Here’s a greatly conceived bit of visualisation from Neil Fraser, one of the many brainy software engineers at Google (hoho):

Infosthetics, the information aesthetics blog says:

“Using touch as well as the third dimension to explore 3D data is an interesting avenue, as alternative interfaces need to be explored as much as representation.”

We say, let’s laser cut this puzzle!

via Make via infosthetics

This is a cute quiz I found at Rhizome. Click on the photo below to go to the quiz and test your eye for mid-century authenticity. (I missed 2.)

Evil Mad Scientist Labs have debuted a much more sophisticated version of their Meggy games platform in the Meggy Jr RGB.

“A unique feature of Meggy Jr RGB is that it is designed to be mounted inside a “handle set” — a wooden or plastic case that’s safer and more pleasant to hold than a bare circuit board. You can make, mod and customize your own handle sets to suit your taste– These are like faceplates in that you can switch whenever you want to suit your mood or the game that you’re playing, however different handle sets can radically change what the Meggy Jr looks and feels like. Above, you can see what our basic handles (left) look like, as compared to a set of custom smoke-colored batwing handles (right).“

The source files for these sandwiched laser cut designs are available for download as .svg and .pdf, and come with some suggested engravings:

So, another fine and more than thorough offering from the Evil Mad Scientists , but their claim to uniqueness is at odds firstly with the many handset options for the Wii platform, as well as this DIY offering for the iPod touch/iPhone from ronnsprocket:

A neat bit of cardboard cutting there, sadly no templates available as yet.

via EMSL, Derek, and touchArcade

I particularly like Sebastian Bergne’s Ring Calendar as it reinforces my perception of time as an eternally revolving thing: day follows day, week follows week, month follows month, on and on. This idea might depress some more sensitive souls, but as the showroom Spunique placidly puts it, the calendar may otherwise “give you the everyday satisfaction of interacting with its calm composition”.

Of course the other thing I like about the calendar is its elegant and technically simple design, completely laser cut from melamine faced MDF. The assembly appears to really exploit the accuracy achievable with laser cutting, as does Bergne’s other Ponoko product, the Bandit. Bandit is a playfully conceived 30cm ruler/rubber band catapult, that uses a living hinge cut into acrylic as a trigger mechanism. Most cunning. The Icon feature has more to say about the development of this part of the design.

Bergne is no small name, with a vast portfolio of furniture and products designed for a wealth of clients, many of which form part of the London Design Museum’s Collection. It’s great to see the established names mixing with the new names in the Ponoko marketplace!

via Ponoko and google search

The big show.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I was recently down in London, the main reason being to visit the Royal College of Art Degree Show, which is always an amazing event.

One project that stood out greatly was Rodrigo Solórzano’s Toy Folder, a project that on the surface looks like yet another of Roy’s digressions into papercraft (which is what attracted me) but in fact contains another layer of thinking in terms of sustainability and encoding of product data.

Toy Folder visualisation, from the RCA show website

Solórzano’s concept is quite simple: One buys a kit, in the form of an A4 cardboard folder, containing the source nets for a variety of animal models. The nets come on acetate slides, the kit contains a torch and the packaging converts into a desktop projector into which one can place a slide and project the desired net onto a candidate material. The beauty is, this can be projected large or small by varying the distance between material and projector, so Solorzano was showing a large corrugated cardboard gorilla alongside its 10cm cardboard counterpart, alongside a teddy bear from some sort of fleece material. With this system the possibilities for user interaction in making are endless, as one chooses the material, size and construction of the finished toy. Its a beautiful way to distribute source that doesn’t rely on any computer, nor even any text, everything is held with one beautifully designed A4 package! Can’t wait to see more.

It is with great pleasure that today we announce the Invitation Round Winners of the Ponoko 10-Day Design Challenge: Puzzles and Games. Below are images and links to each design and the designers page on Ponoko. The winning designs are all available for sale so feel free to click through and get a unique gift for yourself or someone you love.

Judges for this round of the 10-Day Design Challenge were Ponoko’s own Dan Emery and Ronen Kadushin. We’ve included some of their judging comments below the winning designs.

Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to all participants who made this such a great success. We’re planning more challenges for the very near future so you can all stretch your designing talent again.

Grand prize winner: Maze Maker by Observatory

Dan: A great design that looks fun and is interactive. It makes nice use of material and has innovative jointing techniques. The whole idea was presented very well with good use of video to fully explain the concept.

People’s choice winner: Marble Madness by DSCulp

Dan: We think the people have chosen a great winner for Ponoko’s first ever Peoples Choice award. DSCulp did a great job of promoting the 10-Day Design Challenge too.

Runner up winner: Zen - the infinite puzzle by SquirrelswithHammers

Dan: The design of this puzzle is very clever and well resolved design. It’s amazing that so many different patterns can be derived from the same engraving. A great coffee table piece.

Ronen: A piece that offers a free aesthetic exploration into patterns and combinations. A puzzle that is creative and fun, where any result is pleasing to the eye.

Runner up winner: Underground Maze by Aaron Tanninen

Dan: This is quite a complex design but it has been pulled off well. Nice use of the translucency of the materials.

Ronen: A pleasurable challenge as well as a learning experience, very well packaged in a fashionable, appealing product, and a clever use of the laser precision cutting qualities, materials colors and transparencies.

