The design equivalent of the Oscars came to a close yesterday, with BRP Design & Innovation Team winning the Red Dot Award: Design Team of the Year 2025. Over the years, the awards program has provided this very distinction to absolute industry legends like the Thule Design Team, the Logitech Team, Studio F. A. Porsche, Flavio Manzoni & Ferrari Design Team, as well as the Adidas Design Team, to name a few. Awarded annually since 1988, the ‘Team of the Year’ goes to studios and companies that consistently exhibit outstanding innovation, creativity, and exceptional design quality.

“This honorary title recognises a company’s overall design achievements and highlights the collaborative efforts of the design team. Awarded teams showcase a deep commitment to innovation, user-focused design, and sustainability principles,” says the Red Dot Award: Product Design. Yanko Design had the opportunity to interview Denys Lapointe, Chief Design Officer at BRP just moments after he collected the award on the Red Dot ceremonial podium. Here’s a look at what the most decorated design team of this year has been working on for the past few months.

Denys Lapointe – Chief Design Officer of BRP

Yanko Design: Many, many congratulations on winning Red Dot Design Team of the Year. I’m sure it’s a very proud moment for you and your entire team right now. If you had to describe how you feel in just three words at this very moment, what would they be?

Denys Lapointe: Excited, proud, and energized. It’s been years of work leading up to this, and it brings so much pride to the entire team. In fact, we have an internal survey that measures team sentiment, and after this announcement, our team score went up by four points. That shows how meaningful this recognition is for everyone.
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Yanko Design: That’s amazing. And of course, your Can-Am Maverick R MAX has secured a win this year as well. Tell me more about this project – what about it stands out to you?

Denys Lapointe: This product is designed for enthusiasts and is mostly used in widespread areas where there are lots of deserts or trails, like in Canada, the US, or even in the Middle East. It’s designed for enthusiasts. It’s like a Lamborghini for off-roaders – something very distinctive that stands out and uses form language that’s more on the aggressive side because of the nature of what it does. It provides a feeling of being able to ride something with 200 horsepower going through moguls about one meter in size. It’s a unique, fun experience for enthusiast-type individuals, like driving a sports car in the desert or on trails. It’s really for individuals seeking a high-thrilling feeling. It’s not necessarily for everybody, but it’s for those seeking this kind of thrill. It’s a great, powerful product. The engineering is amazing, and to see that it wins races everywhere it participates – including the Paris-Dakar rally – it’s great.
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Yanko Design: We have many young designers in our Yanko Design community who look up to leaders like you. Could you share a bit about your own journey with BRP and what initially drew you to mobility design?

Denys Lapointe: My father is, or was, a designer. So I followed in his footsteps. My father took me to my first F1 car race when I was two years old in Canada. I’ve been passionate about transportation for many years and decided to study design. I didn’t have the means to go to some of the top schools in the world, but nonetheless, I went back later in my career after designing several products. I went back to the more formal design schools, but to hire people. The nice thing is that today, my son is actually a third-generation designer. He went to RCA in London to finish his master’s degree in transportation mobility.

Yanko Design: Your company boasts 135 multicultural and multidisciplinary design experts coming together to make BRP what it is today. What role does diversity play in shaping the creativity and output of your design team?

Denys Lapointe: We encourage all our design managers to engage with schools worldwide to identify emerging talent. We even created our own design challenge involving eight international schools to find talent beyond traditional recruitment channels. For us, we believe that if you’re all from the same schools and you all have the same degree and you were all exposed to the same culture, you’re not bringing enough richness from the rest of the world. So we actually have 20 nationalities represented in our three design studios everywhere. I believe that the perspective that each individual brings from coming from all over the world is so different, which challenges us on a daily basis. Of course it brings its fair share of challenges – language being one of them – but it brings so much richness when people are coming with their toolbox, with their skill set, with their interpretation of opportunities.

We try to take in all this creativity, blending all of this together. I think it’s so much richer if you approach it this way. So we are very open to the world – for the world to come within one of our studios, based in the south of France, in the U.S., and in Canada. We’re very open to bringing all kinds of people coming from all over – cross-generations, cross-gender. We endorse these huge differences because it brings a lot of creativity and a lot of things that we wouldn’t have seen the same way with the same eyes looking at the same lens. Different perspectives are very important.
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Yanko Design: That resonates with us at Yanko Design too. We’re a small team spread globally, all working towards one goal: advocating for good design. How do you foster a culture of risk-taking and experimentation, especially in an industry with such high safety and reliability standards?

Denys Lapointe: One of the things that we’ve done at BRP that is quite different from other industries is that we realized that in a linear process, when you want to diverge, sometimes the risk stops at a certain point in the linear process. We realized that all the best ideas sometimes got tossed away because now we need to converge and eliminate risk beyond a certain point in order to bring products that are safe for people to use. So we decided to go the other way and we created what we call an advanced concept process, which enables us to diverge as much as we can and then start converging slowly, but validating with consumers at an early point of this divergence to validate if the concept resonates with people. So we’re a lot more risk-takers at that point because, first, we want to validate whether the consumers will really appreciate what we have in mind. And secondly, because we’re not in production, we can test in a very different manner. With this, if it resonates well with the consumer, then we put it in our regular stage-gate process, which is more linear, because we validated the risk. So it’s one way to avoid throwing all the best ideas away, but validating if those ideas would resonate with the consumer. It’s very important.

