Next in a long line of contenders for the so-called “Smart Phone.” Featuring a very limited button selection, camera, color screen, and hiding feature, (and not much else,) here comes the “Cute Phone!” It requires only one more feature to be true to the culture: a hole to hang colorful keychains and blinky beads!

Blinky trinkets is what this phone needs! You know, the kind you buy in the whole of Europe, street vendors in Rome, London, and most important: the entirety of Japan.

A quick lesson in Japanese! The word “Kawaii” in Japanese is close to the word “Cute” in English. The difference is, there’s a large “counterculture” tied to Kawaii. A whole lifestyle!

Your first example is this post. The images you see here depict the “Moto Concept” by Mr. Liang. It’s inner workings and functions he leaves to us to guess. The cuteness is clear!

Super Kawaii!

Designer: Joseph Liang

It’s true, whatever problem you’re working on - nature probably already solved it thru billions of years of “trial & error.” Need a way to stop calcification in water pipes? Look at clams. They’re totally made of calcium yet they somehow control their own calcium build up. Ever wonder why plants have an uncanny ability to stay clean? Maybe their solution can be applied to our buildings and cleaning agents

The science is called biomimicry and it’s shaking up the design world. A site called Ask Nature just launched (in beta) where you can search for the best solutions to your problem. The database is still growing so give it time. I think this is a valuable resource for anyone interested in real sustainable design.

Resource: Ask Nature

Okay, maybe not from the ground up. You do start with a Trek bike (name synonymous to race quality) but you choose the colors, the components, and accessories. It’s bike couture because it’s custom fitted to you, not just aesthetically but for your body too. I built mine to a cost of $4,500 with a 30-day build period. Even if you can’t afford one, it’s fun just building out your dream bike.

Link: Project One

And you know what that means right? LUNCHTIME! Everyday at noon butterflies flutter around this clock called “Scent of Time” because they’re drawn to the sweet smell of roses in bloom. Lets extend that concept further by allowing you to designate what each hour smells like via tiny fragrance capsules. Once you train your brain to the hourly smells, you’ll be able to gauge the exact hour of the day. Mmmm 7 AM smells like toast and eggs. YUMMY!

Designer: Hyun Choi

As wonderful as the iPhone is, it leaves out anyone visually impaired. This Silicon Touch iPhone case works in tandem with an app to allow special accessibility functions like text to speech and moon type tactile feedback. The case is engraved with modified bas-relief buttons each corresponding to a modified home screen on the iPhone. None of the phone’s functions are compromised. Multi-touch and finger flick scrolling are all intact. BRILLIANT!

Designer: Bruno Fosi

What started as a concept earlier this year is actually coming to fruition as a real retail product this December. The Cowon S9 will retain all the proposed specs; sleek body, curved back, 3.3? AMOLED touchscreen display with 16 million colors, 500Mhz DUAL CORE CPU (hello!), T-DMB, bluetooth, FM radio, voice recorder, dictionary, USB 2.0, T.V. out, and tilt sensors. Hardware wise - it’s a win. Now lets see the interface. If it passes that, the only thing holding it back is price but knowing Cowon, it’ll be surprisingly affordable.

Designer: Cowon

You have the surround sound, the widescreen, the high definition. Your choice of lights, screen, sound. The next step is, and has been for a long time, quite obvious. Smells! As virtual reality continues to become a more and more realistic situation, designer David Sweeney allows our nose to enter another false reality: the smell jungle.

Here’s surround smell; here’s the “Olfactory Display.”

Designer David Sweeney sets the nose game on its… self?

These devices harness the fact that smells evoke memories and can alter the way we think. They notify us of important information, but in a non-intrusive & subconscious manner.

This provides an alternative to receiving all our daily information through our eyes and ears, instead routing some of it down an olfactory channel. By autonomously observing our environment and our interaction with information sources, a Quale diffuser learns to associate a unique blend of smell with a specific event. The device can then trigger reminders or particular physiological states by replaying these smells at relevant times throughout the day.

This device is to the nose, what a loudspeaker is to the ears. Both are be infinitely configurable and can display information across a wide spectrum. The diffuser has a collection of 16 crafted scents, each distinctive yet novel. The oils are accurately blended by passing them through piezoelectric micro-pumps onto a piezo diffuser.

