Tag Archives: benjamin hubert

LAYER Design and Deutsche Telekom unveil the future of communication devices

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As a huge fan of science fiction content, from books to movies to TV shows, I am excited to see which things from what I’ve read and seen will come true one of these days. And with the advances in technology, a lot of them are not far-fetched ideas anymore. There are some things that may be scary or at least creepy but it’s still pretty interesting to see what we’ll see next which we thought were just works of science fiction before.

Designer: Layer Design for Deutsche Telekom

German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom recently unveiled the Concept T project which is a collection of advanced technology and gadget concepts that will show consumers what may be the future of communications. Concept View is a home hub with a twist: it has a 3D holographic AI-equipped virtual assistant called Emma to guide you through things like video calls and other digital world activities. It looks like a cross between a crystal ball and the Palantirs from Lord of the Rings but instead of showing you what the future holds, it will show you the future of technology.

A Wi-Fi router isn’t the sexiest gadget out there but Concept Level definitely makes it more interesting. It is a re-configurable router that is made up of different interchangeable, modular elements. The set includes a display unit, Wi-Fi sensing element, mesh repeater, and computational module for Web 3 use cases. The elements are designed using different geometric forms so it looks like you have interesting mini sculptures rather than an actual router.

Concept Buddy is your own personal robot at home, similar to the ones you see in malls and airports. It’s an AI-based digital assistant companion that is able to communicate through the “emotion and information display”. It is able to give reminders like taking medication and household chores and can also assist in calls, online shopping, and other tasks you may need assistance. It can even warn you of potential hazards and contact emergency services if needed. It is able to adapt to your routine and will only “come alive” when it is engaged with.

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These Eco-Friendly Dog Accessories are good for your pooch and the planet too!

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Canadian dog brand Earth Rated has embarked on a transformative journey, collaborating with design agency Layer to redefine its identity and expand its product line. The result is a clean and simple rebrand that not only emphasizes recycling and natural products but also introduces a captivating range of sustainable dog toys. This extensive two-year project represents a commitment to holistic design, integrating sustainability into every aspect of the brand.

Designers: Earth Rated, Layer Design (Benjamin Hubert)

At the heart of the rebrand is a simple yet effective brandmark that captures the playful essence of Earth Rated. The brand name, expressed in a minimalistic sans-serif font, features a characterful dog silhouette cleverly integrated into the negative space of the “T” and “H” letterforms. This subtle representation of a dog marks an evolution from the more overt cartoon canine mascot associated with Earth Rated’s origins, reflecting a sophisticated and modern approach.

The new identity is defined by fresh greens and vibrant yellow accents, creating a distinctive and ownable signature. The choice of yellow holds significance beyond aesthetics, as it is one of the few colors visible to dogs, aligning with the brand’s focus on creating products that resonate with our furry companions.

Earth Rated proudly holds B Corp Certification, reflecting its commitment to social and environmental impact. The rebrand by Layer reinforces these sustainable values, with new products crafted from recycled and recyclable materials, post-consumer waste, and natural resources such as natural rubber. Even the packaging is designed with eco-friendliness in mind, utilizing recycled plastics, post-consumer waste, recycled cardboard, and natural ink.

Affordability is a key aspect of the rebrand, making great design accessible to a wide range of dog owners. For instance, the poop bag dispenser retails for just $5.99, while a pack of 315 scented or unscented poop bags is priced at $18.99.

Earth Rated is renowned globally for its distinctive poop bags and dispensers, both of which have been reimagined by Layer. The new poop bag dispenser features an intuitive design with a clip to hold used bags, a textured strap for easy attachment to a leash or bag, and a slot for easy access to the bags. The bags, available in compostable, lavender-scented, and unscented versions, not only offer practicality but also serve as a subtle billboard for the Earth Rated brand as they unroll.

Layer’s influence extends to a new collection of dog toys that celebrates the sustainable values driving Earth Rated. Joyful geometric forms and textured surfaces invite interaction, creating an intuitive user experience for both pets and their owners. The material palette includes recycled and recyclable materials, compostable and post-consumer recycled plastics, and natural rubber. Dishwasher-safe for easy cleaning, these toys are designed to be recycled at the end of their life.

The five toys in the collection—Fly, Tug, Fetch, Treat, and Chew—reimagine classic typologies for added functionality. Each toy offers a unique interaction, from the Fly Toy’s raised rim for easy gripping to the Chew Toy’s twisted form that enables dogs to hold it effectively. The Fetch Toy, with its intersecting forms, adds an element of unpredictability to playtime, keeping both pets and owners engaged.

