Tag Archives: cloudandco

Your personal aromatherapist

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Pium is an incredible smart diffuser that users a wide range of parameters to create the perfect, personalized scent for any given moment! It connects to the user’s smartphone and allows them to create just about any scent that they desire using the intuitive interface.

The body of Pium consists of two main sections, with the top section being removable. When removed the three ready-to-use capsules are revealed, Pium uses these to create the personalized scents; it relies on regular contact with the user’s smart devices to appropriately alter the mood, if it was to detect an elevated heart rate that was picked up by the user’s smartwatch, a calming scent would be admitted.

As for the form, the beautifully elegant, cylindrical design paired with the high-quality, brushed finish allows for Pium to seamlessly fit into a home’s décor and begin freshening the room up instantly.

Designer: cloudandco

Super slim wallets with fifteen layers and invisible stitching are good for posture, high on innovation

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It’s taken years for many men to realize that carrying bulky wallets in the back pocket is actually bad for their spine and posture. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why my brother always takes his wallet out of his back pocket, before sitting down. This habit however, has caused him to lose one too many wallets.

YeongKyu Yoo of cloudandco has designed two wallets that are extremely slim – WalletType1 and SlimWalletType1. The former is a bi-fold design with 6 pockets, and the latter is a card wallet with 2 pockets. Both of them look to be a solution to the above problem.

The key to the form are the layers and the invisible stitches. Sporting a multi-layer construction with uniform thickness, the edges of the wallets are precisely painted for the ultimate seamless look. The wallets look like a solid sheet of beautiful leather and nothing more.

WalletType1 is constructed from 15 layers and each layer contributes to become a singular form. The SlimWalletType1 has up to 13 layers of construction. Each wallet is envisioned in four colors.

Designer: YeongKyu Yoo of cloudandco

Invisible Stitches

To capture the beauty of quality leather, we focused on bringing its texture to the foreground. This meant keeping all unnecessary details invisible, including stitches. The multi-layer construction was carefully conceived so that once assembled, the form is completely uniform in thickness. To finish it off, the edges are precisely painted for the ultimate seamless look — just like a solid sheet of beautiful leather.

A Simple Initiative

Our goal was simple — to create a wallet that feels like one in the hands. A monolith to the eye, without any visible seams. To achieve such a form, we hid all the magic underneath. Below the surface lies up to 13 layers of construction, depending on the wallet. Each layer is artfully engineered. The resulting form is a fluid shape that is seamless, slim and durable — effortless on the surface, thoughtful within.

WalletType1 is constructed from 15 layers —— every layer contributes to become a singular form.

Maker

Made by Hanbo Enc and based in Seoul, they are expert in shaping and manipulating leather and fabric for over 20 years. Product production led by an artisan with 30 years+ of experience in relevant field. Has worked extensively with partners including Montblanc, Microsoft and Samsung.

Water filtration fountains set up across London to reduce disposable plastic bottle usage

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So, it’s no secret that the new water fountains that have recently found a home within London have been greeted with a rather negative and unwelcomed response, however the motive for their introduction is extremely respectable; encouraging the cities occupants to re-fill their water bottles in order to reduce the amount of the planet-destroying plastic waste that we are guilty of creating. The intriguing collaboration between cloudandco design studio and Coway has led to this far more considered and appealing alternative to the aforementioned offenders. This minimalistic refill station is constructed from stainless steel and features a sink-less, uninterrupted design. The water that is distributed from the station has been passed through the internal filtration system that removes any nasty bacteria and micro-plastics to provide us with fresh, impurity-free water!

Designers: Cloudandco & Coway

“The Oxford Times states that if 1 out of 10 British people were to refill once a week, about 340 million plastic bottles can be salvaged. However, the main issue is not of awareness, but that of the reliability of drinking fountains. Currently, the public conception is that 77% is concerned with the fountains’ maintenance, as well as the quality of their water supply,” Cloudandco told Yanko Design.

To address this issue, Yeongkyu Yoo of Cloudandco reached out to Coway, a specialist leading in water purification systems. Together, they developed an evolved drinking water system that is not only convenient and affordable, but also informative—the Water (refill) Station.

A walking (joy)stick for the blind!

