Tag Archives: Taboo

Designing products that break biases with Render Weekly and Ti Chang!

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If you are a part of our Instagram community, you could have not missed this viral (and controversial!) post that shed light on gender bias in the design world. As conversations progressed, I realized the bias goes beyond genders and there are MANY segments of our audience who are underrepresented. We need to talk to and more about women, BIPOC, LGBTQ, and disabled groups – pay attention to their experiences, their needs, parts where they have felt left out of consideration when using a product or service. The post was a conversation starter but it needed to be followed by action, so Yanko Design teamed up with designer (and powerhouse) Ti Chang as well as Render Weekly to encourage participation from the global community with the aim of designing to break a bias.

“This is a chance to start to redesign products and experiences that do not address the needs of womxn and many underrepresented groups and historically marginalized communities. Let’s reimagine what could be! Let’s get these ideas out there by collaborating with EACH OTHER! Talk to your community, reexamine your privilege, reach out to this community and see if you can team up with them! Offer to realize other people’s ideas if you are super strong in rendering! If you have a great idea reach out to someone who is a great sketcher! Just get these ideas out there for us to see what a more equitable world COULD look like,” said Ti Chang.

Here are some of our favorites from the #RWDesignBias challenge –

CURVD by Amin Hasani

Hasani is one of the co-founders of CURVD, a universal mug that works for everyone! “Disabilities do not exist, design flaws do. When a product fails to serve a person, that person is not disabled, the product just wasn’t designed right. The CURVD mug was designed to allow all hands, regardless of their hand capability or shape, to be able to enjoy a beverage without limitations,” says Hasani. The mug was launched as a human-friendly design with a patented handle that allows all people, regardless of their hand capability, to be able to enjoy a beverage without limitations. Enjoying a warm beverage is a universal joy and deserves a universal design.

Maria Contraceptive Pill Dispenser by Romane Caudullo and Theotim Auger

Maria is a smart pill dispenser specially designed for the contraceptive pill with the aim to free women from pill omission pressure and its side effects. “Because, while the pill benefits the whole couple, the woman is often alone in managing this contraceptive, the constraints, and stress associated with it. It seems to us right and necessary to use design to improve this treatment,” says the team. Maria makes it easy for women to take the pill and improves its effectiveness by making the process more efficient. A much-needed redesign that comes 60 years after the FDA approval of birth control pills!

 

Changing Station by Claudia Miranda-Montealegre

Baby stations in public are only found in women’s bathrooms and do not take into account the needs of male caregivers. The current design does not feel safe, or hygienic, which leads to people using surfaces that might not be ideal (cars, floors, and counters/tables). This puts the burden on the female partners and takes away equal access from male partners. This conceptual baby changing station has a touch-less opening system, includes UV and alcohol self-cleaning capabilities, as well as integrated adjustable lighting. It upgrades the safety features to provide a comfortable experience for parents and infants alike. It also includes details such as hooks for bags, safety belts that can be adjusted using one hand, and a diaper dispenser for a seamless experience.

Pivot by Iris Ritsma

Even in 2020 majority of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is still being designed for the male body including body armor which is made to protect people from being harmed or even killed by gunfire. 71% of women working in emergency services wear PPE that is designed for men – it doesn’t fit women, their bodily movement, health issues, and more. Pivot is a soft concealable armor designed to optimally fit the anthropomorphic characteristics of women’s bodies. Each size comes with three variable chest sizes and the diagonal straps fit neatly around women’s naturally tighter waist with raised sides on the bottom provide extra freedom of movement in the hips. Pivot provides optimal protective coverage, maximizes women’s mobility, and increases women’s comfort significantly.

Liberia by Nipuni Siyambalapitiya

Current luggage scales in the market assume that most people can lift up a 50 lb/23kg on a hook/strap and weighed, it doesn’t take into account the elderly or those with disabilities. Liberia is a pneumatic luggage scale that allows you to weigh your bag WHILE packing! It is a pillow-like scale and accompanying app. It comes with an electronic air-pump that inflates it and a pressure-sensitive valve that records change in air pressure inside the scale as the weight on top changes. Buttons and tabs are large enough for people with low grip strength and have different tactile qualities, making it easy to maneuver the scale even if you can’t see too well. Simply place the deflated scale on the floor, put your bag on top, inflate the scale via the app and start packing while Libera tells you the weight in real-time.

