Is publishing your contents on online design communities or hosting your own portfolio site enough for creative satisfaction? Don’t you want evaluation or recognition for your efforts? Much like how a post is done on YD, where we hear scores of you either trashing or praising a design, forcing the designers to re-think his strategy or go-ahead with his convictions. The Bombardier YouRail Design Contest by HYVE gives you instant feedback, allowing you to re-think your contribution or simply refining it.

The contest is really simple, you only need to register, get inspired and submit your design ideas. The contest is about the creation of new and innovative interior designs for trains. Questions like how a modern train interior should look like and what kind of innovative features should be integrated need to be solved. It is irrelevant if participants have great experience in interior design or not, the contest is addressed to professionals, students, hobby designers and everyone who is interested into the topic. The designs can be submitted drawn freehand or computer generated, by using the configuration tool or just by explaining the interior idea. Participants may either design a seat upholstery with the configuration tool or freely create an interior design to the following three topics:

• The Leisure Passenger
• The Business Traveler
• The Everyday Passenger

Like I mentioned to participate you need to simply join the community and submit your own vision for interior design in trains. Or you can create your own seat cover with the 3D – configuration tool. Anyway, you can discuss and evaluate the designs of the community and win great prizes: The members with the three best freely created designs amongst all three topics win cash prizes up to 2.000 Euros. The members with the three best configured designs also win cash prizes up to 600 Euros. Plus: The members with the 4th to the 10th best freely created designs win netbooks. Hurrah!

The winning design will be built as a prototype and will be exposed on the InnoTrans 2010 in Berlin which is the leading trade fair in transportation. Besides, the designer of that winning design will be invited by Bombardier to visit the InnoTrans 2010. In addition, the most active member as well as the best freely created and configured designs according to the community evaluation are rewarded with a netbook, too. Finally, one idea will also win a netbook (and a signature book about Bombardier) by the “president’s pick” where the jury select the most unconventional idea.

The jury has an impressive line-up with high-level management and design experts – get to know them here.

What is really impressive is that like our YD community, there is instant feedback and reaction to your designs by the community members. So participating in this contest really makes sense. You get evaluated not only by your contemporaries, but also by an elite panel of judges. Which other design competition can boast of this killer combo?

To know more on the contest details hit here.

The whole contest phase is being charged by the HYVE Innovation Community GmbH. HYVE is a German innovation agency dealing with customer integration into the product innovation process. Feel free to get all important information about HYVE on their website, or contact them directly.

Deadline: November 30, 2009 (Official rules and entry details)

First Place

ZINK Mix

iPhone mania continues with this iteration of a an iPhone docking station with an embedded ZINK printer that works with an exclusive iPhone app. It allows you to print all your online stuff in a jiffy, making you iProud!

Designer: Patrick Schuur, Maketropolis from The Netherlands

MiniGiant

Size doesn’t matter to the Mini Giant, which is a robotic printer that self-propels itself over a sheet of ZINK Paperto create a print.

Designer: Paula Adina Sumalan from Romania

Second Place

ZINK FIB

An inexpensive digital art camera with a built-in ZINK printer is what could tide us through these recession times!

Designers: Axis Design from USA

Hanshi

The Hanshi system features six small wireless digital cameras that fit into a portable viewing unit with a built-in ZINKprinter.

Designers: Axis Design, USA

Third Place

Phiary

The Phiary is mash of photo plus diary and is a ZINK Paper notebook and ZINK device system that revolutionizes physical diaries and notebooks for the digital age. It allows the printing of photos and images directly onto diary or notebook pages.

Designer: Guo Xiaolin, Chinese Design Student

ZINK Pen

The ZINK Pen screams Mobility! It’s a digital pen that can write, scan, and print!

Designer: Jeffrey Gerlach and Nicholas Matarese, Design student, Syracuse University, USA

People’s Choice

SmartBC

The SmartBC is a portable ZINKenabled business card printer that creates customized, on-demand business cards, wherever your business takes you.

