Vita Flower

Designs On— Packaging

By Kuen Chang and Pam Daniels

Flintstones Chewables: trusted by moms, loved by kids. Centrum CX: trusted by physicians, loved by pensioners. For the synaptically superior set—those of you in late-adolescence, your odyssey years, or adulthood—there’s now a playful way to monitor your pill-popping regimen.

Vita Flower allows users to arrange all over-the-counter prescription medications in an alluring, floral pattern. The exposure to friends and family members is designed to help promote adherence to a specified drug regimen. Users are less inclined to skip or forget a day when people are watching. And there’s a secondary benefit: it beautifies tables and countertops formerly sullied by amber pill cases or real flowers wilting.

Expired

Designs On— Packaging

By Kuen Chang and Jin Ko

According to some fathers, medication never goes bad. Ever. (And they would be wrong.) The truth is, knowing when medicine is, and respectively is not, safe to ingest is essential.

Current packaging provides more confusion than clues. Labels are congested, hard to read and interpret. Trying to find vital safety information is difficult. Why not turn to bananas for a few simple hints?

Bananas are the perfect source of design wisdom. Those elongated, delicious yellow semi-circles clearly betray signs of readiness for consumption (ripeness) or imminent decay. Why couldn’t over-the-counter and prescription drug packaging do the same? Consumers could vividly and intuitively detect when medicine is no longer safe to take. Save money. Save medicine. Just mind the spots.

City Scent

Designs On— Packaging

By Rhea Jeong

Jerusalem smells of mint and jasmine at sundown. Paris: Guerlain eau de cologne, fresh bread, and bicycle tires with a hint of Gitane tobacco. New York: brown sugar-tossed almonds with hot brick, hair product, and oodles and oodles of greenbacks. Tokyo smells like the future. Every one the world’s most memorable cities exudes a fragrance, a scent, an olfactory profile uniquely its own.

This particular concept tells the story of at least seven of the world’s most memorable cities by bottling specific attributes. Each scent is housed in a simplified form of one iconic structure that defines that city’s skyline. In essence, City Scent transforms the traditional idea of a souvenir from something visual (and tangible) to something more sensual, more ethereal, more directly connected to memory.

CO (me)

Designs On— Packaging

By Stephan Merkle and Top Tulyathorn

In the days of stamps and letter writing, C/O read ‘care of’. These days, the same two letters (CO) look a little less innocent, fault of associations with carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas that keeps at least a few climate scientists up at night.

But we produce CO2 every time we exhale. And as the teachings of the Great Buddha remind us, “Nirvana is but a breath away.” Sounds close. We might be able to experience a bit of the sublime if we start sending care packages to strangers or loved ones in a protective vessel filled with our breath. This concept explores that possibility. Breathe in. Breathe out. Transcend greed, hatred, and delusion (but make sure to send the packages via USPS).

Sharing Scent

Designs On— Packaging

By Andrew Burroughs, Joe Graceffa and Jerry O’Leary

Lights are fast. Candles are slow. Slower even are these embedded-scent candles. Like wooing a lover, spear fishing, or standing in line at the D.M.V., these little wax luminaries teach the principle of patience.

This concept celebrates the notion of waiting. Of anticipation. Of delayed gratification. The scented wax capsule is visible, right out of the box, but inaccessible for a period of ‘burn time.’ Only hints of the scent can be detected until the fragrance center is breached by light, over time. When the scent expires, it leaves behind only a clear candle and a string of cherished memories.

98.6 / Chocolet

Designs On— Packaging

By Joe Graceffa, Jerry O’Leary and Carly Price

Hershey’s might have cornered the market on the miniature candy kiss, but lovers of cacao can still find other ways to ‘edibly’ express their feelings for one another. One in particular: this jewelry piece, 98.6 / Chocolet. The pendant grips thin chocolate disks for people to drape around their neck, close to their heart. This softens the candy, improves its texture, and boosts the flavor profile. A loving gesture never felt or tasted quite like it.

