If all auto shows are paeans to over-the-topness, the Qatar Motor Show must top them all. So it's probably appropriate that Volkswagen is unveiling its highly anticipated XL1 hybrid concept car there: with a look that's part Prius, part Tesla, and part... DeLorean (dig those split windows and gullwing doors, Marty!), the XL1 appears to be stuffing 10 pounds of futurism into a five-pound bag.
Used to be, all you needed to test your own hotness was a mirror and a quick squeeze of the hiney. Then science (and a lot of creative interpretation) went and got involved and now the only thing anyone cares about is a symmetrical mug. Perfectly spaced eyes? Babe. Equally proportioned nostrils? Sexxxx-y.
It was only a matter of time, then, before someone developed an app that generates images of a more even-faced -- and presumably beautiful -- you. And you thought the world had run out of ways to make you hate yourself.
Tiny apartments are the norm in New York. But what if living in a shoebox could actually feel airy and bright? That's exactly what TreeHugger founder Graham Hill wants to do. And it's all part of trying to save the environment: "If you take something and use it with half the materials, you just made it twice as green," Hill says. "If you just reduce the amount of square footage you're going to make things greener."
The pyramid is getting an update for the ecotastic age. A clutch of artists has unveiled a conceptual scheme to build nine massive, solar power-generating pyramids smack dab in the middle of the Abu Dhabi desert. And, this being the 21st century, naturally they're done up in tres chic black. Move over, Giza!
The mental condition called "synesthesia" sounds like a bong-hitting undergrad's dream come true: crossed sensory wires in the brain can make a person involuntarily -- and literally -- hear sounds from images, see colors from music, even experience taste sensations when certain words are spoken (although that is rare). Sounds like a trip -- sign me up, dude!
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![Google London’s New Office Is a Happy Kiddie Funhouse [Slideshow]](/multisite_files/codesign/imagecache/642x368/Google-London-Lede.jpg "Google London’s New Office Is a Happy Kiddie Funhouse [Slideshow]")
If you're the largest search engine in the world, with revenue in the billions, stock options pouring out the ears, and execs lighting cigars on $100 bills, how do you design your office? Like a kindergarten, that's how. (Duuuh!)
We've always been amazed by the courage and folly of trying to climb a 20,000 foot mountain just because it's there. Which is why we were delighted to find this elegantly designed infographic, by Audree Lapierre of FFunction.
It simply shows the world's Seven Summits -- the tallest mountains o each of the seven continents, which together form a kind of grand slam for world-class mountaineers:
Ah, a new year, and a new chance for tired, lagging brands to redeem themselves to consumers. Last year was a good year for many companies to step out with new identities. Just run through our slideshow of 2010's best brand redesigns.
This is the final essay in a three-part series by Jon Kolko, author of the new book Exposing the Magic of Design, on how to embrace design synthesis in your organization. Read the first part here and the second part here.
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