Tag Archives: Red Dot Awards: Design Concept

Ultra-futuristic hydrogen fuel motorcycle concept with a holographic display lets you see around corners

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If you thought e-bikes were the future, the XCELL should really make you feel like a bunch of dinosaurs! An advanced concept right out of Shanghai-based X-idea Industrial Design Co., Ltd., the XCELL presents a few radically new ideas that hope to redefine how technology and transportation can change in the future. Originally unveiled at the 19th China International Motorcycle Exhibition in Chongqing last year, the XCELL pioneers hydrogen fuel-cell technology, relying on four cylindrical cells that sit in the front of the motorbike’s fairing. Except for the fact that it has two wheels, a seat, and is controlled by a user who operates it using handlebars, the XCELL is quite unlike any other two-wheeler before it. It features an adjustable design that allows the handlebars to pivot forward or backward, laser headlights that work remarkably well in the dark, and a drone that automatically lifts off the motorcycle to help evaluate the condition of the roads ahead, presenting holographic obstacles for the rider to clearly see as they drive down roads.

Designer: Shanghai X-idea Industrial Design Co., Ltd.

A winner of the Red Dot Design Concept award this year, the XCELL enhances the riding experience in ways never done before. For starters, it runs on hydrogen fuel cells, burning clean energy to provide zero carbon emissions “with a top speed more than 200km/h and a range of 200km”.

Another large component of the XCELL is driver safety and comfort. The motorbike’s unique design seats one and comes with an adjustable riding triangle (seat, bar, footpeg). The handlebars move forward and backward, allowing you to change your riding stance, opting for either a traditional stance or leaning forward for a more racing-like aerodynamic seating position.

Which brings us to driver safety, an area where the XCELL has some undoubtedly bold ideas. “XCELL is equipped with an intelligent active safety system that provides riders with timely obstacle feedback based on road conditions, allowing blind bend prediction for cars, people and obstacles”, say the makers. The motorcycle comes with its own drone that sits right above the taillight (shown below), which takes off and flies ahead of the rider, capturing the road ahead as well as obstacles around corners. This data is fed to the XCELL’s holographic display that allows the rider to make informed decisions by knowing what they otherwise wouldn’t know. Pair this with powerful laser headlights and night vision assistance and you’ve got yourself a motorcycle that makes riding dramatically safer by providing crucial information to help riders make more informed decisions while on the road.

The XCELL is a winner of the Red Dot Design Concept for the year 2022.

A close-up look at the hydrogen fuel cells on the XCELL motorcycle.

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Meet DEX, an autonomous quadruped cargo robot that can navigate factories in the future

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It’s like Boston Dynamics’ robot dog… but with the actual ability to ‘fetch’ cargo within factories and warehouses!

Named DEX for its Dual EXtendable legs (as well as a play on the word dexterity), this purpose-built robot from Schaeffler is a champion of mobility, with jointed legs as well as wheels that allow it to move across flat or uneven surfaces, work up and down ramps, and even climb stairs to get to different parts of a factory floor. Equipped with a flat platform on top and a host of sensors immediately beneath it, DEX can autonomously move around, carrying cargo from point A to B while easily avoiding obstacles that may come in its way.

Designer: Schaeffler (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.

Best described as an AMR (Autonomous Mobile Robot), DEX works in conjunction with human workers, aiding them and understanding their needs and requirements to improve efficiency. Through its unique design that can autonomously navigate a wide variety of surfaces, DEX “reimagines the dexterity and intelligence of collaborative robots”.

“DEX has a seamless way of understanding both non-verbal and verbal communication”, say the designers at Schaeffer. “With other robots, they work collectively to reduce the strain on workers. DEX can also be controlled using hand gestures and voice commands, thereby reducing the complexity of interacting with robots.”

While autonomous robots have been around for years now (in warehouses, if not the streets), what makes DEX so incredibly innovative is its format. Sure, anyone can attach sensors to a forklift truck, but DEX’s ability to conquer terrains, maneuver tight spaces, and also avoid obstacles with great reflexes is something not every AMR can boast of.

