Tag Archives: Concept Designs

Split Is an Umbrella Stand Concept That Opens Into a Hallway Console

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Most entryways are chaos zones. Umbrellas lean against walls, keys land on whatever surface is closest, and the stand is usually just a metal tube catching drips in a corner nobody looks at twice. This corner of the home rarely gets the same design attention as the living room or kitchen, even though it is the first thing you see when you walk in and the last thing you touch before leaving.

Split is an umbrella stand concept that behaves like a small, movable console. It is built around a sleek cylindrical form that opens with a pivoting lid, revealing storage for short and long umbrellas. When closed, the lid becomes a tabletop for keys, phones, or a wallet, turning the stand into a compact landing zone for everything you carry through the door, wet or dry.

Designer: Yomna Elborollossy

The cylinder splits into two functional zones. An open lower section holds long umbrellas, keeping handles accessible and letting wet fabric breathe. A closed upper section stores compact umbrellas or other small items, hiding clutter without sealing it in a damp box. The geometry makes it obvious where things go, which is half the battle in keeping an entryway tidy without thinking about it every single time.

The perforated upper shell works like a pegboard and a vent at the same time. The grid of circular holes can accept hooks for hanging small items like dog leashes, lanyards, or lightweight bags, and it also lets air circulate through the closed space so damp umbrellas or gloves can dry. That detail keeps the object from becoming a humid box and gives it a subtle, graphic texture that reads well from across a room.

The pivoting lid turns a simple stand into something interactive. A quick swing of the lid reveals the inner compartment without forcing you to clear off the top first, and when it is closed, the flat surface is ready for keys, a phone, or a small tray. The motion adds a bit of ceremony to arriving home, making the act of putting things away feel deliberate instead of automatic or rushed.

The body is imagined in lightweight aluminum, which keeps it easy to move while resisting rust and corrosion from wet umbrellas. It sits on a heavier stone base that keeps it stable when loaded with multiple umbrellas and everyday items. The concept uses warm, modern colors like terracotta, mustard, and muted blue, so it reads as a small piece of furniture rather than a purely utilitarian object and can live comfortably in a hallway, living room corner, or office lobby.

Split reframes a neglected object. It does not try to reinvent storage, it simply layers a console, a pegboard, and a ventilated umbrella stand into one compact cylinder. It feels like a quiet but meaningful upgrade over the usual metal tube shoved in a corner. People who care about the small transitions in their day will love the idea of an entryway piece that catches umbrellas and everyday carry with a bit of elegance.

The post Split Is an Umbrella Stand Concept That Opens Into a Hallway Console first appeared on Yanko Design.

Floating Cities Might Actually Save Us (And They’re Gorgeous)

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You know that feeling when you see a design concept that makes you go “wait, is this for real?” That’s exactly what happened when I came across Novasis, a floating platform project by designer Mohsen Laei that just won the Grand Prix Architecture and Innovation Award for the Sea 2025. And honestly? It’s not just another futuristic pipe dream. This thing might actually change how we think about living with our oceans.

Here’s what makes Novasis so compelling. It’s a scalable floating structure that tackles three massive problems at once: climate change, resource scarcity, and marine ecosystem collapse. Unlike those dystopian visions of humans abandoning land because we’ve wrecked it, this platform is designed for genuine coexistence with the ocean. It cultivates algae on a massive scale, produces renewable energy, creates freshwater, and helps restore marine life, all while being modular, recyclable, and energy independent.

Designer: Mohsen Laei

Let’s talk about the algae part, because it’s actually the star of the show. The platform uses floating and submerged nets made from recycled PET to grow both macro and microalgae. Why does this matter? Algae is ridiculously versatile. It can be turned into biofuel, food supplements, pharmaceuticals, and even carbon-neutral materials. Plus, algae cultivation naturally absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, making this a genuinely climate-positive system. We’re talking about a design that doesn’t just minimize harm but actually reverses it.

The structure itself is stunning in a practical way. Picture a circular floating platform with a central dome and perimeter walkway that organizes movement across the space. It’s designed to support research facilities, recreational areas, and even habitation. Freshwater gets produced through rainwater harvesting combined with solar and wave-powered desalination, meaning the whole thing functions as a self-sufficient ecosystem. No need to pipe in resources from mainland infrastructure.

