Simple Genius Ideas That We Want To See Everywhere ASAP
The future is now, and people are coming up with cool, easy ways to help people work smarter, not harder. Simple changes in product design, color-coding, and good signs go a long way to make life a lot easier and more accessible to a whole range of diverse people.
Keep reading to see a Rubik's cube for blind people, a bike stand with an attached air pump, and a flashlight that doubles as a bat. Here are some cool ideas that need to be implemented worldwide, like, yesterday.
Labels For Ceiling Fan Pull Cords
Not only is this genius, because who hasn't spent way too much time trying to figure out which cord controls what, but also these mini fan and light bulb labels are super cute.
It's amazing that we haven't seen any fans like this until this moment. You would think that this very simple design change would be easy to make. All fan lights should have these labeled pull cords. Life would be so much easier.
This Grocery Store Sells Overripe Bananas In Bags With A Banana Bread Recipe
Overripe fruits and veggies are often thrown out at grocery stores, leading to 43 billion pounds of produce waste annually in American supermarkets. Nifty ways to make use of "expired" foods help reduce food waste.
These bananas aren't expired, they just need to be made into some kind of baked good. Overripe bananas can also be frozen and made into delicious smoothies later on. The possibilities are endless. This supermarket definitely has the right idea.
This Sign In The Washroom Of A Doctor's Office
This is a discreet way for people experiencing abuse or domestic violence or human trafficking to alert someone to their situation and seek help without alerting their abuser who might be there with them.
We imagine that many lives have been saved by this system. Human trafficking is a very serious issue and anything we can do to help people escape this dire situation is a good thing to do. We'd all love to live in a world where this kind on innovation wasn't necessary.
Maps Of Product Locations On Grocery Carts
Have you ever gone to a new grocery store and been frustrated by how hard it is to find the things you need? This supermarket in Sweden provides store maps on carts for a more seamless experience.
Now you don't have to talk to a grocery store employee to find that carton of milk that you came in for. You can just look at your cart and direct yourself to the dairy aisle. it's kind of brilliant.
Color-Coded Lights For Occupied vs. Vacant Bathroom Stalls
Bathrooms at the Atlanta airport use these color-coded lights so that people don't have to respond to someone trying to open the stall door with an awkward, panicked "Someone is in here!"
The lights change automatically when you lock or unlock a stall door. This is pretty brilliant. There are probably still some people who don't understand the system and go knocking on stall doors, though. It takes a while to get used to new technology.
Stalls For Shoppers To Put Their Dogs In
These dog stalls outside of a supermarket in Copenhagen let dog owners lock up their furry pals in a warm, sheltered place while they quickly run around the store to do their shopping.
This way people don't have to leave their dogs in the car and they can shop in peace knowing that their pups are safely sleeping nearby. This is such a great idea. We should have these things outside every supermarket in America.
Color-Coded Shopping Baskets For Store Assistance
This benefits everyone because this way people who want to have a solo shopping experience don't feel bothered or annoyed and retail associates get to focus their attention on people who actually want it.
It's a perfect system for introverts who don't want to be bothered by pesky salespeople and people who want a little bit more help finding the things they're looking for. Would you pick up the red basket or the black basket?
Fire Evacuation Information At Floor Level For When There's Smoke
In the case of a fire, this hotel put its fire evacuation information near the floor so that people can read it while they are low to the ground to avoid smoke inhalation.
More buildings should implement this system. You won't be able to see an exit map located at eye level if you have to crawl on the ground to escape the smoke. Also, the smoke may be too thick up there to even see through it to read the map.
Tactile Rubik's Cubes For Blind People
This Rubik's Cube adds different textures for each color so that the visually impaired can try out the puzzle. This is a simple way to make a classic challenge accessible, and we're here for it!
Although, Rubik's cube masters know how to solve these puzzles with their eyes closed anyway. It's all down to a simple algorithm. Don't ask me to explain how it works. The textured sides are great for beginners, though. Everyone has to start somewhere.
