UNCOVERED: Genius design ideas - Caught on Camera

To get a better understanding of how such cool projects items come to life, we contacted London-based industrial designer and product visualizer Sam Gwilt, who runs a YouTube channel called Sam Does Design.

First of all, there's lots of sketching. "From research, to concept, to refinement, to manufacturing, designing a product is an iterative process that can take years," Gwilt told Bored Panda in an earlier interview.

"It's important to understand what the markets and mindsets of customers will be like in the next few years (when the product launches)."

"Once a brief has been set, it's time to design multiple concepts to find the right solution. Sketching, scribbles, and CAD modeling are all useful to refine designs," Gwilt added.

"Each solution will be prototyped to analyse ergonomics and assembly, usually starting with rough card models, progressing to 3D prints, and then finally to full industrial tooling."

Trying to determine whether or not a particular design is good, many turn to the legendary German designer Dieter Rams and his '10 commandments.'

According to him, good design is innovative, makes a product useful, is aesthetic, makes a product understandable, is unobtrusive, is honest, is long-lasting, is thorough down to the last detail, is environmentally friendly, and involves as little design as possible.

Even though Rams came up with his commandments a long time ago and technology has advanced light years since then, many think his principles still apply today.

"When Dieter Rams defined the 10 principles, he thought that they'd be updated and adapted over time," Gwilt highlighted.

"It's a good starting point; a helpful framework, but it's exciting to see new designers from different backgrounds share their voices for what makes good design."

Gwilt himself thinks a good design must first and foremost form an innate connection between the user and the product.

"Someone needs to look at the product, and instantly understand what it is and how it can benefit them," he said. "The goal is to design a product that is understandable and desirable. It should integrate neatly with the existing lifestyle of the customer, and improve it for the better."

For more awesome designs, fire up our earlier publications on genius solutions to everyday problems here, here, and here.

If, however, you'd like to see the opposite, check out these 50 designs that are so bad, it's hard to believe someone came up with them.