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The Toyota Yaris

The Toyota Yaris is a lightweight car that gets 40mpg and costs 10-12k. The design is simple and includes some extras like plenty of glove compartment space and audio-in jacks for an MP3 player.

It's worth checking out the 3d tour (you can see a screen cap below) -- it's one of the best walkthroughs of a product I've seen. The animation is smooth, the lighting is perfect (similar to David Fincher's video for NiN's "Only"), and you can interact with details of the car's features... like checking the glow of the dash or peeking under the armest. It introduces you to the car in the same way you might explore it in person if you were checking it out for the first time. It's a rare example of a website helping a customer get a sense of the details of a product instead of simply listing the facts.

via Greenzones.org

FM3's Buddha Machine

FM3 releases the Buddha Machine, a simple audio player with 9 ambient loops. The site is in Chinese, but you can dig around for audio samples, photos, and this excellent illustration:

[via Cool Tools]

Progress on the "OLPC"

Design Continuum published the “One Laptop Per Child” designs.

More info at the Media Lab OLPC site.

[via Engadget]

Greener Lifestyles

I ran across Greener Lifestyles in Ballard this weekend. They sell a variety of, well, “greener” products. Great store if you’re a local… or want to check out their website.

Goodbye, Emigre

I got the mail from Emigre this month saying they’re closing up shop. In my early, aspiring graphic designer days, Emigre’s outlook on design was a huge influence. I had the brief pleasure of meeting Mr. VanderLans at a book release part several years back. He couldn’t have been a less assuming fellow.

In their own words:

"Everything must come to an end, and after publishing Emigre magazine for over 21 years we're both relieved and just a little bit sad to announce that #69 will be our final issue. This milestone issue features a behind-the-scenes look at the history of Emigre magazine, while our contributors and colleagues bid us farewell.

It was quite an experience. Thank you for reading Emigre.

All good things... I guess.

"DQ" Web Magazine

Not sure what the URL means, but a friend pointed me to a nice little web zine at http://www.show-me-dq.com/. The illustrations are hand-drawn and navigation uses a simple Flash transition… it reminds me a bit of Tiger Magazine. (note that neither are worksafe)

Thanks, Zach.

The Work of Joe Colombo

If you have a soft spot for curvy, all-encompassing designs from the 60’s, then check out “Joe Colombo: Inventing the Future.” The site has some nice photos and info on the exhibition.

More at http://www.joecolombo.it

[Via Momus]

Buckminster Fuller Quotes

R. Buckminster Fuller had a unique way of speaking and many times invented words for concepts not in the public domain. The Buckminster Fuller Institute made a few choice quotes, along with some interesting terminology, into posters.

The posters are available at the BFI store.

Eames Kubricks

The Eames legacy continues… in the strangest of ways: Eames-pattern Kubricks.

Available, for the spendy Eames-lover, at Kidrobot.

Peugeot's Moovie

Gizmag has photos of Peugeot’s concept “Moovie,” an electric 2–seater with an interesting solution for the size and location of the wheels.

[via Engadget, Gizmag]