Dubbed the Paperang Q1, this portable ‘vocabulary card’ works better than Duolingo, allowing you to take quizzes, access flash cards, and quickly pick up new phrases. It’s smaller than a Kindle, and does a much better job of teaching you a new language than those translator apps that only focus on short-term gains. And unlike other e-ink readers, this comes with a speaker too, enabling audio-based learning.
The Paperang Q1 comes with a 3.9-inch e-ink display with touch input, along with a home button on the side and a record button on the top. Its staggered design gives it a distinct aesthetic that makes it instantly recognizable, with its quadrilateral forms intersecting each other to give you an overall rectangle that still feels different. Except, what you’d expect to be a camera bump is, in fact, the speaker unit that pumps out rich audio. The bump also gives your fingers a place to rest as you’re holding the device.
The Paperang Q1’s simplistic design opens it up to a lot of visual exploration. The two forms can be paired in distinct colors, creating a fun and funky palette. The device itself comes in black and white variants, although it does feature replaceable metal backplates that add a touch of color to the overall gadget, allowing users to choose between classic or vibrant color schemes.
Faucets play an integral role in our daily lives, serving as the gateway to clean water and facilitating various tasks, from washing hands to cooking and cleaning. The importance of improving faucet technology and quality cannot be understated. As a fundamental fixture in our homes, faucets should offer not only functionality but also efficiency, durability, and convenience. Introducing the Desliz faucet, a game-changing innovation that combines sleek design with intuitive functionality.
Desliz makes a mark with its slide rail and dual water patterns, this faucet offers a seamless integration of two different water experiences in one elegant unit. But that’s not all – the Desliz faucet comes with a revolutionary rotatable Click-Knob, complete with a fine non-slip texture, making it a breeze to adjust the water flow and temperature. Plus, a temperature-indicating ring in red and blue ensures users never suffer from scalding surprises. Available in silver and matte black finishes, the Desliz faucet sets a new standard for modern water enjoyment.
Designed with users’ behaviors in mind, the Desliz faucet tackles the challenges of a busy kitchen. Just imagine having greasy hands while preparing a mouthwatering meal for your loved ones – the frustration of struggling with a traditional knob is a thing of the past. With the rotatable Click-Knob seamlessly integrated into the faucet body, adjusting the water flow and temperature becomes effortless. The non-slip texture ensures a precise grip, promoting water conservation with ease. Additionally, the Slide Rail extends its reach, making it a breeze to clean larger items. All these features are elegantly united within a single, minimalist design.
Accessibility is key, and the Desliz faucet excels in providing effortless access to the switch. The Click-Knob eliminates the need for additional attachments, seamlessly blending into the faucet’s sleek profile. Its non-slip texture enables users to adjust the water flow and temperature with precision, promoting water-saving habits. The Slide Rail’s extension facilitates reaching distant spots, perfect for washing vegetables or handling bulky objects. Furthermore, a temperature-indicating ring assists users in distinguishing between hot and cold water, adding an extra layer of convenience. Whether for everyday use or catering to accessibility needs, the Desliz faucet is a versatile choice that complements any kitchen.
The design of the Desliz faucet is inspired by users’ instincts, aiming to solve common pain points related to switches, water patterns, and indicators. Extensive usability scenarios and testing informed its development, incorporating familiar gestures such as turning a tap and adjusting water flow. The design team meticulously considered users’ expectations regarding common water patterns and the ability to discern between hot and cold water. Balancing functionality and aesthetics, the Desliz faucet features a sleek aluminum construction, elevating the visual appeal while ensuring a durable product. With its innovative and optimized water enjoyment, the Desliz faucet enhances users’ daily lives.
In an era dominated by digital solutions, our brand seeks to deliver practical yet visually appealing designs. The Desliz faucet embodies the essence of seamless integration, combining the Click-Knob switch and Slide Rail in a way that stands out from the market. It is driven by the goal of providing innovative and optimized water experiences for users’ everyday lives. Today, there is undeniable evidence that meeting customers’ needs creates exceptional value. The Desliz faucet not only excels in functionality but also sets our brand apart. It embodies profitable qualities that establish a unique selling proposition, catering to the diverse preferences of modern consumers.
Embrace the future of water enjoyment with the Desliz faucet. Experience the perfect harmony of form and function, revolutionizing your kitchen one drop at a time.
The minute you sit and dissect our world and how much of it relies on an innate visual understanding of things, is the minute you realize how unfriendly the world is for the visually impaired. Credit cards don’t come with braille markings, and QR codes are innately visual, and require cameras that are controlled visually too… So how would blind people make payments or receive money from friends or family? Technology seldom designs itself for the minority, which is why devices like Shimmer really make a difference. A winner of the iF Design Award, Shimmer is a neck-worn contactless payment terminal that allows visually impaired people to make and accept payments. The device comes with a braille keyboard, an easy-to-activate and user-friendly camera, and a screen that displays a QR code to facilitate accepting payments.
