straps and back material are
reinforced for good support; the back is also padded for comfort. It’s loaded with just the right features—everything you need, and nothing you don’t.

Designer: Uncommon Goods

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So Mercedes-Benz brings their Smart Vision EQ Concept to CES, and they shut down part of the Las Vegas Strip for it…if you haven’t seen it already, then you’ll understand why this was completely acceptable. An all-electric, completely autonomous car, built for personalization without actual ownership – the Smart Vision EQ Concept lacks both a steering wheel and pedals.

Albeit this little guy is aimed at the year 2030 when ride-sharing is expected to be the main form of transport, when it’s not being used to shuttle around those of you lucky enough, the Smart Vision EQ can be used as a rolling informational display.

The entire dashboard is an attention-stealing screen that relays information regarding social media goings on, news updates, sports scores and whatever you wish considering it’s hooked up to the rider’s smartphone. However, if you can look away from this for one minute, you’ll find yourself staring out the windscreen which stretches all the way from front to back above the riders’ heads. Filled with small details that can be seen upon closer inspection, the Smart Vision EQ may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it, without doubt, can create excitement around the future of autonomous transport.

Designer: Mercedes-Benz

BKID Co is the brainchild of BongKyu Song, an award-winning Korean Designer. It’s also one of the only design studios that boasts of having a design language unique to it. You can look at a BKID product and there’s something innately BKID-ish about it. Their human-centered, design-based approach is evident in the work that they do, and each product has a playful quality to it, projecting technology as more docile, rather than trying to look superior. The result is a product that looks inviting to people of all ages, and that looks friendly and ready-to-help, rather than cutting-edge and intimidating.

The Retroduck by BKID for Wisekids is probably one of our favorite projects. It pays tribute to one of the earliest forms of entertainment, the Cathode Ray Tube Television. An iconic appliance found in almost every home in and around the 60-70s, the TV set looked bulky but beautiful, and who can forget those knobs for adjusting the channel and volume on the side?! Retroduck harnessed that nostalgia with its ability to dock the iPhone into its housing in a manner that turned the retina screen into a retro appliance. BKID’s design of the Retroduck employed a beautiful color palette of red and white, while also keeping things original with the brown and black combo. Soft curves dominated the design, and its plastic build gave it a more inviting appearance than the usual metallic, cold demeanor of the iPhone.

The Fairy for SK Telecom probably most clearly outlines BKID’s approach to product design and how different it is from the others. Pit the Fairy against the Google Home, or the Amazon Echo Show, or even Apple’s Home Pod and you’ll realize that the Fairy was designed with a character, while the others just played along to the character the AI had assumed. What’s more, the Fairy, with its soft, red, almost plush-like design, looks much more approachable than its competitors, even though it’s just as advanced. Think of it as Wall-e and Eva’s love-child in 2017.

The Samsung Mouse brings design thinking to something that’s essentially an accessory, and therefore, an afterthought. Mice are usually taken for granted until the minute you realize you don’t have one, or that the one you have isn’t working. BKIDs mouse design for Samsung brings a refreshingly different dynamic to mouse design, pointing out a pain-point that most people have with mice (they’re too bulky), and proposing a solution that is full of dynamism and playfulness, but at the same time doesn’t take away from the fact that the mouse is more than capable of being highly useful when needed. The mouse’s telescopic design feels like it would be the primary reason I’d buy it! The silver and blue color duo go together beautifully, and the arc the mouse forms when opened completely feels solid in one’s hand, allowing it to have mass when needed, and turn into a tiny, pocketable device when folded inwards.

BKID’s products never isolate the user. In fact they play well to human’s ability to trust and adore things that look ‘cute’ and ‘friendly’. BongKyu Song does a marvelous job of using soft curves, rounded forms, and a vibrant, almost childish, color palette to make products look friendly as they solve problems, allowing humans to bond emotionally with them, and therefore always leaving the users with a smile on their faces… and ultimately, isn’t that what we all want??

Just like the name suggests, the Yolk chair takes inspiration from everyone’s favorite part of the egg! Just like the egg yolk, it can wiggle, move side-to-side and swivel 360 degrees. Crafted from super-cushy foam, it’s an eggonomic ergonomic and comfy place to both chill out or perform work. With its playful shape and familiar, signature yellow color, this silly seating is sure to put a smile on your face!

Designer: Ji Eun Kang

When you treat yourself to a fancy new TV, you’re only option besides hanging it on the wall is to prop it on a bulky, aesthetically-invasive stand! How does that make any sense when TV designs are constantly evolving to be more minimal?! Designed with this in mind, the ELK stand is a barely-there compliment to your entertainment system.

