t’s like playing a card game! Sort of. . . The Game Card remote enables you to control volume and change channels all via card playing like gestures. Sliding your thumb up and down in the center raises/lowers volume. Sliding the top card over a tad changes channel. Sliding it all the way takes you on a wild channel surf.

Designer: Sungwoo Park

Candy bars, flips, bricks, diamonds - phones come in a myriad of monikers but a common denominator are their form factors. For the most part they’re designed to be pocketable. You can throw all those expectations out the window because designer Tamer Koseli wants no part of it. His NEED Phone is probably the longest mobile phone concept we’ve seen.

He argues mobile phones are basic multimedia gadgets, far from their traditional aim of communication. He wanted to create a device with no superfluous features. That’s right, you won’t find a MP3 player, video capabilities, or even a camera. But WAIT! Don’t dismiss the Super Phone yet because it’s got a touchscreen. Scratch that, it’s got 2 touchscreens. Oh what? DAMN! Yes friends one is an OLED that displays basic info - whatever that is while the other is where finger play happens - scrollin’ for daysssss. Best part is when the thing breaks, just use it as a protective weapon. I’m sure it could double as a baton.

Would be interesting to see the kinds of cases manufacturers would make for this.

Designer: Tamer Koseli

Fellow YDers, if you are looking for a new place to hang out on the net then I must recommend the swanky Amuen site. Designed by our friends at RKS Design, this is the spot to hobnob with fellow “creative souls – painters, musicians, sculptors, photographers, writers, enthusiasts, and everyone in between.” The social site is even running an intro contest where you can snap up a Mac Book with a custom skin designed by Carson Hill or a 16GB iPod Touch.

Designer: RKS Design

As the flames get hotter you stumble in panic looking for your way out of the maze of hallways that seem so familiar yet alien at the moment. Smoke stings your eyes as you desperately search for any signs of escape. Follow the Halo, it will guide you.

This may seem like some scene in a movie but in reality this could happen to any of us. In times of crisis, we lose our ability to think coherently and often the simplest task seems daunting.

Halo was designed to aid people in times of crisis such as blackouts and fires directing them to the fastest possible exit route. By using LED lights, halos are cast upon the floor indicating the direction in which the exit is located. This is especially useful in smoke laden fires since people are advised to stick close to the floor. The light also pulsates in the direction of the exit providing a secondary indication upon which direction to head.

Designer: Foo Wei Zen & Chua Wenfong

A new typology of wall mounted light that doesn’t require a permanent mounting. Airswitch Z is an easy to install wall mounted light. Many conventional wall mounted lights requires several holes to be drilled into the wall, and an electric cable that runs inside the wall itself. This often requires an electrician and results in a permanent solution. Only a nail or a screw is required to hang the light from the slit running down the back of the shade. The light uses the AirSwith technology from Mathmos and appeals to both ends of Mathmos’ market people who consume from gadget shops, and people who consume from design shops. The wall mounted light creates an amusing effect of a floating object suspended to the wall that can magically be switched on and off and dimmed without touching it. Although it is design primarily to be used in the bedroom and living room, it also works well in corridors, public spaces and restaurants. Produced in polypropylene by a single-shot injection moulding process, the shade goes straight from the machine to the box. Surface finishes and the coloured edge are integrated in the moulding process. The cable is coloured and treated with a gradient to help the user visualize the area on the wall where they would use the airswitch.

Designer: Robin Bigio & Oliviero Zanon [ Via: Mocoloco ]

Many of us park our cars at the railway station and then catch the local train to work or wherever it is that we have to go. Building on this theory is the Paracité, a single person commuter car that plans on putting the car itself on the rail tracks. Generally there is a 5 miles free space between two trains on a regular railway track. This free space and time can be utilized by these commuter cars to get people going on to their destinations. Essentially just hop into Paracité and drive up to the station and skip the train and wait for your turn; use the tracks till your destination and then drive off in it for the remainder of the journey. Sounds like a neat idea but could become a logistical nightmare for the stationmaster to handle trains and cars!

In case you missed it, the car has a retractable arm that acts as a balance on the railway lines and covers the distance between the tracks. Its tucks away neatly to the side when on the road.

Designer: Matthias Pugin

Trademark of the Coach: his ever-present Clipboard and whistle. A little twist however, the whistle stays, only the clipboard gets modern; its the E-Ink Electronic Coach Playboard. Using E-Ink technology (for longer battery life), the clipboard can be used to draw out strategies for multiple games like baseball, basketball, football, soccer, etc. Templates of the field/court come pre-loaded, just choose your game and start drawing out the moves using your finger. The instructions can be reviewed and replayed numerous times, till the athletes get the game-plan perfected. Go get em tiger!