What I find most exciting about Novasis is how it reimagines what “development” can look like in coastal and open-ocean contexts. Traditional marine construction tends to be either extractive (oil rigs, commercial fishing) or leisure-focused (luxury resorts, cruise ships). This platform flips that script entirely. It’s designed to be revenue-generating through biomass production and renewable energy, making it economically viable without requiring grants or subsidies.

Laei isn’t new to ambitious ocean-based concepts either. Back in 2021, he proposed Wind Island, another floating structure that combined wind, water, and solar power with residential and research spaces. That project used flag-like blades around a central tower to capture wind energy while creating shade and cooling for the platform below. You can see the evolution of his thinking from that earlier concept to Novasis, where the focus has sharpened on ecosystem restoration and practical resource production.

The timing couldn’t be more relevant. Floating solar farms have been gaining traction as a renewable energy solution, particularly because they preserve land for other uses and can actually help clean nutrient-polluted water. But most floating renewable projects focus on just one function. Novasis integrates multiple systems into one cohesive platform, which makes it far more resilient and useful.

Critics might call this concept too ambitious or unrealistic, but I’d argue we’re past the point where playing it safe makes sense. Our oceans are warming, acidifying, and losing biodiversity at terrifying rates. Coastal cities face rising seas and freshwater shortages. We need solutions that are as complex and interconnected as the problems we’ve created. Novasis offers exactly that: a model for how humans might actually contribute to ocean health rather than just taking from it.

The best part? Because the system is modular, it can scale up or down depending on location and need. Small coastal communities could deploy a single unit. Larger installations could connect multiple platforms into floating networks. The design adapts rather than demanding a one-size-fits-all approach.

I’m genuinely curious to see where this goes. Will we see a working prototype in the next few years? Will governments and private investors recognize the potential here? For now, Novasis stands as proof that design can be both beautiful and functionally revolutionary, that we can build infrastructure that heals rather than harms. And in a world that desperately needs both hope and practical solutions, that feels like something worth getting excited about.

The post Floating Cities Might Actually Save Us (And They’re Gorgeous) first appeared on Yanko Design.

This Phone Concept Stacks a 3.5-Inch LCD Above a 5.2-Inch E Ink Screen

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Modern phones have turned into pocket TVs, huge OLED slabs that are great for video and games but terrible for focus. Most E Ink phones go to the opposite extreme, either dropping color screens entirely or putting an E Ink panel on the back while keeping a full-size color display on the front. This dual-screen concept tries a different take, stacking both screens on the same face, with a small color LCD above a larger monochrome E Ink panel.

The basic layout is a 3.5-inch IPS LCD at the top and a 5.2-inch E Ink panel below, both on the front. The numbers are 1280 × 800 resolution at 120 Hz for the LCD and 1300 × 838 at 300 ppi for the E Ink. The clear back with a single camera and simple branding quietly signals that this phone is not chasing the usual multi-lens, all-screen spec race, instead treating the front as a composition of two very different surfaces.

Designer: Mechanical Pixel

The smaller LCD becomes the “burst of color” zone for time, notifications, music controls, and quick interactions, while the larger E Ink area is reserved for reading, notes, and simple widgets. This creates a hardware-level hierarchy; the calm, monochrome screen is where you spend most of your time, and you consciously move your attention to the smaller, brighter panel when you really need it, which changes the default state of the device from hyperactive to quiet.

The obvious pros are less visual noise, better eye comfort, and potentially much better battery life. E Ink only draws power when it refreshes, so a reading-first layout means the phone can idle for long stretches without burning through charge. For people who mostly message, read, and check calendars, the big E Ink panel could handle most of the day while the LCD stays off or in a low-duty role, extending runtime significantly.

The trade-offs are nothing to scoff at, though. A 3.5-inch LCD, even at 120 Hz, is not ideal for immersive video, complex productivity apps, or touch-heavy games. UI designers would need to rethink layouts for that smaller window, or accept that some tasks are better on a tablet or laptop. The E Ink panel’s slower refresh also limits it to taps and page turns, which is fine for reading but not for fast, gesture-driven interfaces that rely on immediate visual feedback.

This concept uses hardware to enforce a kind of digital minimalism. Instead of relying on focus modes and grayscale filters, it bakes the idea into the front of the phone, a big, calm screen for reading and a small, hyperactive one for everything else. For people who like the idea of a phone that nudges them toward books and away from endless feeds, that stacked layout feels like a surprisingly sharp design argument, where the very shape of the device encourages a different relationship with what lives on it.

