The Perception of Colour
Just how much consideration do you give to the colour of your clothes? Flitting through the clothes store rails, you're probably processing two or three garments a second, until one inexplicably stands out and makes it to the changing room. Colour will probably play an important but not decisive role. But is there a subconscious process going into your decision?
DesignBytes
Japanese-Inspired Shoes That Wrap Around Your Feet
Store bought shoes rarely fit perfectly, and bespoke options are too expensive for many. Italian shoe maker Vibram, more commonly known for its military footwear, has come up with a solution to this problem with its Furoshiki Shoes. Furoshiki (風呂敷) are a traditional Japanese wrapping cloth used for transporting goods. Furoshiki shoes, created by Japanese designer Masaya Hashimoto, have no laces and instead wrap around the foot–hence the name–fastening with velcro.
DesignBytes
Solarpunk Wants to Save the World
Scientists and policymakers are getting depressed, and our collective consciousness is turning to tales of apocalypse, not narratives of recovery. Welcome to the Anthropocene, the period during which human activity has become the dominant influence on the Earth's climate and the environment, and the result is horrifying. Solarpunk is the first creative movement consciously and positively responding to the Anthropocene. When no place on Earth is free from humanity's hedonism, Solarpunk proposes that humans can learn to live in harmony with the planet once again.
DesignBytes
Big Ideas, Small Scale
If you’ve got a hankering for nugget ice–you know, the tiny, chewable frozen pellets that restaurant chains like Sonic use to chill sodas–then GE has an appliance for you. Aside from feeding one of the stranger compulsions in American dining, the Opal is different from other GE appliances in other ways: It wasn’t the brainchild of GE industrial designers and engineers, nor will it hit Home Depot shelves when it first appears. Instead, the Opal is the product of crowd-sourcing through GE’s new online community, FirstBuild, and it’ll be sold only through crowdfunding site Indiegogo.
DesignBytes
Top 10 Wild and Wonderful European Cars We Want in the US
Ah yes, the eternal favorite: cars we long for, but are kept from the U.S. market by bureaucrats, executives, or marketing people. A lot of models, unfortunately, simply don't resonate here in the States; they include expensive minicars, sleek station-wagons and, that darling of auto journalists, so many torque-rich diesels.
DesignBytes
Why You Need Design
“Design is the rendering of intent.” When the intent isn’t clear, the project stakeholders can’t agree on goals, or two founders veer in two directions to take their company, no amount of design can solve that situation. Design doesn’t work if you don’t know your intent. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself in the land of mullets, half-cafs, cran-grape drinks, platypuses and El Caminos. (Granted, platypuses are pretty cool. But they’re filled with poison.)