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Japanese overdesign is alternately hilarious and inspiring. ID students should be forced to study it. Because Japanese overdesign is about seeking out even the slightest inconvenience experienced while using an everyday object, then designing a solution for it.Pilot's Kire-Na highlighter is a great example. Apparently the UX issue with existing highlighters, Pilot's designers found, is that users cannot consistently modulate pressure. This leads to blotchy, inconsistent highlighting or bleed-through, both of which have been deemed intolerable. They thus added two protrusions on either side of the chisel nib which act as pressure guides:

Cosmotec is a Tokyo-based company that used to make coated films for monitors and televisions. The company's business took a hit after the '08 crash, and they sought to diversify into the B2C space. They reached out to Japanese design firm and product development company Kenma, asking for product ideas for their film-producing acumen.At a hospital, one of Kenma's designers observed a nurse so busy that she was taking notes directly on her hand. From this observation, Kenma's design team developed a simple idea: An extra-wide slap bracelet, coated with one of Cosmotec's films, that could be used as a sort of on-body whiteboard.

Using a traditional mop and bucket means you're continually dunking the mop head back into dirty water. Joseph Joseph's designers have completely rethought this arrangement with their new UltraClean design, which avoids the incumbent's flaw. This clever system consists of a special two-chamber bucket, and an arrangement that sprays and scrapes the mop head clean each time you insert it.

Doing a lot with a little: Nendo's Toru, an electric kettle for Alessi, perfectly reconciles gesture with form.Taking advantage of Alessi's distinguishing metalworking techniques, which is the origin of the company, the stainless-steel body is shaped simply like a pitcher. The handle coming out from the top seems to go through the side of the body, forming a continuous line to the spout.A handle of a kettle is us

While France produced the Bic 4 Color Pen, Japan's Pentel makes this Multi 8 mechanical pencil, which holds eight different leads. Though it holds eight colors, the company sells 12 all told, if you want to swap out.

In 1970, French writing utensil company Bic released the 4 Color Pen. Aimed at French schoolchildren, the chunky pen featured four spring-loaded cartridges providing black, blue, red and green inks. The pen was a hit, and was exported to the U.S. the next year. It also saw strong sales here, with uptake by students, teachers,

Here's what we looked at this week:Hyundai unveils Venus and Earth, two Chinese-market-specific concept vehicles. Dyson finds another application for its tech: Powerful handheld fans.A handsome two-compartment bathroom waste bin, by industrial designer Dani

"Write, Draw, Think" is a research project by South Korean ID firm BKID. It was undertaken for the National Hangeul Museum in Seoul, which is dedicated to the country's writing system, Hangeul.

This Star System of decorative lighting is by China-based ID firm Mario Tsai Studio. It consists of modular units of fabric stretched over a frame containing LEDs.

Ralf Jacobs is a Netherlands-based artist who works "at the intersection of art, design, science, and signal." He invented this incredible Harmonograph, a piece of furniture that can draw patterns:He's designed the "hinge" mechanism to be frictionless, which gives the drawing utensil a lot of momentum:"Underl