DEX does this through its uniquely designed bi-directional extendable legs that allow the robot to move up and down and even forward and backward. 4 sets of 360° wheels give it even more maneuverability with multiple degrees of freedom, along with the ability to move smoothly and rapidly across flat surfaces. When DEX encounters slopes, terrain, or stairs, the wheels take the proverbial back seat and the 4 legs kick into action, making it go from a rolling robot to a walking one. All throughout its use, a ring of lights around it synchronizes with the robot’s movement, communicating intention clearly to ensure seamless human/robot collaboration.

The DEX is a Best of Best winner of the Red Dot Design Concept Award for the year 2022.

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This trekking backpack is the world’s first to ever incorporate a 3D-printed cushioning mesh

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In 2017, Adidas made waves by building the first shoe with a 3D-printed midsole. Oechsler’s Trekking Backpack is bringing that game-changing technology to a new domain. Bags and shoes have quite a few areas of overlap. They’re both designed to take on load, and are built for comfort… so it only makes sense that innovative tech in the footwear industry make its way to the backpack industry. It seems like that’s finally happening, with Oechsler’s Red Dot Design Concept Award-winning Trekking Backpack. Although rather simply named, the pack comes with a unique additively-printed TPU lattice structure that helps provide a cushioning surface between the bag’s back panel and the human carrying it. Designed to be ergonomic, lightweight, and use lesser material than an actual cushion, this unique detail uses a special Ultrasint® TPU01 material that “provides strong, flexible, and ultra-durable part performance while maintaining excellent surface quality”.

“Thanks to the design flexibility enabled by 3D printing, the back pads and hip fins can be produced in a single piece out of one material. This significantly reduces assembly steps, time and cost”, say the designers at Oechsler, a Germany-based polymer innovation company. “The printed part no longer requires gluing or sewing. Moreover, unprocessed powder gets fully reused in subsequent print jobs and printed parts are 100% recyclable at the end of their lifecycles.”

The Trekking Backpack is a winner of the Red Dot Design Concept Award for the year 2022.

Designer: OECHSLER AG

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Award-winning bedside clock has a built-in pill dispenser that reminds you to regularly take your medicines

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Snagging the coveted Red Dot Design Concept Award in the Best of Best category, the +CLOCK is an automatic pill organizer and dispenser that functions like a clock but distributes pills at the time set by the user. “It is intended to establish a routine for the user to take the medication on a regular basis”, says designer Ju Chan Ho. “When it is time to take medication, +CLOCK plays an alarm that the user has set and distributes the pills to the tray.”

The +CLOCK isn’t merely a clock. It’s more of a habit-building device that also happens to tell the time, hence the name +CLOCK for the fact that it’s also a clock. The gizmo sits on any bedside table and comes with an appearance comparable to the Tmall Genie Queen smart mirror. Underneath its large clock face sits a carousel featuring 28 slots for daily meds. You can input medicines based on days or the time of the day, with the ability to fill up to 28 slots. This effectively means the +CLOCK lets you schedule up to 28 days of medicines or a week of medicines if taken 4 times a day, giving caretakers enough time to refill the next lot once the pills have been dispensed. When it’s time to take your meds, the +CLOCK alerts you with an alarm that dispenses the pills when you snooze it, helping you build a habit to take your medicines!

The +CLOCK is a winner of the Red Dot Design Concept Award for the year 2022.

Designer: Ju Chan Ho

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These TWS earbuds clip to your outer ear, giving you an open-ear design with natural ‘transparency’

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I never realized what a large sub-section of earphone-wearers don’t like wearing in-ear earbuds. It does seem like a relatively small amount, but given the option, a lot of us would just prefer something that rests comfortably on your ears without entering the ear canal. The reasons aren’t just comfort – some people have different-sized canals that don’t fit conventional buds, others don’t like the idea of dirty earbuds entering their ears, and perhaps the mot valid one, they block out external noises. Sure, most earbuds today come with their own ‘transparency modes’, but nothing beats actually being able to hear the world around you – a feature that the Sony LinkBuds embrace wholly.

The Open-Ear-Design TWS Earbuds fix that problem by clipping onto your ear instead of sitting inside them. The earbuds’ unique design allows it to attach to your ‘pinna’, or the external part of your ear that’s mostly cartilage. This shape and format keep the earbuds attached to your ear, and has the audio driver facing your ear but not sitting inside it. The result is comfortable listening without blocking your ear canal, so you can also hear stuff around you. The earbuds themselves are made from hard plastic on the outside, but employ soft silicone padding on the inside that grips most ears comfortably. When not worn, they snap rather wonderfully onto their charging case, using a magnetic mechanism to ensure they never fall off and accidentally get lost.