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Design for so many people is such a visual medium, one must ask oneself… If you remove sight from the design experience, does it still remain a good product? I find designing for the visually impaired quite an interesting domain, because they experience products in a way we don’t, or more importantly, cant. Try doing whatever it is you’re doing right now (eating a meal, perhaps) with your eyes closed. It’s a completely different experience that most people may not be comfortable with.

The Cloudandco Smart Cane by Brandon and Max takes on the challenge of designing a product with an experience that is far from visual. The ergonomic smart cane comes as just a joystick handle with an automatic telescoping stick that shoots out when switched on. However, the walking stick doesn’t stop there. It connects to an app on the smartphone, actually guiding the user to destinations they set. The Smart Cane can give off vibration and audio feedback, guiding its user to their destination. Users can toggle through destinations using a button on the top. There’s even a braille panel on the back that can communicate with the user.

The Smart Cane takes its non-visual experience further by allowing the users to charge it wirelessly. Instead of having them fiddle with ports and cables, the Smart Cane can just be placed on its charging pad and it automatically gets charged for when it’s required next!

Designers: Brandon Cooke & Max Dahl

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A walking (joy)stick for the blind!

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cloudandco_cane_1

Design for so many people is such a visual medium, one must ask oneself… If you remove sight from the design experience, does it still remain a good product? I find designing for the visually impaired quite an interesting domain, because they experience products in a way we don’t, or more importantly, cant. Try doing whatever it is you’re doing right now (eating a meal, perhaps) with your eyes closed. It’s a completely different experience that most people may not be comfortable with.

The Cloudandco Smart Cane by Brandon and Max takes on the challenge of designing a product with an experience that is far from visual. The ergonomic smart cane comes as just a joystick handle with an automatic telescoping stick that shoots out when switched on. However, the walking stick doesn’t stop there. It connects to an app on the smartphone, actually guiding the user to destinations they set. The Smart Cane can give off vibration and audio feedback, guiding its user to their destination. Users can toggle through destinations using a button on the top. There’s even a braille panel on the back that can communicate with the user.

The Smart Cane takes its non-visual experience further by allowing the users to charge it wirelessly. Instead of having them fiddle with ports and cables, the Smart Cane can just be placed on its charging pad and it automatically gets charged for when it’s required next!

Designers: Brandon Cooke & Max Dahl

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Type 1 or 2, This is Type Cool

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Medical devices are often generic looking, boxy edged products with poor material finishes and a string of afterthoughts. This can make sense due to the limited number of batches produced yearly, margins, visibility of product etc. That’s why it’s so nice to see the complete rebranding and stunning redesign of the Arkray glucometer. In 2012, Kenya Hara (former director of Muji) asked Yeongkyu Yoo (founder of cloudandco) to redesign the Arkray glucometer to match the brand vision and UI design language set in place by Kenya Hara, and after much anticipation, here it is.

Yoo did this in spectacular fashion, with what can only be described as a positively gorgeous upgrade – the glucometer has a somewhat pebble shape to it, fitting softly into the hand. The interface is located on the front of the device, large enough to be seen clearly but not too large as to be obstructed by the user’s hand while holding the device. The glucometer is covered in a powder coated ABS material, soft to the touch, with very simple branding located below the screen and towards the bottom of the device. The interaction points on the rear of the device are very straightforward and elegant, making this product a strong foot forward in the innovation and rejuvenation of medical devices. I certainly hope that Hara and Yoo are taking on more medical companies because if this definitely showing us how it’s done.

Designers: Yeongkyu Yoo of cloudandco & Kenya Hara

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Circular? More like Cir’cool’ar!

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I don’t watch much anime, but I’m sure there’s an Airbender/DragonballZ reference you could throw in here! The O-Fan (named aptly) powers itself via MicroUSB and instead of looking like a fan on the end of a USB stick, looks more traditional, with a dash of fresh and quirky.

The entire fan fits right into a spherical housing that sits independently, or can be placed on a cylindrical stand to give it the appearance of a standing fan. The sphere resting in the cylinder can be rotated and faced in any which direction, given that it’s essentially a ball-socket sort of arrangement.

Clean, and very geometric, the O-Fan gives out a strong Muji-inspired vibe. It comes in flat colors with no branding and just one simple knob hidden away at the back, making you appreciate every aspect of the product’s otherwise minimal design!

Designer: Cloudandco Design Studio

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