Designer: Arthur Ditlef from Brazil

ZINK Imaging is asking the design community for new “solutions” and applications (not new form factors for existing products etc.) that enable and enhance printing with the ZINK Technology. Essentially, it’s about the whole design solution, not just the fit and finish. If you think you got it in you to provide a super solution; then enter ZINK Imaging’s Zero Boundaries Design Competition.

The contest is open to established design firms, emerging designers, and students of design. As ZINK puts it, “The design challenge is to re-imagine printing and its role in the digital world using the ZINK Technology to fuel the future possibilities of this unique technology platform.”

Registrations are open NOW and the Design Submissions are due on June 8th 2009. The Finalists will be announced on June 22nd and the Winners take home the booty by June 29th 2009.

What are the awards?

• First place – Option 1 – $10,000 cash prize
• First place – Option 2 – $10,000 cash prize
• Second place – Both Options – $1,000 each
• Third place – Both Options – $500 each

There are many rules and info that you need to go through before you register, but lemme highlight a couple of them for you.

- Participants can submit multiple entries AND win multiple prizes.

- A fresh perspective on printing is desired; a global perspective from both students and professionals that explores printing possibilities beyond the traditional thinking about how and where printing integrates into a person’s life.

- Entrants are challenged to design a complete ZINK-enabled product “ecosystem” that demonstrates the power of the ZINK Technology to link the digital world to the real world via a tangible ZINK Print. Entrants have two ways they can solve this challenge: 1) by creating a ZINK ecosystem that will make today’s youth crave ZINK products in the context of their digital and mobile world or 2) by creating a “ZINK World” in a context or market of their choice.

For complete details head here and here.

All the best!

ZINK Imaging is asking the design community for new “solutions” and applications (not new form factors for existing products etc.) that enable and enhance printing with the ZINK Technology. Essentially, it’s about the whole design solution, not just the fit and finish. If you think you got it in you to provide a super solution; then enter ZINK Imaging’s Zero Boundaries Design Competition.

Roughly one week left before the contest closes and the first 50 submissions received by June 1 will receive a free ZINK-enabled product and ZINK Paper supply. Cool!

The contest is open to established design firms, emerging designers, and students of design. As ZINK puts it, “The design challenge is to re-imagine printing and its role in the digital world using the ZINK Technology to fuel the future possibilities of this unique technology platform.”

Registrations are open NOW and the Design Submissions are due on June 8th 2009. The Finalists will be announced on June 22nd and the Winners take home the booty by June 29th 2009.

What are the awards?

• First place – Option 1 – $10,000 cash prize
• First place – Option 2 – $10,000 cash prize
• Second place – Both Options – $1,000 each
• Third place – Both Options – $500 each

There are many rules and info that you need to go through before you register, but lemme highlight a couple of them for you.

- Participants can submit multiple entries AND win multiple prizes.

- A fresh perspective on printing is desired; a global perspective from both students and professionals that explores printing possibilities beyond the traditional thinking about how and where printing integrates into a person’s life.

- Entrants are challenged to design a complete ZINK-enabled product “ecosystem” that demonstrates the power of the ZINK Technology to link the digital world to the real world via a tangible ZINK Print. Entrants have two ways they can solve this challenge: 1) by creating a ZINK ecosystem that will make today’s youth crave ZINK products in the context of their digital and mobile world or 2) by creating a “ZINK World” in a context or market of their choice.

For complete details head here and here.

All the best!

ZINK Imaging is asking the design community for new “solutions” and applications (not new form factors for existing products etc.) that enable and enhance printing with the ZINK Technology. Essentially, it’s about the whole design solution, not just the fit and finish. If you think you got it in you to provide a super solution; then enter ZINK Imaging’s Zero Boundaries Design Competition.

Roughly one week left before the contest closes and the first 50 submissions received by June 1 will receive a free ZINK-enabled product and ZINK Paper supply. Cool!

The contest is open to established design firms, emerging designers, and students of design. As ZINK puts it, “The design challenge is to re-imagine printing and its role in the digital world using the ZINK Technology to fuel the future possibilities of this unique technology platform.”