The post This Phone Concept Stacks a 3.5-Inch LCD Above a 5.2-Inch E Ink Screen first appeared on Yanko Design.

This Designer Just Built the Sleep Device Insomniacs Always Wanted

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We’ve all been there. It’s 2:47 AM, and you’re staring at your ceiling, mentally calculating how many hours of sleep you’ll get if you fall asleep right now. Spoiler alert: that math never helps. Designer JeJun Park clearly understands this universal struggle, because Re:M tackles the insomnia problem from a completely fresh angle.

At first glance, Re:M looks like it wandered out of a minimalist’s dream. It’s got that soft baby blue finish that feels calming just to look at, and an oval speaker face that tilts upward like it’s ready to have a conversation with you. But here’s where it gets interesting. This isn’t just another white noise machine or smart alarm clock trying to do everything at once. It’s what Park calls a “sleep care object,” which is honestly a much better way to think about it.

Designer: JeJun Park

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The most brilliant design choice? Those numbers you obsessively check at 3 AM? Gone. Instead of a traditional clock face with digits taunting you about lost sleep, Re:M shows time through just a simple dot for the hour and a line for minutes. It sounds almost too minimal, but that’s exactly the point. When you’re not fixating on the exact time, you stop doing that awful mental math about your dwindling sleep window. You just… let go. The clock becomes ambient, flowing, present but not demanding your attention.

The whole device is built around this philosophy of removing anxiety triggers. Those aluminum dome speakers aren’t just there to look pretty (though they definitely do). They pump out everything from white noise to nature sounds, creating an audio cocoon that blocks out the neighbor’s dog or street traffic. You know that feeling when you’re camping and the gentle sounds of a stream or rustling leaves just knock you out? That’s what Re:M is going for, minus the mosquitoes and uncomfortable sleeping bag.

What really sets this apart from other sleep gadgets is how thoughtfully Park has considered every interaction. Notice there’s basically one button on the entire device? That’s because all the fiddly controls live in the companion app. You’re not fumbling with multiple buttons in the dark or accidentally blasting sound at full volume. The power button is tucked discreetly out of sight, and that side dial handles volume adjustments with precision that touchscreens could never match. It connects via Bluetooth, so you can fine-tune everything from your phone during the day, then just tap the device to turn it on at night.

Even the wake-up experience got a redesign. Instead of a jarring alarm, Re:M gradually increases both nature sounds and a gentle brightening light. It’s like having a sunrise on your nightstand, coaxing you awake instead of startling you into consciousness. Anyone who’s ever been jolted awake by a blaring alarm knows how that sets the tone for your entire day. The practical touches are there too. USB-C charging means you can power it with the same cable as your phone or laptop, and a small LED dot tells you the charging status without being intrusive. The device stands on a stable base with subtle grip pads, so it’s not going anywhere if you reach for it groggily at night.

What I really appreciate about Re:M is that it doesn’t try to be everything to everyone. It’s not tracking your REM cycles, syncing with seventeen other devices, or promising to revolutionize your entire life. It’s simply designed to help you fall asleep more easily and wake up more gently. That singular focus feels almost revolutionary when every product seems to wants to be your all-in-one solution. Park has created something that addresses a real problem (we’re all sleeping terribly) with thoughtful design rather than more technology. Re:M proves that sometimes the best solution isn’t adding features, but carefully removing the things that stress us out. And honestly? In our overstimulated, always-on world, that might be the most innovative thing of all.

The post This Designer Just Built the Sleep Device Insomniacs Always Wanted first appeared on Yanko Design.

Sound Maestro Splits Songs Into 4 Speakers You Conduct With a Baton

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Most smart speakers are designed to disappear, cylinders and pucks that sit in a corner and wait for voice commands. That is convenient but also a bit dull; you talk, they respond, and the hardware never really asks you to engage with it. Sound Maestro is a concept that goes the other way, imagining a living room as a small orchestra pit you can actually conduct with gestures instead of just tapping a screen.

Sound Maestro is a speaker inspired by an orchestra conductor that consists of three core parts: the conductor’s podium, the instruments, and the conductor’s baton. When everything is docked together, it reads as a single object, but each of the four modular speakers can be detached and assigned a different musical part, vocals, drums, bass, and melody, each with its own LED color glowing underneath the grille.