Designer Benjamin Hubert, leading the Layer team, expressed excitement about collaborating with Earth Rated, emphasizing the project’s rewarding nature. The results, he states, celebrate shared values of responsible, sustainable, and affordable design, marking a significant step in the evolution of Earth Rated and setting a new standard for the pet industry.

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LAYER Breeze coffee machine presents a softer way to start your day

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Kitchen appliances have gotten more sophisticated and more advanced these days, yet their design language has remained mostly the same. Although they definitely look elegant and refined, most kitchen equipment, from refrigerators to ovens, often have sharp edges, shiny metallic surfaces, and an almost cold demeanor. There are exceptions, of course, but this design DNA seems to be the most prevalent, even for smaller appliances like toasters and coffee machines. That, in turn, dictates the overall aesthetic of the kitchen, at least if the appliances’ style doesn’t clash with the theme you already have going. That doesn’t always have to be the case, and this capsule-based coffee machine challenges those established traditions to bring a device that greets you with a calming and somber ambiance that helps ease you into the day.

Designer: Benjamin Hubert (LAYER Design)

A lot of people depend on coffee to get their day started or even get through the rest of the day. While businesses like Starbucks can be found almost everywhere, many households today would have their own coffee machine, whether using beans or capsules. Despite the popularity of these appliances, few owners probably notice how their designs affect how people see and approach them, which is to say they see coffee machines are veritable machines that are elegant yet clinical rather than something approachable and personal.

Breeze, designed for the South Korean coffee brand Dongsuh, tries to change that attitude by drastically changing the appearance of a capsule coffee machine. This comparatively newer breed of coffee makers often have more stylish and less industrial designs, but they still can’t get rid of that shiny metallic luster common to kitchen appliances and tools. In contrast, Breeze applies a refreshing and softer color palette, favoring pastel variants of white, charcoal, and pink to convey a gentler personality.

The shapes are also distinctly different. While the modular blocks are admittedly more geometric, their rounded corners add to the overall softer aesthetic of the machine. A ridged surface wraps around the base, contrasting with the smoother texture of the head. Another point of contrast is the tall water tank at the back, a transparent container that projects an image of clarity that, when taken together with the more subdued hues of the machine, seems to send a message of calm.

Beyond just the visuals, the design also includes a more tactile interface to operate the machine, using clearly marked LED-backlit buttons at the top of the head. Made from simple shapes and with a simple way of operating, Breeze gives the coffee machine a gentle and almost comforting identity, which is probably the kind of character you’d want to meet when you get your coffee first thing in the morning or in the middle of a tiring day.

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LAYER Design’s O6 chair is a cozy, minimalist task-chair for your everyday WFH needs

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Named after the O-shaped backrest that gives the chair its distinct lightweight design, the O6 is the result of a 2-year collaboration between Benjamin Hubert’s LAYER Design and Allsteel.

The chair’s name also pays a hat-tip to the six key interactions that enable the user to configure the O6 for ultimate comfort. These
adjustability controls include the vertical movement of its armrests; multi-directional movement of the arm pads;
the vertical and horizontal movement of the seat; the tilting backrest; and the adjustable lumbar support. “The controls
are streamlined and intuitive, enabling ergonomic comfort without visual complication”, says LAYER Design in their press release.

Designer: LAYER Design for Allsteel

The O6, like a lot of LAYER’s past work, relies on balanced forms, curved edges, and soft forms that create a visually comforting experience that in the case of the O6 also extends to the actual experience of sitting on the chair too. Designed to blend into your muted office setup (rather than act as a vibrant statement piece), the chair sports a greyscale color palette and comes in 4 color options for the frame going from a light neutral grey all the way to black. Users can further customize the chair’s design by choosing from as many as 22 different colors of Spectrum mesh for the back and seat and six 4-Way Stretch mesh back colors.

“Task chairs typically have a highly technical expression that reflects their focus on functionality,” says Benjamin Hubert, Founder of LAYER. “Our collaboration with Allsteel was about finding a way to reduce that technical expression to enhance the sense of visual comfort and create a simple appearance.” This simplicity also elegantly conceals the chair’s 6 functions that elevate the user’s comfort. The idea for the O6 was to create a design that embodies the aspect of easy and comfortable productivity, rather than taking on a highly technical design that looks like an engineer’s sketch with hardly any ergonomic considerations.

The O6 Task Chair was launched this week at NeoCon 2022, and is now available on the Allsteel website, starting at $1039 for the high-back task chair with 4D adjustable arms.

