More like Gotta Cash ‘Em All, am I right?! Say hello to by far the nerdiest wallet I’ve ever had the pleasure to set my eyes on. Made for clearly Pokémon lovers, this wallet takes inspiration from one of the most crucial gadgets in the Pokémon universe – the PokéDex. Designed to look almost identical to the flip-based device used to identify the Pokémon you see around you, this wallet comes from the mind of Jalonisdead, with slots to hold (and display) your Pokémon cards along with your banknotes.
The wallet comes in a bifold format in that unmistakeable red finish, with a design to match the PokéDex perfectly. When shut, it looks like a red PokéDex waiting to be opened. Flip the lid open and you’re greeted with a card window on the left that you can use to store the card of your choice. The window lines up perfectly with the card’s graphic, making it look like you’ve ‘spotted’ that Pokémon. Meanwhile, faux graphics on the wallet look almost identical to the gadget from the game/series.
There’s space for multiple cards, although the one front-and-center is clearly for a Pokémon card. Two other slots on the right side can be used for payment and I’d cards too – this is a wallet after all. A slot on the top holds banknotes, although I wish there were place for coins too. The unusual shape lends itself perfectly to wallet use, and I’m surprised nobody at Nintendo thought of cashing in on this idea.
Each wallet costs in the ballpark of $56 USD, and ships in authentic Pokémon card-style packaging, along with 4 Pokémon cards in mint condition. Jalonisdead (the maker) isn’t a massive company, so each wallet is made-to-order and probably by hand too. This means the turnaround time for delivery is anywhere up to 2 months, but for a Pokémon aficionado, I’m sure it’s a small price to pay for perhaps what might be the coolest wallet I’ve seen in years!
If Part 1 of this list proved that nostalgia is having a moment, Part 2 is here to show you that 2025 wasn’t only about looking backward. Sure, we are obsessed with what came before, but the best designs this year didn’t just resurrect the past, they remixed it with enough modern intelligence to feel genuinely new. This is where things get interesting: when designers stop treating retro as a costume and start using it as raw material. The result is products that feel familiar enough to trust but fresh enough to justify their existence in a world already drowning in stuff.
So here are the next 10 designs that made 2025 unforgettable. Some lean hard into nostalgia. Others push so far forward they feel like prototypes from 2030. A few manage to do both at once, which might be the most 2025 thing possible. Whether you spent this year glued to design blogs or just trying to keep your head above water, these picks represent the moments when form, function, and cultural timing aligned perfectly. Let’s dig into the second half of what made this year worth paying attention to.
1. Poke-Nade Monster Ball by Takara Tomy & The Pokémon Company
Nostalgia is a fickle mistress! She shows up when you least expect her, whispers about the good old days, and convinces you to spend money on things that have no business existing in 2025. Case in point: Pokemon just dropped the Poke-Nade Monster Ball, which is essentially a Tamagotchi disguised as a Pokéball, and millennials are losing their collective minds over it. This is not groundbreaking technology. This is not solving any real problems. This is pure, weaponized nostalgia, and it is working exactly as intended.
The device takes everything we loved about late-90s virtual pets and wraps it in Pokemon branding so potent you can practically hear the theme song playing. A color LCD screen sits inside a touch-sensitive shell shaped like an actual Pokéball, letting you stroke, tap, and physically interact with your digital companion. Pet it gently and it reacts with happiness. Tap persistently and it falls asleep. The gestures unlock deeper animations as your friendship level grows, which is a clever evolution of the old Tamagotchi button-mashing routine. But let’s be honest, the innovation here is minimal. What they are really selling is the emotional real estate Pokemon and Tamagotchi occupied in our childhoods, repackaged with a slightly better screen and some capacitive touch sensors. And you know what? That is enough. Because nostalgia does not need to innovate. It just needs to remind you of a time when feeding a pixelated creature between math classes felt like the most important responsibility in your life. Pokemon knows this. They counted on it. And judging by how fast these things are selling out, they were absolutely right.
2. Wi-Fi HaLow (with 9.9 mile connectivity) by Morse Micro
And to counteract that, here’s some serious tech innovation from the beginning of the year that grabbed eyeballs. While most brands relied hard on nostalgia, Morse Micro decided to solve a problem that has plagued connectivity since WiFi was invented: range. The Wi-Fi HaLow system delivers connectivity across a 9.9-mile radius using sub-GHz radio waves, which means it can punch through walls, penetrate obstacles, and maintain signal strength over distances that would make standard Wi-Fi routers give up and go home. Traditional Wi-Fi operates on crowded high-frequency bands that struggle beyond a few dozen meters and get blocked by anything denser than drywall. HaLow operates at lower frequencies with significantly better propagation characteristics, turning your home network into something closer to a neighborhood utility than a room-specific convenience.
The implications go way beyond streaming Netflix from your driveway. You could theoretically connect to your home network from the grocery store, maintain smart home control from miles away, or create IoT networks that span entire campuses without repeaters or mesh nodes cluttering every hallway. Industrial applications become viable where they were previously impossible, rural connectivity suddenly looks feasible without expensive cellular infrastructure, and the whole concept of what a local network means gets redefined. This is not retro. This is not nostalgic. This is pure forward momentum, the kind of innovation that makes you wonder why we spent decades optimizing the wrong frequencies when the solution was sitting in a less congested part of the spectrum the whole time. If 2025 taught us anything, it is that sometimes the best way forward has nothing to do with where we have been.
3. Nintendo Wii U Revival by Brenden Sullivan
The Wii U was Nintendo’s most spectacular failure in recent memory, a console so confusing in its messaging and underwhelming in its execution that even hardcore fans pretend it never happened. Yet here comes a concept that asks: what if we took the one genuinely clever idea from the Wii U, the gamepad with the built-in screen, and rebuilt it for the Switch 2 era? This Wii U revival concept imagines a companion device that pairs with Nintendo’s next console, offering dual-screen gameplay, touch controls, and the asymmetric multiplayer experiences that made the Wii U interesting for about five minutes before everyone forgot it existed. It is nostalgia for hardware that barely had time to build nostalgia in the first place, which makes it either brilliantly contrarian or deeply misguided depending on how charitable you are feeling.
What makes this concept work as a 2025 artifact is that it refuses to let a good idea die just because the original execution flopped. The Wii U’s tablet controller was ahead of its time in some ways and catastrophically behind in others, but the core premise, that asymmetric information and split-screen interactions could create new gameplay dynamics, never got a fair shot. This concept takes that kernel and strips away everything that made the original clunky: the limited range, the single-controller restriction, the confusion about whether it was a handheld or a console accessory. By positioning it as an optional sidekick to the Switch 2 rather than the main event, it fixes the branding disaster while keeping the innovation. It is nostalgia weaponized correctly, not as pure recreation but as salvage operation, pulling the worthwhile parts from the wreckage and giving them a second chance in a context that might actually appreciate them.
4. No.1/1000 Titanium Fractal Vise by Titaner
Most tools are designed to disappear into workshops, utilitarian objects that do their job without demanding attention. Titaner’s titanium fractal vise does the opposite. It announces itself as both precision instrument and sculptural object, with a body machined from solid titanium and a fractal pattern that serves actual structural purposes rather than just looking cool. The geometry distributes clamping force efficiently while reducing material weight, which means the mathematical beauty is not decorative, it is load-bearing. Limited to a small production run, each vise is CNC-machined to tolerances that make it as much a collector’s item as a working tool, the kind of thing that sits on a workbench and makes visitors ask questions before they realize it actually functions.
What makes this a 2025 design rather than just expensive engineering porn is the way it represents a larger shift in how we think about tools and objects. We are moving past the idea that functional items need to be aesthetically neutral, that beauty and utility occupy separate categories. This vise proves you can have museum-grade craftsmanship in something designed to grip metal and take abuse. It is the intersection of maker culture, precision manufacturing, and the growing appreciation for objects that justify their cost through both performance and presence. There is no nostalgia here, no retro callback, just an argument that everyday tools can be extraordinary if we stop accepting mediocrity as the baseline. It is innovation in the form of asking why more things are not built this well, and then actually building one to prove the point.
