Articles (Works That Work magazine)

Editorial
People like the security of keeping things as they are in defiance of the fact that says that everything that has a beginning also has an end.
by Peter Biľak (393 words)
Designing Things to Last
Planned obsolescence drives much of modern industry but is also bloating our landfills. What do the alternatives look like?
by Rich McEachran (3279 words)
A Vase That Makes a Difference
To escape the poverty of one of the world’s largest slums, children need a miracle. Laurien Meuter and Pepe Heykoop offer them one.
by Parvinder Marwaha (2682 words)
The Chair That’s Everywhere
As practical as it is unglamourous, the one-piece stacking plastic chair is part of daily life all over the world.
by Justin Zhuang (1289 words)
Urban Farming
As cities swell, farmlands dwindle and climates shift, creative use of urban spaces may become an important aspect of agriculture.
by Pete Guest (2058 words)
When the Ice Gets Thick
The unexpected beauty and variety of ice fishing huts.
by Ben Weeks (1263 words)
Return To Maker
Bottle-deposit schemes reward consumers for keeping their used bottles out of landfills. Sometimes a little motivation is enough.
by Anne Quito (1825 words)
Helping ZOO Animals Find the Fun
Animals in captivity need mental stimulation as much as they need food, water and shelter, and play is serious stuff.
by Anne Miltenburg (2830 words)
Reaching Beyond Borders
A Dutch foundation is bringing Palestinian art and design—and the stories behind them—to the world outside.
by Kurt Vanbelleghem (1966 words)
A Wardrobe for Wellness
Designed by a patient for patients, Hospital Hacks clothing restores some dignity to the experience of being in hospital.
by Leanne Prain (1319 words)
Do Not Park
The ‘parking goats’ of Bucharest are homemade markers used to stake out that most precious of commodities, the parking space.
by Maja Demska (903 words)
Designing For The End
Disasters cannot be entirely prevented, but they can be anticipated and planned for.
by Caitlin Hu (2317 words)
Editorial
This issue of *Works That Work* is about sports and games.
by Peter Biľak (296 words)
Designing Strategy
Play design in team sports allows athletes—amateur and pro alike—to transcend the physical, and use their brains to overpower brawn.
by Gideon Nachman (1906 words)
When Football Transcends Factions
At its best, sport brings people together in friendly, respectful competition. Sometimes it can help to make enemies into friends.
by Ramón Iriarte (2957 words)
Gaming the Game
Creativity in sports extends beyond innovative training techniques and game strategies into clever ways to cheat and beat the system.
by Christof Gertsch (2351 words)
Zero-Gravity Games: How Astronauts Play in Space
Recreation is a vital component of any space mission, and the creativity required to adapt games to this environment is part of the fun
by Leanne Prain (1689 words)
Propagandopoly: Monopoly as an Ideological Tool
Monopoly has often been viewed as a vehicle for capitalist indoctrination, but its history and development and impact are much more complex
by Naomi Russo (2206 words)
Doing the Panenka
An interview with Antonín Panenka, perfecter of the creative penalty kick strategy that bears his name.
by Alan Záruba (3035 words)
Beyond the Baseline
While all eyes are on players’ speed, strength and strategy, nearly invisible changes to their rackets help them achieve a competitive edge.
by William Ralston (3554 words)
The Wild World of Sports Trophies
Some coveted sports trophies are bold, majestic and dignified. Some are not.
by Anne Quito (2194 words)
May the Worst Politician Win
Dirty politics in the Philippines inspired a satirical card game that hopes to educate Filipinos about the tricks their politicians play.
by Justin Zhuang (1596 words)
Kit that Fits: Developing Women’s Sportswear
Even at top levels, women’s sports uniforms lag far behind men’s. What will it take for women to win equality on the field and in the cabin?
by Anne Miltenburg (3033 words)
Editorial
Bhutan is an inspiration for developed countries, but also leapfrogging traditional industrialised powers in a number of areas.
