Core77

Folks, you have to wonder why no one else thought of this a long time ago:

This headphones packaging design (released last month by the European branch of Panasonic) was designed by Berlin-based Scholz & Friends, a creative agency whose motto is “Surprise! Convince!”

As Scholz & Friends explained to the Coloribus Global Advertising Archive,

The selection of earphones is huge and the products are often interchangeable. Only a packaging with a clear visual idea is able to stand out at the market among the generic packagings of the competition.

…The earphones show at first sight for whom they are made: for passionate music lovers.

…The new packaging was met with positive reactions from retailers and clients because it clearly stood out from the generic packaging of the competition. As such it helped to attract new target groups for Panasonic.

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[Update: This project was originally and erroneously credited to a UK-based design firm, who posted the project on their site with no proper attribution, leading one to believe the work was theirs, whether by accident or negligence. Please note that the designer is Daniel Dobrogorsky.]

Daniel Dobrogorsky’s Koolhaus concept is a faucet that lets you know how much water you’re using–not just from the Koolhaus itself, but throughout the entire bathroom, even dividing the bath tap and shower tap into separate categories.

I’m not crazy about the form factor–seems like a part from an extreme athlete’s bicycle–and the screen’s a bit too small for my tastes, but I realize these things are subjective, and overall I find the concept solid. Am also glad Dobrogorsky left toilet water consumption off the display–while it’s easy to take a shorter shower, I wouldn’t know how to begin curtailing toilet usage.

Hit the jump for some cool developmental shots.

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We didn’t think it could be done, but technology has advanced to the point where the Magic Tree air freshener may actually be supplanted by something more sophisticated.

“We want drivers to feel that they are healthier staying in the car instead of on the outside,” a Nissan engineer announced at a press event in Tokyo yesterday. To that end they’re looking into incorporating in-dash air purifiers designed by Sharp, air conditioners that spray a Vitamin C mist to moisturize skin, and special heated chairs–designed using NASA research–that promote better circulation.

There’s no word on when these features (and a few additional ones) will make their way into actual production models, but maybe we’ll get lucky and see them in Nissan’s new electric Leaf car, which launches later this year. In the meantime you’d better stock up on Magic Trees before they start disappearing like the rainforest.

via phys org

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That’s a prototype for an electric bicycle designed by Sir Misha Black, the influential UK industrial designer behind a 1946 exhibition called “Britain Can Make It.”

Shortly after the end of the Second World War, Sir Misha designed the ‘Britain can make it’ exhibition, held at the Victoria and Albert Museum. The exhibition was intended to boost morale by promoting the British manufacturing industry that was decimated after the war. Industry was to play a vital part in British post-war reconstruction. Sir Misha included a section called the ‘benefits of good design’, where he promoted good design as a force for social change.

Black was made the first president of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design in 1959, and was knighted for his contributions to industry and business in the UK. He is now being honored by ICSID on the occasion of what would have been his 100th birthday.

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Guest post by Paul Fraser.

Photography has come a long way in the last 200 years or so, or even since the first megapixel sensor. Newly developed robotics and software are now making it possible to photograph the tiniest of subjects, the most magnified close-ups, or the broadest panoramas with ridiculous depth of field, quality, and gigapixel resolution.

At SIGGRAPH 2010, where pixels are on everyone’s mind in some way, one exhibit focused exclusively on the topic. GigaPan, a company known for innovations in robotic camera mounts and custom image software, presented its latest hardware, software, and images. Using mounts that automatically move a camera’s view across a selected subject, software can then stitch together the high-resolution image pieces to construct photos at the gigapixel level. We captured a video of the photography in action below:

The first video shows the iterative photographing of a circuit board to create a gigapixel image. The second shows the demonstration of the GigaPan Epic 100. The robotic mount/software runs at about $350.

A collaboration among Gigapan.org, Carnegie Mellon, NASA, and Four Chambers Studio, the exhibit illustrated how photography and imaging play a vital role in the study of biological systems, allowing new and better science in general, as well as extending the use of photography fundamentally.

Click through the jump for some of the high-resolution images on display at SIGGRAPH 2010.

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