Product design showcase #3

Product design is the process of creating a new product to be sold by a business to its customers. It is the efficient and effective generation and development of ideas through a process that leads to new products. In a systematic approach, product designers conceptualize and evaluate ideas, turning them into tangible products. The product designer's role is to combine art, science, and technology to create new products that other people can use. Their evolving role has been facilitated by digital tools that now allow designers to communicate, visualize, and analyze ideas in a way that would have taken greater manpower in the past. Some examples follow :

Pocket Watch

People People, Sweden

http://www.peoplepeople.se/

When it comes to the pocket watch, the designers asked themselves what the watch has become in modern society. The practice of telling time has transferred to a large extent to our mobile phones and thus changed our behavior—we reach for our pockets to check the hour rather than flick over our wrists. The solid aluminum construction will mean that you know it's there but it'll be light enough and wide enough to not pull on a pocket and ruin the fall of a jacket or waistcoat.

For more images and info, you can go here.

Lasso flat-packed Slippers

Gaspard Tiné-Berès & Ruben Valensi, Paris, France

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1851515588/lasso-your-very-own-must-have-slippers-for-ultimat

Just think of them as an Ikea product for your feet. Like our favorite affordable Swedish furniture, Lasso Flat-Packed Slippers (£27; roughly $40) arrive in a slim box ready to be assembled. Made from a single piece of grey wool felt, they feature a hearty leather sole, and your choice of laces, which you use to build the shoe by sewing them through precut holes. We haven't seen the printed instructions yet, but we're guessing they're not quite as frustrating as the wordless booklets that come from the big blue store.

Snow Peak lapel torch

Snow Peak (http://www.snowpeak.com/)

http://www.snowpeak.com/lighting/headlamp/lapel-torch.html

Let's see: you need both hands to do an activity, you can't mount a light anywhere nearby, and you'd like to avoid the dorkiness of a head-mounted solution. Sounds like you need the Snow Peak Lapel Torch ($60). This compact, water-resistant LED light uses a magnetic clip to attach to pretty much anything — a shirt, a backpack strap, you name it — and is powered by a remote battery pack that connects via a 28-inch cord and can provide up to 140 hours of light.

Soap Flakes

Nathalie Stämpfli, Basel, Switzerland

http://www.nathaliestaempfli.com/index.php?/graduation/soap-flakes/

Today, most of the soap we use is liquid soap, which contains a lot of water. Block soap instead is more concentrated and therefore has some ecological benefits: You don’t transport unnecessary water around. In place of plastic bottles you can simply use paper for packaging. The solid blocks can easily be piled and allow a greater space efficiency in a truck. Nathalie designed two dispensers that turn block soap into beautiful little flakes. They offer you a new comfortable sensation when they are falling on your hands and easily dissolve in water. The first version needs to be attached to the wall. The second version is a grater that can stand by itself. Therefore it’s more flexible in usage. It could be placed in the same way as a shower gel or shampoo.