2009 has been too good to us here at Core77. While continuing to bring you exciting blog posts, event galleries, book reviews, feature articles by some of the brightest minds in the field, we also introduced our new Core-toons series by fueledbycoffee and lunchbreath; brought you a bigger and better Coroflot Salary Survey; hosted our first live 1 Hour Design Challenge at the Better World by Design conference at RISD; broadcast live from the Via Tortona in Milan; added a custom Core77 bike to our store; and assembled Hack2Work, an essential list of tips for the design professional. In the meantime, Coroflot passed the 150,000 portfolio mark while we produced four editions of our new Creative Employment Confab in Austin, New York City, Portland, and San Francisco. Finally, in addition to existing partners The Art Directors Club, BusinessWeek, Computerlove, Design Observer, HOW, I.D. Magazine, and Print, we're very proud to announce the addition of three new ones: The Die Line, Ad Forum and Creative Pro.

In light of all this, we'd like to take a moment and extend great thanks to our wonderful contributors, partners, board moderators, supporters, friends, family, and especially you, our valuable readers. We can't do enough to thank you all, but for a start, we've assembled some of our favorite moments of 2009 for you to reflect on below.

Here's to a bright 2010.

FTW,
Core77

Core77's favorites from 2009:

The 4 Fields of Industrial Design: (No, not furniture, trans, consumer electronics, & toys), by Bruce M. Tharp and Stephanie M. Tharp

Ten seriously bizarre knock-off "brand names."

Advice for Designers: F*ck It!

 A look at wood, part 1: Saw mill madness

Bruce Nussbaum: INNOVATION IS DEAD.

Flotspotting: Loren Kulesus grinds axes and skateboards

Joshua Allen Harris: More more more!

It's Official: Industrial Designer is the 9th best job in America

Core77 Photo Gallery: North American Int'l Auto Show 2009

LightLane concept creates bike lanes where there were none

Design Versus Innovation: The Cranbrook / IIT Debate

Obama action figure

US National Design Policy Summit Report available

Cologne Design Festival 2009: Video Drive-By: Stephan Landschuetz: Sporthocker

What would Jesus read by?

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Good gosh--computer animator and artist Cheeming Boey's Sharpie-on-styrofoam-coffee-cup illustrations are amazing:

And although his creations are drawn on decidedly environmentally-unfriendly styrofoam--which never biodegrades--it means these art pieces, barring crushing, will last forever.

Click here to check out the range.

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Proof that I do not know best: If someone described this to me at a design pitch meeting--"Yeah, to hold the syrup we're gonna make a glass bottle that looks like a maple leaf"--I'd have nixed it before they finished their sentence, assuming the result could only be cheesy. Instead, syrup producer Back Creek Farms' 8.4-ounce bottle, with a fill line that ends where the leaf does, is actually rather beautiful.

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Wireless power

In the photo you see above, the light bulb held in inventor Marin Soljacic's hand is powered--via the air--by the black object sitting on the desk. S'right, no wires to the bulb.

With two large magnetic coils, he found a way to throw 60 watts across a room, powering a lightbulb. MIT, his employer, quickly patented the technology and encouraged Soljacicto start a company.

Soljacic was inspired by his wife's Nokia cell phone, which would wake him up by beeping when it needed juice. He realized it was silly for something to be sitting so close to an outlet but with no way to access the electricity.

The latest iteration of Soljacic's invention, displayed in Tokyo earlier this year, "was able to power a 1,000-watt klieg light from across the room."

Dog Armor

Military dogs can cost up to $50,000, and protective dog gear is both humane and financially prudent. Next year a company called K9 Storm is introducing "the K9 Storm Intruder, a bulletproof dog vest with a wireless camera, speakers and a microphone built in. The handler can see what the dog sees and issue commands through the audio system," which increases the handler's range to about 300 yards.

Though you may never have heard of them, K9 Storm runs a business worth $5 million annually and has been around since the '90s; years ago a story made the news whereby a police dog took two .45 rounds in its K9 Storm bulletproof vest, but kept fighting and subdued the shooter with no harm to itself. Pretty bad-ass!