Designer: Geonwoo Kang

The system uses AI to split a track into four stems and send each to a different speaker, so one cube carries the vocal, another the drums, another the bass, and another the melody. The LEDs on each unit glow in a unique color, making it easy to see which part is where. This spatial mapping of sound means the mix becomes something you can see and point at, not just hear as a single stereo image coming from two speakers.

The baton-shaped controller is the main interface. In Maestro Mode, you twist a dial to enter a state where the default buttons are locked, zand you control speakers by pointing and gesturing. A quick left-right wave skips tracks, a slow up-down motion adjusts volume with LED brightness as feedback, and drawing a circle pauses or resumes playback, with all LEDs turning off or on to confirm what just happened.

Remote Control Mode lets the same baton behave more like a traditional remote. You still point it at a specific speaker, but now you press buttons instead of waving. This lets you fine-tune or mute individual units without the full theatricality of Maestro Mode. The two modes together acknowledge that sometimes you want to perform, and sometimes you just want to nudge the volume down on the drums without getting up.

The main speaker takes its form from an orchestra podium and acts as the system’s brain. It handles the main bass that anchors the center and runs the AI that assigns parts to each satellite. A small display shows the current mode, battery levels, and which part each speaker is playing, so you can glance down and see the state of your orchestra without opening an app.

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Sound Maestro pokes at the idea that home audio can be more than invisible boxes and playlists. By giving each part of a song its own physical presence and letting you conduct with a baton instead of a touchscreen, it makes listening into a small performance. Whether or not you want to wave a stick in your living room, the idea that a speaker system could ask you to point, gesture, and conduct instead of just pressing play feels like a surprisingly theatrical take on what modular audio might become.

The post Sound Maestro Splits Songs Into 4 Speakers You Conduct With a Baton first appeared on Yanko Design.

This Footbridge Has 3 Paths That Rise and Fall Through Steel Waves

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Most pedestrian bridges are neutral pieces of infrastructure, straight spans with railings that get you from one side of a road to the other. A few projects treat bridges as public art, but often as surface decoration rather than structural idea. The Wave Formed Footbridge is a proposal that starts from movement itself, imagining people as waves that literally reshape the bridge as they cross it.

The concept visualizes people walking across the bridge and, in doing so, forming waves of energy that could conceptually deform the structure in space and time. In this case, three people walking on three different paths are imagined as three overlapping waveforms, and those waves are frozen at the center of the span to become the model for the final steel geometry. The bridge becomes a physical record of motion before anyone has even stepped on it.

Designer: Michael Jantzen

The basic layout uses four primary steel channels running the length of the bridge, each deformed into a different wave shape at mid-span, and three separate red paths weaving through them. The two outer paths curve up where the channels distort into waveforms, while the center path curves down. The result is a multi-level crossing where pedestrians can choose to crest over the waves or dip into them, experiencing the same structure in different ways.

As you reach the middle, the outer paths rise into gentle hills that give you a higher vantage point over the highway, while the center path drops into a kind of canyon formed by the looping steel ribbons. Openings in the waves frame views of sky and landscape, and the red deck threads through peaks and troughs, making the act of crossing feel more like moving through a sculptural field than walking a straight line across a gap.

From the driver’s perspective, the underside of the bridge becomes the main event. The four channels loop up and down, casting complex shadows and creating a silhouette that looks like a waveform drawn in steel. As you pass underneath, the bridge acts as a gateway or landmark, not just a slab overhead. It is meant to function as a tourist attraction for the city as much as a safe way to cross a two-lane highway.

The Wave Formed Footbridge proposes that a pedestrian bridge can be a physical record of movement, a wave of steel shaped by the imagined footsteps of those who cross it. Instead of treating people as loads on a diagram, it treats them as the authors of the form. The highway crossing stops being a simple gap to span and starts being a chance to turn everyday movement into something sculptural, visible from both above and below.

The post This Footbridge Has 3 Paths That Rise and Fall Through Steel Waves first appeared on Yanko Design.

Rotating Kitchen Cubes Make Wasting Food Actually Impossible

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We’ve all been there. You buy fresh produce with the best intentions, tuck it away in the fridge or pantry, and then discover a wilted mess two weeks later. It’s frustrating, wasteful, and honestly, it happens way more often than we’d like to admit. But what if your storage system actually worked with you instead of against you?