5. WP200 Pro Modular Smartphone by OUKITEL
Modular smartphones have been promised, prototyped, and abandoned so many times that most people stopped believing they would ever work. Then the rugged WP200 Pro from OUKITEL shows up with a detachable display that does not just disconnect, it transforms into entirely different devices. The screen pulls away from the phone body and can be reconfigured as either a smartwatch strapped to your wrist or an earbud clipped to your ear. The phone itself continues functioning with a secondary display underneath, so you are not sacrificing core functionality when you repurpose the main screen. It is the kind of absurdly ambitious design that sounds like vaporware until you see the mechanical hinges and magnetic connections that make it plausible.
This is innovation trying to solve a problem nobody asked for but might actually appreciate once it exists: the fact that we carry multiple screens doing similar jobs when one good screen could rotate between contexts. Why own a phone, smartwatch, and wireless earbuds when one modular system could cover all three? The rugged construction suggests this is built for field work, outdoor use, or situations where carrying multiple fragile devices makes no sense. It is the opposite of nostalgia, there is no retro aesthetic here, no callback to simpler times, just aggressive forward-thinking that asks whether our current device ecosystem is as optimized as we assume. Whether it ever ships is anyone’s guess, but as a statement of intent, it proves that some designers are still more interested in what comes next than what came before.
6. Kangourou Tiny Home by Quadrapol
Tiny homes have been sold as this romantic solution to housing affordability and minimalist living, but they come with one universal design flaw that nobody wants to admit: climbing a ladder to your bed every night gets old fast. Especially if you have kids, aging parents, mobility issues, or just a baseline desire to not break your neck at 3am during a bathroom trip. This family-friendly tiny home named Kangourou redesigns the entire layout to put every sleeping space on the ground floor, which sounds simple until you realize how much spatial gymnastics that requires in a structure measuring under 400 square feet. The designers pulled it off using sliding partitions, convertible furniture, and clever vertical storage that keeps the ceiling height usable without forcing anyone to sleep in what amounts to an attic crawlspace.
What makes this relevant to 2025 is that it represents tiny home design finally maturing past the Instagram aesthetic phase. For years, tiny homes prioritized looking good in photos over actually functioning as long-term residences, which is why so many ended up as glorified vacation rentals rather than permanent housing solutions. This design prioritizes livability, accessibility, and the reality that families need private sleeping spaces that do not require ladder proficiency. It is not flashy. It is not trying to reinvent architecture. It is just solving a known problem with enough intelligence that it stops being a problem, which might be the most underrated form of innovation. If the tiny home movement wants to be taken seriously as housing rather than lifestyle content, this is the direction it needs to go: less emphasis on clever lofts, more focus on whether you would actually want to live there past the honeymoon phase.
7. Pexar Starlight 15.6″ Picture Frame by Lexar
Wizarding photographs in Harry Potter had one feature that always felt unfair: they moved, waved back, captured the full motion of a moment instead of freezing it into stillness. Muggles have been trying to close that gap ever since, and digital picture frames are basically our best attempt at making photos feel alive without actual magic. The Pexar Starlight takes that idea and adds ambient backlighting, turning a 15.6-inch display into something that sits between traditional frame and mood lighting. Photos cycle through with adjustable brightness that shifts based on time of day, so your memories glow softly in the evening and stay crisp during daylight hours. It is designed to blend into home decor rather than scream “tech gadget,” which is harder than it sounds when you are essentially mounting a screen on the wall.
What separates this from the dozens of other digital frames cluttering the market is the execution of details most brands ignore. The matte finish reduces glare without killing color vibrancy. The frame itself comes in multiple finishes so it does not look like every other black-bezeled rectangle. Setup happens through a companion app that actually works instead of requiring a computer science degree to navigate, and photo uploads can be automated from cloud storage so you are not manually curating every week. The backlight feature is the real differentiator, creating depth and warmth that makes photos feel more like displayed art than screensaver content. It is not trying to replace your phone’s photo library. It is trying to give your best shots the kind of presence they deserve, somewhere between nostalgia object and functional decor, which is exactly where digital frames should have been aiming all along.
8. CAMIO Wearable by BQEYZ
Meta’s smart glasses cost several hundred dollars and lock you into their ecosystem, their frames, their design language, and their gradual feature rollout that always feels like paying for a beta test. Meet CAMIO, a $79 snap-on module from an upstart competitor that takes a different approach: it clips onto any pair of glasses you already own and turns them into recording devices with a tiny camera, built-in storage, and wireless connectivity. You keep your prescription lenses, your favorite frame style, your existing investment in eyewear. The module just adds the capture functionality without forcing you to replace everything. It records video, snaps photos, and syncs to your phone over Bluetooth, handling the basics without trying to be a full augmented reality platform or AI assistant.
The genius here is recognizing that most people do not want to replace their glasses, they just want their glasses to do more. Meta’s approach requires buying into their hardware completely, which is a tough sell when you have frames you like or prescriptions that need specific lenses. This module treats smart features as an add-on rather than a replacement, which dramatically lowers the barrier to entry both financially and practically. It is not going to match Meta’s polish or integration depth, but it does not need to. It just needs to capture moments hands-free and stay out of the way when you are not using it. For seventy-nine dollars, that is a value proposition that makes sense in a way premium smart glasses still struggle to justify. Sometimes the best innovation is not building something entirely new, it is building something that works with what people already have.
9. Small House On A Corner Lot by KOMINORU Design
Tokyo real estate operates on a completely different logic than most cities. Space is so expensive and scarce that architects have spent decades perfecting the art of making tiny footprints feel livable, even generous. This Japanese tiny home takes those spatial compression techniques and pushes them further, creating a dwelling that maximizes every cubic inch without feeling claustrophobic or compromised. The design uses vertical layering, multifunctional furniture, and strategic transparency to make a structure barely wider than a parking space feel like a complete home rather than an elaborate closet with plumbing.
What sets this apart from typical tiny home design is the cultural context. Japanese architecture has been optimizing small spaces for centuries, long before minimalism became a lifestyle trend or tiny homes became YouTube content. This design pulls from that tradition: sliding shoji-inspired partitions that reconfigure rooms on demand, sunken floors that create separation without walls, storage integrated into every surface so nothing feels like dead space. Natural light floods in through carefully positioned windows that also provide ventilation and visual connection to the exterior. The result is a home that feels intentional rather than constrained, where every design choice serves multiple purposes and nothing exists just for show. It is a masterclass in efficiency that does not sacrifice comfort, proving that small spaces stop being a limitation once you design specifically for them instead of trying to cram traditional layouts into compressed square footage. If urban density is the future, this is the blueprint for making it actually desirable.
10. Saros Z70 by Roborock
Robot vacuums have gotten really good at one thing: vacuuming. They map your floors, avoid obstacles, empty themselves, and generally handle the task they were designed for with increasing competence. But they have always had one glaring limitation: if there is a sock on the floor, a charging cable, a kid’s toy, anything that is not flat dirt or debris, the vacuum just routes around it or gets tangled and calls for help. The Roborock Saros Z70 fixes this with the most obvious solution nobody thought to mass-produce until now: it adds a robotic arm. A literal articulated arm that extends from the vacuum’s body, grabs objects off the floor, and moves them out of the way so it can continue cleaning underneath. Socks, shoes, small towels, cables, anything under a certain weight gets picked up and relocated to a designated drop zone.
This is innovation that feels overdue the moment you see it. We have had the mechanical capability to build grabber arms into consumer robots for years, but nobody committed to the engineering challenge until Roborock decided the robot vacuum category had gotten boring enough to need disruption. The arm uses vision recognition to identify objects, assess their weight and shape, and determine whether they are safe to grab, which prevents it from trying to lift furniture or drag your laptop across the room. It is not perfect, weight limits and object recognition will have edge cases, but it represents a fundamental expansion of what a cleaning robot can do. Instead of just reacting to obstacles, it actively manipulates its environment to complete its job. That is a step change in capability that makes every previous robot vacuum feel like it was solving only half the problem. If this actually ships at a reasonable price point and the arm proves reliable, it will instantly make the entire existing market feel outdated, which is exactly what genuine innovation is supposed to do.