Rice

Designs On— Packaging

By Sue Tan and Eric Toyofuku

Mi is the Chinese character for rice, one of the world’s single most important staple foods. The symmetry and simple structure of this character aligns with its role as the anchor of the Asian diet, feeding the rich and poor alike. The great unifier.

Though rice remains a vital source of nourishment, its packaging looks bland, utilitarian, even coldly industrial. To elevate its role as an everyday hero and push it into modernity, these designs make the grain easier to recognize and carry in urban settings.

Lux Paper

Designs On— Packaging

By James Prince and Volker Roos

There’s nothing particularly chic about purchasing a 12-pack of ‘extra soft’ or ‘extra strength’ toilet paper and shlepping it around town—even if that town is more familiar with using leaves than a proper roll of Charmin. But, a few simple changes to the plastic wrap (opaque film, vacuum sealed to enhance the forms inside, and straps) might just transform an everyday essential into a luxury good. Or something approaching true luxury—LV and Prada are still several seasons shy of rolling out a proper toilet paper tote.

Synthetic Biology

Designs On— Packaging

By Will Carey and Adam Reineck

In the years to come, synthetic organisms will start producing materials that function as both product and packaging. Synthetic biology is already creating fuels and chemicals that serve existing industrial supply chains.

Envision a product that is ‘fixed’ by light: exposure to a specific wavelength causes the organism to morph into a rigid, waterproof material. During shipping and storage, these light-molded cups remain alive but dormant. With exposure to water, the organism hydrates and begins expressing pathways that produce fragrance and flavor compounds, creating an effervescent and probiotic drink. After several uses, the cup walls begin to degrade and the container can be composted.

4G Tapes

Designs On— Packaging

By Kerry O’Connor, Dominique Ng and Hannes Harms

Acid-washed jeans. Crimped hair. Z. Cavaricci’s. And mixed tapes. At least ones of those deserves resurrection from the dun-colored grave of obsolescence: the mixed tape. Tapes were personal. Intimate. Poetic. And physical. Music-sharing as of late has lost that materiality.

A cardboard cassette tape offers a seductive solution that leverages the advantages of digital music but reclaims the lost element of physicality. Sound tracks can be selected and programmed directly through iTunes. Song lists can be linked to a colorful QR code on the side of the cassette, and listeners need only scan the code from their smart phone to instantly enjoy the personalized line-up. Tapes are environmentally sound, and can be decorated — like the side of your Chucks or your old middle school text books. The smart phone interface resembles a classic Sony Walkman — hit ‘play’ and your mix tape playlist begins. Certain things, we believe, deserve a comeback.

Chopsticks

Designs On— Packaging

By Gregory Perez and Guoning Hu

An estimated 25 million trees are chopped down every year in China to support the country’s insatiable appetite for disposable chopsticks: 45 billion pairs per annum. Even with the adoption of policies in certain locales to reduce the use of one-off or wooden chopsticks, the environmental impact on forests is immense. These ¥5,000 (about $750), limited-edition chopsticks remind us that wooden chopsticks are, in fact, costly in more ways than one.

Leftovers

Designs On— Packaging

By Karl Abele, Matt Brown, Mark Jones, Michelle Kwasny and Strick Walker

Often, refrigerators are scarcely more than a morgue for half-eaten food: a cold, lonely place to solemnly view and store the worldly remains of some anonymous life form, pending a proper ground burial. So how might we encourage people to actually eat their leftovers? To savor culinary memories before they’re devoured by mold or ravenous high school students on the post-midnight prowl?

Down with doggie bags and earth-killing ”take-away” containers. Proper packaging ought to feature complete meal and detailed caloric information. They ought to include photos of the original dish; a reminder of the chef or line cook that thoughtfully prepared it for you; the name of the server. Even how much you spent. Suddenly, those leftovers look every bit like something you’d love to eat.

Once

Designs On— Packaging

By Andrew Burroughs, Joe Graceffa and Jerry O’Leary

Drawing inspiration from theTalipot Palm—a monocarphic plant, native to parts of India and Sri Lanka, which flowers a single time over the course of a 30-to-80-year lifecycle— Once blossoms for 24 hours, one time annually. Only a lucky few are fortunate enough to catch a whiff of the bouquet, every year.