Interruption Buzzer for women by Kristi Bartlett

Trump interrupted Hilary Clinton 51 times during their debate and in 2020. This buzzer is inspired by the board game Taboo and aims to make group discussions easier. The AI-enabled meeting assistant combats the phenomenon of women being talked over in meetings. Put it in the center of the table at your meeting and adjust the dial to reflect the gender makeup of your group to make sure the contributions follow the proportions. The device will buzz annoyingly and loudly when it detects a woman being interrupted by a man or another woman. It will also turn blue if it detects that men are speaking more than 50% of the time and pink if the same applies to women. The goal is to keep your meetings purple – equal chances!

Diffuser by Caterina Rizzoni

This diffuser re-imagines blow-drying curly hair, using a handheld form factor to help users offset discomfort and pain when using diffuser attachments on traditional dryers. Caterina spoke to over a dozen curly-haired womxn and relied heavily on design for usability. She aimed to reduce the ergonomic pain points present in the current design. This dryer was designed to protect naturally curly hair – the extra deep bowl saves room for curl pattern formation, while the dished fingers naturally conform to the user’s head. The use of metal for the diffusing end allows for even more drying from radiant heat, which means less airflow and less frizz! The soft braided cord easily swivels out of the way during use, and the soft heat-resistant over-mold on the body is easy to grip + easy to clean. Curly hair people are often forgotten like left-handed people and we need to break this bias.

BAGPAL by Tim Zarki

Public restrooms lack hooks to hang your bag from, and no one likes putting their bag on the gross public restroom floor. It is an uncomfortable and stressful experience, especially for women as they carry bags more often than men. BAGPAL can be used to hang your bag when you are using a public restroom and need both hands to change a tampon or pad. It is a multipurpose hook-shaped product that travels with you to hold your things when you can not. It has a strong stainless steel skeleton and colorful waterproof skin that is easy to clean when you wash your hands. With the pandemic, people are all the more careful of common surfaces and we don’t want to carry germs back home with us on our bags!

BBC iPlayer to host a ton of TV box sets this Christmas

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Nippy mornings and early sunsets. The British winter is here, bringing with it the perfect weather for TV bingeing. For many, that means Netflix, Now TV and Amazon Video, however this year the BBC is embracing the box set culture too. A huge collecti...

The 18 Best Party Games for Adults

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Party Games for Geeks Cards Against Humanity

Not all party games are meant for little kids! Meet some of the greatest party games for adults of all time in this list – all of which only get better once you can legally drink.

The days of being an outcast just because you had geeky or nerdy interests are long gone, and nowadays these same hobbies are not only what makes us friends in the first place, but even themes for parties and get-togethers. The idea behind this list is to recommend some fun games for both guys and gals that can be played with their buddies and have a laugh together.

In this list you will see many popular card games that you might or not have heard of, board games, and even party video games because in this day and age, all of us have at least one console around the house. If you’re organizing an adult birthday party, adult Christmas or just an adult get together away from the kids, read on, and find something that fits your group!

Card Games for Adults

Disturbed Friends

Disturbed Friends is a sleeper hit amongst those who enjoy party games, and it is special for it might reveal a side of your friends you’re not familiar with. This game faces the players with horrible situations or unethical debates, some of them with overt sexual themes. The real fun comes from trying to guess what your friends will actually choose, and how much this will affect your friendship in the end. Hey, losing a friendship is not that bad if you get to laugh about it afterwards, right? Disturbed Friends and its expansions is almost guaranteed to cause a few laughs or break ups.

Cards Against Humanity

This card game almost doesn’t need an introduction – the slogan “a party game for horrible people” pretty much tells you all you need to know about one of the most beloved party games of the last couple years. The idea is to match the cards to create hilarious and unlikely answers to hard-hitting questions, and the opportunities to mix and match are almost endless. The base game can be bought for $25 USD, but its many expansions will ensure that the game stays fresh once you’ve started playing a while longer. It’s seriously the best possible game for an adult birthday party.

SUPERFIGHT

This game has an incredibly neat idea, but one that requires the player’s creativity to actually be fun. SUPERFIGHT is a deck of cards with several attributes that players will draw from in order to create a character, monster, figure, whatever – with strengths, weaknesses and other characteristics. Examples of this include the likes of a dinosaur on a jetpack or a pirate on a segway breathing fire – the more cards you draw, the more insane it gets. The idea is that after you’re happy with your creation, you get to argue with other players over which of these would win, and just exactly how each fight would go. We assign bonus points if there is a bit of acting involved in the discussion but that bit is your call.