Enter Saveit, a modular food storage concept by designer Yerin Kim that’s making me rethink everything about how we organize our kitchens. At first glance, it looks like something straight out of a design museum with its sleek metal boxes, perforated panels, and pops of color. But the real magic happens when you actually use it.

Designer: Yerin Kim

The system is built around a brilliantly simple idea: rotating storage that follows the FIFO principle (first in, first out). You know how grocery stores stock their shelves so older items move to the front? That’s exactly what Saveit does for your home. The modules feature these clever two-way rotating structures, so when you add new food from one side, the older items naturally move toward the exit point. No more mystery tomatoes rotting in the back of your produce drawer.

What makes this system feel genuinely different is how modular and adaptable it is. The stackable metal units can be configured in countless ways, kind of like edible Tetris. Need more space for root vegetables this week? Rearrange. Stocking up on citrus? Adjust accordingly. The colored sliding trays and hanging hooks accommodate everything from loose potatoes to bunches of bananas, and each component is designed to maximize airflow through those perforated backs, keeping produce fresher longer.

The aesthetic is industrial meets playful, with that brushed metal finish that feels both serious and approachable. Those bright red, green, blue, and yellow accents aren’t just for looks either. They help you quickly identify different food categories or rotation systems at a glance. It’s functional design that doesn’t sacrifice personality.

But here’s what really sold me on this concept: every single part slides out and pops into the dishwasher. Anyone who’s ever tried to clean a traditional produce basket or drawer knows that trapped dirt and sticky residue situation. Saveit eliminates that headache entirely. The removable design means you can actually keep your storage clean without contortionist-level flexibility or a dedicated scrub brush.

The environmental angle here is significant too. Food waste is a massive problem. We’re talking about roughly a third of all food produced globally ending up in the trash, which contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and represents billions of dollars thrown away annually. While Saveit won’t solve food waste entirely, it tackles one of the root causes: poor visibility and organization at home. When you can actually see what you have and the system naturally prioritizes older items, you’re far more likely to use everything before it goes bad. There’s something refreshing about design that solves real problems without overcomplicating things. Saveit doesn’t require an app, doesn’t need to be plugged in, and doesn’t come with a subscription service. It’s just smart, thoughtful design applied to an everyday challenge. The kind of thing that makes you wonder why storage hasn’t worked this way all along.

Yerin Kim’s creation sits at this interesting intersection of sustainability, functionality, and visual appeal that feels very now. It’s the type of design that tech enthusiasts appreciate for its systematic approach, that eco-conscious consumers love for its waste-reduction potential, and that design lovers simply want to display on their countertops. It transforms a mundane task (food storage) into something that actually feels considered and intentional. Whether Saveit moves from concept to production remains to be seen, but it represents a shift in how we think about kitchen organization. Storage shouldn’t be something you work around. It should work for you, making sustainable choices easier and more intuitive. And if it looks this good while doing it? Even better.

The post Rotating Kitchen Cubes Make Wasting Food Actually Impossible first appeared on Yanko Design.

Rotating Kitchen Cubes Make Wasting Food Actually Impossible

Posted on by

We’ve all been there. You buy fresh produce with the best intentions, tuck it away in the fridge or pantry, and then discover a wilted mess two weeks later. It’s frustrating, wasteful, and honestly, it happens way more often than we’d like to admit. But what if your storage system actually worked with you instead of against you?

Enter Saveit, a modular food storage concept by designer Yerin Kim that’s making me rethink everything about how we organize our kitchens. At first glance, it looks like something straight out of a design museum with its sleek metal boxes, perforated panels, and pops of color. But the real magic happens when you actually use it.

Designer: Yerin Kim

The system is built around a brilliantly simple idea: rotating storage that follows the FIFO principle (first in, first out). You know how grocery stores stock their shelves so older items move to the front? That’s exactly what Saveit does for your home. The modules feature these clever two-way rotating structures, so when you add new food from one side, the older items naturally move toward the exit point. No more mystery tomatoes rotting in the back of your produce drawer.

What makes this system feel genuinely different is how modular and adaptable it is. The stackable metal units can be configured in countless ways, kind of like edible Tetris. Need more space for root vegetables this week? Rearrange. Stocking up on citrus? Adjust accordingly. The colored sliding trays and hanging hooks accommodate everything from loose potatoes to bunches of bananas, and each component is designed to maximize airflow through those perforated backs, keeping produce fresher longer.