To reduce the possibility of missing the moment, Once places people “on notice” as the scent capsules approach bloom, using a series of soft chimes as the days count down from seven. Following the dispersion, the product returns to hibernation, inaugurating the energy-storing process for the next year’s blossom.

CNDM

Designs On— Packaging

By Jeremy Innes-Hopkins and Nils-Johan Eriksson

Playing on the salacious idea of undressing or ‘unzipping’ for recreational fun, CNDM lets men abandon the clunky geometry of grocery store condoms in favor of a sleeker, sexier love glove. CNDM’s discreet branding, and pocket-friendly form, generates a potent mixture of curiosity and excitement for everyone involved—including the cashier.

Cigg Seeds

Designs On— Packaging

By Ben Forman

An estimated 10 million Britons still suck down cigarettes faster than a troupe of aging rockers in rehab straining to cough out another hit tune. In the UK, cigarette butts sully streets and parks everywhere. What if this nasty habit could contribute to, rather than subtract from, the beauty of outdoor spaces? Cigg Seeds aim to do precisely that. A variety of smokes outfitted with biodegradable filters that contain wild flower seeds, they sprout and blossom into wildflower meadows when finished and flicked, or deposited on the ground. Butts into blooms. Cigarettes into snowdrops—the floral not frozen variety, to be sure.

Mr. Carcass

Designs On— Packaging

By Lynda Deakin, Tracy DeLuca and Ian Groulx

Look no further than Jamie Oliver, world food price fluctuations, or the renewed American love affair with farmers markets, and it seems clear: a food revolution is underway. Sharpen your knives, and bring in the butchers— preferably the conscientious ones, like Mr. Carcass, who believes that animals should live well, roam free, eat what their ancestors ate (other than primordial man), steer clear of performance enhancing drugs, and taste… amazing, morsel after morsel. Mr. Carcass supports snout-to-tail dinners, live butchering demonstrations, and informed approaches to shopping for the world’s best flesh. For the slightly squeamish or truly afraid of blood, Mr. C. offers clever wrapping, strong branding, and a reassuring tone to make the meat go down smoothly.

Light My Ire

Designs On— Packaging

By Judy Guo and Engin Kapkin

What if prying open a package of cigarettes were difficult right down to the very last grunt? What if gaining access to a single smoke was as hard as solving a Rubik’s cube, blind-folded, one-handed, underwater, disoriented, sleep-deprived, and heavily sedated? Would that help reduce smoking frequency? Might that even help combat the habit, and promote smoking cessation? Just maybe. It’s certainly worth a shot.

Pique

Designs On— Packaging

By Joe Graceffa and Jerry O’Leary

It’s a peephole. It’s a (visual) plane. It’s your private perversion, packaged. Based on predetermined ‘preferences,’ this sleek, little device constantly updates imagery and video clips just for you—or for your paramour.

Or for some unsuspecting picker-upper. When the need for a ‘fix’ arises, simply take a pique.

Drip Gardens

Designs On— Food

By Elger Oberwelz and Joerg Student

These maintenance-free vertical gardens, equally suitable for both private and public use, distribute vegetable nourishment at no cost. Entirely self-sufficient, Drip Gardens thrive off atmospheric moisture from several as yet untapped sources in the ‘urban wild’ — everything from rain gutters and air-conditioning units to dripping faucets and fog.

Plate

Designs On— Food

By Thomas Brisebras

Since the 60’s, alongside soaring obesity rates, the average plate size has increased from 9 to 12 inches in the US. Plate reduces the quantity of food intake, while giving the impression of a generous serving. Right side up, the plate is designed to reveal three size-appropriate portions, reflecting the components of a balanced meal — vegetable, protein and carbohydrate. Beneath, it gives information about recommended foods, e.g. less red meat for body health, as well as Earth health (i.e. lower carbon emissions).

