Super Local has won the Dutch Design Award for best product of 2023 with a project that creates colourful souvenirs from trash that was carried out of the Himalayas by mountain trekkers. More about Super Local creates products that could eradicate litter in the Himalayas
Sound artist and designer Yuri Suzuki is sharing his Sound of the Earth: Pandemic Chapter project, which contains crowdsourced sounds of the pandemic from all over the world, as part of Virtual Design Festival. More about Yuri Suzuki presents Sound of the Earth: Pandemic Chapter on VDF
Architects across America including BIG, KPF and Handel Architects have teamed up as part of an open-source project to manufacture face shields to protect hospital workers treating coronavirus patients. More about American architects mobilise to make coronavirus face shields for hospital workers
New Zealand residents have voted to stick with their existing flag after a competition that attracted over 10,000 designs and a national referendum, estimated to have cost NZ$26m. More about New Zealand rejects crowd-sourced flag design
Crowdsourcing site DesignCrowd has revealed the winner of a contest to find an alternative logo for taxi app Uber, after the company unveiled a controversial rebrand earlier this month (+ slideshow). More about Designers create alternatives to controversial Uber rebrand
Tokyo 2020 Olympics organisers have launched a public competition to source a replacement logo for Kenjiro Sano's controversial withdrawn design. More about Tokyo 2020 Olympics organisers seek replacement logo through public competition
New Zealand has narrowed down the options for its potential new flag design to include three fern motifs and a traditional koru emblem (+ slideshow). More about New Zealand shortlists four designs for crowdsourced national flag
Design Academy Eindhoven graduate Manon van Hoeckel is crowdfunding her In Limbo Embassy – a travelling office that aims to facilitate open discussion around immigration in the Netherlands. More about Manon van Hoeckel creates "neutral" travelling embassy for undocumented migrants
Architectural designer James Furzer has developed a modular homeless shelter that would hang off the sides of existing buildings, and launched a campaign on crowdfunding platform Indiegogo to finance a prototype. More about James Furzer to crowdfund parasitic sleeping pods for London's homeless
Berlin crowdsourcing platform Jovoto has launched an open design competition to repurpose a defunct railway bridge spanning the Danube river in Linz. More about Crowdsourcing campaign launched to repurpose Austrian bridge
Bjarke Ingels has become the latest architect to use crowdfunding to finance a project, launching a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for development of a power plant chimney that will blow smoke rings (+ movie) More about BIG launches Kickstarter campaign for smoke-ring-blowing chimney at Copenhagen power plant
The National Museum of Qatar is taking suggestions for its new logo and branding as part of a nationwide competition encouraging public involvement in design. More about National Museum of Qatar to crowdsource its visual identity
A Japanese inventor has developed the "world's smallest electric car" – an aluminium board with wheels that carries a passenger like a Segway and fits into a backpack (+ movie). More about Cocoa Motors' WalkCar transports passengers on a laptop-sized board
New Zealanders are to get a chance to vote on a new flag for their country, which could replace its existing graphic featuring the Union Jack. More about New Zealand announces 40 potential new flag designs
Dutch designer Daan Roosegaarde has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund what he describes as the largest air-purifier in the world (+ movie). More about Daan Roosegaarde aims to rid cities of pollution with Smog Free Tower
Rhode Island furniture company Greycork has created a collection of quick-assembly, flat-pack pieces that are intended "to be a better alternative to Ikea" (+ slideshow). More about Greycork challenges Ikea with a flat-pack living room in a box
Rotterdam studio ZUS has completed what they describe as the "world’s first crowdfunded public infrastructure project" - a 400-metre-long pedestrian bridge in their home city (+ slideshow). More about Crowdfunded Luchtsingel pedestrian bridge opens in Rotterdam
British inventor Clive Sinclair has launched a crowdfunding campaign to produce an electric version of his lightweight foldable A-Bike, with wheels that are just 13 centimetres in diameter (+ slideshow). More about Clive Sinclair launches "world's lightest and most compact electric bike"
Brooklyn studio Snarkitecture has transformed the grand hall of the National Building Museum in Washington DC into a "beach" featuring a sea of translucent balls and a shoreline dotted with lounge chairs and umbrellas (+ slideshow). More about Snarkitecture fills Washington DC museum with nearly one million plastic balls
Creators of the proposed Lowline in New York, billed as the world's first underground park, have launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund development of the project (+ slideshow). More about Lowline creators launch Kickstarter campaign for underground park in New York