Hasta La Ideas

Every once in a while there comes a time when products need rebranding and redesigning. Think about it, the toothpaste you used as a child and what you use today are two completely different products. The key word behind the change has been innovation. Presently, P&G is ready to Reinvent Olay Pro-X and is inviting designers from the world over to participate in their new contest.

Prizes Worth $5000

The booty call on this co-creation event runs up to prizes worth $5,000 and all you need to do for this, is to enter the contest! The brief is simple – “Transform the brand for the most savvy and affluent women, with your innovative ideas and designs!” Simply “Reinvent Olay Pro-X!”

The main objective of the contest is to defy expectations and reinvent Olay.

Pro-X for beauty-involved skincare shoppers.

The contest is for former or current customer, mere hobby creative, a designer-to-be, folks wanting to become part of the P&G community; the contest gives you the chance to participate in the creation of the new Olay Pro-X.

Rules

• Join the community, submit and share your innovative ideas for new Pro-X products.
• Redesign its packaging and transform the way the Olay Pro-X story is told.
• The rules for participation are easy: Just visit www.cocreate-pg.com to get inspired,
• Upload your product ideas and win monetary prizes up to $5000, gift baskets and vouchers for your contribution.
• “Reinvent Olay Pro-X!” runs until March 25, 2013.

The contest is open to residents of the United States and Canada. For more information, visit www.cocreatepg.com and join the community contest.

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Yanko Design
Timeless Designs – Explore wonderful concepts from around the world!
Yanko Design Store – We are about more than just concepts. See what’s hot at the YD Store!
(P&G Launches “Reinvent Olay Pro-X!” Contest was originally posted on Yanko Design)

Related posts:

1. Nooka Launches Innovator Series
2. Herman Miller Launches Why Design Series, Profiles Yves Behar
3. C’N’C “Plug Generation” Contest

All Unitasker Wednesday posts are jokes — we don’t want you to buy these items, we want you to laugh at their ridiculousness. Enjoy!

You know those mornings when taking a spoon out of a kitchen drawer is just way too much to ask of you? Sure, you somehow have enough energy to make a pot of coffee, get a coffee mug out of the cupboard, take the gallon of milk out of the refrigerator, pour both coffee and milk into your mug, and return the coffee caraffe to the coffeemaker and the milk to the refrigerator — but retrieving a spoon is the straw that breaks the camel’s back? Whoa, Nelly, NOT A SPOON!

Well, for those mornings when using a spoon or swishing the contents of your mug around is just more than you can bear, there is the Stainless Steel Stir Mug:

What cracks me up most about this unitasker is that it supposes you are too lazy to stir your beverage with a spoon, yet somehow not too lazy to hand wash the electric mug, which is a requirement. You’re also not too lazy to constantly keep it powered with two AAA batteries. I’m not sure the creators of this device really had their target market properly identified.

Oh, and the fact that it doesn’t work with iced beverages is another strike against it. It’s sugar at the bottom of a glass of ice tea that bothers me more than any other mixed drink.

Thanks to reader Donna for introducing us to this wonderful unitasker.

Need help getting organized? Buy the DRM-free audiobook version of Erin Rooney Doland’s Unclutter Your Life in One Week today for only $8.99.

In years past cutting seconds off your race time meant donning hilarious helmets and hoping the wind’s at your back. Now, thanks to the latest in carbon molding, integrated gearing and carbon components, Cannondale’s recently released Slice RS claims the necessary tech to strike up to 20 seconds in…

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Walls, shelves and desks are all made from piles of modular blocks at this office in Paris by French studio h2o Architectes (+ slideshow).

As the workplace for creative agency Hypernuit, the office occupies a ground floor unit that is visible to the street through floor-to-ceiling shop windows.

h2o Architectes were asked to create workspaces for five people, plus a small meeting room. “The refurbishment project had to reflect the dynamic and innovative spirit of the agency with a serene and contemporary space,” explain the architects.

The muted grey blocks come in a mixture of shapes and sizes, and are piled up around the room to define separate areas for each occupant. Shelves surround the desks to offer seclusion, but each one also faces out into a central corridor.

