Need to Know
25 : 05 : 18

Global – Xbox manufacturer Microsoft is launching a new adaptive controller for its console that will enable users who are physically impaired to play.

The new controller will meet the mobility needs of disabled customers with features such as larger buttons, which can be operated using hands, elbows or feet, as well as a row of 19 ports for users to add more devices such as touch-sensitive pads.

‘The traditional Xbox controller makes a lot of assumptions. It assumes I have two hands to hold it, two thumbs to hit the analogue sticks, and the fine motor control to get at all the buttons. That’s a barrier,’ says Bryce Johnson, senior inclusive designer at Microsoft. ‘Throughout the design process of this device, we spoke to charities like the Cerebral Palsy Foundation, AbleGamers andSpecialEffectand to countless gamers with disabilities. We’ve designed a device that we think will empower them.’

For more on the shifting aesthetic of accessibility products, see our design direction Implicit Inclusivity.

New York – Fashion brand Helmut Lang is celebrating is pre-autumn 2018 collection on Instagram with a new project that shines the light on real New York singletons.

In the form of traditional dating profiles, the spot stars 12 individuals of all ages, alongside their dating preferences and interests. In the hope of linking the singles to potential suitors, the brand provides a real contact email to connect those who are interested.

Nostalgic in its references, the visual direction takes cues from an early generation of web design by embracing lo-fi images and a bold shadow typeface. Brands such as Nike are also experimenting with incorporating elements of this aesthetic trend into graphic design.

Amsterdam – The city's marketing arm, Iamsterdam, has joined forces with clothing brand Explicit and Gum-Tec manufacturer Gum Drop to produce a trainer made from recycled chewing gum, in the hope of reducing the city’s sticky litter problem.

Gum Drop used collected gum from around the city to create a sustainable rubber compound, known as Gum-Tec, which was then moulded into the sole of the shoe. ‘We discovered gum is made from a synthetic rubber. And by breaking down these properties, we were able to create a new type of rubber,’ says Anna Bullus, designer at Gum-Tec. The initiative provides an opportunity to clean the streets of The Netherlands as well as re-use a material that would take 20–25 years to biodegrade.

For more new material innovations that could shape the future of mass-consumer goods, see our debrief from Salone Internazionale del Mobile 2018.

The results, from a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Illinois, shows that people are becoming increasingly reliant on technology, so much so that they will often hold a smartphone in their hand even if it is not in use. The research comes out of a new paper, The Phone Walkers, which cites plausible reasons why pedestrians hold their phones when they aren’t actively using them.

Positing four theories, the authors suggest that one reason could be that people feel they need immediate access to their phones because their social lives exist there. This might suggest why figures were lower (18%) when the observed participants weren’t walking alone.

As we live in a state of constant multitasking and multiscreening, the researchers also believe that psychological dependency could explain this phenomenon. They suggest that it is likely people will experience anxiety or tension when the device is out of reach.