We Didn’t Playtest This At All

We Didn’t Playtest This At All is different from most of the games on this list, for it is a freeform game where players get to make rules on the fly. The game is purposely precise and purposely vague in different cards (each one with its own set of rules) so players get to argue the meaning and come up with their own scoring systems. It also doesn’t hurt that this game likes to create random win conditions that toy with the players emotions and give opportunities for a comeback at just about any moment. The game is quite silly, and it totally embraces that aspect, so be ready to face some ridiculous situations. Also, once you’re done with the base game, be aware there are several expansions you can try out.

Personally Incorrect

Careful, for this game is not for everyone, and we truly mean it! Personally Incorrect is a game where you will get to roast your guests, call them names, and bring up horrible, embarrassing stuff. The idea is that players will pick a an attendee’s name and then an offensive answer card for them – roasting at its finest. The game is a huge hit with people who don’t mind offensive jokes, but it can get personal pretty quickly so having a thick skin is advised.

A Terrible Time

 

A Terrible Time is a fun game with challenges of all kinds. Players will draw cards and have to perform a particular task that will test their knowledge, a skill or whatever else not unlike other games like Cranium. Still, what makes A Terrible Time different from other party games with similar concepts is that when players fail a task, they will have to draw a card from a humiliation deck and get stuff written in their foreheads, scratch plates with a fork and knife, or other incredibly annoying or shameful displays. While we consider this game hilarious, it totally needs a trigger warning, for it’s not for everyone and might make you do or bring out things from your friends or yourself you don’t want to know.

Board Games for Adults

Taboo

There is nothing quite like a classic. Taboo, for those who don’t know it yet, is a fantastic guessing game where players have to guess phrases or words but can’t use certain others to hint the members of their team. The game has been around for many years, and is beloved by players of all ages and backgrounds for being a clever mix of mind games, mimic, and wit but also having a hilarious, very physical side. We spent so much time with it we can’t help but recommend it.

Cranium

In Cranium you get to show how much better than everyone else you are – for real. Players will have to move through a board by rolling a dice, and drawing cards that will have them perform, do or use different skills involving trivia and their own creativity. Players will have to figure out words, hound clues, perform songs or draw, and more – it’s sort of a jack of all trades, mixing elements from almost all of the other games in this list. We recommend Cranium for those who can’t figure out exactly which game they like the most, and want to dip their feet and do a bit of each thing. If you happen to really like Cranium, be aware that there are many expansions that can arrange the game more to your liking.

Monopoly

Here comes Monopoly, the ultimate friendship tester! We are not exactly sure what it is about this game that gets everyone’s most competitive side out, and won’t be able to put the game down until crushing the competition with over-priced hotels and well placed houses that will enrage whoever lands in them – and that is exactly the part that makes Monopoly so much fun. Be ready for the tears, the yelling and cursing that are inherent to the game, but in case this isn’t geeky enough for you there are special editions based off of Game of Thrones, Doctor Who,  Marvel, and so many, many more. We’re sure you will find your own.

RISK

Playing RISK with the right people can be one of the most intense experiences in the world. In this game, the world map is divided in “zones” which the players will attempt to conquer with their ever-growing armies, and clash against each other with the roll of a dice. Still, that’s only a superficial description of what is really going on: the alliances, the betrayals, the crushing defeats or grasping victory from the hands of our opponents, that is the real backbone of this game and the reason why we think this game is a must for any one game night. There are also several special editions such as Game of Thrones RISK, Star Wars RISK, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and many, many more.

Adult Loaded Questions

The classic Loaded Questions has released a hilarious, new revision entitled Adult Loaded Questions which dumps all pretense of clean fun for a way raunchier version. Players will use a spinner, draw a card, and ask a really awkward question to everyone currently participating (examples include “what is an instant mood killer” or “which should would you watch if it contained nudity”). Players then have to write down their answers and have whoever asked the question read them anonymously. For extra fun you can try and guess who answered what, but be aware this might lead to break-ups or divorces.