The resulting mix is broadcast into the room by a fan. The device creates a constantly adapting smellscape. Some elements of the scent convey information while others complement these by evoking awareness beyond the task in hand. Smells for this project were designed by Sissel Tolaas at the IFF re_search Lab in Berlin.

These devices sit about the room and release real scent throughout the room.

Bad? This device is wide open to sabotage, of course: people could plant poisonous gas in it! But then again, they could do the same thing to perfume bottles and the like, no worries there. Aside from that, who can argue with this smelly bit of excessive entertainment?

Or is it beyond even that? Unstated uses for the mentally unstable? How about the elderly, or those who need things like [humidifiers] on a regular basis?

Designer: David Sweeney

Did you know you’re not supposed to put your light-bulbs in the trash? Don’t pitch ‘em! Put them in the “d:light.”

Designer Tim Edgeler presents. A new solution (maybe) to the light-bulb problem with his product, the “d:light.” It acts as both a lamp and a method for mailing the dead bulb to the correct disposal place. And of course, it’s constructed of real super “green” materials.

The d:light is not only a product, but a related infrastructure which has been designed in conjunction with the product. The final design was created by utilizing precise design techniques [and] eco-materials. With [these elements] is an inherently “green” product, [that] retains full practicality and functionality, adopting a subtle, fundamental beauty.

The d:light fulfills 3 main product functions by acting as light bulb packaging, a light-shade for when the bulb is in use, and the vehicle for return when the bulb has reached the end of its functional life. The d:light not only acts as a practical product but also helps socially aware consumers reduce their waste footprint.

For that non-LED-using portion of the population, of course.

Any fair assessment on this project would have to dismiss the fact that there are better and more efficient ways to light a room than light bulbs, correct?

Or is there a reason why this protector of the light-bulb age should be mass produced the save the world?

Designer: Tim Edgeler

Every month we take a look around and select some of the most interesting designs that was showcased here. Below you’ll find the most popular designs we’ve tracked over the last 30 days - an overview of designs you shouldn’t have missed in November 2008.

15) LMacTouch by Mayyen Chan. Permalink Hits: 8002

14) Calculating Chalkboard Lamp by Mingyu Jeung. Permalink Hits: 8109

13) Insulin Pump by Jiri Bukvald. Permalink Hits: 8405

12) Glass Phone by Mac Funamizu. Permalink Hits: 9250

11) Cycle Life Watch by Andy Kurovets. Permalink Hits: 9823

10) Daybed by Manuelsaez. Permalink Hits: 9877

9) Peugeot Touch by Enache Florin. Pemalink Hits: 10006

8 ) Scarab by David Goncalves. Permalink Hits: 11338

7) Drop Light by Doosan Baek. Permalink Hits: 11693

6) Fireworks Car Locator by Mac Finamizu. Permalink Hits: 11841

5) Tea Bag Coffin by Jonas Trampedach. Permalink Hits: 12158

4) Solar Vertical Lamp by Yoon-Hui & Eun-Kyung Kim. Permalink Hits: 15138

3) Ocean Rescue by Seol-Hee Sohn, Seung-Hyun Yoon & Cheol-Yeon Cho. Permalink Hits: 19185

2) Febot Recharges Batteries by Ji-yun Kim, Soon-young Yang & Hwan-ju Jeon. Permalink Hits: 27769

1) CupSpeakers by Dmitry Zagga. Permalink Hits: 43085

It can be difficult to innovate when everything seems to have been done before, and most creatives would be familiar with the approach of product A + product B = innovation!. Nine times out of ten this will result in a boring concept of pseudo innovation and is thus generally frowned upon. Occasionally though it does actually produce some pretty good results. The IVY lamp by designers Izabela Cichecka and Marcela Kawka would be one such example. The LED lamp is planted into a flowerpot, and a plant is then grown around the LED’s forming an organic lamp shade.

Here’s what the designers have to say about IVY;

“IVY is a home source of light made from LED’s. The Lamp consists of modules. Connecting them we decide the form and size of the lamp. The base of the lamp is a flowerpot, in which we are planting plants like ivy. The light is penetrating through the leaves of the plant, creating interesting lighting effects and the unique mood in the interior. the design is our attempt to combine nature with technology, two seemingly unfamiliar worlds.”

Designers: Izabela Cichecka & Marcela Kawka