Yanko Design: That’s a smart approach. With new technologies emerging rapidly, what excites you most about the future of mobility design?

Denys Lapointe: Oh, there’s so much we can do. Unfortunately, I cannot share what we’re working on because it’s too exciting. But there’s a lot of good stuff, good things going in all kinds of directions that will be novel that we will introduce in the future. I’m very stimulated by what our teams are working on for the future, encompassing sometimes technology with new product architectures that will enable consumers to live totally new experiences that consumers don’t know about as of today. This process really is very stimulating to me. In fact, it’s going to be tough for me at some point to give up on this process because it’s actually what I like the most. It’s to start with a little white piece of paper and contribute in creating new industries like some of these products we see here today.

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Yanko Design: So, what advice would you like to give young designers hoping to break into the world of mobility and industrial design? What is that one piece of advice that you would like to give?

Denys Lapointe: Have faith in yourself. Continue to work hard. I think perseverance can do a lot. And don’t get despaired the first time you do something and you think your concept is not good enough. I remember doing my first car sketch when I was a kid and I threw it away because I thought it was bad. But ultimately I kept on working and getting to learn from others and going to school… I mean, creativity can come in all kinds of forms. You just need to find the skills and learn the tools to be able to express your creativity. So hopefully, if you don’t get discouraged at first, just push and move on, and at some point, things will become clearer.
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Yanko Design: Finally, what does “Adventure by Design” mean to you personally, and how do you hope it resonates with BRP’s global community?

Denys Lapointe: “Adventure by Design” is our motto. When our marketing folks actually brought up the idea at some point, I was touched by it at first, but it also represents a burden on all of us to create new adventures and create stimulating adventures so people are drawn by these communities that we’re creating all over the place, all over the world. Hopefully, it’s bringing the best out of our designers and our engineers and our marketers, and it’s stimulating to continue creating these new experiences. So “Adventure by Design” suits us, and I’m proud that our marketing folks have opted for this.
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Yanko Design: Thank you so much for your time today. It’s been truly inspiring speaking with you.

Denys Lapointe: Thank you, it was a pleasure.

The post “Lamborghini for off-roaders” designer BRP wins Red Dot Design Team of the Year 2025 first appeared on Yanko Design.

You know what’s genuinely infuriating about outdoor umbrellas? They’re designed by people who clearly spend their summers in climate-controlled offices, not sweating under the relentless afternoon sun while wrestling with some sadistic crank mechanism. Traditional center-pole designs turn every poolside afternoon into a game of musical chairs as you chase shadows around your patio, while cantilever umbrellas promise freedom but deliver the mechanical equivalent of trying to parallel park a shopping cart. I’ve watched grown adults have full meltdowns trying to adjust these things, and honestly, I get it. Most cantilever designs feel like they were engineered by committee, with side-mounted cranks positioned exactly where no human would instinctively reach and tilt mechanisms that require a PhD in leverage physics to operate without looking like you’re performing interpretive dance.

The Novara Cantilever Umbrella just won the Red Dot Award’s top prize for 2025, and after years of umbrella-induced rage, I’m genuinely excited about outdoor shade for the first time in decades. Patrick van Lierop, Liming Zhang, and Yifei Wu at Zhejiang Zhengte Co. looked at this mess of a product category and asked the most obvious question: why isn’t the handle where you’d naturally put your hand? Their answer is beautifully simple – a single front-mounted handle that lets you reach forward and lift up, exactly like your brain tells you to do. No more awkward side-reaches, no more deciphering which direction turns the crank, no more wondering if you’re about to snap something expensive. It’s the kind of solution that makes you slap your forehead and wonder how we’ve been tolerating inferior design for so long.

Designer: Zhejiang Zhengte Co., Ltd.

The engineering details reveal why this actually works instead of just looking good in marketing photos. The custom base isn’t some generic aftermarket accessory that sort of fits if you squint – it’s precision-matched to the canopy dimensions, creating a system where physics actually works with you instead of against you. The rotating cuff mechanism moves smoothly without that horrible grinding sound that makes you wince every time you adjust cheaper umbrellas, while the front handle placement means you never have to do that awkward shuffle-walk around the base like you’re circling a campfire. Even better, the whole system ships in one box, eliminating that special kind of retail hell where you discover your umbrella and base are incompatible after you’ve already assembled everything.

The Novara is built primarily from recycled materials, proving that environmental responsibility doesn’t have to mean sacrificing quality or paying premium prices for the privilege of feeling good about your purchases. The Red Dot jury specifically highlighted what the designers call “emotional longevity,” which is design-speak for “you’ll actually want to keep this thing instead of cursing its existence every summer.” This matters because outdoor furniture has become disturbingly disposable, with umbrellas treated like seasonal decorations rather than functional investments. The Novara’s clean aesthetics and intuitive operation suggest it might actually survive multiple seasons without making you fantasize about throwing it in a dumpster.

The post Someone designed a ‘better’ outdoor cantilever umbrella and my patio desperately needs one first appeared on Yanko Design.

There have only been 4 cute robots in all of history – Baymax, Wall.E, EVE, and Rosey the robot from the Jetsons. No other robot’s managed to really strike that level of mass appeal (fine, okay, Astro Boy too) with a design that feels capable yet emotionally disarming. That’s also the sort of vibe the Kriket 3000 is going for, with its cute-meets-capable design.