by Peter Biľak (503 words)
Being Bhutanese
In its struggle to survive amongst giants, Bhutan has crafted a national identity that distinguishes it from its neighbors.
by Jonah Goodman (4883 words)
Undercover Identity
The gho, Bhutanese traditional dress, is important tool for defining the nation. What’s under, defines the individual.
by Ugyen Wangchuk (282 words)
A Water-powered Country
Some countries have oil and gas. Bhutan has high mountains, vast forests and powerful rivers, and has staked its future on hydroelectricity to fund its fast-growing economy.
by Jonah Goodman (3180 words)
Roadside Wisdom
The wry, gentle wisdom of Bhutan’s roadside signs make every drive an opportunity to reflect on the journey of life.
by Jessica Vernon (1477 words)
Forging Innovation from Tradition
Tshering Tobgay speaks about how Bhutan is facing the challenges of maintaining its national identity in times of significant change.
by Peter Biľak (2582 words)
Football on the Roof of the World
On the day of the 2002 World Cup football match, FIFA’s two lowest-ranked teams, Montserrat and Bhutan, also played their own final.
by Robert Urquhart (2981 words)
Drones And Phones
Expensive telemedicine projects are still far beyond Bhutan’s resources, but doctors are improvising their own technological solutions.
by Jonah Goodman (2206 words)
Cat Hair, Mud Paint, Rice Banks and the Buddha
In Bhutan, people don’t choose to be artists because they are passionate about art, but because it’s a solid profession.
by Jonah Goodman (3229 words)
Little Ambassadors of the Country
Before Bhutan was famous for its Gross National Happiness program, it was known for its remarkable stamps.
by Peter Biľak (2726 words)
Moving Pictures
Far from the glamour of Hollywood and Bollywood, Bhutanese film directors are their own distributors, ticket sellers and road crew.
by Jonah Goodman (3163 words)
Improvised Animal Hospital
Two self-trained veterinarians using whatever they can find to build makeshift medical materials to treat the animals they take care of.
by Jessica Vernon (1789 words)
Editorial
This issue of WTW strives to probe beyond the visible aspect of design. We look at the invisible organisational principles shaping our lives.
by Peter Biľak (264 words)
Dodging and Dazzling: Responses to Mass Surveillance
Growing numbers of designers are devising tools to enable personal anonymity and invisibility responding to the erosion of our privacy.
by Alice Twemlow (251 words)
35 Years of Mass Hitchhiking
In San Francisco, economic pressures have given rise to an informal system in which commuters get into strangers’ cars to get to work.
by Rachel Berger (4331 words)
The Magnificent Facekinis of Qingdao
Chinese women hide their natural beauty behind a colorful, mysterious beauty of another kind
by Peter Biľak (529 words)
Disappearing Act
Even at close range, it takes an extremely sharp eye to spot a sniper in the field.
by Simon Menner (425 words)
Where the Streets Have No Name
Amidst the chaos of Brazil’s largest slum, three entrepreneurs have made a small fortune by providing a basic service — delivering mail.
by Leticia Helena (2435 words)
Addressing the World
An ingenious system gives addresses to huts and shacks that never had them before, and indeed to every spot on the planet.
by Anne Quito (2024 words)
Bells and Whistles: Giving Devices a Voice
Modern life is full of beeps, buzzes and chirps that we recognise as important messages. Who creates these sounds and how?
by Rob Boffard (1783 words)
Bringing Clarity to the Diamond Trade
The diamond trade is a high-security operation hidden from daily view, but recent scandals have sparked demands for greater transparency.
by Pete Guest (2205 words)
The Art and Science of Military Camouflage
Drawing on nature, science and practical experience to create camouflage that can buy soldiers precious seconds in the field.
by Caitlin Hu (2637 words)
Ships That Dance in the Night
At night, the Nile is home to the extravagant floating clubs of Cairo’s wealthy elite, but also to working-class versions accessible by all.
by Kenza Yousfi (762 words)
Rwanda’s War on Plastic
Eight years after their government banned the use of plastic bags, Rwandans—for the most part—have learned to live without them.