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The biggest problem with smart-speakers is that they’re voices without faces – LAYER’s Capsula Mini fixes that

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Filling a rather strangely-ignored UX gap with the smart-speaker market, LAYER Design’s smart-speaker for Russia-based Mail.ru comes with its own expressive little face that reacts as it listens and speaks. Titled the Capsula Mini, the smart speaker runs Mail.ru’s native voice AI – Marusya, while assuming the friendly avatar of a little AI butler that’s ready to answer all your requests.

The speaker takes on the familiar puck-like shape seen with other mini smart-speakers like the Amazon Echo Dot or the Apple HomePod Mini. It sports a fabric clad around the sides where you’d expect the speakers to fire audio out of, and a set of LED eyes shine right through the fabric. The speaker uses a seven-segment LED display for each eye (and a single dot for the nose), allowing it to express emotions like happiness, sadness, nonchalance, and surprise, while also doubling as a clock that displays the time. A touch-sensitive surface on the top lets you physically interact with the Capsula Mini, while an LED ring underneath its touch panel lights up when the speaker’s active (and turns to red when there’s an error).

The voice and touch-activated speaker hopes to do something rather new by associating a face with the speaker’s voice. Given how our visual sense plays such a dominant role in our perception of everything from events to emotions, it makes sense, being able to associate a face with the voice – after all, video chats are so much better than audio calls, no? Capsula Mini’s eyes and nose also pull off the ‘serious’ veneer associated with gadgets that end up scaring people who are tech-phobic or don’t know how to use certain tech appliances – like children or the elderly. The fact that Capsula Mini has a face and a voice anthropomorphizes it, making it much more approachable, especially to people who aren’t tech-savvy.

The smart-speaker will be available to Russian users in two color variants – ‘Dove Grey’ and ‘Charcoal’, with more colors in the future.

Designer: LAYER Design for Mail.ru

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Layer Design teams up with Nga Nguyen to create wellness products, including a reusable mask!

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2020 saw a radical shift in the basic thought process when it comes to daily life challenges – maintaining hygiene at all times, being one of them. With so much emphasis on personal well-being and the need to stay clear of harm’s way, the radical shift in how the design and fashion industry operates has also been there. That’s the reason why London-based LAYER Design founded by Benjamin Hubert has joined forces with fashion’s patient zero, Nga Nguyen, to create a range of products for her health and wellness startup Never Go Alone. Creative minds in both the creative houses worked in collaboration for a year to meticulously craft the protective products, their packaging, branding, and the art direction.

The range of products tailored for the ‘new normal’ is understandably centered around personal hygiene, and are going to be launched in the UK in Spring 2021 with a global release following soon after that. The collection for starters is going to have a reusable mask, refillable hand sanitizer, and a refillable sanitizing wipes case. The one to focus on here is the reusable mask dubbed ‘Behind the Mask’ that’s designed keeping in mind convenience and safety at all times. And yes, it is inspired by the visual language of ‘athleisure’ – making it ideal for people who are always on the move. The studio explains, “Never Go Alone is a wellness brand that was founded during the COVID-19 pandemic and empowers users to live and travel responsibly in times of unprecedented change. LAYER designed each product to create a memorable experience through the engagement of the senses, from tactile materiality and intuitive touchpoints to bespoke scents.”

The outer layer of the mask is made from lightweight knitted fabric for high breathability, and it also conceals the bespoke PM2.5 filter that’s replaceable. Its diamond shape perfectly takes the shape of the facial contours without any discomfort. So that you don’t ever get bored of the Behind the Mask, it comes with modular interchangeable earloops for changing the color and style to personal preference.

Designer: Layer Design

These cinema-seats were designed to isolate movie-goers in a post COVID world

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Together, the screen and seat create an immersive/isolated environment that actually makes the movie experience better + safer.

London-based design studio LAYER has debuted a new kind of movie-theater seat titled ‘Sequel’ to mark the second, renewed era of film born as a result of the coronavirus. The virus has arguably crippled travel and entertainment the hardest, and LAYER’s design efforts seem to be rectifying the various inherent problems within these two areas. The Sequel seat was designed as a direct response to the coronavirus crippling movie-theaters and their enclosed, highly-packed spaces. The Sequel seats boast of a unique set of features, designed to make movie-going safer. The seats, made to be modular, come with partitions, storage space for your belongings, and self-sanitizing seat fabric in an effort to make it safer for patrons.

Unlike conventional theater-seats, Layer’s fully-adjustable seating modules are placed slightly further apart, with a frosted partition separating individuals. The seats are relatively slimmer than most plush cinema-sofas, but boast of the same level of comfort, thanks to advancements Layer’s made in seating design for its other projects – notably seating for the Airbus planes. The slim, spaced-apart design creates ample room between seats to store items like bags. These individual chambers come with UV-C lamps too, helping keep your belongings sterile.