I read somewhere that Nostalgia sells harder than Innovation and it really made me do a double-take. Does it make sense? Well, not really, considering how fast things are progressing on the robotics and AI front – but here’s where I’d like to believe that statement rings true. Take a look at culture – old music is in again, Taylor’s new album is an homage to the old. Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk made his first stage appearance in nearly a decade. What about movies, you ask? They’re shooting the next Shrek film, Robert Downy Jr. is back at Marvel, and heck, Shia LaBoeuf just announced his return to Transformers. Tech is playing the retro game very well too, whether it’s reissuing of old-style hardware, emulators, or even trends like transparency that remind us of the Nintendo GBA and the iMac G3. The grand point I’m making here, is that this last year has been an absolute pendulum, swinging between extremes, aesthetic styles, ideologies, and eras.
So we zeroed down to 20 designs (spread across two articles) that represent what 2025 gave us. These are the first half of our top picks from the year, gathering designs that we as editors loved, but also taking you, the reader into account. After all, we don’t write in a vacuum. We try to find designs and tech that genuinely impress or inspire you, and if you’ve been spending 2025 doing a bunch of other things (like surviving) apart from reading Yanko Design, here are 10 handpicked (yes, I picked them myself!) designs that encapsulate the BEST of 2025. Stay tuned for part 2!
1. Google Pixel Headphones by Sidhant Patnaik
Sometimes concept renders accomplish more than actual products ever could. Designer Sidhant Patnaik’s Google Pixel Headphones exist only as pixels and Photoshop layers, yet they have sparked more genuine excitement than most real hardware launches Google has executed in years. The design borrows visual cues from the Pixel phone lineup, clean geometric forms, two-tone color blocking, subtle branding, while integrating Gemini AI as a core feature rather than an afterthought. Imagined controls include gesture-based interactions, seamless Pixel ecosystem integration, and the kind of ambient intelligence that Google keeps promising but rarely delivers in satisfying ways. It looks credible enough that people keep asking where to buy it, which is both flattering to the designer and damning to Google’s actual product strategy.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth this concept exposes: Google has all the pieces to dominate the premium headphone market but refuses to assemble them. They own best-in-class voice recognition, industry-leading AI through Gemini, deep Android integration, and more audio patents than most people realize. Apple charges $550 for AirPods Max and can barely keep them in stock. Nothing launched Headphone (1) at $299 and sold out immediately despite being a first-generation product from a startup. Meanwhile Google sells Pixel Buds that nobody talks about and leaves the over-ear category completely vacant. The demand is screaming at them through every comment section under this concept. When a render generates this much enthusiasm, it stops being fantasy and starts being a market signal Google is choosing to ignore.
2. Concept Plumage by Jet Weng
One of the ‘best’ designs of 2025 is actually from nearly 13 years ago! Isn’t that insane?! But that’s how you define ‘ahead of its time’, I guess. Designed by Jet Weng, this absolutely genius keyboard design solves the modern-day smartphone’s BIGGEST problem – the fact that touchscreen keyboards still suck. Concept Plumage is a flip-case that integrates a full QWERTY keyboard into the back of your phone’s protective cover. When you need to type something longer than a text message, you flip the case around to reveal physical keys that give you actual tactile feedback. When you’re done, it folds back flush against the phone, adding virtually no bulk to your everyday carry. The whole system lives within the footprint of a standard phone case, which means you get BlackBerry-level typing precision without sacrificing the sleekness of modern smartphone design.
What makes this concept so painfully relevant in 2025 is that we are still dealing with the same frustrations Weng identified over a decade ago. Autocorrect still mangles sentences. Thumbs still obscure half the screen. Typing anything substantial on glass remains an exercise in patience and typo correction. The design world spent years convincing us that we would eventually master touchscreen typing, that our muscle memory would adapt, that software would get smarter. Instead, we just learned to accept mediocrity. Plumage refused that compromise, offering a solution that feels both retro and futuristic, like someone time-traveled from 2013 with the one idea we should have mass-produced immediately.
3. Public Library by Thilina Liyanage
Some libraries try to attract bookworms. This one commits to the metaphor so completely that walking inside feels like stepping between pages. Thilina Liyanage’s Public Library‘s exterior mimics an open book mid-read, with two curved structures meeting at a spine, their forms arching upward like paper caught in a breeze. Floor-to-ceiling glass panels stretch across both halves, flooding the interior with natural light that shifts throughout the day, casting reading nooks into soft afternoon glow or sharp morning clarity depending on where the sun sits.
Inside, the architect abandoned the grid entirely. Shelves curve with the walls, following the book-like contours instead of fighting them. Reading spaces cascade across multiple levels connected by flowing staircases that feel more like narrative transitions than functional infrastructure. The central atrium, positioned where the spine would be, rises through all floors and functions as both circulation hub and dramatic gathering space. Materials skew minimal and futuristic, lots of white surfaces, polished concrete, transparent railings, so nothing competes with the architecture’s bold gesture. It is the kind of space that makes you want to linger even if you didn’t come to read, which might be the highest compliment you can pay a library in 2025.
4. HubKey Gen2 by HubKey
The modern laptop gives you two USB-C ports and expects you to figure out the rest yourself. Most people end up with a drawer full of dongles, one for HDMI, another for ethernet, maybe a card reader that works half the time, all daisy-chained together in configurations that feel temporary but somehow become permanent. HubKey Gen2 consolidates that mess into an 11-in-1 hub with an unusual twist: it includes physical shortcut keys and a rotary knob on top, turning connectivity infrastructure into an actual control surface. Four programmable buttons and a central dial let you trigger macros, adjust volume, skip tracks, or launch applications without reaching for the keyboard. It treats the hub as something you interact with regularly rather than plug in once and forget about.
The headline upgrade is dual 4K at 60Hz, both HDMI outputs running simultaneously without bandwidth compromises or resolution drops. Add 100W pass-through charging, a 2.5Gbps ethernet port, 10Gbps USB-A data transfer, SD and microSD slots, and a 3.5mm audio jack, and you have covered most desk setups without needing secondary adapters. The customizable keys support complex shortcuts through companion software, which means editors can bind them to timeline controls, designers can trigger layer actions, and anyone else can just use them for Spotify and Zoom mute. It is a small addition that changes how the device sits in your workflow, shifting it from passive infrastructure to active tool. Most hubs disappear under your desk. This one earns a spot within arm’s reach.
5. Switzerland Passport Re-design by RETINAA
Most passports are exercises in bureaucratic minimalism, but Geneva-based studio RETINAA treated Switzerland’s passport redesign like a cartographic love letter. The new passport centers around water, Switzerland’s most defining geographic feature, with a hydrological map of the country’s rivers and lakes spreading across the inner cover. Each page features detailed illustrations of Swiss landmarks, architectural icons, mountains, and valleys rendered in precise line work that feels equal parts technical drawing and fine art. The design draws heavily from Switzerland’s rich tradition of cartography and graphic design, honoring the country’s obsessive attention to visual detail while meeting all modern security requirements. It is rare to see a government document that looks like it could hang framed in a design museum, but this one legitimately pulls it off.
The hidden layer makes it even better. Under ultraviolet light, topographic contour lines emerge across the pages, revealing Switzerland’s dramatic elevation changes in glowing detail. The Alps materialize as layered ridges, valleys sink into shadow, and the whole document transforms into something that feels alive. Water remains the conceptual anchor throughout, a nod to the country’s hydroelectric infrastructure and the way rivers and lakes have shaped Swiss identity for centuries. RETINAA managed to make a security feature feel poetic, which is not an easy trick. This is what happens when you let actual designers loose on something usually handled by committee and compliance officers. The passport does not just represent Switzerland, it performs the country’s design ethos with every page turn.
