Hasta La Ideas

We are so hungry after perusing the Design in the Wild entries from the EAT category! Incredible readers from around the world submitted beautifully designed everyday objects that help them prep, cook, eat and drink. Whether it was your kitchen’s 1985 General Electric Stove or a seat at your favorite cafe, we were delighted to be a guest at your dining table in this round’s EAT submissions. Today we’re opening up submissions for our second theme, PLAY, and announcing the jury and popular pick theme winners—theme winners receive their choice of Braun products and are qualified to move forward into the final round of voting for the grand prize of a notebook computer and tablet!

Don’t miss out on your chance to win a notebook computer, tablet and/or your choice of Braun products! Enter our next round of Design in the Wild competition, PLAY, today!

We can turn nearly anything into a game, but design can significantly improve the experience. Is table tennis better inside on a wooden table, or outdoors on a concrete one? Which apps are you drawn to over and over, and what board games have passed the test of time? What are the brilliant tools you use to paint, to crochet, to solder, or to hack with?

Without further ado…

JURY WINNER
Cutlery
Felix Stark, Germany

Cutlery of the armed forces of Germany. The fork functions like a spring to fix everything in the carrying case which is also a can opener. I am not a fan of collecting military items, but the cutlery works really great. I always showing it to my students as example of great functional design.

POPULAR WINNER
Citrus Squeezer
Taylor Welden, United States

We didn’t have these when I grew up in the Northeast. When I moved to the South, Texas specifically, there is much more citrus (limes are 12/$1) and the need to extract the juice from citrus increases dramatically. Margaritas are an every day type of drink here, not something fancy for Saturdays. Lime and lemon juice are used in all types of cuisine, especially as an element Mexican dishes. That being said, when I moved here, I knew exactly what this item did the first time I saw it. I purchased mine for $3 or $4 almost 10 years ago, it still looks and performs as new. Heavy duty aluminum parts, nice colorful thick coating, no plastic parts anywhere, no branding anywhere. A simple tool, easily overlooked. It squeezes every last drop out of the citrus, quickly, easily, efficiently. No mess and no acid in the eyes either. Squeeze, juice pours out, open it up, the citrus half pops out to be easily discarded. Perfect. Genius.

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Just a reminder that SUNDAY is the last day you can submit entries into Round 1 of the Braun & Core77 Design in the Wild global photo challenge. Enter today for a chance to win the grand prize package of an industry leading notebook computer AND tablet not to mention your pick of Braun products for theme winners.

All you have to do is snap a picture of great design in everyday objects you encounter. Check out what entries we’ve seen so far and enter today! Voting opens up on Monday to pick a theme winner and our next theme, PLAY starts by Friday. Remember, you are what you EAT so snap up inspiration at this weekend’s brunch, playoff party or while you’re in the kitchen. Good design is all around, so take a moment to capture it, and enter today.

Design in the Wild is presented with the support of BraunPrize 2012. Established in 1968, the international BraunPrize competition is a triennial design competition aimed at promoting the work of young designers, highlighting the importance of industrial design and increasing the profile of innovative product ideas globally. This year’s theme, “Genius design for a better everyday,” emphasizes the importance of well-designed products that enhance the everyday lives of consumers around the world.
Visit the BraunPrize 2012.

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“Co-Creation Community” Local Motors continues their fostering of geography-specific vehicle designs with their DRIVEN design competition, which begins today. The Design of Relevant and Innovative Vehicles for Energy Needs competition is the result of a collaboration with fuel giant Shell’s GameChanger branch, which provides funding for alternative energy projects.

Five cities have been chosen as the context for the competition’s designs: Amsterdam, Bangalore, Basra, Houston and São Paolo. Hit the jump to see the promo video and the “unique challenges for the future of mobility” presented by each city.

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As of the beginning of the month, the IDSA International Design Excellence Awards is open for submissions for its 32nd consecutive year. “With its storied history, impartial jurying process, international pool of exceptional entrants, impartial expert jurors, breadth of categories, and forward thinking criteria, IDEA 2012 is uniquely positioned to shine a spotlight on design genius.”

The brief is as timely and relevant as ever:

We live in a global community with unique challenges and opportunities in which great design is uniquely positioned to improve daily life and experiences. Design touches people every minute of every day. It shapes the world, experience and daily lives. Great design envisions reinvents and creates the future we want rather than the one we are handed.

To that end, the IDSA is calling for designers the world over to submit the best of the best: exceptional design that epitomizes quality across design mediums and platforms. Given that IDEA has maintained and honed its reputation as the preeminent international design competition, it should come as no surprise that it is also known as the “Oscars of Design.”

Of course, just as the very definition of design continues to grow at an ever-increasing pace, the awards program has evolved over the past three decades, and 2012 is no exception. IDEA2012 features several new categories: Digital Design; Service Design; Social Impact Design; Bathrooms, Spas and Wellness; Gardens & Outdoor; Kitchens; and Living Room and Bedroom. (See the full list of categories here.)

Check out some of our favs from 2011—bronze, silver and gold—for inspiration or head over to the IDEA2012 website for more details and to enter! The deadline for submissions is February 17, 2012.

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Heineken is pleased to present an opportunity for designers to “create a bottle design that symbolizes how people around the world will connect in the next 140 years.” The timeframe refers to the forthcoming 140th anniversary of the Dutch beer brand come 2013, and December of next year will see the release of a Limited Edition pack to commemorate the occasion. The twist? “Using the design tools on Heineken’s Facebook page people must connect their design concept (can be illustration, photography, graphic design…anything) with that of a complete stranger to create a joint entry as a virtual design duo.”

Download the template and toolkit from Heineken’s competition page, http://yourfuturebottle.com, then, once you’ve uploaded it to the gallery, connect with other designers. “Your design is one half of a bottle, so connect with another designer in the gallery to create your complete bottle entry.”

Entries will be judged by: Mark van Iterson, Global Head of Design at Heineken; Mark Dytham, Co-Founder, PechaKucha; and Evan Orensten, Co-Founder and Executive Editor, Cool Hunting. Heineken’s “Your Future Bottle” competition closes on January 31, 2012.

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