by Jonathan W. Rosen (2427 words)
Hiding in Plain Sight
Some safes protect valuable items by being difficult to open, other by being difficult to find.
by Leanne Prain (2030 words)
Editorial
Many magazines rush to cover the latest news. Works That Work is interested in the impact of design and forgotten ideas worth a second look.
by Peter Biľak (629 words)
Our Country is The World
In the wake of the Second World War Garry Davis launched his effort to establish a universal world government by issuing its passport.
by Jeroen Junte (1902 words)
Colour Photography Before Colour Photography
Colour photographs taken over a hundred years ago using a primitive, long-abandoned process which produces spectacular images.
by Kai Bernau (1127 words)
Cars That Run on Trees
Though they may seem like a steampunk fantasy or a whimsical curiosity, wood-burning cars were once commonplace in Europe.
by Jonah Goodman (3044 words)
What a Difference a School Can Make
Seemingly simple design decisions can make a school building more comfortable and make students more likely to complete their education.
by Giovanna Dunmall (2297 words)
Roadside Attractions
The unexpectedly diverse and beautiful bus stops of the former USSR, lovingly documented by photographer Christopher Herwig.
by Christopher Herwig (631 words)
Weapons of Mass Deception
Part of the Second World War was fought with dummy vehicles and counterfeit weapons designed to deceive the enemy and confuse intel.
by Rick Beyer (4347 words)
The Cobbler Who Conquered the World
The principles and practices of the man who turned a humble family business into the world’s largest shoe manufacturing enterprise.
by Rob Cameron (3394 words)
Fighting Illiteracy With Typography
Why an attempt to simplify Arabic script for printing and learning has the potential to boost literacy, and why it has not yet succeeded.
by Yara Khoury Nammour (2809 words)
Nutcrackers
The traditional way of processing the *coco de babaçu* still surpasses mechanical methods, but the women who use it face serious obstacles.
by Pete Guest (2188 words)
The Language of Colours
The Munsell Color System catalogues the broad range of colours perceivable by the human eye and reproducible by imaging technology.
by Tim Maly (1460 words)
Editorial
Exploring the fine line between breaking the rules and breaking the laws.
by Peter Biľak (682 words)
Bending Borders
When the village of Szelmenc was split between two countries, people devised ingenious ways of staying in touch with friends and family.
by Oľga Džupinková (2488 words)
The Forgery Market
There is a place where you can custom order forgeries of nearly any official document you desire. It’s cheap, fast and, of course, illegal.
by Anne Quito (3554 words)
Make-shift Winery in Norway
*Vestavin* documents DIY wine making, a semi-legal tradition in Norwegian culture, examining its present practices and future possibilities.
by Joar Nango (623 words)
Underwater Underworld
Colombian drug cartels are developing increasingly sophisticated submarines capable of transporting tons of cocaine.
by Luca Zanetti (672 words)
A Pound for a Pound
To help protect their neighbourhood from the influence of Big Money, Brixton activists decided to create their own local currency.
by Pete Guest (1752 words)
Underground Art in Saudi Arabia
Contemporary art flourishes in Saudi Arabia, even under the watchful eyes of the Wahhabist imams.
by Ahmed Al Majid (2713 words)
Italy’s Hidden Mosques
Italy’s 1.5 million Muslims have only three mosques. Forbidden by law from building more, they gather in improvised places of worship.
by Jonah Goodman (1208 words)
The Reality of the Fake
If somebody paints a picture of a photograph of a painting, who is the artist and whose is the art?
by Anne Quito (2180 words)
Innovation Behind Bars
Behind bars, where resources are scarce but time is plentiful, inmates put the available materials to innovative uses.
by Jonah Goodman (3440 words)
Cultivating Clandestine Design
The tools of *The Subversive Gardener* use disguise and intrigue to grow a guerrilla resistance, one seed at a time.