6. Modern Apple iPod by Zac Builds
See?! This is where Nostalgia really sells harder than Innovation! YouTuber Zac Builds took a fifth-generation iPod Video and resurrected it into what Apple should have made if they had any interest in keeping the product line alive. The outside looks nearly identical to the 2005 original, same click wheel, same proportions, same satisfying tactile response. Everything else is 2025. He swapped the 30-pin connector for USB-C, added Bluetooth 5.0 for wireless audio, upgraded the storage to a modern SD card solution, and installed custom firmware that supports FLAC, ALAC, and basically every audio format iTunes ever refused to acknowledge. Most importantly, the whole thing syncs like a standard USB drive, no iTunes required, no proprietary software gatekeeping your music library. Just drag and drop files like it’s 2003 but without the artificial limitations.
The build represents everything people loved about dedicated music players before smartphones absorbed their function. No notifications interrupting an album. No battery drain from a hundred background apps. No accidental skips from a touchscreen registering phantom taps in your pocket. Just a device that plays music exceptionally well and does nothing else. The fact that it took a hobbyist with a soldering iron to deliver this rather than Apple themselves says everything about where consumer electronics have drifted. Zac’s version honors the iPod’s legacy while fixing its most dated frustrations, which might be the perfect definition of thoughtful nostalgia. This is not a museum piece. It is a working argument for why single-purpose devices still matter in a world obsessed with convergence.
7. TobenONE 6-in-1 Hub by TobenONE
HDMI cables are the cockroaches of tech, somehow surviving every wireless revolution that should have killed them off by now. We beam 4K movies through the air, charge devices without plugging them in, and send gigabytes of data across continents in seconds, but connecting a laptop to a projector still means crawling under desks hunting for the right dongle. The TobenONE T1 finally addresses this absurdity with a transmitter-receiver combo that handles video streaming wirelessly while doubling as a fully functional USB-C hub. Plug the transmitter into your laptop, connect the receiver to your TV or monitor via HDMI, and the two talk to each other over 5G Wi-Fi at distances up to 30 meters. No network required, no firmware updates, no app to download and immediately forget your password for.
What separates this from the dozens of other wireless HDMI solutions is the fact that it doesn’t just replace one cable, it replaces six. The hub side includes multiple USB-A ports, an SD card reader, and pass-through charging, which means your laptop stays powered while streaming a presentation or mirroring gameplay. It handles 1080p at 60Hz, which is not cutting-edge but plenty adequate for most use cases outside of competitive gaming or pixel-peeping design work. The real appeal here is convenience compounded, eliminating both the video cable and the separate hub most people already carry. Conference rooms, living room setups, and anyone tired of the “which adapter did I forget this time” ritual will find this particularly satisfying. It is one of those products that feels obvious in hindsight, which usually means someone should have made it years ago.
8. LEGO Snow Globes by ItzEthqn
LEGO has been mining nostalgia so effectively for years that it barely registers as a strategy anymore, it just feels like what LEGO does. But every so often they drop something that reminds you how good they are at packaging childhood wonder into adult-friendly formats. These buildable LEGO snow globes hit that sweet spot perfectly: tactile enough to justify the LEGO branding, decorative enough to sit on a desk without looking like a toy, and seasonal enough to qualify as a gift without feeling like obligatory holiday merch. Each globe contains a miniature scene, winter villages, festive characters, iconic moments, all rendered in brick form and sealed inside a transparent sphere that sits on a buildable base.
The genius is in the scale and execution. These are not massive display pieces that demand shelf real estate and explanations to guests. They are compact, self-contained, and instantly recognizable as both LEGO and snow globe, which means they work as decor, conversation starters, or stocking stuffers without needing context. The build process is simple enough to be relaxing but detailed enough to feel rewarding, which is basically LEGO’s entire value proposition distilled into a seasonal format. They tap into two separate nostalgia streams simultaneously: the childhood joy of LEGO construction and the sentimental pull of snow globes as holiday symbols. It is a perfect example of nostalgia not just selling, but selling smart, giving people something familiar enough to want and novel enough to justify buying in the first place.
9. Plus Pool by Dong-Ping Wong, Oana Stanescu, Archie Lee Coates IV & Jeffrey Franklin
New York City has not had a functional public swimming spot in its rivers for generations, mostly because jumping into the East River carries the same appeal as bathing in a toxic soup. Plus Pool fixes this with an ambitious solution that sounds too simple to work but somehow does: a floating, self-filtering swimming pool that pulls water directly from the river and cleans it in real time. Shaped like an oversized plus sign, the design allows multiple swimming zones, kids’ area, lap lanes, lounging sections, all configurable depending on how many people show up. The filtration system uses multiple straining layers to remove debris and particles, then hits everything with UV treatment for disinfection, no chlorine involved. Construction finally started in 2025 after 14 years of bureaucratic delays, fundraising hurdles, and engineering challenges.
The pool itself is a 320-ton steel structure currently undergoing testing before it gets anchored near Pier 35 on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. A walkway will connect it to the shore, making it accessible without boats or special permits. Once operational, it will filter over half a million gallons of river water daily while people swim in it, turning one of the city’s most neglected natural resources into usable public space. The project represents a rare kind of urban optimism, the belief that infrastructure can do more than just function, it can invite people back to landscapes they abandoned decades ago. If it works as promised, Plus Pool will be the kind of civic landmark that makes people wonder why nobody thought to build it sooner, even though the answer is clearly that it took this long because ambitious public projects always do.
10. Dash Cam 4K T800 by 70mai
Most dash cams cover what is directly in front of you and maybe behind if you spring for the dual setup. That still leaves your sides completely vulnerable and your interior as an afterthought, which is a problem when insurance disputes or break-ins hinge on angles your camera never captured. The 70mai 4K T800 fixes this with three synchronized lenses: 4K front-facing, 1080p rear, and an interior camera that rotates 360 degrees. The front camera handles road footage with Sony STARVIS 2 sensor clarity, the rear covers tailgaters and parking lot incidents, and the interior lens can swivel to monitor the cabin or point sideways through windows to catch side-impact collisions and door dings. Together they eliminate the blind spots that turn minor accidents into he-said-she-said nightmares.
The system records all three feeds simultaneously and displays them in picture-in-picture mode on a 3-inch screen, giving you mission control visibility without needing to dig through separate files later. Built-in GPS tracks your route, the G-sensor triggers emergency recording on impact, and 24-hour parking surveillance keeps an eye on things when you are not around. At $323, it sits at the higher end of dash cam pricing, but it delivers the kind of comprehensive coverage that single and dual-lens setups simply cannot match. The logic is straightforward: if you are going to mount a camera system in your car, it might as well see everything worth seeing. This one does.
In 2010, Christopher Nolan delivered one of cinema’s most unforgettable sequences: a zero-gravity hallway fight that defied physics and redefined practical effects. The scene from Inception featured Joseph Gordon-Levitt battling an opponent while their dreamworld corridor rotated around them, mirroring a van tumbling down a hill in another layer of reality. Nolan’s commitment to practical filmmaking led him to construct a massive rotating set where actors performed the entire sequence for real, creating what many consider a masterclass in tactile, analog special effects.
Now, a LEGO builder known as AboveBricks180 has recreated that iconic moment in brick form, complete with a working rotation mechanism. The 2,395-piece MOC (My Own Creation) doesn’t just capture the aesthetic of the hotel hallway. It brings the scene to life with a hand-crank system that lets you physically rotate the corridor, repositioning the minifigures mid-fight just like in the film. Currently seeking support on LEGO Ideas with 770 backers and counting, this build represents both technical ambition and genuine love for one of modern cinema’s most inventive sequences.
Designer: AboveBricks180
Building a stable rotating mechanism in LEGO that can support its own weight while maintaining structural integrity across multiple axes is legitimately difficult (as Nolan will tell you from larger-scale real-life experience). You’re essentially creating a drum that needs to spin smoothly without the whole thing collapsing or jamming, all while keeping minifigures positioned on surfaces that become walls, then ceiling, then floor. AboveBricks180 solved this with a hand-crank lever mounted at the back, connecting to the cylindrical hallway section through what appears to be a geared system housed in that dark grey mechanical compartment visible in the side views. The entire assembly sits on a display base that provides both stability and theatrical presence, with the “INCEPTION” nameplate doing some heavy lifting in terms of presentation. Fifteen years after the film’s release and people are still building elaborate tributes to a single three-minute sequence, which tells you something about how deeply that hallway fight embedded itself in pop culture consciousness.