Optimized for QLED Samsung televisions, its fluid geometry and tough aluminum alloy material make it ultra-lightweight and capable of supporting and securing the TV effortlessly. Better yet, an integrated attachment on the back provides different orientations for viewing. This jointed system allows the user to turn it 30° left or right so users can watch from anywhere in the room! So, unless you’re hanging it on the wall (which is generally a costly and time-consuming process especially when hiding wires), this is the best option yet!

Designers: Simone Alborghetti, Luca Brazzale, Simone Chiani & Andrea Pedulli

Crowdfunded back in 2015, Angee, the smart camera for your home, was tackling issues we didn’t know we had already – privacy. With the ability to rotate a full 360 degrees, Angee faces away when it realizes that you’re home. This is a fantastic solution to the paranoia of constantly being watched. Even unplugging a smart camera at home isn’t enough – the lens just glaring away, staring at you…no thanks.

As many would agree, Angee doesn’t exactly do much more than other home security cameras outside of that. But honestly, it’s a much bigger issue being addressed and the fact it was addressed in 2015 means that the folks behind Angee are moving in the right direction. Angee does require an additional device be attached to the front door to determine when it should be actively recording. Probably not the most practical alert system considering Nest and various other home cameras will detect movement automatically. However, that being said, that’s a small price to pay for the luxury of privacy.

Designer: Angee

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When the weather permits, I love cycling everywhere. It feels great with the wind on your face, taking in every passing scene. What isn’t so great is having to carry around your helmet after you get to where you’re going. Even if you have a bag, you’re forced to tie it on the side, banging against everything you pass. The guys at Morpher felt my pain too and did something about it, developing the Flat Folding Helmet.

Folding to fit snuggly inside your bag, the Morpher Flat Folding Helmet is perfect for the on-the-go cyclist. This helmet couldn’t be more suited for the person who likes to use the publicly available bicycles in town. The ability to conceal the helmet in your bag will make life a lot easier and is sure to shock everyone when you pull it out discretely. You may have some questions about the Flat Folding Helmet, but even with its funky folding mechanism, it surpasses all safety standards, so you know you’re safe while riding on the road.

Designer: Jeffrey Woolf

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With the Liuzhou Forest City just a few years from completion, Stefano Boeri continues to make this world more habitable not just for humans, but for plants too. The Trudo Vertical Forest in Eindhoven, Netherlands, comes with 125 housing units where each apartment will have a surface area of under 50 sq.m. and the exclusive benefit of 1 tree, 20 shrubs, and over 4 sq.m. of terrace space.

“The high-rise building of Eindhoven confirms that it is possible to combine the great challenges of climate change with those of housing shortages. Urban forestry is not only necessary to improve the environment of the world’s cities but also an opportunity to improve the living conditions of less fortunate city dwellers”, declares Stefano Boeri. Providing homes to over 200 individuals as well as a healthy 5300+ plants, the 75 meter high skyscraper can absorb 50 tons of carbon dioxide every year. While the Trudo Vertical Forest remains in its conceptual stage, it’s interesting to see that something as commonplace as a skyscraper can help solve the earth’s polluted atmospheric crisis, and with people like Stefano Boeri championing that cause, maybe the future doesn’t have to choose between human settlement and natural forest cover anymore.

Designer: Stefano Boeri Architetti for Sint-Trudo

You look at the pictures below and your eye scans past the wardrobe. Like most wardrobes, it’s designed to store clothes, and to complement the decor of your house. However, that’s just what your eye tells you. What you don’t see is that the Laundroid is a robot more than it is a wardrobe.

Chuck your clean, dry, out-of-the-laundry clothes into the Laundroid’s lowest compartment, and two robotic hands grab your garments and hold them up against a scanner that uses image recognition and superior AI to determine the cloth type and the best method for folding it. The robotic arms then use a patented process to align the clothes in the correct manner and fold them impeccably, finally storing them in the upper compartment, segregated and ready to wear. A single knob on the top of the Laundroid allows you to set the time by which you need the laundry folded and the bots get to work almost immediately. However, they do fold only one garment at a time, and it’s said that the Laundroid can fold pretty much anything except socks (?!). What the Laundroid does is nothing short of unique. It uses actual robotic arms to fold your clothes in a manner that’s almost like having a human do it. The fact that it can even identify different types of clothes, from tees to formal shirts, and from pants, to skirts, gowns, and even innerwear, is a marvel of modern machine learning. The only thing that bothers me is not being able to see the wardrobe in action. The video pixelates parts of the technology following patenting reasons.

Seven Dreamers, the company behind Laundroid, plan to launch the world’s smartest wardrobe around March this year. Until then, you’ll have to fold your own clothes I’m afraid. Especially your socks.!

Designer: Seven Dreamers