Cotton Chicken

Designs On— Food

By Larry Cheng

Wired magazine recently reported that “stem cells are bathed in a nutrient-rich soup; as they grow, the material is stretched to mimic the flexing that gives in vitro meat its texture.” Cotton Chicken is a design concept that builds on this scientific development. It is a pultrusion of cultured chicken meat, spun like cotton candy, or pulled like fresh pasta. It is then seasoned to perfection, flash-fried, and wrapped delicately around a skewer of bamboo.

Stamp of Approval

Designs On— Food

By Stephen Kim

Most foods today come wrapped in packaging replete with nutrition labels. Mysterious names populate the list of ingredients, yet the label seems to mark the product as ‘real food’. Why don’t raw fruit and vegetables receive this same identification to let people know what they are about to eat?

Pasta Ferrari

Designs On— Food

By Thomas Overthun

There are few things more Italian than pasta and Ferrari cars. This design concept marries the popular comfort food with the V12 engine of the renowned automotive brand: Pasta Ferrari is at once high tech and low tech; a luxury and a vital need. Diners, start your engines!

Word Of Mouth

Designs On— Food

By Blaise Bertrand, Martin Kay and Byron Parr

Word of Mouth is a sweet treat that tastes terrific and is good for the teeth. Made from frozen yogurt with probiotic cultures, it delivers ‘good bacteria’ to the mouth — and its handle, a stick from a tree infused with natural anti-cavity agents, cleans your teeth when finished. Its packaging offers a third perk: acting as a mirror, you can sneak a teeth-peek. (See ya later, spinach.)

The Taste of Color

Designs On— Food

By Arvind Gupta

When you were a child, were you curious about the flavor of Fire Engine Red? Sky Blue? Sun Yellow? This concept offers a color palette for the palate – a box of crayon chocolates that stir up memories and make the relationship between color and taste tangible.

Fun With Fruit

Designs On— Food

By Jennifer Leonard

The gold standard of healthy convenience in a compostable package, fruit has been shaped by human touch (10,000+ years of cultivation) for as long as its colors and forms, fragrances and flavors have sparked human imagination. This communication design concept revives the ‘still life with fruit’ works of yore through a photography campaign that celebrates the impressive diversity and impeccable designs of fruit. As Salvador Dali once said, “Beauty shall be edible or nothing.”

Mmmplant

Designs On— Food

By Bosung Kim

Mmmplant is a design concept that depicts a biotech future where food and love co-mingle in the landscape of the human body. Performative in nature, it plays at the border of cultural norms and taboos: cultivating and harvesting life forms, human or otherwise, versus the (romantic) cannibalistic act of planting seeds in the body of a lover and later eating the living evidence.

Beeries

Designs On— Food

By Alex Coriano

Building on the tradition of fruit-infused beer – lime in a Corona, lemon in a Hefeweisen – Beeries flip the equation and put the beer in fruit. Using semi-dehydrated berries, then rehydrating them in your beer of choice, Beeries become an edible form of alcohol, or a delicious snack with ‘buzz’. Beeries have the potential to take on endless flavor profiles, such as Guinness BlueBeeries, Becks StrawBeeries and New Castle CranBeeries.

Inspiroma

Designs On— Food

By Emily Lannon

Ever walk into your kitchen at the end of a long day without a clue what to prepare for dinner? Inspiroma is an aroma filtration system meant to inspire dinner ideas. Simply scroll through the portfolio of programmed aroma-recipes and let your nose decide. Choose what suits and select print for a detailed recipe.

Dice

Designs On— Birth

By Mark Fisher

Making predictions is difficult. Baby boy? Baby girl? Twins? At least an ultrasound can help with that. But everything else? Why not mitigate the uncertainty of carrying children to term by introducing an element of fun?

WEENO is a game of Monopoly meets MASH, with a hint of old-fashioned gambling thrown in for good measure.

With every role of the dice, expectant parents (and other players) can bet, guess, or manufacture ludicrous myths about the height, build, and other attributes of the baby-to-be.

Of course, there are no guarantees, only possibilities.

