FastCo asked all comers to design an object inspired by the Porsche 911. The winner stands to get either a one-year lease on a brand-new Porsche 911 or $20,000. The object needed to be smaller than a living room and bigger than a purse, and reference three design elements taken from Porsche 911s of the past or present.

Check out all the designs via the thumbnails at the top of this page but of course, Junggi would love to get your vote!

Last week, LUNAR hosted an evening with 13 CCA third-year design students from Industrial Design 4 where we heard presentations based on this semester’s major projects.

The event gave the students a chance to talk through their projects and have their work evaluated by a team of experienced designers. Each of the students’ solutions to real-world problems were based on extensive user interviews, design explorations and prototype testing. The projects were focused around the idea of wearable sound or mobile safety, resulting in socially focused projects geared toward helping people.

“Their work was creative, inspiring and fun,” says LUNAR’s Sasha Tseng, senior industrial designer at LUNAR and guest judge. “They gave incredibly refined presentations and it was especially nice to see fresh perspectives to address common problems.”

The awesome CCA course instructors who led the students through their projects are Max Burton (Frog Design), Karson Shadley (Shape Field Office), Chris Luomanen (Thing Tank) and Rob Swinton (Huge).

The participating CCA students included Bennett Gershkow, Galen Chinn, Shiv Kehr, Sneha Cyriac, Eduardo DePaulis, Nari Hwang, Charlie Weber, Justin Crandall, Candice Lin, Ken Chen, Cindy Chiu, Daeun Kim and Walter Tien.

Special thanks to the guest critics who evaluated the student projects:

Sasha Tseng, LUNAR
Junggi Sung, LUNAR
Arthur Kenzo, LUNAR
Jessica Lisagor, Perkins+Will, CCA
Mara Holt Skov, CCA
Steven Skov Holt, CCA
Colin Owen, CCA
Norio Fujikawa, Astro Studios
Jesse Madsen, Astro Studios
Pablo Pardo, Pablo Designs
Tung Chiang, One & Co
Joseph Becker, SF Museum of Modern Art
Christopher Kuh, Ammunition Design
Justin Porcano, Upwell

Haydn suggested readers “watch out for more in the press as LUNAR shows off not just the bike but also a range of new lighting concepts.” He also included a mention of LUNAR President John Edson’s new book, “Design Like Apple,” which will be published this summer.

Check out the full post here.

Mark shared his insights into leveraging design within an organization with 60 members of the Young President’s Organization at Northwestern University’s April 24 event, which focused on the intersection of design and business success.

“Create a compelling vision for the future of your business, be the kind of CEO who continually looks for ways to improve the company, and teach everyone in your company about design,” Mark said.

Mark urged the YPO members to view design as their brand, and to remember that those brands must constantly be tweaked and transformed. “Great design always connects emotionally,” he said, “but you have to recognize that needs change over time.”

Other lessons to take from the world’s most valuable company: Reinvent how your company does its research by looking for emotional drivers, creating effective communication at all levels throughout the organization, and consistently measure your results over time.

The young chief executives gained insights from five speakers, all of whom have used design to leverage success for themselves or others.

Crate & Barrel founder Gordon Segal spoke about creating unique value in your products and services, designer Bruce Mau showed how his program, 24HRS2MASSIVECHANGE, applies design thinking to address critical challenges, and Julio M. Ottino, dean of the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Northwestern University, discussed a “whole brain” approach to engineering.

“Everyone attending understands the challenges of leveraging the power of design,” Mark says. “I think we left them with some useful insights around practical steps they can take today to make a difference.”

“Pro gear is out of place,” FastCo’s Belinda Lanks quotes LUNAR Europe. “Since it lived in the gym, no one has re-considered the design.” That is, until the Munich-based design studio decided to put its spin on the climbing wall, transforming the standard pebble-like holds into a wall art comprised of indented ripples.

“The conceit behind Nova–to make gym equipment less of an eyesore–is smart,” says Lanks. “And the UI details are clever.”

Nova is helping transforming perceptions of how training equipment formerly relegated to the gym can be reimagined for home.

Read the FastCo article here.

And learn more about Nova here.

The LUNAR angle? The class is sponsored by NASA and the students are developing a software user interface that astronauts aboard the International Space Station will use to control robots on Earth next year and on the Moon in the not-too-distant future.

The students’ UI design task is to develop and test in real time the interface for complicated software that controls the four-wheeled K-10 explorer robot. Currently based in Iceland, the robot is capturing video and still images, and scanning its environment with a laser radar — all while moving across a barren landscape.