The Kriket 3000 comes from the mind of industrial designer and artist Shaun Wellens, who’s worked on his fair share of robots. This one, unlike the droids from before, channels a design that borrows from the past. “Inspired by products of the 60s and 70s, Kriket aims to tap into a sense of nostalgia by blending retro-futurism with modern-day design sensibilities. It aims to reintroduce a spirit of excitement and optimism for a brighter future,” Wellens says.

Designer: Shaun Wellens

The last time Wellens worked on a robot design, ChatGPT wasn’t even a thing. The last 4 years has seen a LOT of changes in the rise of AI and how it’s shaped society. Most humans overwhelmingly believe that AI is helpful, but also potentially dangerous. The need for tech to inspire confidence and a sense of safety is truly paramount at this time, and Wellens tried to channel that with Kriket’s design.

The simplest way to make a robot look harmless is to ditch sharp lines and corners. To that end, the Kriket’s soft visual language, combined with its white colorway, gives off a sense of ‘sterilized’ cuteness. Sort of like Baymax from the movie Big Hero 6. Unlike Baymax, though, Kriket 3000’s design is as detailed as it gets. Joints are present at all crucial parts of the arms and legs, there’s a battery backpack, faux ribs, and an antenna that resembles a halo of sorts, giving the robot its angelic appeal!

The head has a few notable elements – for starters, it isn’t shaped like a head – it’s much wider, creating a disproportion that makes the Kriket look ‘young’, just like how kids and early teens have larger heads in proportion to their body before they grow up. Multiple cameras placed on the Kriket 3000’s head give it 360° awareness, while sensors on the body detect distance and depth. A screen on the front serves as Kriket’s ‘face’, showing its eyes that I assume emote the way most robot eyes do. The back, however, has another display that shows Kriket’s battery levels. Is it needed? No… but does it give the robot a sense of data-transparency? Yes.

Kriket 3000 was created as a mere concept, but it sets a framework for what robots need to look like if they have to inspire confidence. This one has the appeal of ‘staff’, with how approachable it looks (especially with its name tag on the front), and how adorable it looks too. Do I see a world in which Kriket 3000 exists? Yes sure, I’d probably choose this little guy over one of those scary dogs at Boston Dynamics…

The post Adorable retrofuturistic robot comes with two HUDs and multiple cameras for 360° awareness first appeared on Yanko Design.

When it comes to expanding product portfolios, companies typically play it safe by iterating on their existing lineups. AKASO, however, seems determined to color outside the lines. After making waves with their Seemor night vision goggles that delivered full-color visibility in pitch darkness (a remarkable feat of engineering that caught my attention last year), the company is now pivoting into entirely new territory with their first 360-degree action camera.

This strategic expansion feels particularly intriguing because AKASO isn’t simply following trends but applying their technological expertise across different visual capture domains. The Seemor goggles demonstrated AKASO’s proficiency with AI image processing, dual-sensor systems, and making complex optics accessible to everyday users. Now they’re bringing that same DNA to the 360-degree camera space with a $199 price tag that absolutely shatters the market’s status quo, potentially upending the Insta360 and DJI hegemony that has dominated the landscape for years.

Designer: Akaso

The new AKASO 360 comes equipped with dual 1/2-inch 48MP CMOS sensors capable of recording 5.7K spherical video at 30fps. For context, that resolution sits comfortably in the sweet spot between consumer and prosumer needs, offering enough pixel density for impressive playback while keeping file sizes manageable. The camera weighs in at a pocket-friendly 180g, substantially lighter than their 500g Seemor night vision system, making it practical for extended handheld use or mounting on helmets, bikes, or drones.

AKASO has wisely incorporated AI tracking into the 360 camera, allowing it to automatically follow subjects within the frame regardless of direction. This feature proves particularly valuable in 360 capture since reframing during post-production becomes significantly easier when the software has already identified and tracked the main subject. The camera also includes 360-degree horizon lock stabilization, ensuring level footage regardless of how wildly the camera might rotate during action sequences. Both features leverage machine learning algorithms similar to those developed for the Seemor’s low-light image processing.

Battery performance reveals practical engineering decisions that align with real-world usage. While the Seemor night vision goggles shipped with two 3,250mAh batteries providing up to 8 hours of operation, the 360 camera opts for a single 1,350mAh battery delivering approximately 60 minutes of 5.7K recording. This prioritizes portability over marathon sessions, acknowledging that most 360 content creators capture shorter clips rather than continuous footage.

The design itself borrows heavily from Insta360’s successful formula, with dual lenses positioned on the upper section and a 2.29-inch touchscreen below. The similarity raises questions about differentiation in a competitive market, but AKASO’s history suggests their advantage will come through pricing and feature accessibility rather than revolutionary form factors. The weatherproof construction indicates outdoor durability, though specific environmental ratings haven’t been detailed.

For creators looking to enter spherical video without emptying their wallets, AKASO’s disruptive pricing strategy transforms the conversation entirely. At $199, the AKASO 360 costs less than half of its mainstream competitors while offering comparable core specifications. If they can maintain the impressive quality demonstrated in their Seemor night vision technology at this aggressive price point, Insta360 and DJI face a serious threat from a company previously known for budget action cameras. The 360-degree camera market has suddenly become a battlefield where the underdog has armed itself with a price advantage that established players cannot easily counter.

The post Akaso’s $199 360° Camera directly challenges Insta360 and DJI Osmo’s duopoly first appeared on Yanko Design.