Settlers of Catan

Settlers of Catan is a game about building a civilization, conquering the land and improving life for everyone – or pissing your friends off because you refuse to trade with them for wool, which they clearly need. There will be a lot of yelling, name-calling, and telling your buddies how big of a jerk they are because they’re the only party with access to ore, and how they’re cheating, because you clearly know they are. Settlers of Catan can be played with other expansions and extra rules on top, and adding on top the fact that the tiles and placements get randomized each time ensures no two games are the same. This is pretty much the definition of an endless game.

Pictionary

The game of sketches and guesses makes an appearance on our list. In Pictionary you will have to draw something from a card drawn at random. It might be a movie title, a book, action, noun, or many other concepts. Other players will have to guess what the player did actually draw, and that is the best part, as not everyone is exactly a talented artist. The game is good for players all ages, as more adult versions of the games also exist. There are some other similar games that explore the concept but have focus on pop culture, or in acting instead of drawing too, with prominent examples being Win, Lose or Draw, Draw Something or Charades.

Party Video Games For Adults

Mario Party

We just can’t have these type of lists without mentioning the silly fun that the Mario Party series brings to the table. This title simulates a board players traverse and then jumps into a collection of minigames where players compete for stars, coins, and their pride. The fact that the Wii U comes with so many different control types makes the whole thing extra special as you never know exactly what type of thing you are going to have to do next. If you are among gamers, Super Mario Party is absolutely a must. By the way, we’re recommending Mario Party 10 for Wii U as it is the most recent one, but don’t be afraid to delve into some of the older titles that go back all the way to the Nintendo 64 – some gamers even tend to prefer those over the most recent, but that’s a matter of personal taste.

Mario Kart

Everything we said about how much fun Mario Party is also goes for Mario Kart. This is a racing game where players get to grab different weapons and use those to hinder the CPU opponents or their friends through beautiful, colorful courses. Using bananas to stop the enemies behind, different colored shells to shoot at your opponents, or even the dreaded blue shell that never misses whoever is in the first place all create hilarious situations that get funnier the more serious the players get about the whole competition. The good thing about Mario Kart is that each new entry is better than the previous one and you seriously can’t go wrong with the most recent one, Mario Kart 8, where you can even take control of Link from The Legend of Zelda and Isabelle from Animal Crossing via DLC.

Just Dance

Let yourself go and flow with the music in Ubisoft’s Just Dance, one of the heaviest hitting games at any party or social gathering. The game has players (up to 4 at the same time) follow a choreography on the screen to some of the biggest hits of each year – because yes, this game DOES come out yearly, it’s not like popular music doesn’t renew itself. Also, it’s not all recent hits and you will get to do some classics such as You Spin me Round (Like a Record) or Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, for those of you who like oldies. As of now, Just Dance 2015 is the most recent edition, but be aware that Just Dance 2016 is just around the corner. At least you can play it on pretty much any console. Some of them do not even need add ons like Kinect or PlayStation Camera!

Rock Band 4

The drought is over! After years and years without a release, rhythm games with a rocking edge are coming back, and they are coming back full force. For those who haven’t heard of the Rock Band / Guitar Hero series before, in these games players get to hold plastic instruments and “play along” with some of the most popular songs of all time, spanning from the late 60s to the last few years. You might find yourself rocking out to The Who, Metallica, Nirvana or Imagine Dragons. Furthermore, in the case of Rock Band, your old songs and DLC you paid for will still work with the newer versions, so if you’ve played the game before, now is the right time to come back as its better than ever.

Super Smash Bros

This is an actual fact that can not be disputed: when it comes to partying and videogames the Wii U is the greatest video game console out there. Super Smash Bros for Wii U is a fighting game that both newcomers and trained players can enjoy side to side as it features a really low entry barrier but a high skill ceiling: no matter how good you are, a newcomer might find a way to take you down, and the fact that you can use some of the most beloved Nintendo characters of all time in incredibly gorgeous stages created completely in high definition graphics, it makes for a hell of an experience. From Donkey Kong to Pikachu, from Mega Man to Sonic and from Mario to Marth or the Wii Fit Trainer, there are characters of all kinds for everyone. The only bad part of this game is that it might kick off an obsession with the amiibo figurines.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories at Kat Walk VR Treadmill Makes Games more Immersive and 6thfinger Mimics Human Touch in Tablet Games.

 

Black Eyed Peas are Still One Big Family, Says Will.i.am

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This year marks the 20th anniversary of Black Eyed Peas. After a long five-year hiatus, the group made a surprising come back with a single “Yesterday”, which is a sort of tribute to all those...