by Barbara Eldredge (1210 words)
Editorial
If necessity is the mother of invention, extreme environments must be hotbeds of innovation.
by Peter Biľak (593 words)
Tower of David: Urban Survival Creativity
Some see the Tower of David as a highly functional community of homeless families. Some see it as the world’s tallest slum.
by Ramón Iriarte (2713 words)
Sámi Self-Sufficiency
Tasks that are simple elsewhere are a challenge in the Arctic, but the Sámi have learned to adapt to their world in often surprising ways.
by Joar Nango (664 words)
Living Underground
Daily life and even tourism flourish despite one of the most arid climates on earth in the (largely) underground town of Coober Pedy.
by Peter Biľak (575 words)
Bringing Kids to School
Through sand or snow, in daylight or darkness, parents have to get their kids to school
by Peter Biľak (1075 words)
An Ancient Design in a Modern Age
A traditional Sámi dwelling is finding new popularity in modern Scandinavia thanks to its effective design and cultural heritage.
by Per Kristian Bergmo (1970 words)
Branding the World’s Newest Country
The challenge of developing state symbols for a country eager to assert itself but still unsure of its own identity.
by Anne Quito (3412 words)
A Litre at a Time
Simple, affordable solar devices provide not only light and safety, but also economic benefits to rural communities and disaster areas.
by Phillip Gangan (1897 words)
Constructing the World’s Biggest (Disassemblable) City
The largest peaceful human gathering in history took place in a megacity planned, built, used and dismantled in the space of five months.
by Rahul Mehrotra (2658 words)
Improvised Design in the Siege of Sarajevo
During the four-year siege of Sarajevo, day-to-day survival depended on the ability to improvise and adapt.
by Jonah Goodman (5173 words)
From Earth To Mars
Governments have slashed their space exploration efforts, and private enterprise is racing to fill the gap. Who will succeed and how?
by Pete Guest (3272 words)
Editorial
Some designs are meant to last for ages. Some designs have unintended consequences that far outlive their creators.
by Peter Biľak (512 words)
Pads for Potatoes
One man’s trial-and-error battle against enormous technical, cultural and personal obstacles to improve the lives of women in India.
by Shagun Singh (2038 words)
Ultimate Backup
An Arctic storehouse holds vital seeds from all over the world, safeguarding them against ecological catastrophe.
by Peter Biľak (711 words)
Paradise Repurposed
A former tropical water park finds an entirely new purpose.
by Anne Miltenburg (552 words)
A Message to the Future
Safely storing nuclear waste requires systems that will last at least 20 times longer than any recorded civilisation.
by Tim Maly (3430 words)
From Bunkers to Businesses
Albania’s ubiquitous bunkers, built to repel an invasion that never happened, present a unique opportunity for artists and entrepreneurs.
by Valerie Hopkins (2405 words)
The Men Who Build Mountains
Designing a world-class ski slope takes skill, experience, technology, significant capital and a gift for working with nature.
by Rob Boffard (2733 words)
Portable Boundaries
Remarkably simple and amazingly effective: a portable barricade for directing traffic and containing crowds.
by Carl Alviani (1887 words)
Flight 300 to Mumbai
Captain Gupta takes Indian schoolchildren and other curious passengers on a unique educational trip.
by Martin Parr (721 words)
The Art of Peace
Artists who transform weapons into opportunities to reflect on the violence in our world and even to take action against it.
by Barbara Eldredge (2739 words)
Building on Tradition — 1,400 Years of a Family Business
A corporate creed enabled Kongō Gumi, once the oldest company in the world, to survive over 1,400 years of cultural and economic upheavals.
by Irene Herrera (2106 words)
Editorial
As our world becomes ever more interconnected, design ideas cross the globe with unprecedented speed, often with surprising results.
by Peter Biľak (367 words)
The Unexpected Success of the Boeing 747
The 747, the product of a complex, demanding collaborative design process, became an icon of the modern age, much to Boeing’s surprise.