The Open-Air-Design TWS Earbuds are a winner of the Red Dot Design Concept Award for the year 2022.

Designers: Chen Chaohou, Li Yuze, Nie Dong, Peng Ziheng, Shi Yu, Yang Jin, Zheng Yuzhou

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Memphis-inspired streaming box comes with a unique intersecting design to prevent remote loss

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While the idea of losing a remote will pretty much still terrify anyone for the rest of their lives, the Pop Art TV Box has a uniquely creative solution – use someone’s OCD to combat their forgetfulness! With a unique design that has the TV’s remote intersecting with the TV’s hardware unit itself, the Pop Art relies on visual gestalt to complete itself. You’re much less likely to lose the remote, because you’re going to be compelled to dock it in its place once you’re done… sort of like how you dock a telephone receiver into its holder.

Designer: Shenzhen Skyworth Digital Technology

The Pop Art’s design borrows from the Memphis 2.0 and Bauhaus design styles, relying on simple geometric shapes and bold colors to create powerful compositions. The hardware duo features a square-shaped streaming box, with a cutout designed to dock the circular disc-shaped remote, allowing it to wirelessly charge when docked. “This recess serves as a visual cue for users to return the remote control to the charging dock when not in use. When the remote control is put back in place, the set-top box automatically shuts down to save power”, say the designers.

The Pop Art is a winner of the Red Dot Design Concept Award for the year 2022.

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Modular music instrument lets you create your own combination of strings, pads, and keys

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A winner of this year’s Red Dot Design Concept Best of Best Award, Bitboard is an electronic instrument that presents an absolutely no-barriers approach to making music. With modular inputs that snap together to create the instrument, Bitboard lets you combine guitar strings, keys, pads, and even controls like faders to create the Frankenstein Musical Instrument of your choice. The underlying idea? Music-making is a creative process but it’s still fundamentally tactile… so it only makes sense to empower creators in various ways to create music how they see fit!

Designer: Chen Hsin Ju

Named after the fact that it’s an instrument that uses electronic music-making techniques as opposed to real acoustics, the Bitboard is a MIDI device with various input mechanisms. The instrument starts with an empty canvas, or fretboard that lets you mount modules onto it. The module ecosystem features various input devices, designed to offer different input styles. You’ve got keys, pads, strings, rings, sliders, and a whole variety of snap-on modules, giving you the ability to simultaneously shred on a guitar, play airy electronic synths, or even mix samples and loops with turntable-inspired modules and crossfaders/sliders. “The surface texture is simplified from the instrument’s appearance and operational characteristics to provide players with intuitive tactile feedback”, says designer Chen Hsin Ju.

The board offers a little something for everyone. It can be used by novices looking to try their hand at multiple instruments without splurging on them, music aficionados, experts, street musicians, deejays, and even electronic music professionals. The board is easy and intuitive to use, and offers a few nifty features, including recording, volume adjustment, looping, and even wireless connectivity via Bluetooth so you can hook your Bitboard to a speaker or even your own computer. “Taking originality to a whole new level, Bitboard challenges stereotypes and opens up new possibilities for musical instruments, allowing one to explore interesting musical forms through creative combinations”, the designer mentions.

The Bitboard is a winner of the Red Dot Design Concept Award for the year 2022.

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Maven’s brutalist wristwatch highlights beauty in simplicity with its ‘raw and honest’ design

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Time might be fluid, but Brut by Maven gives it a rigid, almost cold appearance. Named after Brutalism, the architectural style that emerged in the 1950s, the Brut watch echoes a level of raw simplicity that feels incredibly honest. Like a person that doesn’t mince their words, and says exactly how they feel, the watch is all about being ‘Brutally honest & brutally simple’.

I use the words rigid and cold not as derogatory terms, but rather as attributes that have their own beauty. There’s beauty in rigid/cold icebergs, as there are in concrete buildings from the Brutalist era. Brut echoes a similar sentiment with its blocky appearance that pays tribute to the architecture seen in the post-war reconstruction of the UK. The style was recognized as being honest and simple, providing an accessible gateway for people of all backgrounds. “In the decades since, this approach to architectural design has become increasingly revered and recognized for its unexpected beauty, honest degree of charm, and unquestionable functionality”, says the team at Maven.