And lastly, a big shout out to all the Invitation Round entrants.

One of my favourite blogs for odd-making-in-a-borderline-electronic-industrial-design-vein is that of the Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories. Most of what Windell and Lenore post is far from junk, but select persons will soon be receiving a box full of the stuff in the mail as part of their new game, snappily entitled ‘The Great Internet Migratory Box Of Electronics Junk‘.

Described by Lenore as ‘a progressive lending library of electronic components’, the idea is to send around a box full of junk that may inspire a new project. The recipients remove as many items as they wish, and replace them with new ones, then add some names to the book in the box before sending the whole thing on to someone else in the book. Its a beautiful idea for collaboration through physical and virtual networks (results will be posted on each of the participants’ websites), and a great way to approach a new project or get an angle on an existing one.

The Evil Mad Scientists are no strangers to innovation and seeing beauty in the details: They are the minds behind Candyfab, the open source 3D printer that uses sugar as a building medium. DIY, cheap(er) and smells like caramel when you’re printing!

EMSL are also great at matching bits of hardware with new functions in really creative ways, such as their component wine charms (above) and their really, really simple motor, and their hugely successful Bristlebots, miniature motivators from Toothbrush heads and mobile phone motors (also above). Best of all, the Evil Mad Scientists are all about open source, so all their projects are explained with painstaking lucidity for others to recreate.

All images from Oskay’s Flickr photostream

In the wake of last year’s toy recall, quality has never been more important in children’s products. This concerted focus has brought forth not only better options in quality, but welcome returns to classic toys designs with a fresh, fun and interactive appeal.

I came across some amazing toy designs and shops through BloesemKids, a blog I check daily. Run by Irene Hoofs who currently lives in Kuala Lumpur, BKids is a counterpart to her successful design blog Bloesem. Here is a roundup of products that could be created through Ponoko.

Fawn&Forest is an online retailer based in “beautiful sales-tax free Oregon”. They offer a variety of toys, furniture, clothing and decor from sustainable manufacturers around the world including: Naef, who has a beautiful line of colorful, creatively educational puzzles and blocks.

Offi designs these giant, interlocking pieces that kids can use to build forts, playhouses or as the actual toy is called, a “spaceframe sculpture”.

And I love this children’s easel designed by InModern. It comes in natural wood (shown), fire, leaf, and cocoa.

Again, all of these products can be seen at the Fawn&Forest online shop.

Villa Carton is a company based in Holland producing flat-pack toy constructions. They currently offer this throne-like rocking chair, a doll house, and a castle. Kids can color the cardboard constructions with markers, and the website has pictorial instructions on how to assemble each item.

Energie Bespaarshop takes old-fashioned model making and adds solar power! I love the acrylic helicopter.

Last, but not least, The Wooden Wagon is yet another store offering high quality and modern design. Below is a set of colored wooden blocks that reminds me a lot of some of the puzzles from the 10 Day Challenge, a set of colorful wooden sticks for “wooden weaving”, and a wooden and cardboard flowerpress.

We’ve had an awesome response to our 10-Day Design Challenge - Games and Puzzles. But that’s made it so hard to choose a final group of 15 that our judges ended up with 17, and refused to cut it back. Below you can see pictures of each puzzle, and BELOW THE PICTURES is the voting panel. If you’re a Designer of one of the winners below, feel free to invite all your friends and family to vote for you. In our first Design Challenge there was a very lively discussion about the choice of winners. So for all of you with strong opinions this is your chance to make them heard.

Please note you can click on the images of each product to go to their individual showroom page for more detail. Some are obvious in how they work, but others are intricate and may need a closer look to understand. Please remember, clicking on the image is NOT A VOTE for the product, you need scroll down to the bottom of the post and make your choice in the poll located there. Good luck everyone!

1. zen the infinite puzzle

2. Portrait Puzzle

3. Ponoku Anyone

4. Marble Madness

5. Tessa

6. Underground Maze

7. Crane Mobile - 6mm

8. Pteradactyl - 9mm

9. Layer Puzzle

10. California County Puzzle

11. Match the Typeface

12. Build (h)and Share: Maze Maker

13. Grimly Dominoes

14. Erik & Styx Double-Sided Puzzle

15. Puzzle Box

16. InterlaceCircle

17. Gears

Mio who I’ve written about here before, have some great puzzle products. I like the Haute Surface Houndstooth Set because it’s fun and functional. It’s a collection of interlocking pieces of cork in two contrasting colours; tan and chocolate. The pieces when assembled can perform a variety of functions. “The trivets can be arranged into stunning table runners, table protective arrangements, place mats or even mouse pads”. The designer Jaime Salm was inspired by hounds tooth patterns in textile design but then I guess you knew that from the name. The concept was to use a pattern as a means to decorate and protect tables, while encouraging creative table presentation. This would be a perfect desk item for anyone looking for something to entertain them while procrastinating from work.

It’s got a few ticks in the environmental column too. Being modular it extends the life of the product as individual pieces can be replaced. I guess the idea is that it would also extend the life of the table it is protecting and it’s also made from reconstituted cork. Their other designs are the Haute Surface ZigZag Set and the ModuTiles.