Other pretty remarkable features include LED panels built into the headrests that allow each seat to flash the patron’s name and seat number, preventing mix-ups in the theater. Once you find your seat and make yourself comfortable, integrated speakers give you an immersive experience, making you feel like you’re right near the action. Flat, easy-to-clean trays let you munch on popcorn while you’re watching the movie too. Once you’re done, the seats auto-disinfect themselves, thanks to the use of an anti-microbial fabric that has copper strands woven into it. The seats are hydrophobic and stain-repelling too, making them much easier to maintain. This allows theater-staff to quickly clean the theaters and set them up for the next show.

Designer: LAYER Design (Benjamin Hubert)

Layer Design’s feline-friendly furniture is every cat lover’s delight!

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Once upon a time, I would proudly call myself a dog person. Not just a dog person, but an anti-cat person, as I never quite understood the appeal of having a cat, until I got two of them as my cats-in-law! Cats are smart intelligent companions and as per studies, roughly 42.7 million people are cat-owners in the USA alone, with the millennials owning up a huge chunk of them. Frankly, that does make sense to me. The world is getting smaller yet people are more lonely each day, with these furry pals coming to their rescue! So yes, cats are adorable and we will do almost anything to make these felines love us back. Keeping in mind our wish to give only the best for our cats, LAYER Design by Benjamin Hubert has created products for the New York-based start-up Cat Person, an entire brand dedicated to bringing cat-friendly furniture for every cat lover!

Starting with the absolute basics, Cat Person brings you two innovative designs to make you and your cat happy! Meet Canopy Bed, a unique 3-in-1 design that makes life easier for your cat and you. The Canopy Bed comes with a playful and colorful base that is easy to show off for the cat owner, matching with today’s modern interiors. But the real show-stealer is the detachable canopy – you can remove it, fold it to create a soft wall or if your pet is feeling shy or wants their own space, the canopy literally forms a tent above their head! This multipurpose design allows each cat owner and cat to experiment with different settings using the same product and change things as needed. After all, we all know how moody the human can be! The detachable form of the canopy also makes it easier to clean and folds flat for storage. LAYER’s design experience shines through here in their use of soft geometric forms in colorful variants that invite cats and their owners alike.

The second product launched in this range is the Mesa Bowl – a modular feeding station that ensures your cat need not bend uncomfortably to access their food. The focus here is on the modularity of the product. The brand believes each cat has its own style and the Mesa Bowl is designed to allow you to work the product to suit your cat. The Mesa Bowl consists of three parts – the main bowl to hold the food, a sculptural stand that elevates the food for your cat and a tray that holds the entire piece together as well as catching any accidental spills. Every individual piece is made using durable non-BPA plastic and the shallow nature of the bowl accommodates the cat’s facial profile, letting them eat without agitating their whiskers and keeping them free of “whisker fatigue”.

From the time you get a little kitten into your home and hearts till they turn into the cat that will ultimately rule your heart, both of these products are designed to grow with your cats. These products form the basis of your connection with your cat, from playful, colorful designs to modularity, LAYER’s attention to detail will make this exciting journey comfortable for you as you both find your way. What more can the human ask for!

Designer: LAYER Design for Cat Person

The Canopy Bed

Canopy Bed is a simple yet inspired 3-in-1 cat bed that responds to feline behaviors. Most cats will sleep up to 17 hours each day, with kittens and older cats napping for even longer.

Canopy Bed

Canopy Bed is made from a durable recycled PET felt material and can be adapted to different napping situation throughout the day.

There are three options for configuration of the canopy to fit a cat’s mood – whether they want to hide away, feel protected, or lounge openly.

The circular footprint of the memory foam cushion snugly accommodates the naturally curved sleeping position of a cat, and the durable felted PET material can withstand cat “kneading” and scratching behavior.

Canopy Bed is available in three different colorways: Jungle, Tundra, and Savanna.

The Mesa Bowl

Mesa Bowl is a modular cat feeding station that offers a comfortable setting for cats to feed from, celebrating their uniquely feline character.

Mesa Bowl

The rounded bowl, made from durable non-BPA plastic, sits atop a sculptural stand, avoiding the need for cats to crouch or hunch.

The elegant arrangement of the food bowl and stand takes its design cues from premium homewares, offering an easy-to-clean and durable product that cat persons are proud to display in their homes.

The feeding station “grows” with the cat as the bowl can be used directly on the tray for a kitten or on the stand for adult cats.

