THE BEST Industrial Design

Best known for his work on movies like Blade Runner and TRON, industrial designer and “visual futurist” Syd Mead was renowned for his ability to extrapolate what might lie ahead for society. This silent clip from DistantMirrors looks back on some of the late artist’s many illustrative works.

Graphic and motion designer Vinicius Araujo envisioned iconic industrial designs from electronics brands as Helvetica letter forms corresponding to their brand names. We’d love to see actual products designed this way. Check out the full alphabet in his Behance portfolio.

A smartly designed aluminum case for DIY PC builders, designed by CRYORIG and built by Lian Li. The TAKU provides a home for a Mini-ITX motherboard and all of its components in a minimal, easy-to-upgrade enclosure that doubles as a monitor stand. (Thanks Ben!)

Truly unique six-sided dice which have an open void in their centers. They’re precision machined from anodized aluminum, and weigh just 1.5 grams each. Their unique pip design and balanced weight distribution ensures statistically fair rolls too.

Over the last few years, product designer Gianluca Gimini has asked friends and acquaintances to sketch what they thought a bicycle looked like from memory. He would later go on to build these awesomely offbeat, yet realistic 3D renderings of the bikes.

The guys at TechRadar envision a world in which Microsoft and Sony put aside their differences to collaborate on the ultimate gaming console. One which not only plays next-gen games, but games from past-gen systems.

Combining our urge to crush cans with our bare (not bear) hands with smart industrial design, Emami Designs’ Handycan fits human (and bear) hands perfectly, and crushes like an accordion.

A simple yet stylish timepiece from renowned Dutch clock brand Karlsson Clocks.  The Twin Bell Nude Station combines a modern look with the classic sound of the traditional alarm clock bell.

WXY Architecture and Weidlinger Associates designed the gorgeous Nanhe River Landscape Bridge in Xinjin, China; it features two intertwining bridges that represent the flow of the river.

Bureau Spectacular’s Phalanstery Module is a zero gravity living pod; every 15 minutes, one of the multi-planed surfaces becomes usable (and every 7.5 minutes people inside fall into each other).

Attila Tari and hypo-Design’s entry in the Michelin Challenge Design, the Straddle is an electric version of a horse, meant to bring the rider closer to his surroundings and to nature in general.

There is dynamic contrast to be found in architect Michael Hansmeyer’s Subdivided Column series, which features manipulated doric columns with beautiful, elaborate details. (Thanks Russell!)

Loris Bottello’s Tron-inspired Ring Lamp uses bioluminescent polymers to emit light, and rotating the disk changes the light intensity. Brush contacts transfer the power to the outer copper ring.

André Silva’s concept design integrates a storage device (in HD or SSD versions), along with LED under-body lighting and a top that doubles as a multi-touch trackpad. LaCie, please take a look.

Lutz Pankow’s Rockkit is a pair of aluminum skids that can transform nearly every 4 legged chair into a rocking chair. The skids are screwed onto the legs with rubber mountings and are removable.

Sick of wimpy, underdone toast? Shay Carmon’s toaster concept combines a defibrillator with a toaster, to give your bread that deep, dark crunch that only an intense electrical shock can provide.

Sit back with your iPad and enjoy this artful short by MattsMacintosh which walks us through the major evolution in Apple’s industrial design over the last 30 or so years. My how far we have come.

Created by British designer Kevin Scott, this unusual bicycle has the unique distinction of being able to be bent around a light pole for storage and security, then straightened back out for riding.

This unusual concept timepiece gradually reveals the current time with tactile, dimensional digits for each hour emerging from behind a cloth face. No minute display, but the general idea is cool.

Valentina Trimani’s brilliantly simple concept design combines the utility of a bookmark with low-voltage OLED illumination, so you can read your books while lying in the darkness of your bedroom.

Every once in a while, an idea comes along that’s so simple in execution that it’s brilliant. This concept for a soda can would allow you to cover up your pop and keep the fizz in between gulps.

Designer Vicente Jean-François envisions a future in which we ride around on zero-emission electric bikes. The curvy, minimal E boardtracker would hide its motors in its wheel hubs.

Polaroid faces challenges reinventing itself in today’s world. Evan Jardee’s new Polaroid concept shakes things up with curvy modern looks, a large OLED screen, and wireless instant prints.