Registrations are open NOW and the Design Submissions are due on June 8th 2009. The Finalists will be announced on June 22nd and the Winners take home the booty by June 29th 2009.

What are the awards?

• First place – Option 1 – $10,000 cash prize
• First place – Option 2 – $10,000 cash prize
• Second place – Both Options – $1,000 each
• Third place – Both Options – $500 each

There are many rules and info that you need to go through before you register, but lemme highlight a couple of them for you.

- Participants can submit multiple entries AND win multiple prizes.

- A fresh perspective on printing is desired; a global perspective from both students and professionals that explores printing possibilities beyond the traditional thinking about how and where printing integrates into a person’s life.

- Entrants are challenged to design a complete ZINK-enabled product “ecosystem” that demonstrates the power of the ZINK Technology to link the digital world to the real world via a tangible ZINK Print. Entrants have two ways they can solve this challenge: 1) by creating a ZINK ecosystem that will make today’s youth crave ZINK products in the context of their digital and mobile world or 2) by creating a “ZINK World” in a context or market of their choice.

For complete details head here and here.

All the best!

Self-help is the best help, the sooner you imbibe this rule in your life, the faster you will find success. I’m not trying to be preachy here, but this is a fact that most biggies in the industry live by.

If you want to own the best possible mobile phone in this world, my dear friend you’re gonna have to design it yourself, because you know what’s best for you. We live for the future and this is the theme for LG’s Design the Future Competition as well. Partnering with crowdSPRING and Autodesk®, LG is accepting applications from eligible candidates who have the power of transforming their creative thoughts and imaginations effectively to design. It’s a chance to do something for yourself that others can benefit from as well.

To help in this adventure, participating designers will get a free 15-day trial pack of the Autodesk SketchBook Pro software to showcase their talent. Of course, the rewards are plenty! The First Place takes home $20,000 Cash Award; the Second Place: $10,000 Cash Award; Third Place: $5,000 Cash Award; 40 Honorable Mentions: $1,000 Cash Award + 1 LG U.S. Phone (A.R.V. of $300).

Regulations require participants to be a U.S. resident, 18-years and above, and the entries need to be submitted before June 7, 2009 @ 11:59 p.m. (midnight) PST. Owning an LG phone or purchasing a new one won’t win you any favors, so designers don’t bother, just let your creative juices flow….

Official rules can be found at www.crowdspring.com/LG.
Winners will be announced on July 7, 2009 at www.crowdspring.com/LG/winners.

Vote: Illustrated Sound

The competition, inspired by LA County Measure R—a half-cent sales tax hike that promises up to $40 billion in transit funding for the city— attracted 75 proposals from around the world. It offered architects, engineers, urban planners, and students a chance to propose new ideas for the city’s transit infrastructure. Their entries focused on specific rail extension projects in the city and also take a look at larger-scale, interrelated planning challenges.

The competition jury included architects Thom Mayne, Eric Owen Moss, and Neil Denari;  Aspet Davidian, director, Project Engineering Facilities, LA County Metropolitan Transportation Authority; Cecilia V. Estolano, chief executive officer, CRA/LA; Gail Goldberg, director of planning, City of Los Angeles; Roland Genik, urban planner and transit designer; and Geoff Wardle, director, Advanced Mobility Research at Art Center College of Design.

First Prize: Más Transit

Joshua G. Stein/RadicalCraft, Aaron Whelton/AAW Studio, and Jaclyn Thomforde with Jacob M. Brostoff

Más is regional high-speed rail for Los Angeles with a landscape to match. Promoting dense, organic development, it diversifies the communities in the built environment, making travel less necessary, easier and more predictable, and bypassing roadway congestion through a new raised infrastructure. Looping around the city, with connections to subways and buses, Más links local and inter-regional commuting; providing frequent service that will also sync up with the California High Speed Rail network. San Diego via más is less than an hour away, including transfer times; San Francisco is less than three hours away.