The aesthetic is industrial meets playful, with that brushed metal finish that feels both serious and approachable. Those bright red, green, blue, and yellow accents aren’t just for looks either. They help you quickly identify different food categories or rotation systems at a glance. It’s functional design that doesn’t sacrifice personality.

But here’s what really sold me on this concept: every single part slides out and pops into the dishwasher. Anyone who’s ever tried to clean a traditional produce basket or drawer knows that trapped dirt and sticky residue situation. Saveit eliminates that headache entirely. The removable design means you can actually keep your storage clean without contortionist-level flexibility or a dedicated scrub brush.

The environmental angle here is significant too. Food waste is a massive problem. We’re talking about roughly a third of all food produced globally ending up in the trash, which contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and represents billions of dollars thrown away annually. While Saveit won’t solve food waste entirely, it tackles one of the root causes: poor visibility and organization at home. When you can actually see what you have and the system naturally prioritizes older items, you’re far more likely to use everything before it goes bad. There’s something refreshing about design that solves real problems without overcomplicating things. Saveit doesn’t require an app, doesn’t need to be plugged in, and doesn’t come with a subscription service. It’s just smart, thoughtful design applied to an everyday challenge. The kind of thing that makes you wonder why storage hasn’t worked this way all along.

Yerin Kim’s creation sits at this interesting intersection of sustainability, functionality, and visual appeal that feels very now. It’s the type of design that tech enthusiasts appreciate for its systematic approach, that eco-conscious consumers love for its waste-reduction potential, and that design lovers simply want to display on their countertops. It transforms a mundane task (food storage) into something that actually feels considered and intentional. Whether Saveit moves from concept to production remains to be seen, but it represents a shift in how we think about kitchen organization. Storage shouldn’t be something you work around. It should work for you, making sustainable choices easier and more intuitive. And if it looks this good while doing it? Even better.

The post Rotating Kitchen Cubes Make Wasting Food Actually Impossible first appeared on Yanko Design.

This Doughnut Chair Has One Bite Missing, and That’s Your Seat

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Most chairs are clearly assembled objects, with legs, a seat, and a backrest, all stacked and joined together. Sculptural lounge pieces sometimes flip that script and feel more like a single volume that has been carved or sliced. Chunk is a concept that leans into that second approach, imagining seating as a doughnut with a bite taken out rather than a frame with cushions bolted on, treating furniture as something you edit rather than assemble.

The designer imagined a chair that looks like a doughnut with a chunk removed. The missing piece becomes the seat and the opening for the backrest, while the rest of the ring wraps around in a continuous loop. The concept is less about novelty and more about seeing how far a single looping form can be pushed into something you can actually sit in, where the absence of material defines the place for the body.

Designer: Liam de la Bedoyere

Both the seat and backrest share the same oval cross-section, but as the base curves up to become the backrest, that oval quietly swaps its length and width. It is wide and low where you sit, then gradually becomes tall and narrow as it rises behind you. The section never breaks; it just morphs along the path, which gives the chair a sense of motion even when it is still and empty.

The “bite” creates a bowl-like seat that cradles the hips and thighs, while the rising loop offers a relaxed backrest rather than a rigid upright. The proportions suggest a low, lounge-style posture, closer to a reading chair or a corner piece in a living room than a dining chair. The continuous curve encourages you to lean back and sink in, not perch on the edge ready to stand again.

A near-cylindrical form can look like it might roll away, but the geometry and internal structure are tuned to keep the center of gravity low and slightly behind the seat. The base is subtly flattened, and a denser core at the bottom would keep it from tipping forward when someone leans back. The result is a chair that looks precarious from some angles but behaves like a grounded lounge piece once you sit.

The monolithic upholstery, a textured fabric that wraps the entire volume without obvious breaks, reinforces the idea of a single chunk of material. The form reads differently as you move around it, sometimes like a shell, sometimes like a curled leaf, sometimes like a coiled creature. It is the kind of chair that anchors a corner or gallery-like space, inviting you to walk around it before you decide to sit down and settle in.

