The Top 5 Design Ideas of 2016

1. Snap Spectacles

Photo credit: spectacles.com

Snap Inc. introduced Spectacles – hip sunglasses in bright colours (and basic black). They let you record a 30-second video with a click of a button, open the Snapchat app and transfer via Bluetooth. And they reinvented the innocuous vending machine into a modern, cheerful yellow. Google sees green.

2. Nauroz eggs installation

Photo credit: ifpnews.com

For Nauroz this year, 500 artists and designers installed five-foot eggs across Tehran for the Baharestan Art Project. To take an essential of the traditional haft seen table and turn it into a public art installation made for a smart way of reinventing an age-old festival.

3. The Fuji polaroid camera

Photo credit: thinglink.com

Brushing the dust of Polaroids, Fujifilm introduced the Instax Mini, a cool in-stand Polaroid camera with a fun, retro design. Suddenly DSLR and iPhone aficionados were stocking up on Polaroid film and shaking the prints to see their pictures revealed old-school style. The comeback story of the year.

4. Abercrombie & Fitch

Photo credit: anf.scene7.com

The retail superstar was known for self-absorbed campaigns and stores that looked like nightclubs.

But A&F customers grew up and turned away. A&F now features a clean palette with ethnically diverse models and a straightforward, yet playful image. This philosophy has been replicated in their stores as well.

5. Pokémon GO

Photo credit: YouTube.com

Transforming a Game Boy success for the digital age was a stretch by any imagination. But Pokémon GO took the same characters (and its players) into the real world gaining a whole new audience. And it got couch potatoes moving. Who would have thought a video game could do that?

Rashna Abdi is Executive Creative Director, IAL Saatchi & Saatchi.