Gunna get me some Glove Lovin’

Sustainability can be the best and worst thing to happen to the way we live our lives.

Being more conscientious of our environment and the world we are consuming is all very well and good, and I really do want any potential whipper-snappers of my own flesh and blood to grow up on a healthy planet but it is incredibly frustrating when people and organisations fail to think further than the first, sacrificial answer… “stop it”.

Stop using plastics, stop leaving lights on, just stop stop stop!

The truth of the matter is, some plastics are better for the environment than paper or cardboard, some lights use up more energy when turning on than they do for the next 5 minutes and no, I will not just stop! There must be a better way, a less lazy way – a way in which we still get that scrumptious feeling of being able to buy something because it looks good and we want it without feeling like we’ve just shaved a few minutes of the world’s life…

Well, there is – may I, please, introduce Glove Love.

Glove Love is the latest campaign from the sideways thinking awesomers, Do The Green Thing. The concept being – instead of throwing out your surviving glove from a horrific bout of forgetfulness on the underground or, as the video itself hits-upon, a tragic drowning of the left hand in a grotty puddle – why not send it to them?! They will then pair the lucky, lonely survivor up with a kindred glove (seemingly regardless of colour or material), clean them, add a locally sourced label and then sell them for £5 a pop!

Now that is what I call sustainability!

As if odd gloves we’re enough, the Green Thing have enlisted the help of a bunch of celebs including the seductive gaze that is Lauren Budd and the sultry voiced Emma Thompson – who said ethical anything couldn’t be sexy? PeTA could learn a thing or two.

Absolut Interaction

These are a few examples taken from the 2009 Central Saint Martins BA Product Design degree show. Out of the hundred or so fantastic product designs I thought these three were really prominent. They also simultaneously reinforce my argument made previously in ‘Satisfaction through Interaction’; suggesting brands might benefit from utilizing their ability to interact with the consumer.

This is a ‘Communicative Coffee Table’, designed by a chap called Di Wu, which is made up of eight pieces of slide boards on top of a chalkboard surface. People can doodle with the chalks provided, clean, by rearranging the boards, and concurrently interact with the people around you.

A playful example, however, it is a pleasing personification of our want for interaction. We can’t even sit still at the table anymore!

‘The Yoyo Mobile Phone’, designed by Emmanual Hanson, offers the consumer more than just communication; it offers more than just a camera; it offers more than just arthritis of the thumb encouraged by the many applications in today’s phone market. It allows the user to play with the phone like a YoYo whilst at the same time charging it through kinetic energy.

Attractive, interactive, and sustainable. Apart from the fact that the YoYo trend died back when I was 14, I think this is a really inspiring design.

However, it is Jenny Smith’s ‘Absolut Choice’ that really wowed me. On the backdrop of the negative image in regards to social drinking, the concept is to engage with the consumer to achieve a more positive image without taking away freedom of choice. The design creates a visual link to identifying 1 unit of alcohol and creates a fun and interactive drinking experience.

I absolut-ly love this concept and it serves as a perfect example of a brand adhering to the possible trend of interaction. I hope someone snaps up Miss Smith quickly, because in my eyes she’s really hit a nail on the head.

Metaphys Power Outlet

Designed by Metaphys, Japan, this is a new and inspiring power outlet that replaces the original two slotted, single socket. This design not only allows for multiple plug-in all the way around the device, but it looks hot too. The power flow is then controlled by the pad in the middle. Very, very smooth.

This is definately a sexy addition to the ‘same-old’ power outlet, it’s just a pity this particular design wouldn’t work in Britain! Damn us and our safety! Whose going to get inspired by this, jazz up our boring sockets, and accomodate the earth wire?

Le Whif

For some reason, I keep seeing these new products around that seem to replace, arguably, all the best things in life; alcohol, coffee, chocolate and,  in cases, even good old fashioned oxygen. Although I have my doubts about it being ‘the next in thing’, it certainly is innovative; especially in a world that is more and more obsessed with weight.

What is it? …Gas.

Buzzaire, Le Whif and AWOL (Alcohol With Out Liquid) are three products, created and manufactured by different companies, that offer the same, if not more powerful effects, that caffeine, alcohol and chocolate can have on the body – only without the calories or the hangovers! It is quite revolutionary, but I think the next step is a bit of product design. If they can make the products look beautiful, the idea will sell itself.

Satisfaction through Interaction

I went and did a bit of trend spotting yesterday to see how we consumers are shaping the sights, sounds, symbols and touch points of our commercial world. What do we need at the moment? What really motivates us to buy? Well, one thing that stuck out like a saw thumb was interaction. As I mentioned in ‘How do you like them Apple’s?’ the I-stores are bustling with interested shoppers because of the mass of interaction taking place, be it between human and technology, or human and human. It’s comparable to visiting the science museum. At the back of the store you might often find a free seminar on the latest gadget or application where you are encouraged to sit down with your new sexy Mac and learn why it’s more than just aesthetically pleasing; it does a lot of cool stuff too.

However, as I observed this trend hasn’t stayed in store. Advertising has become noticeably more interactive too. For example, this MacDonald’s advert at Piccadilly Circus which actually made us want a BigMac after playing with it for some time:

Even T-Mobile have added to their run of fantastic advertising by placing monitors on the side of buses displaying a collection of sing-along songs. You could be stood on the pavement singing ‘is this the way to Amarillo?’ to your hearts content, whilst the confused bus driver tells you ‘nah sorry mate, im going to Hackney’, leaving you to choke on the fumes as he pulls away.

