Posts in Industrial Design

Moog just announced the new XL version of their Voyager synth. This is pretty exciting news considering the dearth of manufacturers these days willing to go out on a limb with a fully analog design. When I first saw the press shots I was really hoping it was going to be polyphonic, a modern Memorymoog maybe. But after checking the specs I was disappointed to learn that it’s just a mono synth like it’s Voyager brethren. What was even more disappointing was the price: $5,000 USD. While this is a beautiful piece of equipment and I appreciate the fact that they are produced on a small scale, that just seems like a lot for a larger — albeit still mono — Voyager with VX and CV tacked on. From what I can tell the same functionality could be had by getting a Voyager Rack and the expander boxes.

Also like the previous Voyagers, it’s pretty much in line visually with the original Model D design cues, which I adore. But I have a Voyager Rack and have always been disappointed by the body. The original Minimoogs had an incredible paint job and color scheme. Even the typography was amazing. The new stuff has a big sticker for the interface, as opposed to being screened directly on to the metal. It’s details like this that can really undercut an otherwise quality design. That being said, I’d have to say it’s still one of the prettiest synths out there, save for the Virus TI2 of course.

At any rate it’s still one of the most beautiful sounding musical instruments that you’ll ever hear.

And here are a couple of vintage Moog ads for good measure.

This might not be ideal for some people but I hope to one day have a space like this. Seattle’s Steve Sauer who stands 6’2″ made a 182 square foot condo work for him, it looks very functional to me, i’m a fan of the space above his television and where he stores his bikes.

10,000 Year Clock Prototype

The idea behind the Clock is to be an inspiration for long-term thinking, to help make thinking long term automatic and common, instead of difficult and rare. It is hoped to be an artifact to connect its visitors to the future in the same way relics from ancient civilizations connect us to the past. Such a clock, if sufficiently impressive and well-engineered, would embody deep time for people. It should be charismatic to visit, interesting to think about, and famous enough to become iconic in the public discourse. Ideally, it would do for thinking about time what the photographs of Earth from space have done for thinking about the environment. Such icons reframe the way people think. [link]

The clock may reside mostly underground, near Van Horn, Texas, and will tick once a year. There is a fascinating set of principles guiding the construction of the clock. I enjoyed the various options for timing the clock: piezoelectric oscillator, pendulum, orbital dynamics and etc. “Sounds made up” as my roommate is fond of saying. Currently there is a prototype design at the Science Museum of London.

By the way I titled this post “10,000 Year Time Machine” because any clock that will work for this period of time is much more than a clock, it is a giant MACHINE. Apologies if you were expecting a post on an actual time machine like a Delorean.

This has to be the best concept rendering I’ve ever seen. Saikat Biswas designed these mock-ups to illustrate his concept for an open-source camera platform based on the original Holga camera. But unlike the original, Saikat has applied some tried and true Rams/Braun-esque styling to the exterior that’s sure to inspire lust in the hearts of design geeks everywhere.
Check his full post and you’ll see he’s really thought the whole thing out. Apparently he’s received quite a bit of interest so hopefully this thing makes it to production someday. I’m not sure, but didn’t Lomography buy the rights to the Holga a while back? Saikat might have an easier time if he gave it a different name.

Via Minimalissimo

Hulger makes some very well executed VoIP handsets with a nice retro slant. I’d have to say my favorite is the PIP*, it’s dripping with 80’s rich guy nostalgia. The Pappa is a little heavy-handed and leaning hard into 60’s Bostitch stapler territory, but it would look nice on the right desk if I had a second office that smelled of rich mahogany and a pipe was somehow involved.

More shots over at the Hulger site

Update: Sangki Kim of Kee Utility writes: “Desk Phone Dock has been modified to fit iPhone 4. The product will be available from July in some countries.”

With iPhone-Frenzy-2010™ in full swing I thought I’d add some fuel to the fire with this beautiful, yet suddenly obsolete, little peripheral from Korean design firm, Kee Utility. Of course, it will never see the light of day in this form — for some reason, concepts never do — but at least we have this nice model to salivate over. Couldn’t find any word on pricing or availability other then that it was supposed to have debuted at the China Sourcing Fair in April, 2010.

While it’s definitely a looker, there’s not much in the way of originality going on here — the dock looks straight off the cutting room floor of Apple’s design lab and hits all the cues from Cupertino pretty much on the mark. Kind of unfortunate timing to be releasing something like this when they did; apparently they don’t read blogs. I’d like to see Kee do a redesign based on the more angular aesthetics of the iPhone 4. The current base seems a bit overwhelming, I think it could do well without the curves.

Via Geeksology

On a side note, after trying to act all hard saying I was going to defect to Android for the past 2 months, I used Beamer’s iPhone 4 today and immediately purchased one for myself. I couldn’t resist, that thing is incredible. I also bought a pair of rubber tongs to hold it with in light of recent developments.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B88iSdBNoik
I’m not following the World Cup (sacrilege, I know!). Partly because I’m American and not much of a sports fan to begin with, and partly because I just can’t seem to muster the strength to pretend I like a sport every four years and then watch a bunch of guys roll around on the pitch holding their knee in agony only to pop up a few moments later and sprint around like a fucking gazelle (seriously, what’s the deal with that? I swear that’s the number one thing holding me back from appreciating football, this theater of feigned injury). I’ve honestly tried to like it, my friend Jorge Calleja took me to a FC Barcelona game while I was there a few summers back. I had a blast and Ronaldhino even scored a goal (which is apparently sort of rare these days). The crowd was amazing; every movement of the ball (even movements that, to my untrained eye, didn’t seem to have any kind of significance) was met with a rush of electricity that filled the entire stadium. Sadly, this feeling has yet to carry over to the TV viewing experience for me.