Designer: Hefei LCFC Information Technology
A purpose-built device made especially for the visually impaired, the Shimmer sits around its user’s neck, letting them spend or receive money without needing traditional solutions that aren’t accessible to them. The device comes with a handy design that features a braille keypad on one end, and a screen on the other. A parting line running along the middle allows you to separate the upper and lower halves to reveal a camera too. The camera helps scan QR codes and make payments, while the display shows a QR code of its own while receiving payments. The braille keypad also has a built-in fingerprint scanner to help authenticate payments too, making it easy and secure to use.
“Mobile payment is very popular in Asia, but the current most common method of using a smartphone is not friendly to the blind as it requires screen reading software, which is cumbersome to operate and potentially exposes private data,” say the designers at Hefei LCFC Information Technology. The Shimmer helps these people keep up with the technological requirements of urban life in today’s world, because online payments need to be overwhelmingly inclusive.
The Shimmer makes some really clever design decisions to help the visually impaired stay up-to-date with current technology. For starters, it comes with a beautifully sleek design and a metallic finish that lends the wearer a keen sense of style. The handheld unit of the Shimmer is easy to use, with a braille keyboard and fingerprint sensor that’s virtually foolproof, and a hideaway camera that adds another layer of security. The Shimmer’s band straps around your neck and comes with built-in earphones too, allowing the user to get audio confirmations of payments made or received!
The Shimmer is a Winner of the iF Design Award for the year 2022.
Long before Apple reinvigorated the ‘spatial computing’ industry, while Meta was struggling to popularize consumer-grade VR headsets, Lenovo was hard at work, building the metaverse in its own vision. The ThinkReality VRX is a part of Lenovo’s ThinkPad ecosystem, and is targeted towards using VR (virtual reality) and XR (extended reality) to help enterprises reach their goals. The ThinkReality VRX pokes fun at Meta’s own pitch, highlighting that VR is a little too conceptually powerful to be reduced to playing games like Beat Saber. Instead, Lenovo sees the metaverse as something quite useful, to help people reimagine their workplace, to help train employees, and to help remove the barriers that screens create to usher in an immersive 3D work environment. Given that businesses are much more open to radical change than consumers are (laptops were first designed for businesses, Bluetooth headsets too), Lenovo’s new pitch may be the home run the metaverse really needs.
The ThinkReality VRX is Lenovo’s answer to the enterprise’s VR needs. A headset built specifically for work, productivity, meetings, and training, the ThinkReality VRX fits well into Lenovo’s ThinkPad ecosystem. Starting at $1299, the ThinkReality VRX works as a standalone device as well as plugged into your laptop or desktop for wired use. Think of it as the productivity-focused version of Meta’s Quest Pro headset… without any of Zuckerberg’s dark design pattern and data-grabbing tendencies.
The sleek, all-black design of the VRX resonates beautifully with its serious personality. The device is sleek but not flashy, and has all the features of a cutting-edge VR/XR headset. It’s got 3DoF as well as 6DoF tracking abilities, along with full-color passthrough, so your physical and virtual worlds can seamlessly combine, just like on the Quest Pro or Apple’s upcoming Vision Pro.
6 camera lenses on the front (including two perfectly lined up with your eye placement) help the VRX accurately position you in your space. The headset, relatively light for its category, weighs just 1.76 lbs (marginally heavier than the Meta Quest Pro), and straps to your face rather comfortably, with a tightening knob on the back securing it in position so it doesn’t slip around as you turn your head. On the inside, each of your eyes are treated to a 2280×2280 pixel display with a 90Hz refresh rate, immersing you in crisp, responsive, high-definition visuals.
The headset supports cloud-based rendering solutions like the NVIDIA CloudXR, however, unlike the Quest Pro or Apple Vision, the ThinkReality VRX doesn’t come with eye-tracking abilities. It has 12Gb of RAM as well as 128Gb of built-in storage, runs Android 12, and is powered by the Snapdragon® XR2+ Gen 1. Yes, you also still have handheld controllers with the VRX, although hand-tracking sounds like a software feature that could easily be integrated in the future (just like how this engineer built out a Vision Pro user interface for the Quest Pro device). The headset also comes with WiFi 6E, BlueTooth Low Energy 5.2, a USB 3.1 jack, and a 3.5mm audio input. There’s a battery pack mounted in the rear module, helping easily disperse weight on both sides of the head, but Lenovo hasn’t officially mentioned how long it lasts.
