These are the 397 most inspiring, innovative designs of 2018

Winner

Relay: Assistive Furniture Robots

School of Visual Arts

See Credits

Nour Malaeb, Chancey Fleet (thesis advisor)

Finalist

Gravity

Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design

See Credits

Arvind Sanjeev - Interaction Design student; Ruben van der Vleuten - Advisor

Grit: Resistance Training Shoes

Honorable Mention

Timeline of the Far Future

New York University

See Credits

Joohyun Park(Project Lead), Dongphil Yoo

Emoto AI Sidekick

Gautam Bose created custom servo motor driver software for robot control and animation; Lucas Ochoa modeled, fabricated and created the custom hardware; Marisa Lu did web development for communication between devices and animation for the phone face

Feeling VR and AR using electrical muscle stimulation

Hasso Plattner Institute

See Credits

Pedro Lopes and Patrick Baudisch

iN: Cognitive Patient Care Assistant

Inspiren

See Credits

Michael Wang -Founder/CEO, Inspiren Paul Coyne - Co-Founder/President, Inspiren Vin Cocito - Co-Founder/COO, Inspiren Jeff Morelli - Co-Founder/VP of Technology Implementation, Inspiren Marcel Botha - Design Lead/CEO, 10XBeta Berk IIhan - Industrial Design, 10XBeta Christina Sicoli - Industrial Design, 10XBeta Ellen Crane - Industrial Design, 10XBeta Simon Ellison- Industrial Design, 10XBeta Andy MacDonald - Technical Director, Normative Anthony Bennett - Lead Developer, Normative Scott Wright - Senior Developer, Normative Lane Buie - VP Client Services, Normative Laura Shaw - User Experience Designer, Normative Devon Williamson - Graphic Designer, Normative Heather Thomas - Growth Director, Normative Ahmed Elhusseiny - Product Design Lead, AESuper Lab Ryan Melony - Video Director, medialuv.com

LumiWatch

Carnegie Mellon University, ASU Tech

See Credits

Robert Xiao, Teng Cao, Ning Guo, Jun Zhuo, Yang Zhang and Chris Harrison

NextBillion.org

See Credits

Naitik Mehta (CEO, Co-founder), Siddhant Mehta (Designer, Co-founder), Kartik Sawhney (Co-founder), Bijan Mawji (Co-founder), Francesca Varney (Engineer), Manji Pal (Operations Volunteer)

shapeShift

Stanford University

See Credits

Alexa F. Siu, Eric J. Gonzalez, Shenli Yuan, Jason B. Ginsberg, Sean Follmer

WIM--Interactive stroke therapy

Umeå Institute of Design

See Credits

Jenny Holmsten and Thomas Helmer

Elevate

Carleton University

See Credits

Rob Shudra - Industrial Designer

Loree

MOMENT

See Credits

Thomas Carroll — Intern at Moment, Student at VCU Brandcenter ‘18 Blue Cuevas — Intern at Moment, Student at IIT ‘18 Chantal Jahchan — Intern at Moment, Student at Washington University in St. Louis ‘18 Jason Kim — Intern at Moment, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute ‘17 Rodrigo Miguel — Senior Designer at Moment Jacob Pastrovich — Director of Marketing at Moment John Devanney — Managing Director at Moment

Nastybot

VCU Brandcenter

See Credits

Berfin Ayhan - concept and experience design

Orai: A.I. Speech Coach

Orai

See Credits

Danish Dhamani - cofounder, CEO; Paritosh Gupta - cofounder, CTO; Aasim Sani - Product manager

Pour Reception

Malmö University

See Credits

Simone Marie Okholm Hansen, Student of MSc. in Interaction Design at Malmö University; Victor Permild, Student of MSc. in Interaction Design at Malmö University; Tore Knudsen, Student of MSc. in Interaction Design at Malmö University

Tangible Formations

University of Stuttgart

See Credits

ITECH Master Thesis, Kyriaki Goti and Shir Katz Institute for Computational Design and Construction(ICD), Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design (ITKE),University of Stuttgart Supervisors:Prof. Achim Menges, Prof.Jan Knippers Tutors: Ehsan Baharlou, Lauren Vasey

See past winners: 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012

All Stories In Innovation By Design

Co.Design

Design will kill marketing, says Ikea’s former design chief

Marcus Engman is leaving Ikea to run a consultancy that convinces companies to spend their marketing budget on what matters: design.