It is interesting to think of what is to come in terms of interacting with the consumer. It would be interesting to see how brands might rethink their strategy to accommodate this trend. It would be even more interesting to see whether it breaks away from just the marketing side of things; possibly introducing new packaging that gives the customer an impression of interconnection that runs deeper than simply consuming. Who knows! But its something to think about.

Deadline Post-it

We, as a nation, love a bit of stop frame animation (that rhymed). In fact, I don’t think you can watch a series of television adverts without seeing at least one; be it about uncontainable cereal or more serious thoughts on care for children. It adds an element of grandeur and entertainment, whatever the topic. So, I thought this film was worth a blog. Created by Bang-yao Liu, it succeeds in illustrating the aches and pains of meeting those all important DEADLINES using a noteworthy piece of stationary – the Post-it note (pun completely and utterly intended).

POP Possibilities

I found this interesting looking bottle a while back whilst looking for examples of good packaging. It really didn’t float my boat at the time but, it having been brought to my attention again, I think there could be a future in it. The drink is inspired by the Japanese drink ‘Remune’, which is known for its light citrus flavour, strong carbonation and most significantly, it’s funny looking bottle.

The Codd-neck bottle, so called by it’s British creator Hiram Codd, was invented in the late 19th century. The top of the bottle incorporates a marble as the seal, which is held in place by the carbonation of the drink as a replacement to a normal screw caps. The marble serves as a cap until it is ‘POP-ed’ open with the special stopper. The marble then stays in place whilst the pinch in the neck of the bottle allows the liquid to flow out around it; encouraging more fizz to the already carbonated drink. The Japanese named this innovative method of opening a bottle Remune, and it has stayed a century-long favourite in Japan. Check it out at www.marblepop.com.

I think the idea is fantastic, and the fact it is a 19th century, British, creation is even better. It is slightly bizarre however, that we haven’t seen this design utilized already by larger brands; and there in lies my reservation.

I think that Marble POP being such a new brand and heavily influenced by Japanese design might afflict its popularity, or perhaps just its accessibility, in some of the larger consumer markets; hence effecting growth. However if big brand names were to buy the design, or put their own spin on it, I could see this really boosting innovation in the bottle design world.

I’m thinking Fanta, with its unique bottle shape, its almost begging for a marble seal. I hope Marble Pop prove me wrong but they’ll have to expand from Amazon.com and get it on the shelves to really wake up the consumers.

How’d you like them Apple’s

This is Apple Mac displaying its applications at the Moscone Centre. Using 20 cinema display screens literally riddled with iphone apps, they advertise the all that are available in store. Whats even hotter than this is that every time someone buys an application, that same app vibrates on the screen and causes a ripple effect. See the video bellow; captured by TechCrunch.

To me it is a demonstration that the modern trend of e-commerce has not killed the old tradition of visiting retail outlets for new technologies. Taking a look at the excited shoppers shuffling for hours around my local Apple store, it’s clear that retailers have many years of innovation ahead of them. Once again Apple have set the bar high. So, who is going clear it?

UFO’s

I just came across this and thought this could be one of the best ideas in the history of picnicking; closely followed by my mother’s homemade sausage rolls. It’s called a UFO, or Unidentified Feeding Object.  Design by Alison Ruggiero for InDisposed, and brought to my attention by a DavidReport blog, the product offers a direct answer to the question of waste management in the middle of a meadow or park – something I personally hate to have to think about whilst eating said sausage rolls.

InDisposed is described as highlighting the twin dichotomies that define contemporary design today; sustainability versus wastefulness, and preciousness versus mass production. I love that description and I love this idea. Once you have finished your picnic and are brushing off the dirt from your behind, you can throw your picnic plate – made from environmentally sustainable material – against a nearby tree and watch it burst into pieces. The fragments of plate then serve as bird food; and you can leave content in the knowledge that not only have you smashed a plate against a tree; you haven’t been wasteful or littered, and you’ve pleased some tits.

Wines of Substance

Wines of Substance, Walla Walla, Washington State, created this interactive web page and unique packaging to display their broad collection of wine that spans from across the globe.

Personally, I love wine. I love to swirl the glass, trying to decipher the meaning of the legs and beads that gradually bleed back towards the basin. I love to delve my nose in, enjoying the primary aromas of fruits, and the secondary, more animalistic aromas, of old library books. I love to whisk the wine over my palate, drawing the air over, pervading my upper airways; employing my nasal chemoreceptor’s in an attempt to translate the complex sensations that recur in the action. And I love to see my friends pretend they don’t want to follow my pretentious motions whilst they read the back of the bottle to see how wrong my valuation actually is.

Ok, so I don’t have the knowledge, and I look like a complete tit. But for those who don’t even have the interest, I think this packaging and the functionality, and simplicity, of the website succeeds in planting a seed of curiosity towards a produce that, previously, has remained reasonably unchanged. More and more quirky designs and ‘trendy’ logos are being placed on bottles; however, Wines of Substances’ complete package makes it wholly recognisable and captivating to a wider audience.

Check out their website. I believe its just a simple use of Flash, but it works so well! http://www.winesofsubstance.com/