by Ed van Hinte (1891 words)
Grassroots Football
Jessica Hilltout’s photographs of handmade footballs that document a passion for the game that overcomes even the handicap of not having a football.
by Jessica Hilltout (713 words)
The Box That Shrank the World
The lowly, inelegant container has been the key to a revolution that continues to shape the everyday lives of nearly everyone in the world.
by Marc Levinson (3545 words)
Thresholds of Silence
Ancient wisdom and modern art come together in an innovative project to reduce the noise pollution produced by Schiphol airport.
by Kester Freriks (1765 words)
Smuggler Chefs
Success in this prestigious international competition depends not only on the chefs’ culinary skills, but also on their smuggling techniques.
by Barbara Eldredge (2307 words)
A Tunnel to the Other Side
A tunnel to Yugoslavia would have simplified the trip from landlocked Czechoslovakia to the sea… …if Cold War politics hadn’t interfered.
by Rob Cameron (2233 words)
A Hole in the Darkness
Even a simple portable lamp has the potential to improve people’s lives, but only if it is introduced with respect for their culture.
by Suzanne Wales (1534 words)
Chungking Mansions — The World Inside the Building
One building in Hong Kong houses a diverse international community that has a major impact on trade all over Africa and Asia.
by Peter Biľak (4456 words)
The Largest Man-Made Forest in the World
Everybody wants perfect wireless service everywhere, but nobody wants mobile telephone masts in their neighborhood. Photographer Hans Wilschut documents one solution.
by Hans Wilschut (367 words)
Editorial
At a time when many magazines are shrinking in size and readership, or closing down entirely, we are starting a new one.
by Peter Biľak (310 words)
Chefs on the Battlefield
Director Peter Kerekes documents the stories and recipes of the men and women who keep their armies fed… …and perhaps change history in the process.
by Martin Kollár (654 words)
Dabbawallas: Delivering Excellence
Mumbai’s dabbawallas pick up and deliver more than 350,000 home-cooked lunches to office workers every working day. How did this amazingly efficient delivery system develop from its start with one boy on a bicycle?
by Meena Kadri (1772 words)
Custodians of Beauty
Dingeman Kuilman examines how art has divorced itself from aesthetic considerations and argues for a return to beauty as a measure of artistic merit.
by Dingeman Kuilman (1629 words)
British Respect
The story behind the enigmatic photo of a beached supertanker.
by Peter Biľak (708 words)
Dutch Design
An innovative project strengthens the Netherlands’ seacoast while creating new recreational areas and a stable ecosystem.
by Peter Biľak (593 words)
Space for People, Not for Cars
Hans Monderman, father of the Shared Space movement, argued that reducing traffic regulations can improve road safety. Statistics prove him right, but not everybody is convinced.
by Viveka van de Vliet (2322 words)
Refugee Gardens
Photographer Henk Wildschut documented how refugees at the Shousha transit camp beautify their grim surroundings and help to support themselves.
by Henk Wildschut (308 words)
Aiming To Reduce Cleaning Costs
The picture of a fly in the urinals at Schiphol Airport has been touted as a simple, inexpensive way to reduce cleaning costs. Where does it come from, and how effective is it really?
by Blake Evans-Pritchard (1972 words)
Translation Is a Human Interchange
Peter Biľak talks with Linda Asher, former fiction editor at The New Yorker and translator of Milan Kundera’s French works, about her work, good translation and good translators.
by Peter Biľak (4009 words)
Point Me Where It Hurts
Kwikpoint guides enable basic communication between US troops and locals in Afghanistan and Iraq. Each one requires careful research how to communicate across barriers of language and culture.
by Barbara Eldredge (2828 words)
Evil Prevails When Good Men Fail To Act
Ralph Schraivogel spent four months crafting a poster design whose simplicity belies the intensive, meticulous work behind it.
by Ralph Schraivogel (487 words)
Bastard Chairs
Michael Wolf photographs life and vernacular culture in Chinese metropolises. His recent project focuses on quintessential design objects — chairs.
by Michael Wolf (293 words)

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Articles