For the 2013 mission, astronauts will run similar test from the ISS. If all goes well, NASA will run the same mission on the Moon and eventually on Mars.

In WIRED’s article, Terry Fong, director of the Intelligent Robotics Group at NASA Ames, says he expects robots to help astronauts by performing tasks too dangerous, boring, repetitive or lengthy to be optimal for humans, “such as mounting antennas, setting up solar arrays, and mining for precious metals on the surface of the moon.”

Shiz, LUNAR’s director of user experience, is team-teaching the class with Mark Bolick, director of AAU’s Industrial Design department.

“Our UI challenge is to simplify the complicated software into an intuitive, easy-to-operate user interface without compromising any of the critical functionality around motion, scanning and photography,” he notes. “It’s incredibly rewarding to see a student’s mind click when they get an insight into a complicated problem. This usually leads to breakthrough thinking and new ideas for improving the UI.”

VELA is a cycle trainer designed by the team at LUNAR Europe in Munich that challenges the design expression of exercise equipment.

From a functional object, it transforms from workout tool to sculpture, showing off the user’s passion for their lifestyle through outstanding aesthetics. And clever integration of beautiful projections around the bike create an immersive training experience.

VELA shifts the paradigm of training at home, making it a celebrated activity.

VELA is just part of LUNAR Europe’s redefinition of home exercise. The team has also designed a rowing bench and climbing wall that change a boring routine with equipment that wouldn’t be caught dead in a living room into a compelling experience based around beautifully designed, behavior-inspiring tools for a healthy lifestyle.

Learn more about VELA here and check out our movie:

LUNAR collaborated with Green Toys to create affordable, innovative classic toys made of recycled material from recycled milk jugs. The made-in-the-USA toys can be manufactured quickly and cost-effectively, while achieving the highest standards of safety and environmental sustainability.

The Green Dot awards strive to reward and promote forward-thinking businesses that create environmentally sustainable products or services and to reward revolutionary green business plans and proposals. The awards also are intended as a consumer guide to excellence in environmentally-sustainable practices.

A business with a Green Dot Award is a business that can be trusted by consumers with stewardship of the environment. Recognition from the Green Dot Awards allows businesses to promote their products and services as items that are manufactured and delivered in an environmentally friendly manner.

Read our Green Dot entry here and learn more about Green Toys here.

LUNAR Europe showcased a cycle trainer, rowing bench and climbing wall that transform perceptions of training at home — moving it from a boring routine with equipment that wouldn’t be caught dead in a living room to a compelling experience based around beautifully designed, behavior-inspiring tools for a healthy lifestyle.

All three products express a strong sculptural element in their design, and their aesthetic qualities make them training gear that people actually want to have in their home.

Light-based interfaces for LUNAR’s rowing bench simulate water movement as you exercise, while lights on the climbing wall signal new challenges as the climber makes her way up. Light projections around the cycle trainer mimic different cycling environments and give visual feedback based on the exercise intensity. “We love the way the animated light dots flow around the bike, as though you’re in a wind tunnel,” says Florian Wuebert, LUNAR industrial design project lead. “We’ve replaced traditional numeric displays of speed and distance with more intuitive feedback that almost makes you feel the breeze in your face.”

We also showcased a bike-training prototype crafted with our partner, Alphaform, interactive user-interface projections of a fully immersive home training experience and large prints of the concepts seen in context. Despite a cold winter evening with fresh snow falling, guests lined up to see the exhibit, which also marked the opening of LUNAR Europe’s new studio space.

Munich Creative Business Week featured design-related events across the city, from exhibitions and workshops to lectures and discussions that highlighted the power of design and its impact on business and people’s lives. “We’re proud to be have been part of this wonderful experience,” says Matthis Hamann, managing partner at LUNAR Europe, “and look forward to next year.”

Junggi picked up his award at the iF Design Awards on February 10 in Munich. Established in 1953, the internationally recognized iF product design award is among the most important awards for innovative product design. Only 100 iF awards are given annually.

Elastine is a new style of bottle that uses three different textures to help consumers recognize shampoo, conditioner or hair treatment without opening their eyes. The textures help anyone — including people who have vision issues — to find the right bottle during their shower.

“Hair treatment makes our hair shiny, so this container’s surface has a shiny feel,” Junggi says. “Conditioner makes our hair soft, so the conditioner bottle has soft lines and shampoo cleanses our hair so this bottle’s surface has clean lines. These simple designs make it easier to distinguish each of the products.”

You can learn more about Junggi’s perspectives on design and see more of his work here.

Congrats, Junggi!