Innovation doesn’t live in laboratories or concept boards; it lives in the products we touch, use, and rely on every single day. At Yanko Design, we’re perpetually fascinated by the moment when brilliant ideas transform into tangible reality, when visionary design meets manufacturing prowess to create products that genuinely improve our lives. This transformation is precisely what the Red Dot Award: Product Design celebrates with unmatched prestige. The 2025 “Best of Best” winners represent more than just exceptional design; they’re proof that great products can reshape entire industries while seamlessly integrating into our daily routines.

What sets this year’s selection apart is the remarkable diversity of problem-solving approaches. From groundbreaking consumer electronics that redefine how we interact with technology, to sustainable solutions that address our planet’s most pressing challenges, these winning products demonstrate that thoughtful design isn’t just about aesthetics but about creating meaningful impact through meticulous execution. The Red Dot’s rigorous evaluation process continues to serve as the gold standard for identifying products that successfully bridge the gap between ambitious vision and market reality. We’re excited to share our carefully curated selection of standout winners that caught our attention for all the right reasons.

01. LG Transparent OLED TV-77T4 by LG Electronics, Inc.

Remember when TVs were these massive black rectangles that dominated whatever room they occupied? LG’s design team clearly decided that was getting old and went completely in the opposite direction with the Transparent OLED TV-77T4. This isn’t just another thin TV; it’s a 77-inch screen that’s practically invisible when turned off, embedded in a sleek aluminum frame that doubles as actual furniture. When you’re watching content, images appear to float in mid-air like some kind of holographic magic trick, creating that campfire effect where people naturally gather around just to witness the spectacle.

What makes this design genuinely brilliant is how LG solved the fundamental problem of transparent displays: sometimes you actually want a traditional viewing experience. Hit a button and motorized fabric panels deploy to give you that classic black screen for serious movie watching, while the wireless AV solution keeps cables to an absolute minimum. The modular aluminum structure isn’t just aesthetic; it creates a shelf system that integrates into your interior like a piece of modern furniture rather than dominating it like traditional TVs. It’s the kind of product that makes you realize we’ve been thinking about televisions all wrong, treating them as appliances when they could be architectural elements that enhance rather than interrupt our living spaces.

02. MAZZU Mattress by LAYER, Benjamin Hubert

Sleep is one of those things we all desperately need but rarely get right, and more often than not, it comes down to that slab of springs and padding we call a mattress. LAYER’s Benjamin Hubert clearly got fed up with the “one-size-fits-nobody” approach that dominates the mattress industry and decided to completely reimagine how we think about sleep surfaces. The MAZZU isn’t just another mattress; it’s a modular system that treats your bed like a customizable piece of furniture rather than a monolithic block you’re stuck with for the next decade.

What makes MAZZU genuinely brilliant is its snap-fit pocket spring system that lets you configure different firmness zones exactly where you need them. Too soft on your side but perfect for your partner? Just swap out those modules. Moving to a different bed frame? Reconfigure the size. Need to wash a section or replace a worn area? Pop it out and deal with just that piece. By ditching foam entirely in favor of lightweight, recyclable polymers and textiles that connect without adhesives, LAYER has created something that’s not just better for your back but actually sustainable. It’s the kind of thoughtful design that makes you wonder why nobody figured this out sooner.

03. HORL® Scissors by Timo Horl, Otmar Horl

You’d think scissors hit their design peak sometime around the Bronze Age, but the father-son team at HORL clearly never got that memo. What started as a simple quest to create a better way to sharpen household scissors spiraled into a three-year obsession that completely reimagined one of humanity’s most basic tools. The HORL scissors aren’t just another pair of kitchen shears; they’re precision instruments that happen to cut things, engineered with the kind of meticulous attention usually reserved for Swiss watches or German automotive components.

The real genius lies in that spring-loaded quick-release mechanism that keeps both halves under dynamic tension until you need to sharpen them. When you overcome that resistance threshold, they audibly release with a satisfying click that lets you know you’re dealing with serious engineering. This isn’t just about making cuts; it’s about making clean cuts along the entire blade length, every single time, with high-grade forged steel that’s built to outlast your kitchen, your house, and possibly your grandchildren. HORL essentially created the last pair of scissors you’ll ever need to buy, which is either a terrible business strategy or the most confident design statement ever made. Given that these are acoustically, visually, and functionally perfect according to the Red Dot jury, we’re betting on the latter.

04. 2050 Edible Cutlery by Weirong New Material Technology

Single-use plastic cutlery is one of those environmental villains that’s so ubiquitous we barely notice it anymore, but the team at Weirong New Material Technology clearly couldn’t ignore the mounting waste crisis. Their solution is brilliantly simple yet technically complex: cutlery made entirely from food waste that you can literally eat when you’re done with your meal. Using rice flour curds, soy protein, and tapioca starch, they’ve created utensils that can handle hot soup for an hour at 55°C, then either become dessert or compost in your garden within two weeks.

What makes this design particularly impressive is how they solved the inherent brittleness of starch-based materials through pure engineering rather than synthetic reinforcement. The handle design alone required numerous trials to achieve the right balance of rigidity and flexibility, proving that sustainability doesn’t have to mean compromising on functionality. The fact that they’ve developed variants for different global eating habits, plus chocolate and vanilla-flavored options, shows they’re thinking beyond the novelty factor toward genuine market adoption. This isn’t just eco-friendly tableware; it’s a complete rethinking of the disposable utensil category that makes plastic forks look ridiculously outdated.