Look at the color work and interior detailing. The film’s hotel corridor had this specific warm brown and tan aesthetic, almost Art Deco in its geometric simplicity, and this MOC captures it down to the wall sconces with their cream-colored light elements, the vertical brown slat work on the ceiling, the white ceiling panels, the door frames. Strip away the movie-accurate design work and you’re left with a clever mechanical toy. Add in the precise replication of Nolan’s set design and suddenly you have something that feels like it belongs in the film’s universe. The builder used Bricklink Studio for the design work, which tracks given the complexity involved. You can’t eyeball 2,395 pieces and hope for the best.
Turn that crank and watch the hallway rotate while Arthur and his opponent stay locked in their fighting poses. You can stage the scene at any angle you want, recreating different moments from the sequence. Arthur hanging from what’s now the ceiling? Rotate. Both grappling on the floor as it becomes a wall? Keep turning. This interactivity transforms the build from static sculpture into something closer to a kinetic toy, which feels appropriate given LEGO’s roots as a play system rather than just a modeling medium. Too many Ideas submissions lately treat LEGO as purely an artistic medium for adults, forgetting that the best sets balance display appeal with actual functionality. This one remembers.
Getting to 10,000 supporters on the Ideas platform means LEGO reviews it for potential production. Right now this sits at 770 with 403 days remaining, which feels achievable given Inception’s enduring cultural footprint. The rotating hallway scene specifically has staying power because it represents practical filmmaking at its most ambitious, the kind of thing that makes people go “wait, they actually built that?” when they learn no CGI was involved. AboveBricks180 clearly understands this, building something that honors both Nolan’s commitment to physical effects and the scene’s place in modern cinema history. Whether LEGO greenlights this for production or it remains a fan creation, the MOC succeeds at translating one medium’s impossible physics into another’s playful reality. You spin a crank and gravity shifts. Dreams feel real while we’re in them, and apparently so do LEGO sets when someone builds them with this much care. Vote for the build on the LEGO Ideas website here.
Do I have a problem with Squidward? Fundamentally, no. Emotionally, maybe. He could be less of a buzzkill, but he’s truly a model neighbor and a great employee at Krusty Krabs. But do I have a problem with Squidward-themed Crocs? Overwhelmingly. I’m a Croc evangelist for life, but these footwear are so incredibly niche I wouldn’t want to be caught dead wearing them. At the same time, I want to be around people who wear then just for the opportunity to judge them!
So, Crocs has been launching Spongebob-themed footwear to mark the launch of the latest movie, and while the company already unveiled Spongebob and Patrick-inspired clogs, they decided to keep the best (subjective, of course) drop for the absolute end. You see, the Spongebob and Patrick ones look fairly benign… but the Squidward clogs, dropped today, quite literally look like you’ve slipped your feet into a hole in Squidward’s skull. The details aren’t subtle at all. Each clog has an immaculate representation of Squidward’s face, with its skeptical stare and raised eyebrow, along with that nose only a mother can love.
Designer: Crocs
Let me reiterate. I love Spongebob as a franchise. I like Squidward as a character. But these shoes are, well, repellent to say the least. Don’t expect to score any ladies with these, but if you’re a diehard fan of the franchise, it’s entirely within your rights to collect these limited-edition pairs, and probably even wear them in support of the movie, which launches in May next year.
The entire croc is molded in the iconic Squidward pale green, with the strap being white and sporting an anchor symbol on the pivot-point. Available in unisex sizes, the shoes will officially hit the shelves on December 11th, with a price tag of $80. Am I talking smack about these shoes just so that I can convince enough people to NOT buy them so that I can get a shot at owning them? Probably, you’ll never know.
Also hitting the shelves tomorrow are the Spongebob and Patrick Star clogs, in their iconic colors and designs. The Spongebob one comes with arms on the shoes’ body, along with a belt running around the midsole to denote Spongebob’s iconic pants. The insole has Spongebob’s face printed on it, so the shoes look like him from the top. Similarly, even the Patrick Star ones come with Jibbitz that are typical to the starfish, like a rock, a minifigure of Patrick himself, a bottle of sunscreen, and a jar of mayo. The straps read Patrick’s famous lines ‘Is Mayonnaise An Instrument?’, and the midsole (like Spongebob) features the green and purple print from Patrick’s pants.
Design Mindset, Yanko Design’s original podcast series powered by KeyShot, has been steadily carving a niche for itself in the design world by giving listeners an inside view on how creativity becomes impact. Every Friday, the show brings together design’s top minds to share stories that go beyond the project and into the strategies, pitfalls, and breakthroughs shaping the industry today. Episode 10 is no exception, it explores the real-world effects of design publicity on careers, and the conversation is especially relevant to anyone hoping to turn a portfolio into a profession.
This week’s guest is Sarang Sheth, Editor-in-Chief at Yanko Design and a designer whose own path was transformed by media exposure. Few are better positioned to dissect the mechanics of design publicity, both as a former featured designer and now as a gatekeeper for one of the world’s most influential design platforms. The episode not only spotlights Sarang’s journey but also delivers a tactical playbook for designers seeking to amplify their work and maximize recognition.
When Five Views Become 450: The Career-Altering Power of Global Exposure
There’s a stark difference between being a talented designer and being a recognized one. This isn’t a lesson taught in most design schools, but it’s one Sarang Sheth learned firsthand in 2014. Fresh out of university and nine months into an unsuccessful job hunt abroad, he was sending portfolio links to companies and tracking their engagement. “I would see like, you know, I’m sending portfolios out to these companies and I’m getting like five views a day, three views a day. So I knew that people were checking their mails and at least looking through my work,” Sarang recalls. Then something shifted. He submitted work to Yanko Design, and editor Troy Turner decided to feature it. “Suddenly I saw like 300 views on my website and like 450 views. And I was like, okay, that’s a significant jump.”
But the numbers told only part of the story. The granular data revealed something more profound: views were coming in from Turkey, Croatia, and the UK. “This is incredible because A, I didn’t pay for it. And B, there was no extra work for me. All I had to do was share it with someone who was willing to talk about it,” Sarang says. This moment crystallized two truths for him. First, that international media exposure offered opportunities that local recognition simply couldn’t. As he bluntly puts it, “local recognition is like winning best dancer within your society, it does nothing.” And second, that storytelling itself could be a viable career path. The article about his work resonated with him as much as the traffic spike did. “I read the article and I realized that this is something I can actually do,” he remembers. That realization, combined with the viral reach of design media, didn’t just land him a job, it set the stage for his entire career trajectory. Today, Yanko Design reaches millions per month across multiple platforms, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, and its newsletter. “Regardless of what your concept is, what your project is, there are multiple ways that Yanko Design can sort of get you to reach the audience that you’re looking to reach,” Sarang notes. Those eyeballs, he adds, increasingly include potential investors, jury members, and employers, all of whom can change the course of a designer’s career with a single connection.
Ideas Don’t Need to Be Real to Be Powerful
One of the most counterintuitive insights from the conversation is that conceptual work can resonate as powerfully as finished products, sometimes even more so. Sarang points to several examples that illustrate this phenomenon. Earlier this year, he featured a project by Indian designer Siddhant Patnaik, a Google-branded version of the AirPods Max. “People resonated with it so much that it ended up getting its own segment on Marques Brownlee’s Waveform podcast,” he shares. The design garnered hundreds of thousands of views not just on Yanko Design but across multiple media outlets, despite never being a real product. This isn’t an isolated case. Sarang has created his own conceptual designs for Yanko, foldable phones, patent-related concepts, and an Apple Pencil that docks inside a MacBook, which is still featured on Forbes. “I’ve seen reels on it and reels showing Yanko Design’s page. So, it’s great to see that people realize that they’re not necessarily fond of great products, they’re also fond of great ideas.”
