This is an interesting concept designed to make a business introduction a more personal and memorable experience. Taking a different view on what’s important, this design inspires people to remember the moment of meeting, rather than just the business card itself by making the handing over of the card more of an event. A small fanfare of sorts.

Basically, the cards are printed in a book with a perforated binding inside. When being introduced, the card is carefully torn from the book, creating a more memorable event and leaving a physical reminder of the memory in the perforated edge that remains on the card.

Neat idea. Thanks to designer Alice Rosignoli from Alicerosignoli Design for sending this one in.

Carparks can be a real nuisiance. And thoroughly uninteresting places to boot. Confusing layouts send people around in circles, guided only by small and vague signs promising that the exit is somewhere in this direction or that. To add to the frustration, car parks are ugly places: dirty and poorly lit concrete does not a pleasurable experience make. The worst part is that generally the car park is the final experience people have upon leaving the building, and this can leave a sour taste in the mouth.

The Eureka Tower in Melbourne, Austraila employed designer Axel Peemoeller to make their parking situation a much more interesting one. Rather than pepper the environment with small directional signs, Peemoeller has used optical illusions to make the correct route present itself only when you’re in the correct place. The directions are so large you couldn’t possibly miss them or get confused and the way they magically leap out when you’re on track has the effect of reinforcing the point that parking wasn’t just an after-thought with this building. 

The signs just look like colourful decoration until you’re in a position where they become relevant to your journey through the carpark and demand a response from you rather than potentially adding to your parking confusion.

This idea not only simplifies the parking experience but makes it colorful and engaging, rather than a dull experience that can ruin the overall impression of a building and it’s design.

This small wooden bridge in England is deceptively primitive. Designed by Valentin Bontjes van Beek and Natalie Rozencwajg, the apparently improvised structure is rather carefully designed, - a dynamic web of rough timber struts, steel cables, and computer-milled wood decking that hangs lightly from the existing trees.

See link below.

http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=3107415

This car is pretty exciting. Borne out of the British love of all things sleek and fast and out of the new sense of environmental duty is this electric sports car designed and built by the Lightning Car Company in England.

The design of the car is stunning, with flowing lines that wouldn’t look out of place on an Aston Martin, but with a slightly more futuristic feel, mainly on the rear of the car. But looks are only a small part of this machine’s draw.

Only the second electric supercar to have been built, the first being Telsa’s delightful Electric Roadsters, the Lightning breaks automative convention to match it’s gasoline powered counterparts. The main problem with electric motors is they simply just don’t have as much get-up-and-go as petrol ones. the Lightning tackles this in a unique way. Rather than burden a single engine with moving the mechanics in the car and the car itself, each wheel has it’s own motor, removing unnecessary mechanics and providing much more power than would usually be available from a single engined vehicle. Plus, the lack of an engine reduces the components that can go wrong, essentially making a maintenance-free motor.

The Lightning Car Company explain:

Hi-Pa Drive™ from PML Flightlink Ltd. is a revolution in motor technology and it’s a British innovation to boot! With its integrated motor and drive electronics in one single unit it produces an ultra high power density - up to 20 times more than conventional systems.

The compact, energy-efficient, electric wheel motors produce unrivalled levels of torque with internal heavy-duty tapered roller bearings that can withstand heavy radial loads for robust use. Yet they achieve the power to weight ratio important for the performance sports car capability of the Lightning.

Other features include total weather proofing, total energy transfer and several levels of redundancy, so any single failure will not prevent the vehicle from operating safely.

The car claims to out accelerate a Porsche and has a top speed of somewhere in the region of 130mph. Who said that going green meant the end of fun motoring?

Metal skins have become the standard for contemporary architectural design – they’re thin, flexible and adaptable to an infinite variety of shapes. But at BMW, metal is old news.  Their new concept car GINA is clad entirely with a pliable cloth - a pretty radical re-thinking of enclosure that will be sure to influence architects and designers worldwide.  Check out the video below.