Yanko Design - Form Beyond Function

No company’s design language has been so lauded, so scrutinized, so institutionalized as Braun’s. Braun’s products have arguably inspired generation after generation of product designers and the 10 Principles of Good Design associated with their products has almost achieved Hippocratic-Oath-status with a large number of product designers.

Designer Gao Yang decided to pay homage to Braun’s legacy in the form of type! Taking real products from Braun’s vast catalog, Gao made small alterations to them (you can see which products he took by zooming into the close-up renders), maintaining their Braun-ness but turning products into characters… which works pretty well because Braun’s products do have character.

Honest, effective, functional, timeless, no-nonsense products and design details get turned into beautiful letters, and the resulting typeface is nothing less than an amazing map of Braun’s journey over the years as almost a design movement in their own right! BRB, looking for high-resolution prints…

Designer: Particle (Gao Yang)

The Shofar humidifier takes ancient inspiration from the musical ram’s horn of the same name. Not only for looks, its interesting form is also quite effective at using gravity to ensure that water is constantly moved to the center before being transformed to vapor. The design is also equipped with a remote control that conveniently nests in the mouth of the unit. When you’re ready to use it, simply remove the control and adjust the settings from anywhere in the room. Masculine yet minimalistic, it’s easy to imagine this adorning the mantle in your modern man cave!

Designer: Hyun Yeol Shin

I’m embarrassed to admit that I can count on two hands the number of times we’ve ended up ordering pizza instead of cooking in because I forgot to defrost the food! If you’re like me and just a tad too forgetful, the YT Touch Defrosting Tray will save your home cooked meal by thawing things more than 2 times faster and no-one but you will be the wiser!

The board is made from cast-molded aerospace aluminum with a tough enamel finish and a dedicated tray that collects water. It works by literally pulling the chill and frost away from your food items like steak, fish and frozen fruit so they thaw faster. It’s also safer to use than the microwave or oven thaw methods because the lack of heat ensures no harmful bacteria flourish. Better yet, the tray section also doubles as a cutting board so you can get to slicing as soon as it’s thawed!

Designer: YT Touch

Skateboards are cool. Electric cars are cool. Smash them together and you have the Mellow Drive! This electric kit can literally be screwed onto your regular skateboard/longboard/shortboard, turning it into an electric vehicle that can reach speeds of 25mph and travel up to 15 kilometers on a full charge!

Conceived in 2014, built in 2015, perfected in 2016 and 2017, and made recipient of the prestigious German Design Award in 2018, the Mellow Kit turns recreational activity into a mode of transport. Because you’re more likely to be stuck in a traffic jam in your car or bike than a human jam on the sidewalk, the Mellow is your lifehack to getting to places. It can be used on the roads or on the sidewalk, and the fact that it’s battery powered means you travel faster and longer.

The Mellow comes as a small but universal kit that fits on any board via a simple set of screws. The interchangeable battery snaps on and off and can be charged independently or while docked in the Mellow. Use a fast charger and you can get it to full charge in just 45 minutes! The body of the Mellow comes machined from magnesium (famously used in Microsoft’s Surface tablets) and is designed to take on the high-stresses involved with skateboarding. Along with the Mellow comes a handheld remote that with just the press of one button, allows you to toggle ride modes, and uses a rather intuitive sliding mechanism to accelerate or brake. When you do brake, the Mellow activates two sets of brakes, making the skateboard slightly safer than usual.

The ability to retrofit the Mellow on your regular board means you can turn your favorite board into your personal long-distance vehicle. The future is electric, but having more electric cars on the same roads isn’t going to solve the congestion problem. Go ahead, turn that skateboard of yours into the mobility solution of the future!

Designers: Andi Kern & Christoph Philipp Schreiber

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Now you can channel your inner Thor superhero every morning with the Hammer alarm clock! That’s actually not far off from what the inspiration was for this clever clock. Designer Jorge Ros Gisbert wanted to create a way for people to wake up feeling strong and motivated each day instead of feeling defeated and irritating by annoying smartphone alarms.

Your face is already buried in your smartphone enough as it is, but at least now interacting with your phone doesn’t have to be the FIRST thing you do each day. Instead, you must grab the hammer and slam it down on the rubberized base to shut off the alarm. You’ll wake up feeling tough and determined as you’ve already muscled your way out of bed!

Designer: Jorge Ros Gisbert

You know how iPads have cover cases that turn into stands? There’s no reason your MacBook shouldn’t have that! This Leather-crafted MacBook case gives your precious $2,000 machine all the protection it deserves but doesn’t get. The case covers both top and bottom, making sure you don’t end up scratching the beauty (after all, aluminum doesn’t stand a chance against your keys), and even forms a lip around the edges and curves so that accidental drops don’t dent the edges of your machine.

The case even doubles up as a stand for your laptop, allowing it to tilt upwards and forwards just a little bit to give you the angle you desire (especially for you standing-desk types). What’s more, the leather extends around your mousepad too, making sure you have a nice comfortable place to rest your wrists while you power through the day!

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The Ecocapsule is proof that we’re heading to a future heavily inspired by the Jetsons. The tiny, egg-shaped smart-house is definitely a slice of the future… why? Because it relies solely on solar and wind energy to power itself. Providing the luxury of a hotel room literally anywhere on earth (even in the north pole, if you choose), the Ecocapsule by Nice Architects comes with dual-energy production techniques and a battery to power the entire house. Its spherical egg-shaped design is carefully formed to maximize collection of the rainwater and morning dew. Membrane water filters installed in the Ecocapsule are devised to purify 99.999% (wow, much accuracy) of the bacteria and rendering any natural water source suitable for drinking.

The spherical Jetsonian shape also allows the Ecocapsule to have massively hollow walls which are filled with hi-performance thermal insulation material, allowing the Ecocapsule to be used in the harshest of weathers with its residents barely being able to tell the difference. Don’t like where you’re living? No problem. The Ecocapsule is small enough to fit into a standard shipping container and be carried to wherever you want to take it! Oh, and if you want to grab one, they cost less than a Tesla ($80K).

Designer: Nice Architects