This creates a fascinating dynamic: media visibility alone can stimulate demand and validate interest even before a product enters production. “A lot of times they’re concepts,” Sarang says about inquiries from potential buyers. “Which validates the fact that sometimes concepts are so much more exciting than reality.” The takeaway for designers is clear: don’t wait until you have a manufactured product to share your work. High-quality 3D renders and compelling narratives can generate demand, attract licensing interest, and open doors to partnerships. “Ideas are cheap, execution is tough, but something that I have also learned is that holding your cards close to the chest and not sharing those ideas with anybody doesn’t benefit anybody,” he advises. The key, however, is presentation. In the age of AI-generated imagery, granular control offered by professional 3D rendering can push a concept over the credibility threshold. “A pencil sketch has to be incredibly good as an idea to sort of translate to massive success. Whereas a really, really well-made render has a much easier path ahead,” Sarang explains.
Turn Ripples Into Waves: The Designer’s 48-Hour Action Plan
Getting featured is just the beginning. Too many designers treat media coverage as a finish line when it should be treated as a starting gun. Sarang is emphatic about this: designers need to move from passive observation to active amplification. “Don’t just repost initial coverage; turn ripples into waves,” he urges. The first step is preparation. Before pitching any publication, designers should have a press kit ready, complete with high-resolution images, project descriptions, and relevant context. “Please, it’s not that difficult. ChatGPT will literally write the press release for you and your images are already in there, you need to just compress them,” Sarang says. AI tools have made this process easier than ever, but the fundamentals remain: professional assets signal that you’re serious about your work.
Once a feature goes live, the real work begins. Designers should immediately reach out to other outlets, Designboom, Hypebeast, and niche blogs relevant to their work. “You should have at least five or six media contacts in your outreach,” Sarang recommends. Each additional feature compounds the impact of the first, creating what he calls a “cascading effect.” Media coverage also serves as social proof that can be leveraged in other contexts. “Use features to bolster award entries, multiplying reach and credibility,” he advises. But there’s a crucial caveat: not every design fits every outlet. Understanding platform fit is essential. “Each design blog or each design platform has its own visual ethos, has its own direction, has its own strengths,” Sarang explains. Yanko Design, for instance, may not be the right fit for highly technical architecture projects, but it excels with consumer-facing product design, EDC items, and tiny homes. Sarang is candid about this curation process: “If designers come to us with 2D sketches, we’re like, hey, you know what, render it out and then bring it back to us. We’d love to feature it then.” This isn’t gatekeeping; it’s guidance. The goal is to reach the right audience, and sometimes that means directing designers to other platforms where their work will resonate more strongly. As Sarang puts it, “You won’t go trying to plant a mango in winter.”
Crowdfunding First, Media Second, Awards Third
When presented with a hypothetical scenario during the podcast’s “Design Mindset Challenge”, a talented designer with budget and time to pursue one of three paths (major design award, crowdfunding campaign, or media features), Sarang’s answer was surprising and strategic. “Start with crowdfunding,” he says without hesitation. His reasoning is multifaceted. First, crowdfunding offers the strongest form of validation: real demand, backed by real money. “When you’re going down the crowdfunding route, it’s the highest form of design skill validation because you’re not getting clicks, you’re not getting a job, you’re setting up a company that is solely focused around your product,” he explains. Unlike media coverage, which generates interest, or awards, which confer prestige, crowdfunding forces execution. It demands prototyping, production planning, and supply chain management. “The people who look at the product and are like I believe in that vision, those are the people who are jumping on board, and that is the best way to put that stamp of approval on your product being a good idea,” Sarang notes.
Crowdfunding also offers pragmatic intellectual property protection. By being first to market, even in a crowdfunding context, designers stake their claim publicly. “When you share an idea on a design platform like us, we do share a lot of concepts, but it’s obvious,” Sarang says, acknowledging the risk of plagiarism. “First crowdfund, secure your IP in however, whatever way possible. Spend money on patents or copyrighting or whatever.” Once the crowdfunding campaign is live or funded, designers can leverage that momentum for media coverage. Publications are far more likely to feature a project with market validation than a standalone concept. “That will help you secure your idea and make sure that you’re not being plagiarized by other people who beat you to it,” Sarang adds. Finally, awards should come third. “Awards are a much more expensive bet, I would say. And the awards do have timelines,” he explains. Media can react quickly, publishing within days, while award results take months. The strategic sequence, crowdfunding, media, then awards, allows designers to build credibility at each stage, using prior success to unlock the next opportunity. This ecosystem approach doesn’t just maximize recognition; it creates sustainable business outcomes.
Why 2 Million Views Trump a Design Award
In the rapid-fire segment of the podcast, host Radhika Seth posed a provocative question: what’s more career-changing, winning a design award or getting 2 million views on Yanko Design? Sarang’s answer was immediate and unequivocal: “2 million views on Yanko Design. Wow. Because that has a cascading effect.” His response cuts to the heart of a broader truth about recognition in the digital age. Awards carry prestige and credibility, especially when backed by respected juries, but their reach is often limited to industry insiders. Media exposure, by contrast, casts a far wider net. A feature on Yanko Design doesn’t just reach designers; it reaches design consumers, potential investors, manufacturers exploring licensing opportunities, and employers scouting for talent. “Global features expose work to buyers, investors, co-founders, and employers,” Sarang notes, emphasizing that media responsiveness can even aid with time-sensitive opportunities like visa documentation.
Yanko Design’s audience, which Sarang describes as “design consumers” rather than just designers, is particularly valuable. “I like to believe that our audience are not only designers, but they also design consumers because I have seen so many campaigns, Kickstarter campaigns or the Indiegogo campaigns that we feature bring in so much of revenue for the campaigners,” he explains. Certain niches perform exceptionally well: EDC (everyday carry) items and tiny homes consistently generate strong engagement and conversions. “EDC content often drives campaign revenue,” Sarang says, noting that the writers at Yanko are genuine enthusiasts whose passion translates into the coverage. “A lot of our write-ups also come from a place of excitement and that just translates to the readers.” This isn’t to diminish the value of awards. Jury validation carries weight, and media partners often amplify award wins, creating a multiplier effect. But for sheer, immediate impact on a designer’s trajectory, media reach is unmatched. As Sarang puts it, “A 2 million-view YD feature can be more career-changing than a single award due to cascading recognition, opportunities, and serendipitous discovery by influential readers.”
From Designer to Storyteller: Why Context Matters
Sarang’s own career shift from designer to editor was inspired by filmmaker Gary Hustwit, an industrial designer turned documentarian whose films on Dieter Rams, Apple, and the Helvetica font have become cultural touchstones. “He was basically an industrial designer who also graduated and realized that his calling wasn’t industrial design, it was storytelling,” Sarang says. This resonated deeply. “Whenever I introduce myself, I say, you know how they say a picture is worth a thousand words? I’m the guy who writes those thousand words.” For Sarang, storytelling is a design-adjacent calling, one that expands the impact of products by giving them context and accessibility. “A lot of designers are so involved with creating products that they forget sometimes that the products need context and explanations,” he observes. This is where design media plays a crucial role: translating innovation into narratives that resonate with broader audiences.
Sarang’s approach to writing reflects this philosophy. Yanko Design doesn’t just catalog products; it explores their potential, their cultural relevance, and the problems they solve. “Translating products into accessible narratives expands impact,” he says, framing editorial work as an essential bridge between creators and consumers. This storytelling function is especially vital in an era dominated by algorithmic feeds and unpredictable social media platforms. “Algorithms are unpredictable,” Sarang notes. “Editorial curation connects designers with targeted stakeholders, buyers, investors, co-founders, through trusted storytelling and focused audiences.” Unlike a viral TikTok or Instagram post, which might reach millions but lack context or credibility, a curated editorial feature provides depth and legitimacy. It signals that the work has been vetted, that it’s worth paying attention to. For designers, this means that presentation and narrative matter as much as the design itself. A well-crafted story can turn a good product into a great one, and in some cases, it can even turn a concept into a business opportunity before the product exists at all.