But I digress, this isn’t about sports, or football, or even pretending your leg has been amputated at the hip when a stiff breeze from the guy running by ruffles your jersey. This is about the fact that despite having watched exactly zero World Cup games, I somehow have an intimate knowledge of the ball used in them. This is because no one will stop talking about it (or those plastic horns for that matter). I found it rather intriguing that it’s being roundly panned by the players — both the winners and the losers. It made me think about all the R&D that must have gone into designing this ball only to have it be put on center stage and incessantly ridiculed. Designing high performance sports equipment has to be the most difficult gig in industrial design. It’s a sort of alchemy of engineering, physics, and craftsmanship that, to fulfill it’s intended purpose, must perform equally well for an extremely diverse range of end users. Just designing a jersey probably involves a few parts rocket science, so imagine designing the central element of play for a game, the results of which can make or break the hopes of entire countries. I don’t envy these designers.

So after hearing about this ball for the better part of a month, my interest was piqued when I came across this video detailing the ball’s construction on Abitare. I’m always a sucker for manufacturing videos and this one is exceptionally well done. I really enjoy the style and tones and it’s always amazing to see these giant, purpose-built machines doing such specific tasks. It always makes me wonder how mechanized manufacturing is ever cost effective.

So I know we have a pretty internationally diverse readership (hence the fact I haven’t used the word soccer once, until now), who are you rooting for? Also be sure to remind me of what a terrible human being I am for not liking soccer (yes, after the disclaimer earlier in this paragraph, via an obscure UN sanction, I am now legally entitled to call it soccer).

Also, the first year I moved to San Francisco some guy with a bus put up a gigantic LED screen (seriously, like stadium sized) in Dolores Park and played the World Cup on it. There were like 30,000 people at the park and it was completely awesome. If that guy comes back this year I will watch soccer.

We think far beyond the car as such, with a focus on mobility in general. We do this regularly in concept teams made up of specialists with a mission to look into the future and give up existing conventions. – Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg

The two wheeler above is Volkswagen’s latest bid in their mission to become the most innovative and environmentally friendly car maker in the world. Of course the VW Bik.e looks just like a bike, though I didn’t notice the lack of pedals at first (indicates how often I ride a bike). This folding contraption is battery powered and has a range of 12.5 miles, with a top speed of 12.5 mph (apparently allows legal helmet-less riding). Given these specs it’s definitely intended as an supplement to your car. In its collapsed state, it easily fits inside the spare tire compartment in your vehicle. Check out the video below for the animation showing it going from bike to tire. Sounds like it might actually be for sale too, eventually.

As an idea I am skeptical. I don’t like the reliance on cars to get you to a place where you can practically bike about. If you don’t live in a dense city or a city center, this solution is always going to be a car + bike situation. While the design is obviously a step in the right overall direction, I prefer urban mobility solutions that remove cars from the equation completely. That said, this is definitely the coolest looking folding bike concept I have seen. (Here is another one if you are interested, this one with pedals.)

A novel concept and beautiful exterior make Martin Skelly’s Playlist Player vinyl emulation system a certified object of desire. The device — which plays back digital files in an apparently Serrato-like manner — attempts to simulate the classic ritual of the vinyl LP.

“There are two parts to the design: the player, and the record box containing five different coloured covers. Once the playlists are chosen and synced to the player with a memory stick, the user customises the outside of the sleeve with artwork of their choice. It could be photos of a memorable night or person or typed and hand drawn tracklists. Once the record is placed on the player, the music begins and the outer ring of lights illuminates. As the playlists plays rings of light visible through the translucent record move towards the centre of the disc, like a needle tracking on a record. These lights represent time and not the number of tracks, meaning your music must be enjoyed from start to finish with no distractions like the temptation to skip tracks, fast forward or rewind.”

Seeing people designing experiences like this is always nice, but it does illuminate the rather unsettling fact that the album format is dying. People are consuming media in ever smaller chunks and the LP experience is no longer the norm. I think this is a huge loss and an unfortunate consequence of the on-demand nature of the internet.

Although I grew up listening to 8-track, vinyl, cassette tapes, and then CDs — all of which tended to be enjoyed in album format more often than not — I must admit that I jump around a lot when consuming MP3s. I have recently begun rebuilding my music collection in lossless FLAC though and this has encouraged me to listen to more music as whole albums. If Skelly’s Playlist Player supports FLAC or WAV it might make the experience that much more enjoyable.

The Milk desk by Holmris Hansen (the guy laying on it I presume) makes the Novanta workstation I posted last week look downright homely. They call it “the Lamborghini of desks” but I think “the Mac of desks” would be more apt. At any rate the thing is beautiful and seemingly functional with various gadgetry, compartmentry, and height adjustability (I know 2/3 of those aren’t even words). I would definitely be very happy with this as my primary desk. You can find more info and a lot of high res pics of the Milk at the product site: http://milk.dk. Also, it’s probably like $15,000. The designer’s other work at Soren Rose Studio is worth a browse as well; some very cool pictures of their space.

I recently built a new desk (sneak preview here via a terrible iPhone shot) so I had been researching for a while trying to scrounge around for materials and hardware. I ended up sourcing most of it from Ikea and cannibalized an old board room table someone gave me. I’ll post more on that once I get some proper pictures.

Via Jason in the comments of the Novanta post