Hasta La Ideas

It’s been an absolute crap year for many of us. So I’m ending it with a roundup of 52 unexpected, surprising or clever design solutions I saw this year, the ones that really made me smile. Well, and at least two that made me cringe, take a guess. Enjoy!

Clever Bridge Design Lets Horses Pulling a Barge Cross the Canal Without Untying Them

“Anti-Gluttony Door” Sized to Prevent Monks From Eating Too Much

Image: Inazumaryoku

“Endlessly Clever” Design for a Garbage Can With an Endless Bag

A Clever German Toymaking Method of Using a Lathe to Make Non-Circular Objects

A Freestanding Spreading Knife that Suspends the Mess

A Liquid-Based Display That Uses Bubbles for Pixels

A Retractable Rolling Shower Screen

A Small Design Change Yields Better UX for the Cardboard File Box

A Styrofoam Substitute Made from Popcorn

An Innovative Game Controller with Swappable Physical Interfaces

Better UX for Cremation: Turning Ash Remains Into Smooth Pebbles

A Dual-Swing Refrigerator Door

Clever Construction System: Build the Roof on the Ground, Then Lift It

A Canoe Paddle With a Built-In Bilge Pump

Cool Intermodal Transportation System from France, Circa 1844

Image: Mattes. “Stagecoach being transferred to a railway car with a simple Portainer. This is an example of early Intermodal freight transport by the French Mail 1844. The picture is exhibited in Deutsches Museum Verkehrszentrum, Munich, Germany.”

Dekay King’s Innovative Shop Furniture

Designey Ceramic Alternatives to Wood Stoves and Fireplaces

Designey Toilets from France

DoCoMo’s Silent, Safe Balloon-Based Camera Drones

Ex-Toy-Designer of Transforming Robots Creates Electric Scooter That Transforms for Easy Storage

Expensive Solution for Short Driveway on Busy Road: Install a Turntable

Fantastic Industrial Design Thesis Project: The Cercle Bicycle Camper

From Spain, a Creative and Eco-Friendly Way to Beat the Heat

German Robotics Enthusiast’s Solution to a Broken Clock

Improvised Design from a Prison Cell: Illustrated “Prisoners’ Inventions” Book

Improvised Objects and Solutions, from Redneck Engineering

Japanese Company Purposely Designs Dull, Boring Toys

Kid Imagines Rubik’s Cube Made From Tiny Screens. Dad Invents it

Making Knobs from Plastic Bottles, a Random Object and Some Heat

Pencils That Visually Indicate Their Line Weight

Pop-Up Prison Design with Open Cubicles and Touchscreens

Products Designed for Shabbat Let You Perform Certain Tasks Without Technically Performing Them

Qarnot’s “Computing Heater” Uses Cloud Computing to Heat Individual Spaces

Rony: A Dual-Headed Flashlight Provides Better UX, for Bike or Hikes

Silicone Straws that “Unzip” for Easy Cleaning

Smart Design for a Gate That Automatically Opens and Closes, No Power Needed

Sony’s Tetris-Like Packaging Solves a Shipping Dilemma

Swiss Mile’s Incredible Four-Legged/Wheeled Robot Can Do it All

The Bora X Pure Downward-Extracting Induction Cookto

The Landscaper’s Equivalent of a Standing Desk

The Luno Front Cab Air Mattress Fills the Ga

The Pocket Piano: A Full-Size Keyboard Made from Magnetically-Connecting Segments

The Trailerduck: A Self-Powered, Auto-Following Bike Trailer

There are Sinks Designed Just for Vomiting Into

These German Swarm ‘Bots Unload Packages by Intentionally Crashing Into the Loading Platforms

Transforming Unrecyclable Potato Chip Bags Into Sleeping Bags for the Homeless

Vintage Radiators with Built-In Plate Warmers

What the Amish Use as a Light Switch

Wheelchair of the Future? The Ascento Pro, an Amazing Two-Wheeled Robot

Who Knew? They Make Silent Tape Guns

Wife Complains of the Views, so Husband Builds Rotating House

Window-Based Clotheslines That Slide In and Out on a Track

That’s it for me, folks. Have a great New Year’s!