Second Prize: Infrastructural Armature

Fletcher Studio: David Fletcher, Dylan Barlow, Ryan Chandler, Daniel Phillips, Tobi Adamolekun

Recognizing the vital role that mobility, water, and sewage will play in Los Angeles’ future, the city must begin to invest in a core armature of new bundled infrastructures which will allow the city to survive the impending reality of peak water and peak oil.  The city must reorganize along the matrices of transportation, water and sewer networks, and grow infrastructural tentacles out into the world to ship and receive.

Third Prize: Mag Luv

Osborn: Holly Chisholm, Kate Harvey, Armen Isagholi, Takeshi Kobayashi, Michael Pinto, Jared Sopko, Esmeralda Ward, Yuju Yeo

The scheme proposes eroding a portion of the freeway and supplanting it with a new object, mode, and form for adoration—Mag Luv. The high speed magnetic levitation peripheral train appropriates freeway, right of way, and “dream space” to become the mega structure of the Los Angeles transit system. The loop circumnavigates the city providing 12 hubs of activity, transportation, and power production.

Via: Archpaper & Arch Daily

1st Place

Fluid Rocker by Nick Trincia

My entry for the RELAX Design Competition is one of the most relaxing of all pieces of furniture, a rocking chair. The Fluid Rocker’s soft curves and ergonomic form make it as inviting to look at as it is to sit in. The chair’s flowing organic shape is achieved through a one piece fiber glass construction with a high-gloss finish. For added comfort and texture, a layer of soft natural felt wraps over the entire outer face of the chair. On the upper side of the chair, the felt provides added cushion for sitting, while on the underside of the chair it provides for quieter, softer rocking, and protection for your floors.

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1st Runner Up

Solomon by Jeff Lawber

The chair is what I like to think of as a hybrid between a bean bag chair and a park bench, offering the custom fit of one and the pleasant atmosphere of the other. The idea is that the chair compresses when you sit on it to give a level of custom comfort as well as a spring-like bounce.

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Honorable Mention

Hive Chair by Marcos Torres

Hive was designed because I wanted to create a chair that had a suspended seat area that was not rigid. The hexagonal pattern is made from an elastomer that allows the seat to have some give when the user sits down. The challenge was to be able to create a pattern that was parametric so that I could make changes to the pattern on the fly. To achieve this flexibility I used grasshopper. Grasshopper allowed me to create a chair that had endless possibilities. The result is Hive, a fun and progressive design that is sure to make people stop and stare.

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To Rocking Chair by Zheng Ruixing

Relax – A term to describe idyllic surroundings, loosening of muscles and just immersing in total happiness. To me, it is to be able to sit down at the end of the day and rocking away all the hectic lifestyle that I am exposed to in the mornings. Hence, the design of my furniture is largely based on a fantastic Japanese character. An individual feels at ease and at the same time, comfortable as it is of ergonomic structure and it does not feel out of place when placed with any other furniture because of its minimalistic outlook. An ideal hangout for a cozy afternoon read (as the bottom stand is able to store items like books), a balcony decorative piece to enjoy nature with or just reminiscing the days of sitting on Gramps’ lap while he sits on his traditional rocking chair.

In short, “と” is the way of life where “と” means a good friend who is supporting and walking WITH you through the days of your lives.

(とis pronounced as “to” and is translated to “with” in English)

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Relax Lounge Chair by Kamil Kurka

The hand which held you in its palm let you relax and drowse you with soft touch and mild swing. Endless flexible frame let you float in the air.

Combination of modern technology and functionality with a beauty of natural materials has found its place. Frame is made of straight grain veneers glued together. There are various grain directions in each layer for best strength and flexibility. Endless frame has no fix connection in the cross, only plastic sliders in between.

Seat is divided into 3 cushions covered in white leather, for better comfort and support of the body.

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Cloud Sofa by D.K. Wei

Cloud is a sofa concept designed for ultra comfort and relaxation. The soft floating upper part is supported by the magnetic force generated by the bottom base. No matter if you want to work and sit with comfort or simply a power nap to release the stress, you can always enjoy your time to relax on the floating cloud.

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Don’t forget to check out all the entires!