Design Mindset premieres every Friday on Yanko Design, bringing fresh perspectives from design’s leading voices. This episode underscores a critical truth: design recognition isn’t just about talent, it’s about understanding the ecosystem of media, awards, and crowdfunding, and knowing how to navigate it strategically. For designers ready to share their work, Sarang’s advice is simple: “Send your work to Yanko Design, publication@yankodesign.com. Send it to us on Instagram, send us links, Behance links, whatever, however you want to send it to us. Please keep sending your work. It can’t get easier.”
“Today we cancel the apocalypse.” With just five words, Idris Elba’s Stacker Pentecost became the rallying cry of a generation – the gruff, determined voice that turned Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim from a spectacular mecha-vs-kaiju brawl into something more: a tribute to human resilience, teamwork, and the unyielding belief that we’re stronger together. His speech before the final assault on the Breach remains one of the most quoted moments in modern sci-fi cinema, right up there with the Jaegers themselves – those towering mechanical defenders that became instant icons the moment they lit up the screen in 2013.
Now, nearly a decade later, one passionate LEGO builder is bringing the Jaeger program home. Din0Bricks’ stunning fan-made tribute to the film’s most iconic mechs – Gipsy Danger, Crimson Typhoon, and Cherno Alpha – has earned a coveted Staff Pick on LEGO Ideas, and with 661 supporters already rallied to the cause, these titans of engineering might just march onto store shelves. Featuring 2,218 pieces of screen-accurate detail, from retractable swords to rotating saw blades and support helicopters, this isn’t just a fan project – it’s a love letter to del Toro’s iconic film as well as the power of LEGO creativity. The question is: are you ready to suit up (or brick up) and help make it a reality?
Designer: Din0bricks
At first we’ve got Gipsy Danger, a personal favorite because honestly, if you’re going to lead with anything, it’s the Mark-3 American Jaeger that punched a Category 4 kaiju with a cargo ship. At 807 pieces and standing 8.8 inches tall, this blue beast captures everything that made the hero mech memorable. The broad shoulders, that distinctive head design with the yellow visor, the nuclear reactor core prominently displayed on the chest – Din0Bricks nailed the proportions.
It comes with its iconic retractable sword (which becomes a chain whip of sorts when expanded), but you could ditch the sword for the aforementioned cargo ship, which does come included in this MOC (My Own Creation!). The articulation appears robust too, with visible ball joints at the shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees. This thing can actually pose, which matters more than most people realize when you’re displaying an 800-piece mecha on your shelf.
Next meet the Crimson Typhoon. The Chinese Jaeger’s triple-arm configuration was always going to be the toughest to pull off in LEGO form, and at 630 pieces, this is actually the smallest of the three builds. That makes sense when you consider the original design philosophy: Crimson was built for speed and agility, not brute force. The red and black color blocking works beautifully here, and those rotating saw blade hands are exactly the kind of detail that separates a good fan build from something worth producing. The regular pincer hands are included too, and you can merely swap out weapons, which I personally love.
What impresses me most is how Din0Bricks managed to engineer three functional arms while maintaining structural integrity. Anyone who’s built complex LEGO mechanics knows that adding a third articulated limb to a bipedal figure is asking for stability problems. The fact that this thing can stand at 7.6 inches tall without looking like it’s about to collapse tells me the internal skeleton is solid.
Then there’s Cherno Alpha, the true underdog in the series. The Russian Jaeger always had that brutalist, Cold War aesthetic that screamed “Soviet engineering will outlast your fancy technology,” and this 781-piece build captures that perfectly. Standing 10.5 inches tall, it’s the biggest of the three, which tracks given Cherno’s status as the oldest and most heavily armored Mark-1 still in active service. The olive green and grey color palette gives it that military hardware vibe, and the boxy, industrial frame looks like something that was built to take a beating and keep swinging.
While the Cherno Alpha doesn’t come with external weapons (this thing was a spring-loaded punching machine), it does have optional helicopters that attach to its shoulders, as a call-back to how these jaegers were deployed on the battlefield. Sure, a jaeger could merely walk to the scene of the crime, but it’s faster (and honestly safer for the city) to have these massive bots deployed via air. Each jaeger would be carried by at least two copters, and unleashed into the waters (or on land) to exact revenge on the kaijus.
The beauty of this project existing on LEGO Ideas is that it actually has a shot at becoming real. For those unfamiliar with the platform, LEGO Ideas is basically crowdfunding meets product development. Fans submit their original designs, other fans vote by supporting the project, and if a submission hits 10,000 supporters, LEGO’s review board considers it for official production. Din0Bricks currently sits at 661 supporters with 405 days remaining to hit that 10K threshold. Given that the film’s been criminally underserved in the collectibles market compared to other genre properties, this feels like the moment to actually make something happen. If you’ve ever wanted to own a piece of the Jaeger program, head over to the LEGO Ideas website and throw your support behind this thing. Sometimes the apocalypse doesn’t cancel itself; sometimes you need 10,000 people and a lot of Danish plastic to get the job done.
It’s hard not to smile when you think about E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Whether it’s the heartwarming friendship between Elliot and his otherworldly guest or the unforgettable image of them soaring across the moonlit sky, the movie’s magic feels timeless. That same magic now finds itself meticulously captured in KoalaBrick’s 2,204-piece LEGO set proposal—a tribute to the iconic “across the moon” scene, combined with a diorama-like display of key elements from the film.
This build is as much about artistry as it is about nostalgia. The silhouette of Elliot and E.T. against a crescent moon forms the centerpiece, with the lunar glow carefully contrasting the dense, detailed forest below. As your eyes wander through the scene, smaller touches, like the flower pot and the communication device, bring a delightful sense of recognition. Even E.T.’s spaceship makes an appearance, cleverly scaled to keep the diorama cohesive. You can almost hear John Williams’ sweeping score as you imagine putting the final pieces together.
Designer: KoalaBrick
What makes this design stand out isn’t just the clever use of LEGO elements; it’s how it balances playability with display-worthy craftsmanship. The forest, for instance, is layered with texture and depth, making it look lush without overwhelming the centerpiece. Peer into the forest and you notice minifigures of Elliot and E.T. standing around the comms device, along with a scaled-down model of the UFO and even the iconic flower pot that E.T. carries around. Yet, when you step back, the build feels more like a cinematic moment frozen in time—a LEGO version of the iconic frame pulled straight from Spielberg’s classic.
The moon backdrop isn’t merely a flat surface but a structure with depth and detail, thanks to the use of LEGO art bricks that help mimic the cratered surface of the moon. Not that a cratered moon is great for scientific authenticity, but rather this helps recreate the very textured detail seen on the poster. These design decisions ensure the set appeals to a wide range of LEGO enthusiasts, from casual fans who admire its display potential to skilled builders eager to create similar artpieces.
Few movies elicit the kind of universal fondness that E.T. does, making this set an instant crowd-pleaser. Whether you watched the film as a child, shared it with your kids, or simply appreciated its influence on pop culture, this build taps into those feelings effortlessly. It’s a love letter to a story that transcends generations. The film’s set around Halloween, but given that we’re a month late, I won’t judge you for re-watching it on Thanksgiving instead!
KoalaBrick’s creation is a heartfelt tribute that reimagines one of cinema’s most iconic scenes in brick form. Currently a submission on the LEGO Ideas website, KoalaBrick is accepting votes from the broader LEGO community to help turn this one-off artpiece into a retail box set that movie buffs and LEGO-nerds can buy and own. Vote for the E.T. – The Extra-Terrestrial set on the LEGO Ideas website here.
If you loved the Nothing Phone’s glyph interface, their Community Edition phone may just absolutely capture your heart. Announced today following a lengthy community-driven design competition, the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus Community Edition made its global reveal, with a unique twist on the original phone’s design. Sure, you’ve got the Glyph Interface with LEDs that glow to make the phone’s rear panel turn into a dynamic display for notifications and alerts, but the new Community-made version of the phone comes with literal glow-in-the-dark ribbon cables that are ‘nothing’ like anything we’ve seen on any phone in the past decade!