05. Novara Cantilever Umbrella by Zhejiang Zhengte Co., Ltd.

Outdoor umbrellas are one of those products that everyone needs but nobody really thinks about until they’re wrestling with a heavy, unwieldy shade that refuses to cooperate with the sun’s movement. The design team at Zhejiang Zhengte clearly spent time watching people struggle with cantilever umbrellas and realized the problem wasn’t just about size and weight, but about how different people naturally interact with these oversized objects. Their solution was refreshingly human-centered: extensive studies revealed that tall people adjust umbrellas from behind using upper body strength, while shorter individuals work from the side using both hands and lower body leverage.

The Novara’s genius lies in its front-mounted handle system that encourages an intuitive upward movement, like lifting a dumbbell, making it accessible regardless of your height or strength. The conical grip for horizontal adjustment was specifically designed with older users in mind, while the perfectly matched base ships in the same box to eliminate the usual post-purchase headache of finding compatible accessories. Built primarily from recycled materials, the Novara represents what the designers call “emotional longevity” – creating something so well-designed and user-friendly that people will actually want to keep it around for years rather than replacing it after one frustrating season.

06. TN1 Fan Heater by Shenzhen Lanhe Technologies Co., Ltd.

Fan heaters have always been caught in that frustrating design trap where you can either have something that looks decent or something that actually heats your room properly, but rarely both. The team at Shenzhen Lanhe Technologies clearly got tired of this compromise and decided to completely reimagine what a domestic heater could be. The TN1’s racetrack-inspired oval form isn’t just aesthetically striking; it’s a clever engineering solution that extends the heating element’s surface area without turning your heater into a bulky eyesore that dominates your baseboard.

But the real magic happens when you turn this thing on. The heating element gently rises up through an integrated lifting mechanism, creating this almost organic moment where the appliance seems to come alive and acknowledge your presence. It’s not just theatrical flourish; this movement optimizes heat distribution while protecting the internals from dust when retracted. Combined with a graphene coating for enhanced thermal efficiency and a crossflow fan that accelerates once the element is fully extended, the TN1 delivers that rapid warmth we all desperately want from space heaters. The fact that it retracts flush when turned off means it disappears back into your interior design rather than permanently announcing its presence like most heating appliances.

07. Ferrari F80 by Ferrari Design Team (Dr. h. c. Flavio Manzoni)

Creating the next Ferrari supercar isn’t just about making something fast; it’s about continuing a bloodline that includes absolute legends like the GTO, F40, and LaFerrari. The Ferrari design team clearly felt the weight of that legacy when developing the F80, but instead of playing it safe, they made some genuinely radical decisions that push the entire supercar category forward. The controversial “1+” architecture completely reimagines the two-seater paradigm by placing the driver dead center with the passenger seat offset and almost invisible, creating this fighter jet-like focus that makes every other supercar interior look like a compromise.

What’s brilliant about the F80 is how this driver-centric philosophy cascades through every design decision. The slimmer cockpit doesn’t just look more dramatic; it broadens the car’s shoulders and improves aerodynamics, while that glass bubble cabin creates an almost spacecraft-like silhouette that’s pure visual poetry. The six slits in the rear engine compartment, each representing a cylinder, show how Ferrari’s designers think about the connection between mechanical function and sculptural form. This isn’t just another hypercar with aggressive styling; it’s a complete rethinking of what a Ferrari can be when designers, engineers, and aerodynamicists work as a unified team rather than competing departments. Whether the F80 achieves legendary status remains to be seen, but as a design statement, it’s already rewritten the supercar playbook.

08. Mac mini M4 by Apple Industrial Design Team

Apple’s Mac mini has always been the scrappy underdog of the Mac lineup, but the M4 version feels like it’s finally gotten the respect it deserves. Packing up to 1.8 times faster CPU performance and 2.2 times faster GPU performance into that same iconic aluminum box isn’t just impressive engineering; it’s a masterclass in thermal management and silicon optimization. Except now the box is also smaller, measuring just 5×5 inches in size. The fact that Apple Intelligence runs entirely on-device while maintaining privacy through end-to-end encrypted Private Cloud Compute shows how serious they are about making AI feel seamless rather than intrusive.

What really sets the M4 apart is Apple’s decision to completely rethink the thermal architecture, flowing air through multiple internal layers and exhausting it entirely through the bottom. It’s the kind of invisible innovation that makes everything else possible, allowing them to cram desktop-class performance into something you can literally hide behind your monitor. The addition of front-facing ports and Thunderbolt 5 in the Pro model shows Apple finally listened to users who wanted better connectivity without sacrificing the minimalist aesthetic. Plus, being the first carbon-neutral Mac means this tiny powerhouse isn’t just efficient with space and power; it’s efficient with the planet too. Sometimes the best designs are the ones that make incredible complexity look effortless.

09. nwm ONE by NTT sonority, 83Design Inc.

Most headphones follow the same basic formula: put speakers in cushioned cups and clamp them to your head, but the design team at NTT sonority clearly decided that approach was fundamentally flawed. The nwm ONE takes Dieter Rams’ “less, but better” philosophy to almost radical extremes, stripping away everything that isn’t absolutely essential, including the ear cushions that define virtually every other headphone on the market. What you’re left with is this impossibly minimal ring-shaped design that floats around your ears rather than sealing them off, creating a wearing experience that’s more like having invisible speakers following you around.

