A trio from Seattle have created Tin Can, a landline telephone that allows children to make calls without giving them access to the harmful distractions of a smartphone. More about Tin Can is an old-school phone with modern safety measures for children
Central Saint Martins graduate Luke Talbot has created a portable charger that can be hooked up to rental bikes to allow people experiencing homelessness to charge their phones for free. More about MyPowerbank hacks London's Santander bikes so homeless people can charge their phones
Royal College of Art students Sandeep Hoonjan and Xianzhi Zhang have designed a pair of devices that allow people to physically experience conversations while apart during the coronavirus lockdown. More about RCA students design licking phones that turn speech into physical sensations
London industrial designer Tej Chauhan's latest projects include a car tyre imprinted with the Nike swoosh and a smart speaker phone that links up with Amazon Alexa. More about Tej Chauhan designs car tyre based on Nike's Air Force 1 sneaker
Artist Joe Sweeney has installed a phone box on the English coast that invites people to share their feelings about Brexit, in an interactive public artwork called +44. More about Brexit phonebox on Dungeness beach invites the public to "leave a message for Europe"
A group of students from the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design have used a vintage telephone to create a screen-free experience of the internet. More about Copenhagen students design rotary phone that can literally dial up the internet
The UK's iconic red phone boxes are being repurposed for a more contemporary telecommunications need: mobile handset repairs. More about Lovefone turns UK's disused telephone boxes into tiny repair shops
The Design Museum Collection App for iPad is available to download from the app store and features interviews filmed by Dezeen, such as this one in which Design Museum director Deyan Sudjic describes the evolution of telephone design. More about Design Museum Collection App: telephones
Dezeen archive: following our popular story on the smartphone with an old-fashioned rotary dial by Richard Clarkson (top left), we’ve grouped together all our stories from the Dezeen archives about telephones. See all the stories »
More about Dezeen archive: telephones
Designer Richard Clarkson has created a conceptual smartphone with a rotary dial. More about Rotary Mechanical Smartphone by Richard Clarkson
London designer Dominic Wilcox created this stylus that straps over his nose for using his touch-screen phone in the bath. More about Finger-nose Stylus by Dominic Wilcox
Milan 2011: Swedish designers Claesson Koivisto Rune unveiled this mobile phone design at Superstudio Piu at Tortona Design Week in Milan. More about Folded Leaf by Claesson Koivisto Rune
San Francisco designer Yves Behar has designed the inaugural product from new Danish mobile phone brand Æsir. More about AE+Y Mobile Phone by Yves Behar for Æsir
Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka has created a transparent mobile phone. More about X-RAY by Tokujin Yoshioka for KDDI
This mobile phone concept by London designer Patrick Hyland can be charged by the heat in your pocket. More about Nokia E-Cu by Patrick Hyland
London Design Festival 2010: at his shop in London this week Jasper Morrison presents this telephone he's designed for Swiss brand Punkt. More about Punkt. DP 01 by Jasper Morrison
Designer Ronen Kadushin has designed an open-source mallet for smashing up iPhones. More about iPhonekiller by Ronen Kadushin
Digital communications agency Etre have created gloves that expose the tips of the thumb and index finger, specifically designed for using touch-screen devices. More about Etre Touchy by Etre
Chinese designer Daizi Zheng has created a conceptual mobile phone for Finnish brand Nokia that could be powered by sugary drinks. More about Eco-friendly phone for Nokia by Daizi Zheng
Japanese designer Nosigner has designed Drip Grip and XY, two new concepts for Japanese mobile phone company KDDI. More about Drip Grip and XY by Nosigner