Chunk uses subtraction as its main design move, starting from a complete ring and then removing just enough to create a place for the body. For a category that often defaults to adding parts, there is something satisfying about a chair that feels like it has been edited down to a single, looping gesture, with one decisive bite turning an abstract volume into a place to rest, read, or just sink into for a while.

The post This Doughnut Chair Has One Bite Missing, and That’s Your Seat first appeared on Yanko Design.

When Your Desk Lamp Becomes Your Study Partner: Check Mate

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We’ve all been there. You’re three hours into a study session, hunched over your desk with tabs multiplying like rabbits, your phone buzzing with notifications, and that nagging feeling that you’re not actually retaining anything. Digital learning promised us flexibility and endless resources, but sometimes it feels more like drowning in information while learning nothing at all.

A new concept design called Check Mate is tackling this exact problem, and it’s making waves in the design community for all the right reasons. Created by a team of seven designers (Dongkyun Kim, Jaeryeon Lee, Eojin Jeon, Noey, Jaeyeon Lee, Jagyeong Baek, and Jimin Yeo), this concept reimagines what a study companion could look like if we actually designed for how people learn in the digital age. While you can’t buy it yet, the ideas behind it are definitely worth paying attention to.

Designers: Dongkyun Kim, Jaeryeon Lee, Eojin Jeon, Noey, Jaeyeon Lee, Jagyeong Baek, Jimin Yeo

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The name itself is clever. “Check Mate” borrows from chess, evoking that decisive moment of victory, but it’s also wonderfully literal. This concept envisions a device that genuinely acts as your learning mate, checking in on your progress and helping you actually achieve those goals instead of just feeling busy. The design language speaks to this dual nature with a clean, minimalist aesthetic in soft gray tones, punctuated by shots of energizing yellow that feel like highlighting the important bits in a textbook.

What makes this concept compelling is that the designers didn’t just jump to solutions. They actually did their homework (pun intended) by researching what digital learners need and where current methods fall short. Their field research identified some uncomfortable truths: digital learning can create passive attitudes, make us susceptible to misinformation, and ironically, despite all our access to information, contribute to declining literacy levels. We’re getting really good at searching and depending on AI, but are we actually learning?

The proposed device looks deceptively simple. At first glance, it’s an elegant desk lamp with an adjustable arm and a cylindrical head wrapped in fabric, giving it a softer, more approachable vibe than your typical tech gadget. But the concept goes deeper, packing some serious multitasking capabilities into that minimal form. The lamp head would rotate and adjust, there appears to be a projection or camera system integrated into the design, and the base doubles as a wireless charging pad. Those yellow accents aren’t just for looks either, they’re envisioned as tactile interaction points that make the technology feel more human and less intimidating.

Where Check Mate really shines as a concept is in how it reimagines the learning experience. The visualization shows it functioning as a projection device that could display educational content, video calls with instructors, or interactive annotations directly onto your workspace or wall. Imagine highlighting text on actual paper and having that integrate with your digital notes, or being able to project your screen large enough to actually see what you’re working on without squinting at a laptop.

The concept addresses one of digital learning’s biggest weaknesses: that narrow, passive relationship we have with our screens. By proposing a way to bring information into your physical space and allowing for more natural interaction, it suggests learning could feel less like staring into the void and more like an active, engaging process. You wouldn’t just be consuming content, you’d be working with it in a space that feels comfortable and personal.

The packaging design in the concept presentation deserves a mention too. Everything is shown organized in a beautifully designed kit with that signature yellow and gray color scheme. It’s the kind of unboxing experience that would make you feel like you’re opening something important, not just another gadget. There’s a psychological element to that. When something looks and feels intentional, we treat it more seriously. As a concept, Check Mate represents the kind of forward thinking we need more of in the education technology space. It pushes conversations forward about how we should be designing for learning, how technology could support rather than distract, and what the future of education might actually look like when we stop thinking about it as just “Zoom, but make it fancier.”

The reality is that digital learning isn’t going anywhere. Remote work, online courses, and hybrid education models are here to stay. So maybe concepts like Check Mate can inspire the tools we actually need, devices designed for this reality instead of just adapting what we already have. The best part? It suggests that the answer isn’t more screens or more apps, it’s smarter integration of digital and physical spaces, and technology that adapts to how we naturally learn rather than forcing us to adapt to it.

The post When Your Desk Lamp Becomes Your Study Partner: Check Mate first appeared on Yanko Design.