Bike Stand With A Built-In Air Pump
Kill two birds with one stone by locking your bike up securely and also making sure your tire pressure is good. This stand was photographed in Utrecht, Netherlands, where almost 40% of people cycle as their main source of transportation.
You never know when you're going to be caught with a flat tire. These pumps make it easy for people to service their bikes while they're on the go. You can't exactly carry a big bike pump with you while you're riding to work.
A CVS Vending Machine
Quickly need some Advil? Have an emergency that requires a feminine hygiene product? Want to quickly wash the garlic taste out of your mouth before that big date? This machine has so many good uses.
This way you can get essential CVS products even when the store is closed and even when there's not a full CVS store nearby. You never know when you might need some baby medicine or a bottle of liquid Benadryl.
Labels That Explain The Function Of Each Ingredient
Unless you have a strong background in chemistry, a lot of product ingredients can seem like gibberish. Having the purpose of the ingredients explained can help them seem less frightening and more understandable.
Now we know that sodium chloride is a thickener and pheno-whatever-it-is stabilizes the formula. Who knew dishwashing liquid could be so interesting? We'd love to know what all of the chemicals in Twinkies are actually for. They can't all be to add flavor.
Story Dispenser To Help Wait Times Feel Shorter
This machine at the Philadelphia airport dispenses short stories for travelers who are looking for something to do while waiting for their flight. The machine prints the story out like a receipt. Happy reading!
You'd need some pretty strong glasses to read print that small, but hey, small print is better than no print at all. This is a pretty great idea. We should all take more opportunities to read more short stories. It's like a novel but with less commitment.
Soft Barriers Between Spots In The Parking Garage
The padded barriers prevent cars from scratching each other when parking and opening doors. I would love these everywhere so that TENANT 83 would STOP leaving RED MARKS on my car at my apartment building.
These barriers also act as a guide when people are parking or pulling into a spot. Sometimes you can't see the lines on the ground, but this barrier is higher up so it's always visible. American parking garages, take note.
Drink Cans with Braille Labels On Top
Braille beer can labels: because people with visual impairment also deserve to know what kind of IPA they're drinking when they crack a cold one after a long day at work.
Blind people need to get their drink on just like the rest of us. There's nothing more disappointing than opening a can, taking a sip, and discovering that you just drank something non-alcoholic. Now blind people won't confuse their soda with their adult beverages ever again.
A Crosswalk Sensor That Allows Elderly And Disabled People To Extend Crossing Time
This crosswalk in Singapore has a sensor built-in so that people with disabilities and elderly citizens can tap their identification cards to get a little more time to cross.
It doesn't cost any money and senior citizens can use them whenever they want at any time of the day or night. Clearly, Singapore looks after its elderly and disabled citizens. Maybe we should be more like Singapore. The technology for this exists. We should be using it.
Pizza Box That Folds Into A Container For Leftovers
Don't trust your friend to return Tupperware if you lend it to them? The bottom of this pizza box folds into a smaller box for left-over slices. Whether you keep them or give them away is up to you.
This folding box also makes it easier for you to store any leftover pizza in your fridge. Now you don't have to take up valuable fridge space with a box that's half empty. This thing works on multiple levels.
Restaurant Menu That Shows You Exactly What Each Pizza Looks Like
This Italian restaurant in Prague, Czech Republic uses a circular menu so you can know exactly what each meal item looks like. Goodbye, guessing about the food and getting something unexpected!
This menu is especially good for tourists who can't understand the language the menu is written in. All they have to do is point to the picture of the pizza that they want. Nobody's getting an anchovy pizza by accident at this pizza joint.
Hall-Runners, Beware
I can't decide if this school is genius or evil. This floor is perfectly flat but obviously, the design on it makes you think otherwise. It's supposed to ward off kids running in the hall and honestly, it works.