Baby Phone

Designs On— Birth

By David Webster

Hotlines. Reagan and Gorbachev relied on them. So did Clinton and Blair, and Bush and al Maliki. Even the mayor of Gotham and Bruce Wayne used the Batphone.

But expectant mothers and their kids-to-be? Most chit-chats between woman and womb consist of oneway communiques, such as whispers, kicks, prayers, and belly rubs.

The Sing-ular phone changes all that: Mothers can finally place direct calls to their unborn children with higher fidelity (and lower fees) than with an ultrasound.

Sing-ular redefines what it means to “reach out and touch someone.”

Bracelet

Designs On— Birth

By Katie Clark

Cartier might have mothered the “love cuff” craze, but Lance Armstrong turned bracelets-for-a-cause into a global phenom. Time for something new: a bangle with a respectable profile, a modest price tag, and a decidedly different target market in mind.

The notion is a simple one. Women in their third trimester are generally easy to spot, because the bulge betrays the bun in the oven. But moms in earlier stages of pregnancy (and fathers in any stage) remain anonymous. Why not self-identify by wearing a subtle, albeit trendy, accessory?

The intended outcome: elicit kind courtesies (e.g., giving up one’s seat on the subway) or congratulations from strangers. Of course, manipulative operators might abuse the bracelet—much as single men sometimes don a faux wedding band—but imitation moms and dads are preferable to counterfeit philanderers. We think.

HeartBeat

Designs On— Birth

By Thomas Brisebras

Pop icon Janet Jackson once belted out, “Gimme the beat!” Good news for expecting mothers: they can now get the beat, without having to break out eye-popping dance moves or pay begrudging homage to the 1980s.

Enter HeartBeat, an outerwear line designed to be worn over standard clothing. When the mom-to-be experiences pain or discomfort related to pregnancy, she can sheath herself in the hood and listen to the baby’s heartbeat—for instant peace of mind and to remind herself why she is having him or her (or them).

HeartBeat doubles as protection against the elements and avian “accidents.”

Labör

Designs On— Birth

By Barbara Franz

In life, things are complicated. On Wall Street, doubly so. In medicine, triply so. At IKEA, not so. Why can’t more things be as simple as they are at IKEA?

Maybe they could.

Starting with pregnancy. Parents-to-be could receive a simple, easy-to-follow manual from their pediatricians, explaining the process and events to come. The manual could reduce anxiety, inject a bit of levity into the affair, and promote communication without introducing more complexity.

(It almost makes you wish Scandinavians design everything…)

Forever

Designs On— Birth

By Elger Oberwelz

Cutting onions often leads to tears. Severing the single most symbolic bond between mother and baby? More tears.

For wet or dry eyes, there’s a new way to celebrate the extraordinary act of cutting the umbilical cord: the Forever Ring.

Fashioned from the scissors used to sever the cord, this special bauble can be worn on a finger or about the neck as a keepsake, a fashion accessory, a conversation piece, or a subtle and elegant reference to one of life’s most cherished moments.

Deliver Casual

Designs On— Birth

By Martin Meier

There’s cocktail attire, and there’s cord-cutting attire. Any gentlemen with even a modicum of taste ought to be familiar with both.

To date, trusted sources have proven woefully inadequate when it comes to establishing (or communicating) style rules around the delivery room. GQ, Details, and Esquire are all equally inept. It’s high time to inculcate the virtues of gentlemanly demeanor and proper dress around delivery day. Call it “labor chic.”

It starts with the Deliver Casual kit. In it, men will find: whiskey, to settle the nerves; leather driving gloves, to enhance steering performance en route to the hospital; a red “Kojak light,” to attach to the roof of the car; pre-completed hospital forms (because stylish men arrive prepared); and additional space for reading materials, to pass time in the waiting room.

The only item not included is a list of excuses to furnish when the mother-to-be asks the father-to-be why he elected to wait outside, wearing gloves, drinking whiskey, and waxing lyrical about his days as a single man.