Thanks to input from community members Astrid Vanhuyse and Kenta Akasaki, this phone stands out in a crowd—but not with power-hungry LEDs. Instead, it uses a green phosphorescent material that charges up with ambient light, glowing gently in dim settings and giving the 2(a) a dose of unique, eco-friendly style.
Designers: Astrid Vanhuyse & Kenta Akasaki for Nothing
The design shift here is significant, especially if you remember the original Phone (2) and the less glowy Phone (2a). While the Phone (2) featured bright LED glyphs, the 2(a) kept things quieter, dialing back on the glow to maintain a sleeker look. This Community Edition, though, reintroduces some of that distinctive Nothing flair, swapping LEDs for a phosphorescent effect along the phone’s ribbon cables and components. It’s a subtler, softer glow that gives the phone character without the need for extra power or flashing lights. Imagine your phone lighting up on the nightstand—not enough to keep you awake, just enough to catch your eye.
The phosphorescent material works just like those glow-in-the-dark stars you might have seen as a kid. It absorbs natural or artificial light and emits a soft glow when the lights go down. Unlike typical LEDs, it doesn’t drain the battery, giving this 2(a) a style boost without impacting battery life or performance. It’s the kind of understated cool that’s right in line with Nothing’s design philosophy: thoughtful, sustainable, and practical. Plus, it makes it easier to find in a dark room, giving the design a practical edge as well as aesthetic appeal.
The collaborative effort on this phone really says a lot about Nothing’s approach to designing for their community. The company didn’t just create the effect on its own; they opened it up to the public and sorted through more than 900 design submissions from fans across 47 countries. Out of these, Vanhuyse and Akasaki’s concept shone the brightest, resulting in a design that feels distinctively Nothing while showcasing a global community’s creativity. It’s part of Nothing’s shift toward community-centric product innovation, giving fans a real voice in shaping what they carry.
Nothing also went to great lengths to ensure this glow effect wasn’t just a gimmick but a part of the Phone (2a) Plus Community Edition’s build. The phosphorescent material is durable and seamlessly integrated, meaning it won’t interfere with the phone’s performance or longevity. You get a sturdy device with an artistic edge, a blend of tech and simplicity that fits seamlessly into daily life.
The Phone (2a) Plus Community Edition is priced at $518 USD (£399 / €449 / ₹29,999), with sales beginning on November 12. If you’re located in London, you might also grab one in person at the Nothing Soho store on November 16. There are just 1,000 units available up for grabs… so if you enjoy the idea of having a phone so dazzling that you’ll never want to put a case on it, grab one while you still can. And for anybody at dbrand or Spigen, you best believe people will want glowing cases for their iPhones and flagship Androids too!
When you think of spacesuits, luxury fashion probably doesn’t come to mind—but Axiom Space and Prada are changing that. Together, they’ve unveiled the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU), a next-generation spacesuit designed for NASA’s Artemis III mission, which will return astronauts to the Moon. This suit represents a groundbreaking shift in both form and function, blending the technical precision required for space exploration with the high-performance materials and design innovations Prada is known for. And it’s more than just a style statement: the AxEMU has been carefully crafted to support the historic lunar landing of astronaut Christina Koch, who will be the first woman to walk on the Moon.
Designers: Axiom Space and Prada
An Unlikely Collab between NASA and Prada
At first glance, the AxEMU may not look like the bulky spacesuits we’ve come to expect. In fact, that’s the point. Designed with a scalable and adaptable architecture, this suit breaks free from the rigid, one-size-fits-all approach of traditional space gear. The AxEMU is built to accommodate a wide range of body types, allowing astronauts from various anthropometric percentiles—meaning different heights, weights, and builds—to feel comfortable and functional in the suit. Whether you’re on the smaller side or fall into the larger percentile, the AxEMU adjusts to ensure maximum mobility, a critical factor for a mission as demanding as Artemis III.
Prada’s expertise in material science plays a key role here. The luxury fashion house worked closely with Axiom engineers to develop an outer layer that not only looks sleek but also performs under extreme conditions. Crafted from a reflective white material, this layer helps regulate temperature by reflecting the sun’s heat while simultaneously protecting the astronaut from lunar dust and radiation. While traditional spacesuits focus on pure functionality, the AxEMU integrates aesthetics with performance, combining Prada’s advanced sewing techniques with Axiom’s life support technology to create something truly revolutionary in both appearance and utility.
High-Tech Meets High-Street Fashion
What truly sets the AxEMU apart from its predecessors is its balance between high-end design and cutting-edge technology. The suit boasts enhanced safety systems, including a regenerable carbon dioxide scrubbing system that ensures astronauts can breathe safely during spacewalks lasting up to eight hours. It also features advanced cooling technology, which is crucial for maintaining comfort in the extremes of the lunar environment. Astronauts will be better equipped to perform complex tasks thanks to upgraded dexterity in the gloves—something previous spacesuits struggled with, often limiting the fine motor control astronauts need to manipulate tools or conduct experiments.
The helmet also offers significant upgrades, with an advanced visor that improves visibility in the harsh lighting conditions of the Moon’s surface. The design of the AxEMU is about more than just protection; it’s about enabling astronauts to push the boundaries of what’s possible in space exploration. Thanks to Prada’s involvement, the suit’s exterior may feel more like high-performance sportswear than traditional space armor. But make no mistake—this is gear built to survive the extreme cold and searing heat of the Moon’s surface, with every detail engineered to keep astronauts safe and functional in one of the most hostile environments known to man.
What Makes The AxEMU So Different?
Compared to existing spacesuits, the AxEMU is a leap forward in versatility and user experience. Most current spacesuits, like NASA’s EMU (Extravehicular Mobility Unit), were designed decades ago, with little adaptation for the variety of missions astronauts now face. The AxEMU, by contrast, is built with a flexible architecture that can evolve for different missions, from the lunar surface to low-Earth orbit. This flexibility allows Axiom Space to customize the suit for a wide range of environments and tasks, whereas older suits were often mission-specific, with limited adaptability.
Safety is another area where the AxEMU shines. Conventional spacesuits are built with basic redundancy, but the AxEMU integrates a more robust set of redundant systems, ensuring multiple fail-safes in life support and mobility functions. This suit also goes beyond standard temperature control, using Prada’s material expertise to provide better heat management, allowing astronauts to remain comfortable during long spacewalks, even in the harsh lunar environment. Furthermore, the AxEMU has been tested with advanced simulations, including underwater testing to mimic the reduced gravity on the Moon, setting a new standard for preparation and reliability.
Designed for Christina Koch: A Spacesuit for the First Woman on the Moon
Christina Koch will make history as the first woman to walk on the Moon, and the AxEMU has been designed with that momentous occasion in mind. While traditional spacesuits were largely designed for male astronauts, the AxEMU has been engineered with inclusivity at its core. One of the key differences lies in its customizability: unlike older suits that often required uncomfortable modifications for female astronauts, the AxEMU offers a better fit right from the start, making adjustments seamless and comfortable for a wide range of body types. This is particularly important for Koch, as a properly fitted suit means enhanced mobility and reduced fatigue during long spacewalks.
Additionally, the suit’s gloves, helmet, and overall design have been tailored for precision, allowing Koch to work more efficiently on the lunar surface. The improved dexterity of the gloves will enable her to conduct more intricate scientific tasks, such as collecting samples and performing experiments, without the restrictions of older spacesuit designs. For Koch, the first woman to explore the Moon, having a suit that adapts to her needs, rather than her adapting to the suit, marks a symbolic and practical step forward in space exploration, ensuring that future missions can be more inclusive.
The AxEMU represents the future of spacesuits—one where technology, design, and inclusivity come together to push the boundaries of human potential. With Christina Koch set to wear this groundbreaking suit during her historic moonwalk, the AxEMU is leading the way into a new era of space exploration, where astronauts of diverse backgrounds, genders, and physiques will have the tools they need to reach new frontiers.
