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This year we saw a lot of new concepts, models, features and even vehicle types.Mercedes-Benz's Vision Iconic concept showed off their new retro design language. The company also unveiled their Vision V concept, a rather over-the-top executive transport vehicle. Hyundai revealed their wild-looking, video-game-inspired Insteroid concept.

When we talk about the rise of AI in product design, I like to think of it less as a checklist of right or wrong approaches and more as a framework. The transformations we're witnessing today aren't entirely new—disruptive technologies have been shaping the design landscape for decades. But of all the innovations I've encountered in my career, AI is easily the most disruptive.Chris Wlezien, Senior Director of Product Design & InnovationUnderstanding where we are today, it helps to trace the evolution of product design over the past 30 years. Whi

Worldwide, two-wheeled transportation is growing in popularity; depending on who you listen to, the market for two-wheeled transportation—bikes, scooters, motorcycles—is growing by 6% to 11% per year. Cities are taking note, and adding bike-friendly infrastructure. Manufacturers are also taking note, and piling into the market with new bikes and bike accessories.This Choppy Bicycle, by Latvian design brand Stum, is made of plywood. You'll notice it lacks pedals; this bike is designed for kids who don't know how to ride a bike yet. As they propel themselves around using their feet, their bodies naturally gain the required balance. Or maybe you

This year brought its fair share of over-the-top architecture projects. Top-of-the-list is Saudi Arabia's Shebara Resort, a net-zero facility with stainless steel pod villas. In Brazil, this VIW Building is also for people that want to be near the water. The apartments all have in-balcony swimming pools. In Albania, Dutch firm JA Joubert Architecture and local firm UNS Architects teamed up on this

Here's what we looked at this week:The Cylindric UX1 is a handsome, designey USB-C charger from Sweden.Montezuma's Triangular Toolboxes, designed for rough transport. Roof's Djagger, a rear-entry motorcycle helmet that you don like a mask.

These are Häfele's adjustable feet for cabinets. They allow tradespeople to easily get cabinets level on uneven floors, by simply turning the threaded spindles. If they can reach them, that is. As you can imagine, during a cabinetry install, the feet on the front are easy to get to. But the ones in the back, not so much.

As we live our lives, we humans steadily pollute the planet. And when we die, we have our final opportunity to concentrate poison into the Earth. And boy do we make the most of it.Your average casket is made out of wood, which biodegrades. But few funeral planners are opting for unfinished pine boxes. Instead we slather that casket in stains and polyurethane finishes, and fasten the joinery with polyvinyl acetate glue. We fill that casket with shiny synthetic textiles covering a thin foam mattress attached to plywood laminated with formaldehyde glue. We add a foam pillow, also covered in faux silk. Then we attach all of the metal hardware, and we lacquer or topcoat that stuff too.Then the casket goes into the ground, and spends the next several decades slowly releasing its toxic payload into the soil,

This is incredibly clever. An unknown developer has come up with an easy way to do projection mapping, using any projector (as long as it's got HDMI) and your smartphone or tablet. You do this by isolating different zones you'd like to project onto, and turning each of them into a separate channel:Three channels not enough? Here he breaks it into nine:Here's a demo where he shows you how to set it up:

Paintings can be wrapped in bubble wrap to protect them in storage or during transit. And while bubble wrap is technically reusable, few bother to carefully cut it off and re-coil it, so it often becomes waste.A Spanish company called Artmor has come up with a neater, reusable and more bespoke solution. Their Aircrate product comes in multiple sizes, and arrives to you like this: You sleeve the piece, then inflate it with an compressor, a balloon pump or a manual pump:

Back in the days of corded landlines, everyone had a phone in the kitchen. It was desirable for the cord to be long, so users could still move around the kitchen as they chatted. Telephone manufacturers provided a built-in way to keep cords long, yet manageable:Image: Al Butler Those are called retractile cords, and they were made on purpose-built coiling production lines. First copper is drawn and annealed into wires. These wires are individually insulated (so they don't mix signals), then wrapped together in a plastic sleeve, either PVC or polyurethane. Next the cords, w