The real breakthrough is how they solved the obvious problem of open-ear headphones: sound leakage and ambient noise interference. Their proprietary PSZ (Personalised Sound Zone) technology uses inverse phase waves to cancel out sound leakage, essentially creating a bubble of audio that only you can hear while keeping your ears completely open to the world around you. The speaker units pivot to deliver sound directly into your ear canal without physical contact, while a two-way driver structure optimizes bass reproduction despite the open design. It’s the kind of technical wizardry that makes you wonder why we’ve been accepting the isolation and discomfort of traditional headphones for so long when this elegant solution was theoretically possible all along.

10. Nokia 5G 360 Camera by Nokia Group

Surveillance cameras have this unfortunate tendency to scream “you’re being watched” with aggressive, intimidating designs that make everyone uncomfortable. Nokia’s design team took the opposite approach with the 5G 360 Camera, embracing what they call “quiet intelligence” – the idea that good design doesn’t dominate but earns trust through restraint. This isn’t just philosophical posturing; it’s a practical recognition that surveillance technology works better when it blends seamlessly into its environment rather than announcing its presence like a digital gargoyle.

The genius is in what they left out: no protruding antennas, no fragile components, no bright colors or aggressive styling. Just a clean, dark grey form that makes dirt less visible while maintaining an understated authority. The 360-degree camera technology and 5G connectivity are packed into a surprisingly compact, lightweight package that’s tough enough for mining tunnels and wildfire zones, yet unobtrusive enough for public spaces. Replaceable protective lens covers mean this thing can keep working in harsh conditions without requiring complete replacement, while the shock and vibration resistance make it suitable for vehicles, ships, and drones. It’s surveillance technology that doesn’t make you feel surveilled, which might be the smartest design decision of all.

The post Top 10 Most Ingenious Designs That Will Change How You Live: Red Dot Awards 2025 Winners first appeared on Yanko Design.

The mechanical keyboard community has seen some wild collaborations over the years, but KFC China teaming up with ASUS ROG to create branded keycaps might just take the cake. Or should I say, take the bucket? These aren’t your typical artisan keycaps crafted by boutique makers in limited runs of 50 units. This is a fast-food giant diving headfirst into enthusiast keyboard territory, and honestly, the execution is surprisingly solid.

To be honest, it isn’t the first time KFC’s tried wooing the gaming community. In 2020, they debuted the KFConsole, a gaming PC designed to take aim at Xbox and PlayStation. Although this particular ‘campaign’ isn’t as elaborate, it isn’t vaporware either. These keycaps are ACTUALLY available at KFC Chin outlets, along with a Wagyu burger that comes branded with the ASUS ROG logo. Why? I honestly don’t know…

Designers: KFC & Asus ROG

The keycap set itself consists of six pieces that blend both brands’ visual identities with surprising restraint. You get the obvious KFC branding key, individual “K,” “F,” and “C” keycaps rendered in that unmistakable red and white striped pattern, plus an ROG logo cap and a double-width “CAPS” key featuring Chinese text that translates to “lock on | wagyu.” The color palette sticks to KFC’s signature red and white with ROG’s black accents, creating a cohesive look that feels oddly complementary. The keycaps are designed for ASUS’s NX keyboard series but feature standard Cherry MX-compatible stems, meaning they’ll work on most enthusiast boards. Some users are already arranging the keys in, ahem, predictable ways, starting with the F, and ending with the K. I’m pretty sure ASUS and KFC both saw this from a mile away.

This whole thing emerged from KFC China’s “Fortress of Faith” campaign, which ran for just three days in late June and paired these keycaps with Wagyu beef burgers for about $5.60. The campaign also included prize draws for full ROG gaming rigs and peripherals, but the keycaps were the guaranteed takeaway. The limited availability window and China-only release have already created a secondary market, with sets appearing on Taobao and international resale platforms at inflated prices.

Image Credits: Weibo

The post KFC Partnered With Asus ROG to release themed keycaps that come free with your burger first appeared on Yanko Design.

The podium at Silverstone has witnessed countless iconic moments over Formula 1’s 75-year history, but Sunday’s British Grand Prix delivered something entirely unprecedented. As Lando Norris hoisted his winner’s trophy above his head, the familiar weight of silverware had been replaced by 2,717 meticulously arranged LEGO bricks forming a perfect replica of the legendary RAC Trophy. The Danish toy giant had pulled off what might be the most audacious trophy design in motorsport history, transforming childhood nostalgia into championship hardware that somehow managed to honor tradition while completely reimagining it.

This wasn’t some corporate stunt masquerading as innovation. LEGO designer Samuel Liltorp Johnson, a lifelong F1 fanatic, had spent months perfecting a design that could survive the chaos of champagne-soaked celebrations while maintaining the gravitas befitting motorsport’s most prestigious silverware. The result stands as a masterclass in functional design that happens to be built from toys.

Designer: LEGO

The engineering challenge here was genuinely fascinating. Creating a 59-centimeter trophy that weighs over 2 kilograms using nothing but standard LEGO elements requires serious structural thinking. Johnson and his seven-person build team invested 210 hours into ensuring these trophies could withstand the inevitable post-race mayhem without crumbling into expensive plastic confetti. Every brick came from LEGO’s regular catalog, meaning theoretically any dedicated fan could recreate Norris’s trophy at home, though good luck sourcing 2,717 gold-colored pieces without bankrupting yourself. The technical specifications read like a love letter to both precision engineering and childhood wonder: each trophy incorporates a miniature F1 car mounted on the front face, crowned with a golden brick that serves as both aesthetic flourish and structural keystone.

