Category Archives: Environmental Design

This Is How You Can Change The World With An App

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Mobile apps have proven to be popular for solving numerous modern-day problems. Here is an app that can help you make a better impact on the environment. But before we get started:

Did you know that the average person generates four pounds of trash every single day and that only 30% of that gets recycled? And, did you also know that recycling one aluminum can save enough energy to listen to a full album on your iPod? Or that, recycling 100 cans could light your bedroom for two whole weeks. So, why are we recycling so little? Well, simply because it is so much easier to dump our trash into a single bin and get it over with. But, 26 year-old Blake Rupe, is trying to change our bad habits by making recycling fun, with her recently launched app Re-APP.

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Re-App is designed to help people track and share their recycling habits. The app turns recycling into a competitive game that encourages players to measure and track their daily recycling efforts and get the highest amount of waste. Within the app, users can document what they recycle into a virtual bin, share their progress on social media, and see what other friends who have the app have recycled on a virtual leaderboard. Each material recycled brings someone closer to the glory of being deemed the “winner.” You can download Re-APP here

What Sparks our Fire: A mobile app that helps us visualize our impact on the world.

Are you ready to join the movement?

Write On

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While reminiscing about your childhood I’m sure you have fond memories of digging through the biggest Crayola box to find that perfect color. Now, as an adult, you may not be digging through that same crayon box, but if you’re a designer we’re sure you wish you could.

Scribble is the pen that changes how we interact with color. All you do is hold the back of the pen up to a surface and the pen will scan and reproduce the color within seconds. Most graphic designers would love this capability to be digital in order to replicate the color onto their computer rather than paper. No problem, there is a scribble stylus that functions the same way to easily translate the colors from the world around you, digitally. This pen makes designing and recreating colors easy. The scribble also has an associated app where you can find colors you previously scanned to use again, or share with others.

The Scribble recently started funding on Kickstarter, so if you’re ready to bring some more color into your life, go ahead and contribute.

What Sparks our Fire: A great design tool that is fun and easy to use.

What’s your favorite color?

The Changing Times

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It’s nothing new or surprising to learn that traditional newspapers are struggling. Online news sources are both cheaper and more efficient for consumers. But, there is still something to say about the quality and trustworthiness of old-school newspapers, especially the likes of The New York Times or The Washington Post.

There are reports that The New York Times may soon introduce another subscription, a shorter newspaper, to try and keep it’s print business as profitable as possible. The newspaper would be offered at a lower price point and likely include a digital subscription. This version could have a positive influence on the younger audience who want a quick-to-read newspaper that fits their lifestyle of needing information in the most efficient way possible.

It will be interesting to see the influence this change will have on print newspaper advertising.

What Sparks our Fire: The New York Times looking for new ways to continue engaging consumers and addressing the shift to digital.

Would you be interested in a shorter version of The New York Times?

Stay Fresh

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Everyone’s been there before, you’ve worn a shirt once so it’s not exactly clean, but you don’t want to send it to the dry cleaner just yet. Swash is here to save you that trip to the dry cleaners, and in the long run could save you money too.

Swash is a clothing refresher for your home. It removes wrinkles and faint smells from clothes in just 10 minutes. Items are placed on a hanger and pushed into a pod that expels the odor. It claims it can increase the life and restore the fit of your clothing without needing to be connected to a water supply – just plug it in and freshen up.

Laundry isn’t exactly the industry we look to for product innovation. But, this right here is an awesome solution to a very common problem.

What Sparks our Fire: Always staying fresh.

Do you have any tips or tricks on how you keep your clothes fresh?

An Even Better Coffee Cup

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You already know about our loving relationship with coffee. You also know we love innovation that makes our coffee drinking experience better and more convenient. So don’t act surprised that we’re posting about yet another Kickstarter doing just that – improving our morning ritual of consuming caffeine.

Smash Cup is the essential coffee cup for traveling coffee connoisseurs. Nobody enjoys lugging around a big mug with them, enter Smash Cup. Once you’re finished drinking your morning cup of joe, smash the cup and watch it collapse into a pocket sized disk easy to carry around. The Kickstarter has already surpassed it’s goal of $10,000 and ships this fall.

What Sparks our Fire: Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.

How else could our experience with coffee be improved?