Men in Labour

Designs On— Birth

By Andrea Mallard + the IDEO Munich studio

Mothers receive (and rightfully take) the lion’s share of credit for childbirth. Fathers are quite often sidelined, overlooked, or relegated to the status of wincing, passive observers during the physical act. But are modern dads really so detached? We think not.

A video from Andrea Mallard and the fathers on staff at IDEO Munich explores the emotional journey and the unmet needs of fathers going through the experience of birth.

Yes, big strong men can and do cry. Visit meninlabour.com.

BirthRight

Designs On— Birth

By Sally Madsen, Colleen Cotter, Tiffany Card, and Blaise Bertrand

BirthRight helps mothers in rural areas—those who lack access to an attending physician or emergency-room care—give birth at home. The system is designed to monitor and respond to danger signs.

The BirthRight “tackle box” contains: Home Birth Alert, a log to help the mother and her birth attendants identify, track, and respond to an emergency situation; and the Vaginal Repair Kit, a sealed emergency response kit to manage postpartum hemorrhaging and infection long enough for the mother to seek formal medical treatment.

All the necessary hardware comes neatly stacked and assembled. Bravery and high threshold for pain provided by users.

Journey

Designs On— Birth

By Altay Sendil

Mystical interpretations of the Bible maintain that the Good Book maps human existence from start to finish. Perhaps. Somewhat more modestly, the modern microchip captures an enormous amount of information and concentrates it in a tiny space. (Obligatory clap.) Somewhere between the two, by comparison, Charles Joseph Minard created what’s broadly regarded as the best statistical graphic ever drawn, depicting losses suffered by Napoleon’s army in the Russian campaign of 1812. He layered complex amounts of information onto a single visual plane. (Thunderous applause.)

What if we could do the same with the process of pregnancy: identify the key moments along the journey; the feelings; the vicissitudes (highs and lows); the key players at pivotal moments; and all the predictable junctures? Could be cool … and far better advised than invading Russia before winter.

What I Am Made Of

Designs On— Birth

By Fredrik Aidehag and Pernilla Danielsson

You don’t have to be Iron Mike Tyson (or a store-bought package of Tyson chicken) to wonder what you’re really made of—or, for that matter, what your newborn is made of, aside from a few small parts of you.

This colorful onesie cleverly spells out what went into Junior for 40 weeks, in utero: peas, carrots, guacamole…quiche? The hooded garment is also a playful reminder to parents of what they’re now giving their newborn (aside from love, kisses, and varying levels of neuroses.)

Baby Brew

Designs On— Birth

By Jane Fulton Suri and Thomas Brisebras

Men are obsessed with measurements—length, width, heft—and that’s just when it comes to fishing. Statistics and predictive tools run more rampant when it comes to watching professional sports, following politics, monitoring gas mileage, and bragging about newborns. Do men crave an emotional connection to their kids through numbers? If so, there’s an app for that.

Baby Brew builds on men’s instinctual and insatiable desire for numbers by measuring, displaying, and sharing a full complement of vital stats (height, weight, age, etc.) along with status updates.

Men—and, of course, women of equal persuasion—can share and compare their kids like rookie draft picks. Or race horses. Or American Idol contestants. (Come to think of it, that might make a good show.)

Less Is More

Designs On— Birth

By Larry Cheng

1 + 1 = 0.75

1 + 1 = 3

Two people can create a third, whichever way you slice it.

As people who have done so will attest, having a baby creates a life and takes one away (your regular one, anyway).

Hello, life. Bye-bye, “life.”

Light of My Life

Designs On— Birth

By Nicholas Zambetti

Life is time, and time is precious. Birthday celebrations cast light on both of these basic principles.

So, if each passing year is marked by a 24-hour period of revelry and reflection, perhaps newborns ought to be presented with a lifetime set of birthday candles? Think of them as “personal insight lights.” As children grow older, they can monitor or make note of their diminishing number of candles—and consider the fleeting and ephemeral nature of life. It might just provide the necessary impetus for them to seize the day, take initiative, or exploit opportunities to maximize life itself.

Too heady? Well, at the very least, the lifetime set would save recipients from ever having to buy their own birthday candles.

