Top 10 handy products that designers swear by

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If you have any product designers in your life, then you know that gifting them something is almost always impossible. They usually have everything they need – which basically includes their precious design equipment and gear. But there’s always a product or two on their must-have wish list. They are usually innovative product designs that can really help or support them through their creative process. They add a whole lot of value, and can even make or break their entire design process. And, we’ve curated a whole collection of products that are on every product designer’s secret wish list – making shopping for them a whole lot easier! You can thank us later.

1. V8 Engine block pen holder

The V8 Engine block pen holder is created via a precision-machining process. Depending on your personal aesthetic preference, you can pick a machine finish or a bead-blasted visual. It also features removable pen liners in three sizes-small, medium, and large. This makes sure that all your stationery is securely in place!

Why is it noteworthy?

In a time when work from home has become a norm, and the desks in our home offices are an absolute mess, it’s extremely important to utilize designs that help us organize our desks. The V8 Engine block pen holder does exactly that, but with an innovative twist. It’s a far cry from the standard pen holders we get these days! It features manifold bolt holes, cylinders, bores for fuel intake and exhaust, bores for cam rods, and the crankshaft cavity. Interesting, no?

What we like

• An innovative twist on an ordinary product
• Organizes your desk in a fun + functional manner

What we dislike

• Bulky form

2. COMM

COMM offers a touchscreen display that shows the different functions. The main functions are as follows: sharing information, reporting, expression of emotions, mutual understanding, and idea suggestions. Your home work environment can “feel” more like a real office with this simple device designed by South Korean designed Eunjeong with Fountain Studio.

Why is it noteworthy?

You can update your computer or maybe by a more comfortable and ergonomic workspace. The goal should always be speed and efficiency when it comes to working so in the area of communication, you must find a better way how to send messages across to a different party. The COMM is a concept device that can help people communicate from home. It’s a simpler way to send and receive messages, give feedback, and deliver what needs to be done. The result is increased work efficiency, especially with the angled screen for more comfortable viewing when sitting down.

What we like

• Helps improve creativity and productivity by showing the information you need sans any distraction
• Better than a smartphone or tablet, as it eliminates the temptation to check other apps

What we dislike

• Limited compared to face-to-face communication, but still not too bad!

What do you think?

3. The HMM Scissors

Our workspaces are often littered with two kinds of things. On the one hand, you have tools designed to accomplish a task. On the other hand, you have decorative items designed to please the senses. Of course, there are now stationary and desk tools that are designed to hit two birds with one stone, especially those that embrace minimalist aesthetics that fit well in almost any situation. These scissors from popular brand HMM are designed to bridge those two worlds together, offering a tool that not only creates a sense of wonder but also inspires confidence in every snip.

Why is it noteworthy?

Just as with the tools mentioned above, scissors often come in two classes. One type is clearly designed for cutting away at your problems, while another type almost looks too pretty to be used. The HMM Scissors is definitely not the latter, with an aesthetic that clearly exudes its power. The wide and flat blades are almost reminiscent of industrial tools, and its black Japanese steel body gives off an aura of strength and durability.

What we like

• Flip the scissors and hold them by the blades, and you instantly have a box cutter
• A custom-made magnet lets the scissors stand upright with its sharp tip safely hidden inside the base

What we dislike

No complaints!

4. Modified 3D printer

A lesser-known YouTuber who goes by the name of filmpjeslader has somehow modded his Prusa i3 to allow it to print in color. The rather complicated modification has a pretty simple purpose – after every layer that the 3D printer prints, the inkjet head adds a layer of color, creating effectively a colored 3D model at the end of the print. It’s sheer genius, and even though the results are less-than-perfect, there’s something very elegant about the idea behind it.

Why is it noteworthy?

A regular printer prints on a flat surface. However, stack multiple flat surfaces upon each other and you’ve got yourself a 3D surface… so why not apply that logic to 3D printing? filmpjeslader’s clever solution does just that! His modification adds a separate color-printing head to the Prusa i3 3D printer.

What we like

• Creates a ‘sandwich’ of plastic and CMYK-based inks to create a nifty 3D model

What we dislike

• The practice is limited to clear PLA only, and the layer thickness has to be a carefully calibrated minimum
• The water-soluble inks from the inkjet printer are transparent too (just like the plastic), which means the result looks translucent and cloudy, instead of opaque

5. Nick

When our stationery isn’t organized, our desks feel less like workspaces and more like minefields. One wrong move and those stacks of paper are going down along with the cups you filled with paperclips and thumbtacks. Before you know it, there’s hardly room to get any work done. Desk organizers help take care of the clutter and even add a bit of personality to your workspace. Furniture designer Deniz Aktay designed his own modular desk organizer called Nick that’s carved from wood for a simple and functional workspace accessory.

Why is it noteworthy?

Nick finds its organizational scheme through a system of carved-out slots that provide holding spaces for our stationery items. Carving out the product’s grooves, Aktay created a built-in rail system that additional wooden modules can slide onto to form a multi-level organizer. Defined by its modular design, the components that come with Nick have different sizes for users to configure the overall structure to fit their organizational needs.

