It’s no secret that I love naps. In college and grad school, I carefully planned my courses to allow for a siesta. And one of the best things about working from home is that I can recharge my batteries some carefully timed midday shut-eye. While I have effectively built my entire life around napping, I’m fully aware that this isn’t that common. Most people aren’t able to get the sleep they need over the course of the day. advertisement advertisement This week, the British apparel company Vollebak has come to their rescue. The company released a jacket that doubles as a nap pod, called the Deep Sleep Cocoon, making it easier to sleep anywhere. In addition to inducing sleep, it may induce sticker shock, with a price tag of $995. But then again, Vollebak may be counting on the fact that it’s hard to put a price on sleep—particularly sleep on the go. Like many of the products in Vollebak’s line, this jacket was inspired by … [Read more...] about This $995 jacket is designed to help you sleep on long-haul flights
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Streetwear design fans get a new podcast series with the Bleacher Report’s ‘Friends and Family’
If you’re a fan of streetwear design and the culture behind it, you may need to make time for “Friends and Family” this holiday season. That’s the name of a new branded podcast and video series from Bleacher Report’s B/R Kicks brand and Chinatown Market, the streetwear line launched by DIY designer Mike Cherman in 2016. It’s being co-produced and packaged by At Will Media, a company founded by restauranteur Will Malnati that specializes in branded podcasts. According to Bleacher Report, the series “will explore the stories and artistry of streetwear, the influencers it resonates with, and the designers who create it.” The first installment of short series—it’s only three episodes—dropped this week and features Cherman along with rapper Lil Yachty collaborating to design a new product. The product will be sold at B/R Kicks’ second annual The Drop Up event, a mix of panel discussions and brand … [Read more...] about Streetwear design fans get a new podcast series with the Bleacher Report’s ‘Friends and Family’
We study the UX industry. Here’s what will change in 2020
Every year, the UX Collective publishes a report on the state of the UX industry, covering everything from the tools we use to the career challenges we face. The report is based links we’ve curated and shared (more than 2,411 this year), written by brilliant designers and thought leaders in the industry. advertisement advertisement The 2018 report focused on how the experiences we create can impact the world—from enabling tech addiction to influencing democratic elections. But this year’s report carries a more positive outlook: 2020 is the year of pragmatic optimism, focused on tangible action, and an understanding of how to turn frustration into motivation to create better things in the world. As designers, we know that the key to solving any problem is optimism. If we didn’t believe we could fix things, we wouldn’t have become designers in the first place. You can read our full report here, but below you’ll find three takeaways on … [Read more...] about We study the UX industry. Here’s what will change in 2020
Spotify Unveils A Bold New Brand Identity
For a brand that fronts such a vast and eclectic array of music–a database of some 30 million songs, including the top tunes in Malta, Bulgaria, and Paraguay, among others–Spotify’s brand identity has always been surprisingly sedate: black, white, and an uninspiring green for colors; an off-the-shelf font; and a little stylized sound wave as a logo. advertisement advertisement That made for a fairly dismal array of tools for communicating with the brand’s 60 million avid fans. On Friday, at South by Southwest, all that will change. For the duration of the festival, Spotify House will be arrayed in a bold and explosively colorful new brand identity, which was the result of a year’s worth of work, and many trips to the company’s Stockholm headquarters, by the New York design firm, Collins. “SXSW will be first big reveal of the program,” says Leland Maschmeyer, Collins’s founding partner and executive creative director. … [Read more...] about Spotify Unveils A Bold New Brand Identity
To build cities that survive climate change, we should emulate Earth’s first creatures
Human innovation has long been inspired by other organisms, from the wild thistle plant that spurred the invention of Velcro to the kingfisher bird that helped engineers design bullet trains. It’s called biomimicry: looking to nature’s systems, designs, and processes for inspiration to solve human problems. So wouldn’t it make sense, then, that as climate change threatens to make our world inhospitable, with rising sea levels and intense heat, we could learn something from the way the earliest life forms survived when Earth had similarly harsh conditions? advertisement advertisement That’s the hope of artist and experimental philosopher Jonathon Keats. In a new exhibit called The Primordial Cities Initiative, which will open at STATE Studio in Berlin on December 12, Keats shares his “stromatolite cities” concept. Stromatolites, the fossil remains of early microbial communities, are made of layers of limestone, the remains of those … [Read more...] about To build cities that survive climate change, we should emulate Earth’s first creatures