Only, once kids get used to the design, they probably go back to their usually fast-walking ways. Either that or they all fall all over each other in the hallway as they're trying to get to class.
A Walking Cane That Converts Into A Sitting Stool
This cane is great for anybody who has mobility issues and might need to take a seat to rest. It works as an easy solution at any time that seating isn't readily available.
This device is so useful that people who don't have mobility issues might start using it too Sometimes you want a seat at a sporting event or a park and you don't want to take a whole folding chair with you. This is so much more portable.
A Mirror That Shows The Teacher's Countertop
All home economics classrooms need this upgrade so that students can see exactly what their teacher is doing during cooking and baking classes. Maybe if I had this in school, my chocolate cake wouldn't have been so dry.
This setup also works great for chemistry classes. You want all of the students, even the ones sitting way in the back, to get aa good view of whatever experiment you're cooking up. It's the little things that make a good educational experience.
A Flashlight That Doubles As A Bat
This item is for when it's dark and you feel unsafe, like if your car breaks down on the side of a creepy road. I'm just saying, fewer people would die in horror movies if they had these.
People often carry weighted flashlights for this very purpose. This weighted and oversized flashlight just makes that purpose a whole lot more obvious. Nobody is going to mess with you if you're carrying one of these things.
Soap Gun For Kids To Shoot At The Carwash
This carwash has a soap gun that kids can shoot at the car as it moves through. Cleaning and running errands has never been so fun for your children (or yourself; you deserve to play a bit)!
We thought that the normal carwash setup was pretty fun. We loved going through the carwash when we were kids. This setup is even better. Kids today don't know how good they have it. We didn't get to shoot soap back in the day.
Urinals That Use Hand-washing Water To Flush
This design helps prevent water waste by using the water needed to wash your hands to flush the toilet. Also, it allows for more compact bathrooms and you don't have to move around the room as much.
We're surprised that we haven't seen more of these around. We hope there are separate sinks on the other side of the washroom though, because what if you don't have to go but you just want to wash your hands?
Library Checkout Receipt Shows How Much Money You Save By Borrowing Books
I don't care what people say — libraries are important and will always be useful. This library shows the value they provide by letting people know how much they save by borrowing instead of buying.
It looks like this person just got an air fryer and they're looking for some delicious air fryer recipes. Because libraries exist, they can get all of those air fryer recipes completely for free. Libraries are wonderful and we should all use them more often.
Airless Bicycle Tires
These tires on rideshare bicycles in China use a perforated design rather than inflatable tires to avoid problems with users getting flats and having to do regular tire pumping maintenance.
Are you telling me that this whole time we could have been using tires like this on our bikes? These seem infinitely better than normal bike tires. Why aren't they on every bike in the world? Flat tires are the worst. This design means no more flat tires ever.
Alternating Buttons To Avoid Shirt Gaps
Just about every woman who has worn a button-up shirt has had to deal with the "chest gap"; the alternating button pattern on this shirt holds the sides tightly together to avoid gaping.
This button design should just come standard on every woman's blouse. We have been designing clothes with men's bodies in mind for far too long. It's time to design clothes that are specifically for the female form. Also, throw some pockets in our jeans while you're at it.
A Mouthwash Dispenser In The Bathroom
At a first date dinner and hoping that you might get kissed at the end of the night, but you ate the tuna fillet? No problem: this restaurant has your back (as all restaurants should).
I would literally choose to go to a restaurant that had a mouthwash dispenser in the washroom over a restaurant that didn't. Every restaurant in America should have one of these available to customers. Nobody wants to be tasting garlic all night.
Finally, A Cast You Can Shower With!
This 3D printed cast is the future of comfortably showering with a broken limb. Anyone who has had a cast knows how awful it is to have to wrap saran wrap around your cast every single time you want to wash your hair.
Not only is this design totally waterproof, but it's also way more attractive than those old plaster casts and it looks like it's a lot easier to remove. It's about time that casts got an upgrade
Over-sink Dish Rack That Doubles As Storage
This highly organized dish rack is perfect if you're lazy and hate having to move the dried dishes from the rack to the cupboard. All you have to do is wash and stack.