The ThinkReality VRX is currently Lenovo’s flagship offering in the enterprise VR category. Perfect for everything from executive meetings to soft-skill and hard-skill training, the VRX integrates right into your existing workflow, empowering it in the process.
However, Lenovo’s metaverse ambitions don’t just end there. The company’s also been working on hardware like the Glasses T1, a pair of consumer-grade AR glasses that create a massive virtual monitor for your work needs. For Lenovo, the metaverse pivot seems much more thought-out and planned, given their laser-like focus on particular use-cases (like the enterprise) instead of building out powerful hardware and expecting the user-base to just show up. Moreover, the company is also being explicitly clear that its metaverse hardware will be backed by Privacy, Security, and Support – Lenovo’s top priorities for its consumer base.
As we age, our ability to balance and manage everyday tasks can become more challenging. Simple activities that were once effortless can require more effort and the risk of accidents and loss of control increases. For elderly individuals, having support and the knowledge that help is readily available is invaluable. However, in today’s modern world, many elderly people live alone or without immediate assistance. This is where Nobi comes in—a remarkable AI-driven smart lamp that detects, predicts, and prevents incidents, providing a sense of safety and security for the elderly.
Nobi understands the unique needs of the elderly and empowers them to live safe, dignified, and happy lives. Accidents, such as falls resulting in severe injuries, are unfortunately common among the elderly. Nobi acts as a proactive companion, constantly monitoring the surroundings to detect potential dangers and intervene, when necessary, by alarming the designated caregivers for assistance. They can monitor respiration, cough detection, and detect falls even before they occur. By doing so, Nobi ensures that prompt treatment and assistance can be provided to mitigate the impact of accidents.
Elderly individuals often struggle with adapting to new technologies, finding them complex and overwhelming. As younger generations, we have become de facto teachers for our grandparents in the realm of technology. From teaching them how to make phone calls and take pictures to navigate social media, we’ve witnessed their challenges. Nobi, however, breaks the barriers by encouraging the adoption of high-tech care technology that is perceived as difficult to use and intrusive. It not only fulfills their needs but also fosters a genuine desire to embrace them.
Nobi goes beyond its practical functions and seamlessly integrates into any interior with its stylish design. It resembles a conventional lamp rather than a piece of care technology, ensuring it doesn’t disrupt the aesthetics of the living space. Nobi’s discreet presence allows the elderly to feel comfortable and secure without drawing attention to their vulnerabilities.
Like a guardian angel, Nobi diligently stands to watch, providing continuous support and care. Its advanced AI technology enables it to operate around the clock, preventing falls and promptly alerting caregivers in the event of declining health. Nobi’s vigilant presence serves as a reliable companion for the elderly, ensuring they are never alone during crucial moments.
Nobi is a revolutionary AI-driven smart lamp that has redefined care technology for the elderly. By seamlessly blending into the living environment, Nobi offers a sense of safety and security without compromising on style. With its ability to detect, predict, and prevent accidents, Nobi acts as an ever-watchful guardian, ensuring the well-being and independence of the elderly. By embracing Nobi, elderly individuals can lead dignified lives with the knowledge that they are protected and always supported.
When you take a shower in a hotel or an Air BnB, you rarely think about the design of your shower heater. All you care about is that it works and that you figure out how it works. There are a lot of times, at least in my experience, when I just open the shower and wait for the heater to do its thing. And if it doesn’t, then I’ll have to work with a cold shower as I have no patience to tinker with something that might just figuratively (or literally) blow up in my face.
Designer: Sinan Anayurt
This concept for a Hitachi New Shower Heater might be able to solve that heater problem. Not only is it designed to be unobtrusive and simple enough to use, it also aims to bring the simple Japanese aesthetics of minimalism with a priority on safety. And hopefully, it will just give you the right amount of heat that you need without you having to solve complex design problems.
The heater has a central circle which is the main “hearth” and is connected to the power button and the knob that determines how hot or cold the device should give you. The circular form and the convex shape lets the water flow over the heater. It also has a back design that is able to hide the piping details and gives you a slimmer heater that should not get in the way of your other bathroom activities.
The design for the new shower heater also makes sure that it is safe enough for your bathroom since it’s waterproof and will not put you in danger of electrical shock. The designer also says that the production is easy and the heater is slim enough to minimize the materials needed, therefore saving on costs and waste.
Just because you have a visual impairment doesn’t mean you can’t look good! These textured buttons allow the wearers to understand the colors of their clothes simply by touching them. With a little practice and guidance, they can then create color palettes and combinations that allow them to look good and highlight their fashion-forward personality!