What makes this collaboration genuinely brilliant is how it respects the RAC Trophy’s 75-year legacy while injecting playful irreverence into F1’s often stuffy traditions. The original RAC Trophy carries the engraved names of every British Grand Prix winner since 1950, from Giuseppe Farina to Lewis Hamilton, making it arguably F1’s equivalent to the Stanley Cup in terms of historical significance. Johnson’s LEGO interpretation captures every curve and proportion of that iconic silhouette, proving that homage doesn’t require slavish imitation. The second and third-place trophies feature red and blue detailing respectively, while the constructor’s trophy sports dark blue and gold accents, creating a cohesive family of awards that photograph beautifully under Silverstone’s podium lights.

The timing couldn’t be more perfect for both brands involved. F1’s ongoing mission to attract younger audiences aligns seamlessly with LEGO’s recent push into adult-focused collectibles, evidenced by their increasingly sophisticated Architecture and Creator Expert lines. This partnership builds on LEGO’s earlier F1 initiatives, including the driveable brick cars that caused such a sensation at Miami earlier this season. For a sport sometimes criticized for being too corporate and sanitized, handing drivers toys as trophies represents a refreshing embrace of pure joy. Watching Norris, Oscar Piastri, and Nico Hulkenberg genuinely delighting in their brick-built hardware reminded everyone why we fell in love with both F1 and LEGO in the first place.

The post LEGO and F1 Unite for a Groundbreaking 2,717-brick British GP Trophy Design first appeared on Yanko Design.

There was a time when shaving was just another chore. One more thing to rush through, dodging nicks and plastic waste, grabbing whatever drugstore razor was on sale. No ritual. No satisfaction. Just the low hum of “good enough.”

But as more of us rethink our routines this year—decluttering our spaces, upgrading what we use daily, and trading disposables for things that last—the Auger PrecisionFlex Razor quietly changes everything. Not as a flex or a status symbol, but as the tool that finally made me rethink what “essential” really means.

How a Single Razor Took Over My Routine

At first glance, the PrecisionFlex felt like another “premium” grooming gadget. Sleek, all-black, a little mysterious next to the usual clutter. But over time? It didn’t just join my routine. It took it over.

It made me clear out the old cartridge razor, the so-called travel shaver, even the electric trimmer that mostly collected dust. Why? Because I realized I’d finally found a razor that made me want to actually enjoy the process.

It’s the difference between dreading a rushed, forgettable shave and actually looking forward to the small moment of focus at the start (or end) of your day.

Form Meets Functionality: 5 Reasons It’s a Keeper

• World-First 30° Adjustable Head: No more awkward wrist angles or missed spots under the jaw. The head adapts to my face, not the other way around.

• Industry’s Widest Pivot Range: The 3D suspension glides over every contour. Fewer passes. Less irritation. More confidence.
• Japanese 5-Blade System: The closest, smoothest shave I’ve ever had. No tug, no burn, no guilt from another plastic handle.
• Hygienic Anti-Contact Storage: No more blades gunked up or dulled by the sink. The head stays dry, clean, and ready.
• Minimalist, Sculpted Grip: It actually feels good in the hand. Balanced, substantial, and nothing extra. Just the essentials, done right.

Why “Premium” Might Finally Mean “Permanent”

We live in a world that’s constantly selling us upgrades, subscriptions, and “just good enough.” But after a few weeks with the PrecisionFlex, those old razors felt obsolete. Not because this one is flashy, but because it’s the first razor I’ve trusted to do the job, day after day, without fuss or filler.

It’s not about luxury for luxury’s sake. It’s about finally having something in your daily routine that’s built to last and worth keeping.

And yes—it’s made in Japan, by Kai Corporation, the blade experts behind some of the sharpest tools in the world. That heritage shows in every detail.

Design That Reflects Discipline

This isn’t a razor that begs for attention. It sits quietly by the sink, all-black, sculpted, and self-assured. No branding. No chrome. Just presence. The kind of object that feels like it belongs in a Muji catalog or a Kyoto design museum.

Its form doesn’t shout “luxury”—but it radiates control, precision, and intent. You don’t just use it. You notice it. And over time, it becomes a visual anchor for your space, and a tactile one for your routine.

Who It’s For

• Design Enthusiasts
  A tool that looks as good as it works.
• Minimalists
  One razor, every need. No clutter. No landfill guilt.
• Ritual Seekers
  For anyone who wants a few minutes of clarity, not just another task.
• Legacy Builders
  The kind of tool you keep, use, and maybe even pass on.

The Quiet Power of a Better Routine

You don’t realize how much of your “routine” is just habit until one object shifts everything. The PrecisionFlex won’t solve all your problems. But it turned a daily chore into a small, reliable pleasure. And in a world full of noise, sometimes that’s all you really need.

At the end of the day, it’s still a razor. But sometimes, the right tool changes everything. The Auger PrecisionFlex Razor is available now for $45.

The post This Japanese Razor Made Me Throw Out Every Other One I Had first appeared on Yanko Design.