Co.Design

Dyson’s latest product is a $550 hair curler

After six years and $31 million in development, Dyson is launching the Airwrap, a device that creates ringlets using a bit of aerospace-inspired physics.

Innovation By Design

Meet Krewe, the eyewear brand that New Orleans (and Beyoncé) built

The five-year-old brand’s founder is focused on giving back to his native New Orleans and putting it on the map of fashion-forward cities.

Innovation By Design

There’s even a Warby Parker of towels now

Weezie wants to shake up a mundane industry with design.

Innovation By Design

What the healthcare industry could learn from Lyft and Airbnb

The sharing economy is built upon service and interaction designs that engender interpersonal trust. Healthcare organizations could learn from it.

Innovation By Design

The future of web design is less, not more

Low-Tech Magazine’s new website is solar-powered, which means it goes offline in cloudy weather.

Innovation By Design

This building’s giant sundial shows how much energy it’s making

It’s one of the most efficient buildings in the country–but its most unique design feature might be the 40-foot-tall installation in the atrium.

Innovation By Design

Dieter Rams wants Silicon Valley to stop

In Gary Hustwit’s highly anticipated new documentary “Rams,” the legendary industrial designer indicts the world he helped create.

Innovation By Design

This long-lost Eames design is being produced for the first time

In the 1940s, radio companies rejected the Eameses’ designs as being “too modern.” Not anymore.

Innovation By Design

Homepage

COVID-19

Co.Design

Tech

Work Life

News

Impact

Podcasts

Video

Recommender

Subscribe

McKinsey & Company

Principal Financial Group

SAP for Midmarket

WAYMO

FastCo Works

Tech Forecast

Most Innovative Companies

Most Creative People

World Changing Ideas

Innovation By Design

Innovation Festival

The Grill

Winner

Finalist

Honorable Mention

Design will kill marketing, says Ikea’s former design chief

Marcus Engman is leaving Ikea to run a consultancy that convinces companies to spend their marketing budget on what matters: design.

Dyson’s latest product is a $550 hair curler

After six years and $31 million in development, Dyson is launching the Airwrap, a device that creates ringlets using a bit of aerospace-inspired physics.

Meet Krewe, the eyewear brand that New Orleans (and Beyoncé) built

The five-year-old brand’s founder is focused on giving back to his native New Orleans and putting it on the map of fashion-forward cities.

There’s even a Warby Parker of towels now

Weezie wants to shake up a mundane industry with design.

What the healthcare industry could learn from Lyft and Airbnb

The sharing economy is built upon service and interaction designs that engender interpersonal trust. Healthcare organizations could learn from it.

The future of web design is less, not more

Low-Tech Magazine’s new website is solar-powered, which means it goes offline in cloudy weather.

This building’s giant sundial shows how much energy it’s making

It’s one of the most efficient buildings in the country–but its most unique design feature might be the 40-foot-tall installation in the atrium.

Dieter Rams wants Silicon Valley to stop

In Gary Hustwit’s highly anticipated new documentary “Rams,” the legendary industrial designer indicts the world he helped create.

This long-lost Eames design is being produced for the first time

In the 1940s, radio companies rejected the Eameses’ designs as being “too modern.” Not anymore.

Sick of midcentury modern? Here’s where to buy today’s best design

Skip the spindly leg sofas and knockoff Eames chairs, and try these shopping destinations instead.

Walmart says it will reach zero emissions by 2040—without using any offsets

Here’s a simple way to increase voter registration: Have landlords give new renters the forms

This ambitious new plan could save monarch butterflies’ amazing annual migration

How to turn your anxiety about Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Supreme Court vacancy into action

IRS says millions may still be eligible for stimulus checks: Here’s a breakdown by state

Nikola’s founder and executive chairman Trevor Milton steps down over short-seller accusations

Face mask vending machines are now a thing

This 10-second Trump clip is the best Biden ad of the 2020 Presidential campaign

This essential chart explains why election night could last a month

Ruth Bader Ginsburg changed my life forever—but her fight isn’t over

3 biggest mistakes founder CEOs make when building that crucial first team

How the pandemic reset workers’ concept of work-life balance