Dubbed the HUEPIN, these uniquely designed buttons help the wearer understand what color clothes they’re wearing. All they really have to do is attach/sew the right buttons to the clothes once they’ve been bought. Once the entire wardrobe’s cataloged and color-coordinated, wearers can easily ‘feel colors’ to help them choose their outfits efficiently and tastefully. The HUEPINs come with specific shapes to indicate colors, and have wavy textures to help the wearer understand how bright or faded the color is. Wearers can then create pairings of contrasting colors, monochromes, triads, or a wide variety of other styles. With a little practice and help, visually-impaired wearers can easily dress their best despite their impairments! Rather wonderful, isn’t it??
Designed for third-world countries or places where fire-fighting infrastructure isn’t readily available, the Fire Conqueror helps turn a regular water bottle into a fire-fighting device. All you really need to do is mix vinegar and baking soda into the water to create an effervescent solution that generates CO2, and the Fire Conqueror module lets you spray the solution onto a fire, helping neutralize it.
The Fire Conqueror, a winner of the iF Design Award, was conceptualized by the students of Dalian Minzu University. Fire extinguishers aren’t readily available or accessible in public spaces, even though the presence of one can be the difference between life and death. The Fire Conqueror helps makes fire-fighting materials much more accessible by literally allowing you to turn a regular water bottle into an extinguisher.
The Fire Conqueror snaps onto the top of any standard bottle with a 28mm neck. Screwing onto the top, the device then provides the perfect mechanism to spray the contents of the bottle on command. To use the Fire Conqueror, all you do is add vinegar and baking soda to the water inside the bottle. This generates bubbles containing CO2, which when sprayed onto the fire, can help cut the oxygen supply to the fire and cause it to die down almost instantly. Pressure within the bottle begins building up, and a valve on the Fire Conqueror lets you deploy the contents of the bottle in a focused spray, much like a fire extinguisher.
The Fire Conqueror is a winner of the iF Design Award for the year 2022.
Whether that quarter you throw in the wishing well grants your deepest desires or not, it definitely wreaks havoc on the marine environment. Marine animals can sometimes mistake the coin for food, and there have been thousands of instances of turtles and fish choking to death because of trying to eat a coin. Sounds like a rather morbid trade-off for getting your wish granted, no? The Wishing Feed solves that problem. Made from a marine animal-friendly dried algae material and shaped into coins, the Wishing Feed provide an organic alternative to coins, and can easily be thrown into wells where they naturally disintegrate and become food for water-borne animals. It’s a win-win, really.
Designers: Shengyan Gao, Xiaowen Lai & Jiongjie Wang
It’s customary in a lot of eastern as well as western cultures to toss coins in water bodies as you pray for good luck. Those coins, however, exact a price on the animals that mistake them for food. What Wishing Feed does instead retains the practice but swap out the metal coins for discs made out of dried algal material and other ingredients used in fish food. These discs can be purchased around such wells, fountains, and water bodies, and can be thrown into the water as an alternative to metal coins. When the Wishing Feed is thrown in the water, it naturally breaks apart and ends up feeding the marine ecosystem instead of choking it! Now that’s what I call good luck AND good karma!
The Wishing Feed is a winner of the iF Design Award for the year 2022.
Here’s a fact I definitely didn’t know up until right now. Steering wheels don’t get recycled. They inevitably always end up in landfills, and while almost every part of a car can be stripped for parts, repurposed, refurbished, or recycled, a steering wheel usually isn’t. The ‘Cercle’ changes that. With a design that is both advanced as well as recyclable, the Cercle adopts a circular economy approach to design. It comes with touch-sensitive inputs that bring a cutting-edge experience to your ride… but more importantly, the Cercle can be pulled apart, repaired, and recycled. Internal tech can be swapped out, external housing can be replaced (if broken), all without compromising on the Cercle’s user experience.
Designers: Dominik Bini & Stu Cole
The Cercle upgrades the steering wheel by opting for a sleeker design that gives you haptic touch-based controls right under your fingertips. You’ve got a wheel with a backlit logo in the center, horns on each side, and arrow keys that trigger the indicators.
“More than 20 million vehicles reach the end of life each year in the EU and the US”, say the designers. “With their complex, multi-material construction and integrated controls, Steering wheels defy recycling.”
Designers Dominik and Stu decided that in order to make the wheel more advanced, it had to be more repairable. The Cercle, to that end, has a design that’s easy to disassemble, repair, and refurbish. It’s hard to imagine a single steering wheel being a standard (just the way seatbelts are an unwavering standard), but Cercle was designed for a speculative world where car brands could just opt for a standard steering wheel design that also happened to be repairable, helping reduce landfill waste.
The Cercle is a winner of the iF Design Award for the year 2022.