When Titan decided to enter the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève with their second flying tourbillon, they could have easily gone the predictable route of Swiss-inspired complications wrapped in precious metals. Instead, they chose something far more audacious: putting 225 years of Jaipur’s architectural heritage directly on your wrist. The Jalsa represents India’s second flying tourbillon watch ever, but the first to feature a hand-painted design… and at ₹40.5 lakh ($47,367 USD) a pop, limited to just 10 pieces, it’s a bold statement that luxury doesn’t have to be culturally neutral.

This watch carries the weight of expectation for an entire nation’s horological ambitions. While Titan has been making timepieces for decades, the Jalsa positions them as serious contenders in haute horlogerie, complete with a GPHG entry that signals India’s arrival on the global stage. The name “Jalsa” translates to celebration, and that’s exactly what this watch represents: a celebration of technical mastery married to cultural storytelling in ways that most luxury brands wouldn’t dare attempt.

Designer: Titan

The technical foundation is impressive enough on its own merits. The in-house flying tourbillon movement comprises 144 components and 14 jewels, with the escapement positioned at 6 o’clock in Titan’s logo shape. The 18K rose gold case measures 43.5mm in diameter and weighs a substantial 68 grams, giving it the heft that serious collectors expect from a statement piece. The movement features Côtes de Genève and perlage finishing, with red agate inlays on the bridges that echo the dial’s design language. The sapphire crystal caseback reveals the mechanical ballet beneath, while the front crystal protects what might be the most remarkable dial ever created by an Indian manufacturer.

Here’s where the Jalsa transcends typical luxury watch territory and enters the realm of wearable art. The marble dial features a hand-painted miniature by Padma Shri Shakir Ali, one of India’s most celebrated artists specializing in Mughal and Persian miniature paintings. Each dial depicts a royal procession featuring Maharana Pratap Singh and his grandson Maharaja Jai Singh positioned in front of the iconic Hawa Mahal. Ali uses natural stone pigments, including lac, neel (indigo), turmeric, and gold, to create these microscopic masterpieces, with each painting taking months to complete. The variations between dials are so minimal that they appear identical, yet each remains a unique work of art. The minute hand features a sapphire crystal magnifier as its counterweight, allowing wearers to examine the intricate details of the painting as time passes.

The design philosophy extends beyond mere decoration into thoughtful integration of form and function. The case construction eliminates traditional lugs in favor of a floating design where the brown-tan leather strap connects through hollowed sections, creating a seamless visual flow. A red agate cabochon adorns the crown, while the hour and minute hands are crafted from sapphire crystal for transparency that doesn’t interfere with the dial’s artwork. The red agate theme continues throughout the movement’s bridge inlays, creating a cohesive design language that feels distinctly Indian rather than derivative of European traditions.

What makes the Jalsa particularly compelling is how it positions Indian craftsmanship within the global luxury conversation. Rather than apologizing for its cultural specificity or attempting to mimic Swiss conventions, Titan has created something that could only come from India. The watch celebrates the 225th anniversary of the Hawa Mahal while simultaneously marking India’s entry into the world’s most prestigious watchmaking competition. This dual purpose gives the Jalsa a gravitas that transcends its technical specifications, transforming it from a luxury object into a cultural artifact that happens to tell time with mechanical precision.

Each watch represents three years of development, from movement design to the painstaking process of creating miniature paintings that capture centuries of architectural and cultural heritage. For Titan, the Jalsa represents a coming-of-age moment that could redefine how the world perceives Indian luxury manufacturing.

The post Titan reveals India’s first watch with a Flying Tourbillon and Hand-painted Marble Dial first appeared on Yanko Design.

People who thought AI would just ruin humanity never really met David Delahunty. The man is a creative juggernaut, coming up with idea after idea of some of the most bizarrely beautiful products on the planet. With just the sheer number of quirky designs he comes up with on a weekly basis (my top favorites being the MS Paint makeup kit and the Apple spinning ball tennis ball), AI becomes Delahunty’s partner in crime, helping him visually execute as many ideas as possible.

The Folder Drive is one of those ideas that Delahunty just unleashed on the world, along with 5-6 other ideas, not really paying much attention to just how clever this one particular design was. The internet finally rallied around this idea, begging him to turn it into a real product, and lo and behold, you have the Folder Drive, a MacOS-inspired drive that looks like a folder taken from your desktop. Why is it clever? Well, beyond the obvious fact that it’s an icon of storage, and now it’s actually storage, this folder manifests itself digitally as well as physically. What do I mean? Hold it in your hand, and it’s a blue folder. Plug it into your Mac and it shows up as the exact same blue folder on your desktop! Poetry, I tell you.

Designer: David Delahunty

Delahunty partnered with Superfantastic Toys to bring this concept to life. The end result is a 128GB SSD drive designed to look like your Mac folders. Iterations involved 3D printed outer shells, and each piece will be printed and hand-finished to perfection, offering 128 gigs of storage in a tiny gizmo that’s 3.5 inches wide, 2.5 inches tall, and just 0.5 inches thick.

The Folder Drive comes with a USB-C interface, which means it plays nicely with your Mac, Windows, and Linux machines, but also works with tablets as well as phones (both Android and recent iPhones). The product hasn’t officially hit the shelves, and the page just lets you opt for a notification when it’s available, although a little snooping in the source code reveals a $39.99 price tag for the 128GB Folder Drive. You can visit Superfantastic Toys’ website for more information or if you want to be notified.

The post This 128GB SSD actually looks like a Folder from your MacOS Desktop! first appeared on Yanko Design.