Designer: Maven Watches Limited.

The Brut combines the two most common geometric shapes associated with timepieces. The body is made from sandblasted stainless steel, with a square silhouette within which sits the circular watch face. The negative space is left bare, creating the perfect canvas for the watch’s clean, radial-brushed dial to shine through. The square also uses beveled edges to create minimal expressiveness, the kind associated with the raw functionality of Brutalism.

Brutalism is associated with going back to basics, not showcasing opulence or any sort of excesses. The watch reflects that rather wonderfully, with simple markings around the dial, a tiny date window at the 3 o’clock position and just a simple engraved Maven logo at the bottom right corner of the watch’s square body.

The Brut runs on a Japanese Quartz movement, encased in the stainless steel body that’s available in silver or anodized black. The movement and dial are capped by sapphire quartz, known for its tough scratch-resistant abilities. The Brut comes in two styles, the silver watch body is paired with a brown Italian leather strap for a classic appeal, while the ‘graphite’ variant gets paired with a black strap to give it a cohesive look.

The Brut wristwatch is a winner of the Red Dot Design Concept Award for the year 2022.

The watch’s brutalist approach extends to its packaging too, which resembles the plain, geometric concrete aesthetic seen in brutalist buildings

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This delicately designed ceiling light looks like it’s floating in mid-air

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Sandwiched between two metal structures that measure a whopping 10 feet when combined, the Aria is a lighting solution that puts emphasis on the term ‘light’. It looks almost like it’s floating in mid-air, with the three light spheres suspended between the metal structures almost like they’re frozen in time. There’s immense visual tension in the light because you expect the glowing orbs to roll around on their metal rails… but that visual tension is left unresolved, and that’s what makes Aria so interesting!

Designer: Gabriela Saadia

A winner of the Red Dot Design Concept Award, Aria combines lighting with the delicate beauty of visual imbalance. The lighting solution, designed to look minimal yet expressive, comes with three glowing orbs held in place by two curved metal structures. The orbs stay suspended in the middle, balancing out the structure both visually and by weight, and the lack of any perceivable electrical wires leading directly to the lights really make it fascinating to people who observe it!

“Aria is made of a 1-inch rolled steel tube that is powder-coated in copper and three white acrylic sphere diffusers. Its construction magic is imperceptible to the naked eye — everything happens inside the acrylic spheres”, designer Gabriela Saadia told Yanko Design. The same structure that holds the lamp together also holds the light source, which consists of three LED lightbulbs. The entire structure remains suspended by two metal cables, and can be adjusted to any size or even easily disassembled for transportation.

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Award-winning rocking chair uses a tensile fabric and metal framework to achieve uniqueness

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Close your eyes and imagine a rocking chair. You probably thought of the archetypal chair, right? The kind granddads sit on – made from wood, with armrests, a long back, and probably a creaking sound when rocked. Chances are that what you imagined was NOTHING like the ZHE rocking chair. Designed to bring a sense of disruption to how comfortably boring rocking chairs have begun looking, ZHE does things differently. Instead of wood, it uses a metal structure with a stretchable fabric draped on it. The fabric, which contorts and bends due to tension (or tensile strength), ends up forming the unique contoured shape of the ZHE chair. Sit on it and it feels like sitting on the future – there’s no wood under your body, just fabric, metal, and a sense of weightlessness as you rock to and fro!

Designer: Alan Hung

ZHE’s lightweight appeal comes from the fact that it’s designed around the core idea of ‘nothingness’. It’s essentially just a bent metal-tube frame with fabric draped over it, but it’s the way the fabric drapes over that gives ZHE all its character. The fabric wraps almost entirely around the metal armature, except for a small arc at the bottom which pulls the seat down and gives it concavity. It doesn’t particularly look like the fabric can be removed, washed, or interchanged, but then again those seem almost like secondary details.

The ZHE isn’t like your average rocking chair, as I’ve alluded to… but it behaves just like a traditional one. Sink into the comfort of its fabric seat and rock back and forth like you normally would. The curved metal channels on the base allow the chair to rock back and forth, while the chair’s fabric gives you the feeling of being in a hammock of sorts!

The ZHE Rocking Chair is a winner of the Red Dot Design Concept Award for the year 2022.

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