Mesa Bowl is available in three colourways: Jungle, Tundra, and Savanna.

“With Cat Person, we saw an opportunity to disrupt a market underserved by good design with a collection of products to connect with a new generation of cat owners. The collection is based on extensive research into cat and cat owner behaviors to find new insights that have driven innovative features. The resulting collection not only meets the specific needs of domestic cats, but also seamlessly integrates into the home life of owners and offers an opportunity for them to celebrate their feline friends.” says Benjamin Hubert, Founder LAYER.

Newly released LAYER x Bang & Olufsen speaker is a smart design for serious audiophiles!

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I love the sound of a deep voice belting out the blues to help me unwind at the end of a day. However, for me, trouble with traditional speaker designs is that they either aim to conquer the sound design or they focus on the aesthetic of the speaker. To balance them both, to use the form of the speaker’s body to uplift your home while delivering rich, soul-warming sounds that touch the core of your being, that is what the latest collaboration between Benjamin Hubert’s LAYER Design and Bang & Olufsen brings to us!

Named the Beosound Balance, this powerful compact speaker encompasses luxury in every bit of its design. This can be seen especially in the choice of materials used by the designers – natural oak wood base complemented by a subtle metallic finish and a knitted fabric wrapping the speaker that ties it all together… this speaker comes with a truly serious sound (that is what we hear!). Hidden in its homely aesthetics, the speaker packs a digital punch with a hidden touch interface to manually control the speaker settings. The interface lights up when approached, inviting the user to come and interact with the speaker. Whereas the touch-sensitive top plate uses a swipe gesture to control volume and change other player settings. Adding to the home-assistant aesthetics, the speaker’s light dims out when the user moves away from it. And here is the tweak that shows off Bang & Olufsen’s sound skills, this dimming happens owing to an internal microphone that hears you and also, during the speaker’s initial setup analyzes the room and creates a set of ‘filters’ that will compensate for the walls and other sound-reflecting surfaces in your space, ensuring the speaker’s personalized output gives you the best experience in your surroundings.

Designer: Benjamin Hubert of LAYER Design with Bang & Olufsen

The Design Details

In terms of the design, the speaker separates into two parts: the cylindrical wooden base that houses a large subwoofer that faces upwards.

This distinction allows the sound filtered through the metal disc to be reflected by the rounded base of the top section. To complement the same, the upper section of the speaker houses a downward-facing bass driver, three mid-range speakers, and two tweeters, giving you a total of seven drivers to pack a powerhouse sound performance.

Smart Speaker Capabilities

With Google Chromecast, Apple Airplay, Spotify Connect, and Amazon Alexa voice control, this minimal design is equipped for the modern era.

Even better, the Beosound connects with your existing B&O products to create a surround sound or multi-room setup.

Designed for audiophiles who want an all-in-one speaker

Designed for serious audiophiles who want uncompromised sound quality encased in a design worthy of showing off in their home, this speaker comes at a whopping price of $2250 to be available in two variations – Natural Oak and Black Oak.

But, if what you crave is some serious sound quality to answer your Google and Alexa queries, this speaker is the answer to your prayers!

This article was sent to us using the ‘Submit A Design’ feature.

We encourage designers/students/studios to send in their projects to be featured on Yanko Design!

Layer Design’s sustainable glass straws double up as visually engaging centerpieces!

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January’s almost coming to an end (yes I know!) and with 2020 hurtling along in full force, being eco-friendly is now a way of life. There’s simply no excuse for hurting the environment, which includes using the nefarious disposable plastic straws. Metal and paper alternatives are available, but metallic straws tend to alter the flavor of our drinks, and the paper ones disintegrate before we can even manage to finish our drinks.

In an attempt to create a solution, Benjamin Hubert of London-based design agency Layer collaborated with design magazine Surface to produce the Surface Straws! Created from recycled borosilicate glass, these straws are sculptural beauties. Recyclable, reusable, hypoallergenic, and easy to clean and maintain, these aesthetic straws also make for eye-catching centerpieces! Each straw comes in different height and diameter, so they’re perfect for sipping on any drink, whether it’s a stress-relieving cocktail, a frothy milkshake, or maybe that glass of water your body needs! The triad of straws come in subtle shades of green, with one bordering on grey. The different heights and complementary color schemes of the straws add on to their visual appeal.

Placed within a glass bell jar, supported by a recycled rubber base, the straws resemble the branches of a tree, interweaving with another to create a nature-inspired organic display. The glass straws can be used time and again, ideal for hot and cold drinks, with their visual appeal transforming them into items we can use every day with joy!

Designer: Benjamin Hubert of Layer with Surface Magazine