Less By Design
Tapping into our social conscience
At Cobalt we believe that, as designers and engineers, we have a social responsibility to improve the world that we live in. To support this ideal, we created our socially responsible design blog, lessbydesign.org. At its heart, socially responsible design is about less waste, less resources and less hardship – hence ‘less by design’.
Since we started the blog in 2012, we’ve heard a diverse range of voices deliver different perspectives on a vast array of topics, including resource-saving innovations, waste and recycling, as well as technology developed for positive social impact. Contributors have included our own in-house designers and engineers at Cobalt, as well as sustainability and healthcare experts.
Whilst talk is cheap (and writing blog posts is too), we have endeavoured to apply our beliefs around socially responsible design by engaging in projects that also support this philosophy. Great examples of this are the ASRC Food Justice Truck and the KeepCup product family. These are also excellent case studies in illustrating how socially responsible design can make good business sense.
Take a look at our latest post. We’d love to hear your thoughts.
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Star wars keepcups
New Star Wars KeepCups Range Keeps the Force Strong with Us.
The newest range of KeepCups includes iconic Star Wars characters BB8, R2-D2, the modern Stormtroopers and the infamous Darth Vader. Chewbacca and Rey are also set to make an appearance.
Interpretation was the key to evoking the spirit of these iconic Star Wars characters within the constraints of KeepCup’s core elements. Like all KeepCups, the brand is the primary means of expression, so we at Cobalt have incorporated key moulded-in shapes and printing onto the custom silicone bands.
One subtle change we made was to refinish the lid tool cavities to have a high-gloss finish on the Stormtrooper and Darth Vader variants, which really lift the visual punch of these models. They also help differentiate from the textured lids of standard KeepCup models.
Every industrial designer grew up absorbing the imagined worlds of Light Sabers, Star Destroyers and Jedi Heroes- so getting the chance to create these iconic characters in a new realm was every geek’s dream come true.
You can order your very own Star Wars KeepCup soon through the online KeepCup store.
May the force be with you!