“The balance of these elements and the different scenarios help to define hierarchy and priorities,” the architects told Dezeen. “The modules have different shapes and proportions so that they can be used for as many functions as you can imagine.”

The white interiors of the blocks give a second tone to the plain grey furnishings, offering a simple backdrop to the colourful books, plants and stationary that were inevitably added afterwards.

As well as the usual storage areas, the space incorporates display boards for temporary photography exhibitions.

All of the modular parts were constructed in the workshop then assembled on site to ensure a speedy construction process. The arrangement can also be reconfigured to adapt to future needs and changes.

Architects Charlotte Hubert and Jean-Jacques Hubert launched h2o Architectes in 2005. Antoine Santiard joined them in 2008 and the team have since completed an apartment in Paris for a comic-strip collector and a garden pavilion where furniture forms the entire interior. See more architecture by h2o Architectes.

Photography is by Julien Attard.

Here’s a project description from h2o Architectes:

Hypernuit Offices, Paris

Context

The project takes place on the ground floor of a building of flats, behind a large window looking out onto the Clignancourt Street. The office space to create has a single orientation; it is a well-lit, plainly treated volume with a simple geometry. The commission consisted in fitting-out an office space including five identical desks, a common meeting room and shared facilities.

Hypernuit is an agency employing different people as artistic directors, graphic designers and workers in public relations. The refurbishment project had to reflect the dynamic and innovative spirit of the agency with a serene and contemporary space.

It also had to include a maximum of shelving for storage, the creation of exhibition walls for the display of photography shows. The schedule for the building works was very tight.

h2o architectes created for these offices a sort of indoor landscape thanks to a play with blocks.

These volumes of varied form and size constitute the living space for each person working there. Their adjunction and combination help compose the furniture, the desks, the separation and exhibition walls, the coffers etc.

The different parts were made in a workshop to save time on the building-site. The unitary treatment of the floor and of the furniture responds to the demand of a serene atmosphere.

The space is enlivened by the white color of the thickness of the different blocks and of course by the books and objects brought by each user. Each desk benefits from both openness towards the shared space and a more private area which can be modeled by a play with void and volume.

Design Architects: h2o architectes
Program: Development of an office space for five desks, meeting room and shared facilities
Location: 72 Rue Clignancourt, Paris 18th, France
Client: Private, Hypernuit
Area: 65m²
Date: Delivered January 2013

Above: floor plan

Above: cross section

Above: 3D model view one

Above: 3D model view two

Above: typical modular desk units

The post Hypernuit Offices
by h2o Architectes appeared first on Dezeen.

By Cara Silver, Jan Chipchase, Mark Rolston

Frog Senior Design Researcher Cara Silver conducted field research in Afghanistan to investigate topics around risk and savings and their intersection with mobile banking. She worked with a nimble team including Executive Creative Director of Global Insights Jan Chipchase and Chief Creative Officer Mark Rolston, and with support from the Institute for Money, Technology, and Financial Inclusion.

A mixed-gender team of three researchers and four local guide-fixers conducted mobile finance research in Afghanistan over two weeks in December 2012. The goal was to investigate topics around risk and savings and their intersection with mobile banking. Discussing money—and who in the family influences spending—was a key question, and one that required the team to both play with and against the often siloed gender roles in the region. Navigating these gender dynamics was top of mind for all members of the team to both ensure safety and gain access to both sides of the story.

The team planned to spend four days in Herat and the remainder in Kabul. These locations were chosen as being both culturally distinct and sufficiently secure. As the economic center of modern Afghanistan, Kabul carries a large international influence, both government affiliated and independent, and harbors the security tensions to match. It is seen as a safe zone for those associated with government work, like the Afghan National Army (ANA) and Afghan National Police (ANP), who often settle their families in the city and return to the provinces to work. Herat lies in the west of Afghanistan and is less than a two hour drive from the Iranian border. Traditionally, a high volume of migrant labor has traveled to Iran to earn money to send back to families in Afghanistan. This cross-border human traffic brings with it both cultural, political and commercial influence, reflected in everything from the goods on store shelves to investments in local infrastructure, and to the dress and behavior of women outside the home.

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