What we like

• Creates individual slots that are just the right size for different stationery items like writing utensils and short erasers

What we dislike

• It’s aesthetically quite simple

6. Levitating Pen

Designed as what I assume is the world’s first and only ‘sci-fi’ pen, the pen is a marvel of engineering as it floats within its gravity-defying stand, looking almost like something out of an alien’s spaceship. The pen itself is a remarkable writing instrument, equipped with a Schmidt ballpoint cartridge for a smooth, luxurious writing experience, however, when you’re taking a break from writing, the pen doesn’t just simply go into a pencil case or a pen-stand.

Why is it noteworthy?

The pen comes with its own magnetic stand that allows it to rest in an inclined position with its tip touching the pen-stand, without tipping over. Magnets within the pen stand’s arc-shaped guardrail help the pen hover on its own, resting on just one point. The magnetic forces also cause the pen to gently sway up and down or even spin on its axis, resulting in an experience that feels metaphorically and literally out of this world!

What we like

• The pen’s wonderful interactive quality
• Spinning the pen in certain intervals can be a stress buster

What we dislike

• We wonder how ergonomic or comfortable would the pen be to use

7. Tsugite

Tsugite is a reusable pencil system that uses a Japanese joinery method called tsugite. Park conceptualized Tsugite to come in a pack, stored with around twelve pencil bodies and their corresponding ends. The pencil body was crafted to form an arrow-shaped end piece that links into a horseshoe-shaped pencil tip. Once the pencil’s tip is too dull for use, the same body can still be used and another tip piece can be attached. While no hardware or joinery pieces are required to join the two modules together, users can rest assured the pencil tip and body are secure in place considering this same crafty joinery method is relied upon to build homes.

Why is it noteworthy?

Once pencils are too short to use, we have DIY solutions that offer temporary relief, but usually, we end up just reaching for a new pencil. Sticking a pen cap to the pencil’s eraser end helps give the pencil some length, but at that point, you might as well use the pen. In an effort to reduce the waste collected from finished pencils, Park conceptualized a reusable system. Tsugite is essentially made up of two pieces: the pencil’s body and the pencil’s detachable tip.

What we like

• Reduces waste
• Reusable design
• Integrates Japanese joinery method

What we dislike

No complaints!

8. Cyl

Desk organizers are a dime a dozen, but they themselves can actually be a source of headaches when they take over your workspace. No one can perfectly predict how much stuff we’ll accumulate over the years, and traditional organizers aren’t designed to grow with you and your clutter. You can buy more of them, in different designs even, but there’s a limit to how much room you have on the table. In contrast, Cyl uses the age-old stacking trick to free up horizontal space by utilizing often unused vertical space.

Why is it noteworthy?

This desk organizer concept doesn’t discriminate or put limits on what you can put inside. More importantly, you can easily see what’s inside and quickly get them without having to unstack the ones above. In theory, you can stack the containers as high as you can, presuming gravity doesn’t cause them to topple over.

What we like

• You can easily see what’s inside and quickly get them without having to unstack the ones above
• Organizers come in different sizes

What we dislike

• Not the most space-efficient design for your desk

9. The Mover Erase Combo

Reusable like a whiteboard, portable and sticky like a Post-it, the Mover Erase brings one of the workplace’s most effective features to your WFH setup. The Mover Erase turns the whiteboard into a portable setup that you can carry around with you because productivity shouldn’t be limited to a ‘place’.

Why is it noteworthy?

At the heart of this system is the individual Mover Erase tile, a small rectangular element that you can write/doodle on and stick anywhere. Unlike a whiteboard, where you can’t really rearrange stuff that’s written, the Mover Erase’s tile-based system meant you could move blocks around, shifting ideas from one column to another… and unlike Post-its, the Mover Erase tiles were infinitely reusable, with each reusable tile saving nearly 10,000 sheets of paper. The Mover Erase Combo comes along with a magnetic folio case that’s best described as your portable whiteboard. Available in two sizes (a smaller MoverPad and a larger MoverBook), the folio acts as a central system for organizing, ideating, and processing.

What we like

• They say the average human uses 700 pounds of paper each year. The Mover Erase Combo drastically reduces that footprint.
• Extremely portable design
• Works incredibly well for people with ADHD

What we dislike

• The reusable tiles are easy to lose!

10. The Raak Mai Desk

The Raak Mai desk is a multifunctional, versatile desk conceptualized for designers.

Why is it noteworthy?

Finding the right desk to meet our working and creative needs is essential to staying productive. When it comes to our work, our desks must rise to the occasion, sometimes literally. Standing desks tend to help our posture when working from our computers all day. Angled desks find the ideal tilt for sketching and drawing up plans. Then, different desks carry unique storage options, keeping all of our tools within arm’s reach at all times. The Raak Mai desk from industrial designer Laura Rodríguez combines all of the above to provide a multifunctional, versatile desk for all working needs.

What we like

• Many of the elements of the Raak Mai desk can be adjusted manually, the overall structure of the desk was fitted to ensure the digital needs of modern technology could be met
• Allows users to adjust the desk’s height, tilt, and storage capabilities according to their working needs

What we dislike

• Can be a bit of a space-consuming design.

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