Beer-Fed Fish

Okay, so the title's slightly misleading. Here's the deal: Free raw materials sounds good to manufacturers, and recycling waste products sounds good to environmentalists. Biologist Andrew Logan figured out a way to turn beer sludge (waste-water from beer factories) into high-protein fish food, using microbes. Brewers are only too happy to give Logan their sludge for free--it costs up to $3 million per year to get rid of the stuff otherwise--and the fish farm industry needs something to feed its 65 million tons of fish. It's win-win, and Logan will probably become rich as a result.

via CNN's Next Little Thing

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Bag Designer
Under Armour
Baltimore, Maryland

This is a chance to design for the best athlete performance brand in the world. We need a strong creative individual with an eye for fashion, color, functionality and product details. We are an authentic brand, but we like to push the envelope and try innovative things. This is a great opportunity to lead our brand through your creations and ideas.

» view

The best design jobs and portfolios hang out at Coroflot.

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At the last Coroflot Creative Confab in San Francisco, Josh Couto, a student of the Acadamy of Art University, offered to shoot and edit the entire event in exchange for admission. In addition to capturing footage of the days proceedings, he and his colleague Drew Dorsey went so far as to conduct interviews with three of the panelists: Emily Delmont of Google Creative Lab, Kate Gilman of 24 Seven and John Foster of IDEO. It's a fantastic little production, touching on key issues of creative hiring: the importance of building up networks, the difficulty of determining fit, and the crucial need for designers to demonstrate collaborative ability and dedication.

Thanks again to Josh and Drew, and keep your eyes peeled for one more video of the full panel discussion.

More recap of the San Francisco Confab can be found here.

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One of the funniest, yet saddest things we read in the Times article "Creative Solutions to iPhone Service Woes" is the following:

In the business news section of the New York Times newsroom, there is one area near the window where iPhone calls are usually clear. That spot happens to be next to David Gallagher, one of my editors. Not coincidentally, he has come up with the idea for an iPhone booth that would give callers in the sweet spot some privacy--and keep their conversations from disturbing others.

Yes, in AT&T's incapable hands (the URL for the link above has the words "ATT FAIL" in them), the miracle phone of the 21st century now occasionally has less mobility than the 15' cord we had on the landline twenty years ago.

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If you would like to taste authentic Vietnamese food but don't really feel that tempted by having a motor bike driving through your noodle soup bowl in one of the countless street kitchens of Hanoi, nor want to risk Montezuma's Revenge (particularly since the average Vietnamese toilet is just a hole in the ground with a water bucket next to it), then this is the place to go: Quan An Ngon. "Ngon" means "delicious", and, for authentic Vietnamese, this restaurant lives up to its name and gets my vote for the best in Vietnam. It is a gathering by Hanoi's finest street chefs in one location - an open-air restaurant with lots of cooking stations, each serving a regional specialty.

The place bustles at night with locals and in-the-know foreigners waiting for Vietnamese classics like Bun Cha - vermicelli with minced pork balls and fresh herbs - and green papaya salad with shrimp (and for all veggies amongst us: this tastes also orgasmic without the shrimp, plus there are way more food options that don't involve dead animals, which is a rare treat for Vietnam). The same concept restaurant exists also in Ho Chi Minh, where I haven't been myself, but it is supposed to be just as great! Unfortunately their website does not work, but the address is 18 Phan Boi Chau, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi (between Ly Thuong Kiet and Hai Ba Trung, one block East of Le Duan).

Please click for more pictures!

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Known for its understated elegance and design, Japanese 'unbrand' Muji has shared a message on its website that is well worth the few minutes it takes to go through the flash presentation.

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I hate being cold, I hate cold weather, and I hate getting bundled up. So before a recent press trip (for a future Theme Magazine article) up to Jukkasjarvi, in Sweden's portion of the Arctic Circle, I started poking around NYC camping stores looking for thermals. But my friend Outdoor Tony recommended I buy them in Sweden, assuring me that Swedes produce top-notch cold weather gear.

Research led me to Woolpower AB, a Swedish company that began producing tubular-knit thermals for the Swedish military in conjunction with scientists and cold-weather survival experts nearly 40 years ago. So upon landing in Stockholm I found a store that stocked them, then outfitted myself head-to-toe, like the warm-weather wussy that I am.

Then it was off to the Arctic, to investigate the Ice Hotel and chase reindeer. And after testing the uniquely-engineered Woolpower gear out in subzero conditions, I can firmly say they are awesome! Read on for the review.

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