It’s amazing how little we think of the objects we interact with on a daily basis. And the truth is that we think so little about them because somebody else thought a great deal about them. They thought about how to make things work, how to put them all together, and how people would be most likely to use them.
And the folks who designed these things did their best to make them help the world be a bit more cool, too.
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A unique look.
Well, if you don’t ever want to mix your bike up with someone else’s, this is the way to go. Surely nobody else in your neighborhood will be riding around on a spooky skeleton bike, right?
A happy, helpful glow.
Most of us are more familiar with the old light switches that glow orange in the night. These are just like that, only a bit more low-key and done with LEDs – they’re not meant to shed much in the way of light, but they help you find your light switches in the dark.
The perfect blend.
This BBQ joint in Hawaii takes a cue from its locale, bringing the beach and the surf into its design with a cool mural on the floor. Hey, when your area gives you that kind of beauty to work with, why not go with it?
Getting with the times.
This restaurant has ditched the classic paper-and-plastic menus in favor of digital menus via QR code. It might not be for everybody – we don’t all have smartphones, after all – but at least providing the digital option so you don’t have to handle a sticky menu is a step in the right direction.
Old school luxury.
Once upon a time, this would have been the height of luxury – a chair designed to hold both a book and a candle for you. It’s almost like one of those high-end gaming chairs, but for the Victorian era.
Ye olde console.
You have to admit, these wood covers for gaming consoles really class up the standard plastic look. And it looks like there are enough options that you can match your console to your furniture, too.
This bench at Legoland was made from 800 recycled milk jugs.
Lego would be nothing without plastic, so it’s always welcome to see them encouraging recycling and role modeling how that recycled plastic can be put to good use.
If you don’t recycle, re-use.
And it’s a big help to re-use something when it’s been designed to be re-used, like the pasta jars from Aldi. They come with measurements stamped right onto them, which makes them ideal for storage once you’ve cleaned and sanitized them.
Hitting all the right notes.
Can we just appreciate the thought that went into the logo for Sweden’s Polar Music Prize? The arrangement all that musical notation into a crown, Sweden’s symbol, is downright beautiful.
Are we lovin’ this?
Does it make me want to buy a Big Mac? Not really. But this McDonald’s ad coinciding with Father’s Day, playing on male pattern baldness, is still clever enough to merit a slow clap of appreciation.
I see what you did there.
If you’re going to bother getting vanity plates, you should at least make them clever, right? So credit to the folks at Mark’s Mobile Butchers in Britain for getting plates that spell out ‘PIG COW’ for their delivery van.
Nice touch.
For the one euro coin in Greece, the nation drew upon its vast history and re-created a coin first minted more than 2,000 years ago and incorporated important symbols like the owl, which is the heraldic animal of the goddess Athena.
Everybody can enjoy this.
In the Swiss city of Basel, down by the water’s edge there’s a model of the city’s layout so that visually impaired people can experience it and feel their way around. And for everyone else, it looks a lot prettier than Google Maps.
What’s the sign for ‘venti’?
In another win for accessibility, this sign language Starbucks opened up in Japan. Yes, obviously deaf people can still read – this sign however indicates that the staff working at the store all know sign language to accommodate hearing impaired guests.
Speaking of coffee…
Someone has upcycled old coffee bean sacks into upholstery. Sure, you might not want these in your living room, but if you’re outfitting a coffee shop, you could do much worse.
Dressed for success.
Someone took this old dresser and upcycled it into a two-sink bathroom vanity – and it’s pretty attractive, too. There’s something very “old-world class” about this.
Really ties the bathroom together.
Okay, it’s far from old-world, but this bathroom is definitely chill. Making the mirrors above the sinks into shades for The Dude from The Big Lebowski is inspired.
They saw us coming.
We all call it that anyway, right? May as well lean into it. I think Ikea can learn a thing or two from this as well – do any of us call the tool their furniture gets assembled with an Allen wrench, or is it just the “Ikea tool”?
Instant classic.
Let’s face it, dustpans tend to be suited for their dirty purpose. Nobody expects them to look nice -which is why it’s so welcome to see someone at least try, making the brush look like a violin. It’s automatically classy that way.
Something for everyone.
In some areas where horseback riders commonly interact with road traffic, you might see crossing buttons that accommodate their height. This crossing in The Netherlands does it all, with buttons for horseback riders, pedestrians, and cyclists.