Dad T-Shirts

Designs On— Birth

By Pascal Soboll

Mothers become mothers the moment their home-pregnancy tests turn blue. Fathers, on the other hand, often don’t feel like fathers until they stare into their newborn’s eyes for the very first time.

Perhaps that’s because in the months leading up to delivery day mothers show physical signs of pregnancy—and clearly have a “job” to do—while fathers are left to fret and figure out their new roles. One remedy? Not pills. Not meditation. Dad T-shirts.

Consider a series of tees that enable men to freely express their feelings about any stage of the pregnancy. They can speak their minds, document the journey, show people how well- or ill-prepared they are, or demand a bit of respect for creating a new life. Go, Dad! Swap that old GNR Use Your Illusion T-shirt for something more mature.

Egg Parents

Designs On— Birth

By Thomas Overthun

Carrying children to term in utero is so … old-fashioned. What if humans, like their distant mammalian cousins, the platypus, could lay eggs instead? Odd thought? Scary? Eerily reminiscent of a seventh-grade, take-home science experiment? Well, it might just better suit our evolving needs and lifestyles.

This idea explores the possibility.

Nature/Nurture

Designs On— Birth

By Graeme Findlay

Wildlife is remarkably adept at adaptation. Whether creatures are winged or grounded, able to fly or inclined to scurry, they can survive (and often thrive) in seemingly inhospitable environments.

Humans of the all-too-common variety are less amenable to change, particularly when it comes to accommodating nature and other members of the animal kingdom.

This begs the question: how can people erect cities and suburbs that peaceably exist with “native” surroundings and “inhabitants”?

Nature/Nurture starts with a series of multitasking lampposts: dual-use devices designed to light roadways and house small local or migratory birds. The design provides people with better visibility and birds with shelter — shade by day and warmth by night. The streetlight also attracts bugs to supplement the bird’s diet. Yum.

Getting Personal with Global Warming

Designs On— Global Warming

By Jennifer Leonard

“Getting Personal with Global Warming” is a communication concept with the aim of raising awareness about global warming. It’s intended for a mass audience and is discovered serendipitously, in the context of daily life —newspapers, city guides, message boards, online, etc.

The tongue-in-cheek idea stems from a philosophical truth: The human fear of being alone outweighs the human fear of global warming. That is, our individual sense of urgency to find a partner outweighs our populist sense of urgency to “save the Earth.” So, this concept addresses the quandary we find ourselves in, with the hope that its provocative nature will spark a new perspective on human nature and our role in the world—that yes, finding partnership is essential to our well-being, but that the well-being of our planet, now more than ever, determines the fate of our personal lives.

The ad is just the beginning; the dialogue that ensues is what sustains.

Life in Balance

Designs On— Global Warming

By Bosung Kim

This delicate arc of light subtly communicates in-home daily electricity consumption by losing its balance when users exceed a predetermined limit. Slowly but surely, balance is lost and gained, and lost and regained yet again. Ideally, over time, user behavior changes and the light is kept in a state of balance. This design makes use of existing technologies in order to spark dialogue between the user, the lamp, and its energy source. Life in Balance is connected to a homeowner’s wireless network and allows the user to set the electricity gauge daily, weekly, and monthly; this usage pattern is then automatically communicated to the utilities company.

Tank

Designs On— Global Warming

By Martin Kay

Tank’s success lies in its subtlety. On a daily basis, the user sees incremental shifts in light levels as a marker of usage patterns. Its Rothko-like gradation of tones serves as a metaphor for the melting ice caps and rising sea levels.

Change Lamp

Designs On— Global Warming

By Ricardo Figueiroa

Change Lamp poetically connects the user’s wallet to his or her energy usage patterns: over time, the effect is a more holistic understanding of inputs, outputs, and long-term effects. Change Lamp has no on/off switch because it is entirely coin-operated (after four consecutive coins, the lamp will turn off). The simplicity of the concept immediately and tangibly communicates choice and consequence. It’s a new way to interact with a product, which in the end, is the liaison between the user and the larger impact on the global energy grid.