If there’s one positive element to this global lockdown, it’s that we’re forcing ourselves into a state of isolation where it’s easier to spend more time with your thoughts, tune the world’s buzz out, feel bored, and nurture your brain into thinking of your next big idea… With all this free time on your hands, it’s the perfect moment to begin working on those ideas, realizing them into concepts that you can use either to add a flourish to your portfolio, or to transform your career by sending it for an award. One of the world’s most prestigious design awards, the Red Dot Design Concept Awards, is currently looking for ideas that can make a difference. The Red Dot Design Concept Awards bring light to innovative and inspirational design concepts. These concepts start with a game-changing idea, and transform into a product visualization. The purpose of the Red Dot Design Concept Award is to scope out these interesting projects and bring them into the limelight, so that one day, they may develop into practical products that change our world. The Award’s 2020 edition is currently open for entries from students, studios, professionals, and companies till the end of its Submission Period on the 15th of May… so if you’ve got a great idea you’d like to work on and have the world look at, get working on it! Or if you’re looking for a tad bit of inspiration, just scroll down to see our favorite winning designs from last year! This nifty walking stick can turn into a stool when you need! The Tri-cane considers the needs of the person using it, offering more than just support. The cane’s innovative design allows the handle to open up into a seat, while the cane itself comes with three collapsible legs that open outwards, turning it into a tripod-stool. You know one of those ‘kick myself for not having thought of it first’ ideas? This is a prime example. The function of the Harbour fishbowl is explained in one simple image above. The fishbowl comes with a smaller volume attached to its side. When you want to change the water, tip the bowl over so that the water gently spills out. The water level should gradually recede and the fish should find itself inside the smaller volume in the fishbowl. Now simply pour fresh water in and you’re done. That’s it! The fish doesn’t need to be trapped, baited, and pulled out of its bowl and put into a glass or plastic bag while you change the water in its fishbowl. It simply has its own safe space to reside in while you change the water in the bowl every week or so. So simple, so sensible. Created as a cross between a Pantone shade card and a stationery set, the Pen Fan fits 8 different flat-head sketch pens in a small, easy-to-carry set. The flat pens are connected to each other, forming a neat Japanese-fan style layout that displays all the 8 colors for you to pick and choose from. Each individual sketch pen is detachable too, allowing you to snap off and on pens to create a palette of your choice! Stationery-hoarders, you’ve been warned! Slightly more than half of the American population claims to know how to perform CPR. That means there’s roughly a 50% chance that a bystander would know how to resuscitate you. CPR First Aider aims at being able to increase those chances. Not only does it help people who don’t know CPR, it helps people who do know CPR to perform it efficiently. The CPR First Aider is an extensive kit that includes a breathing mask that automatically delivers oxygen while assisting the patient to breathe along with a CPR module that has 4 legs and chest straps to ensure stable, sustained and effective pressure to the patient. An LCD screen on the top guides you through the procedure, while also displaying the patient’s stats blood oxygen concentration and electrocardiogram in real-time. Designed to fold into a compact device, the CPR First Aider could easily be stored anywhere a fire extinguisher could be placed. Designed as an upgrade to traditional braille boards or braille slates, the Barrier-Free Braille Board helps you compose text in braille and easily write/punch it down on a piece of paper that’s sandwiched between a base-plate, and an upper plate that contains a sliding guide for punching the alphabets out. Like most braille boards, text on this board is written in reverse, but the Barrier-Free Braille Board has an extra plastic frame to hold the paper in place, so you can flip the paper over periodically to read what you’ve written. The overall design is made to be more ergonomic than off-the-shelf boards, while the sliding punch-plate acts almost like a cursor, letting you know where you’re at in the typing process, if you decide to stop midway. This porous skateboard may seem outwardly fragile, but it’s designed and engineered to be as strong as any other regular skateboard, if not stronger. Designed to be more sturdy and ecologically conscious than wood, the Lightweight Skateboard is die-casted using a magnesium alloy that’s finished using CNC Machining. The high-strength, low-weight skateboard comes with an adjustable wheel-base too, giving it even more of an edge over your regular wooden skateboard! We may be stuck at home for a bit but that shouldn’t stop us from looking good, right? Kong Dezheng’s Multifunctional Convenient Shaver is a one-piece, two-part product that lets you take control of frizzy, unkempt facial hair. The pen-shaped device slides right into your pocket, allowing you to carry it around with you wherever you go. When needed, the pen packs a pair of grooming scissors at one end, and a folding razor at the other, giving you the ability to groom yourself on the go. Quite nifty if you ask me! Solving the problem of having to deal with functionally designed collapsible stools that look pretty displeasing when folded, Wenjiao’s Painting Stool transforms… well, into a painting! The printed artwork comes with a wooden frame that opens out into an X, turning the canvas into a comfortable seat. While I wouldn’t want people resting their bums against my artwork, it’s a neat way to take any nice graphic and transform it into a stool you can sit on when you’re running low on furniture, and hang on the wall when you’re done! Imagine never being too far from a plug-point. Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it?! The Code Reel Table fulfills every gadget-lover’s dream of always having a charging point in the vicinity. With a wheelbarrow-esque design and an extension wire that lets you wheel the table anywhere around the house (or even your garden) but still be connected to a plug-point, the Code Reel Table is perfect for working on your laptop from your sofa, or perhaps escorting your Amazon Echo to your kitchen, all while staying plugged in. The table comes with two plug points and five USB ports to power all your gadgets, along with a neat circular surface to either place your tech, or a nice cup of coffee while you’re being productive from one corner of your home! And when you want to return your table to its original place, a button helps you quickly and automatically retract the extension cord!