Also, this dish rack ensures that any water that drips off of your dishes drips right back into the sink instead of all over your countertop. It also doesn't take up valuable counter space. This genius solution is perfect for small kitchens.
Hexagonal Graph Paper For Organic Chemistry
I distinctly remember how annoying it was to draw hundreds of hexagons for chemistry class. This graphing paper not only makes the drawing process easier, but it also makes the molecular drawings more accurate.
The only problem is that this specialized paper came around just in time for there to be computer programs that do the exact same thing. We could have used this innovation 20 years earlier before everyone brought their computers to school.
A Toilet That Flushes By Foot
This toilet in a bathroom in Mexico has a foot lever to flush the toilet. As someone who has nearly pulled a muscle trying to flush a normal toilet with my foot, I would love to see these everywhere.
These would be especially useful in public bathrooms in 2020. We don't need to touch anything with our hands if we can help it, least of all a toilet. Those automatic sensor flushers are pretty great too.
I Wish I Had These At Some Hotels I Stayed At
This hotel in China provides its guests with cards for them to give taxi drivers to show where they want to go back to, which is especially useful if you don't speak the local language.
Did you have a hard time navigating when you last went on vacation? I bet a card like this could have solved a lot of your problems. Quite frankly, I could use this in countries that are totally English-speaking too.
I Want 10 Of These
This power bar has outlets that rotate so that wider plugs don't block the other sockets from being used and allowing users the get the most out of the device.
Why has it taken us so long to come up with this idea? It's the worst thing ever when you can't use half the sockets on your power bar because they're being blocked by other plugs. Now all of the plugs are easily accessible. It's perfect.
Sorted By Step, Not Type
Anyone who has tried to assemble furniture knows the hassle of trying to figure out which pieces you need to use at each point or even just avoid losing them. Organization by step makes things so much easier.
Hey, people who work at Ikea, could you please take a look at this and incorporate it into all of your furniture designs? It would save all of us a lot of stress and heartache, thank you very much.
Look Ma, No Hands!
These elevator buttons located near the ground add the option for people to kick them. This is a great solution for people whose hands are full or germaphobes who prefer to keep their hands clean.
Also, kicking elevator buttons just seems like a fun thing to do. Who wouldn't want to use their feet to summon a vertical carriage? It sounds almost mythical. We need more of these elevator buttons in every multi-story building, please.
We Love Recycling!
In a world where people are looking to make more environmentally conscious purchases, repurposing plastic bottles into clothing is a great way to responsibly recycle. It's extra cool that this store shows how the process works.
All of their shirts are made out of old scrap plastic that would have otherwise ended up in landfills or in the ocean. Now you can wear a stylish shirt and save the planet all at the same time.
Eat Up, Nemo!
The golf balls at this oceanside mini putt course are biodegradable and contain fish food so that, when your ball falls down the 18th hole on the course, it drops into the ocean for a lucky fish to snack on.
Now you don't have to feel so guilty about hitting your balls into the water trap. We're not sure how these innovators were able to turn fish food into useable golf balls, but consider us very impressed.
Big Mario Kart Energy
The fact that I've never seen this done before is shocking since the opportunity is right there. I want all "caution, slippery floor" signs to be shaped like banana peels.
They're already yellow and they already kind of have an oblong shape to them. It doesn't take much to turn them into banana peels. This is a sign that anybody who speaks any language can understand. Everyone knows that banana peels are slippery as heck.
My Wife Needs These!
Some people just aren't that good at parking—there's no way around it—but these lines that extend up the wall make it easier for drivers to check if they're actually inside the lines.
Look, we can't all be parking wizards. Some of us need a little more help than others. These extended lines offer the perfect amount of extra help. Maybe there would be fewer accidents in parking garages if they all hand extended parking lines.