Designer: Gordon Yeh for Iota Creations

An innovative Revolving Satellite Complication displays time on the 201. Telescopic minute hands operate through three orbiting and revolving hour satellites. These telescopic hands precisely adjust their length following the minutes and then retract. Extended, they enable the 201 to display the time across a large easy-to-read, dial. Retracted, they allow for a shorter and more comfortable case.

A 50 hour Power Reserve indicator (left) and Day/Night indicator (right) complete the dial.

The Control Board on the back of the 201 features: an Oil Change indicator notifying the owner a service is due; a 100 year plus indicator, the worlds first horological odometer, keeping track of the total time of use for over a 100 years; and URWERK’s signature Fine Tuning screw allowing the wear to adjust the rate to suit their life style.

Design: Urwerk

Let me first say that I love pie-in-the-sky designs. Those design inspirations that have absolutely zero chance of ever being manufactured in any way, shape or form. These types of concepts serve as a great launching point for our imaginations, allowing everyone to rethink our preconceived notions of known, actual designs. Part Dick Tracy, part Minority Report and all bad-ass, this latest design exercise by Bruno Delussu is not only “inspired by Bugatti’s” Type 57, it is also vaguely inspired by actual automobiles. With absolutely no thought given to mechanical feasibility, physics, engineering or even the ability to turn(pesky details), designer Bruno Delussu has delivered a stunning interpretation of the classic streamline beauties of the 1930’s and 40’s. Calling it the “Bugatti Stratos”, the stratus is exactly where it will forever live.

Designer: Bruno Delussu

While his Zweistil Bike project brought him many accolades, the Night Ease project may dub Stefan Wallmann as the creator of the “Darth Vader of the night lights…” This one’s a simple solar solution that has its bottom covered with solar cells for juicing up. During the day just invert it with the bottom up, on its ring-stand and let it soak in the rays. At night, place it peak-side up and turn it the right way around (it has a tilt switch inside) to activate the light. For the Jedi, may this force be with you!

Designer: Stefan Wallmann

Why bother with one screen when you can have two for probably double the price? Designer Andy Kurovets presents his “Bend Mobile” concept. He thinks turning on a device and having it grow to nearly double its size will really be attractive to some people. He may be right but where is the proof? Oh right, he is also including a high capacity digital camera that also pops out to larger than expected proportions. All that and it’s curved, for easy sliding in and out of your pants. Niiice.

Designer: Andy Kurovets

You can’t get too tipsy on this: the “Cheers” personal mobile device. It’s powered by an efficient, maybe even energy-saving Alcohol-cell. Looks mighty like a container of the whisky, doesn’t it? Well it’s at least half as fun! What a mighty little device this fellow is! That cap on top of the device not only locks the cell inside, it’s a function switch as well. Kind of like a “wheel” if you will. Do you party?

Party here. Right on this lovely device. Although I’ll never be a fan of objects that require more and more batteries, more and more things to plug in, I’d say this is certainly a beautiful solution. Or at least beautiful. What say you alcohol aficionados? How well do you think it’ll play out if it’s produced? Is it “green?”

Cheers!

Designer: Tryi Yeh

Most air purifiers house the filter in hard casing along with the fan to draw air into the unit and push it back out again. But the casing, despite open grills designed to let air to flow freely into the purifiers, actually acts as a barrier. The AirPod strips away the hard casing from the filter, fully exposing it to the surrounding air. The filter is now cradled in a docking station that contains the patented Blueair HepaSilentTM technology. The filter and docking station form a compact module that delivers cleaner air at the rate of 45 cubic feet per minute. This sphere of clean air created by the AirPod is a “Personal Clean AirZone”

Designer: AirPod [ Buy It Here ]

I don’t blame the woman in this pic for looking so stiff coz I wouldn’t know how to react to this kitsch helmet. Made from textile instead of rigid materials, the “TopUp Head Protection” for cyclists and walkers is an exploration of the honeycomb pattern and device a protective gear for the head. The brief was to design a gear that was is light and compact and that could deal with minor bumps and falls. The honeycomb was an obvious choice for its impact resistance and shock absorption qualities. TopUp is being currently developed by DoYouVélo?, so maybe you will catch one of us YD-ers prancing about in it soon.

Designers: Caroline Journaux & Adrien Guerin for DoYouVélo?

Guys don’t feel left out….This is how you will look in the TopUp…