Turning Big-Box Store Parking Lots into Urban Farms

French design firm Studio NAB has proposed the Car Parks 2.0 concept, which strips away asphalt in the acres and acres dedicated to big-box store parking lots, in order to expose the soil trapped beneath and utilize a portion for urban farming. The concept envisions two other sections: one where the community can grow and another where some parking spaces remain, but where the asphalt …

Ivory Coast Artist O’Plérou Grebet’s Africa-Centric Emojis

21-year-old Ivory Coast-based O’Plérou Grebet noticed a lack of applicable emojis for many Africans to use in everyday instant messaging and did something about it. Grebet’s emoji library Zouzoukwa (meaning “picture” in his first language Bété) includes 200+ images from food to furniture, facial reactions, tools, and more. “I love it because it’s exactly why my project is useful to an African, it fills a …

2020 CES Innovation Award Honorees Announced

Billed as the world’s largest technology and innovation conference, the CTA’s CES (in Las Vegas every January) offers media, fellow industry folks, and investors in on all of the newest gadgets, software, and product announcements from established and emerging brands. As such, and to organize the show a bit, Innovation Award Honorees are named annually to spotlight significant advancements, ingenious inventions, and interesting design. From …