One of the A’ Design Awards’ standout features is just its vastly multidisciplinary nature. Conceived as the one award program to cover every single aspect of the design industry, the A’ Design Award looks at as many as , spanning everything from Architecture to Interiors, Graphics, Packaging, Furniture, Film, Social Design, Medical Product Design, Transportation, Jewelry, and a category that’s truly close to our hearts… Consumer Technology. Gadgets are perhaps an undeniable part of the ‘better human experience’. Whether it’s the presence of innovative features, or the lack of distracting elements, each product is designed to fulfill a certain need and achieve a certain end – which it believes is best for its user. It’s probably why technology and design are so interwoven into A’ Design’s approach. Currently in their 2020-21 edition, the awards are looking for the next generation of life-changing, life-bettering products, with as many as 218 Jury Members covering all of the award categories. Moreover, winners of the A’ Design Award don’t just win a trophy and a certificate, but receive an entire PR Campaign dedicated towards pushing their career, clout, and even their projects to newer heights. A’ Design Award’s winners and even its participants are included in its annual award book and business network, while additionally contributing to their that paints a holistic picture of how design-centric and design-forward each country is… so if you’ve got a great idea for a product and all it needs is a bit of a push and some validation from some of the most accomplished professionals and educators in the design industry, head over to A’ Design Award’s website and submit your product for this year’s award! Don’t wait up, the regular deadline for the award is as soon as September 30th! Your design, your profession, and even your country could really use that bit of clout! Practically defying the laws of physics, the Millo is perhaps the most futuristic blender I’ve seen. For starters, it’s sleek, and is dominated by aesthetic, flat surfaces, with absolutely no exposed mechanical parts. The blender is divided into two units. The base, a pristine, flat dock with no control panel or even a driving socket and its second part, the glass, a stylish Nutribullet-esque container that connects to the base using wireless technology. Just load your smoothie ingredients into the Millo, screw the top on, and rest it inverted on the base… and just like a phone starts charging the moment you rest it on a wireless-charging surface, the Millo begins whirring and blitzing all your ingredients into a fine smoothie. You can control the Millo’s intensity by sliding your finger around the rim of the base, as lights under the surface come to life, letting you see what power you’re running the blender at. When you’re done, lift the blender up and the blade magically stops spinning. It’s a sight to absolutely admire! Just the same way a car designed for racing isn’t the same as a car designed for families, the Alvix Multifunctional Drone isn’t designed to look like your average hobby-drone. It comes in a compact cylindrical format, made for easy carrying, and opens out into a rugged drone capable of recording extreme sports players, who always carry heavy equipment and do high-risk activities alone. Think of the Alvix drone as your spotter, but in the outdoors – keeping a watchful eye on you as you engage in extreme sports. Its cylindrical format makes it easy to carry, as well as gives it a protective covering, as the drone’s propellers have built-in circular guards around them. Moreover, the alarm system equipped in Alvix will beep and shine when it detects the user in danger, saving time, and making the search & rescue mission more efficient. Behold the Black Hole Speaker… designed to attract your attention the way a black hole attracts all mass. Based on the design of the Harman Kardon Aura, with a few tweaks and changes to give it intergalactic appeal, the Black Hole sports a warped torus design, with a hyperbolic base, and quite literally a black hole at the very center of the torus. The Black Hole speaker comes with a speckled design on its black base that resembles stars being pulled into the void, along with a concentric ripple texture that is symbolic of a black hole’s ability to create ripples in time and space. It’s all incredibly symbolic! The speaker runs on Bluetooth (because there are no wires in outer space), and if you dare to approach it, there’s a control panel around its event horizon. The Pure Phone is the very antithesis to the common smartphone. Unlike smartphones that LOOK sleek but are far from it, the Pure by Mudita adopts a simplicity that’s present everywhere, from the overall design to the UI, and the UX too. No touchscreens, no colorful displays, no inundating notifications and app icons… not even an internet browser. The Pure Phone comes with an ultralow SAR patented antenna. You can make and receive calls, send and receive text messages, listen to music, and enjoy a long battery life thanks to the Pure Phone’s elegant UI and e-ink display. Ditching the notion that a toothbrush should come with a multicolored handle and color-coordinated bristles, the Pomabrush’s aesthetic is as clean and as pure as it could possibly be. The brush literally embodies the sleekness of Italian design, with a single color body and matte surfacing, silicone bristles, a comfortable grip, and a single recessed button to switch it on or off. IPx7 waterproofing means you can use the brush in the shower too, and those silicone bristles are designed to be non-porous and anti-bacterial too, making your brush safe enough to use for years. The Pomabrush comes with its own slim wireless charging case that sits beautifully on your bathroom countertop or slides right into your bag or backpack while traveling, so you can carry your brush with you and use it wherever you go, be it on the road, at an airport, in a hotel, or even at a sleepover. Plus it’s also lighter, smaller, infinitely classier, more delicate/efficient than most toothbrushes, and lasts years but needs charging only once every 4 months! The Wild Cook may have a name that indicates a certain rustic-ness, but it is, in fact, a pretty sophisticated alternative to current ways of smoking one’s food. Traditional smoking methods involve the inelegant use of smoke-guns, exposed embers, and a pipe that goes from the nozzle of the gun to inside a particular utensil – in short, it’s sort of a utilitarian mess. The Wild Cook uses a concealed heating unit and ‘smoke-pods’ that come in a variety of flavors. Put the pod in, switch the smoker on, and it docks right into the top of the utensil’s lid. No pipes, no air-gaps. Just an elevated culinary game and some really interesting flavor-infused food! The Doodlight makes turning your digital doodles into physical ones really easy. Unlike notebook scanners that take your physical notes and digitize them on your phone, the Doodlight is a nifty laser projector that takes digital drawings and projects them onto your notebook to trace from. The Doodlight works via an app that allows you to compose your doodles before realizing them on paper. Ideal for people who want to trace fonts, want to learn how to draw, or need help with geometry, art, or anything related to drawing, tracing, and plotting! I’m not entirely sure if my pet would appreciate living above a robot, but the Pure Pet Care Robot is a combination of a Roomba and a dog-bed! The vacuum-robot comes designed like any other, and has everything it needs to go about cleaning your house (and avoiding your pets). However, when it’s done, it automatically goes and docks itself in the Puro docking station, which comes with a comfortable bed on top for your cat or dog! It sounds like a winning space-saving combination, but I’d love to see if animals and robots do possess what it takes to coexist in the same area! Did I mention that the Puro docking station even comes with an air-purifying fan that keeps your pets cool and healthy? Because it certainly does! Is it a speaker? Is it a stand? Is it a stationery-mat? How about all three? The Waving Multifunctional Speaker is just a really cleverly designed product that works as a speaker, but also uses its form and surfaces to provide additional functions. For starters, it comes with a slide-out element at the back that lets you wedge your phone into the speaker in landscape or portrait. If that wasn’t enough, the speaker’s wavy textured surface makes it great for resting pens and miscellaneous stationery on. Pretty neat, if you ask me. The Twist quite literally puts a twist on conventional smartphone accessories. Designed as a cube with a parting line running diagonally along the middle, the Twist swivels on its diagonal parting line to shapeshift between being a Bluetooth speaker with a dock, and a wireless charger. The swiveling mechanism gives it a unique interaction that serves as a definitive distinction between the two features of the Twist. Swivel it one way and you’re left with a flat upper surface, allowing you to simply rest your smartphone on it and get it charging. Swivel it the other way and you’re presented with a convenient angular dock that’s perfect for placing your phone in and watching an episode of Schitt’s Creek!