Given the importance of in-person studio time, product and industrial design students must have found lockdown difficult. But you wouldn't know it by looking at some of the standout projects we saw this year.

Out of the dozens of student projects we covered in 2021, these seven below really stood out. The students tackled real-world problems, and asked the right questions. They didn't rely on magical hypothetical apps in their designs, but instead manipulated physical materials to enable their objects to achieve the desired outcomes. None of these projects are designed for Instagram.

Most of the projects considered the overall system they would operate within, and most of the projects really showed their research and developmental work; click on the links below for more details.

The Roadfix Device by Luca Grosso, Silvana Migliozzi, Alessio Puleo, Zöe Schnegg and Xueyan Niu

Politecnico di Milan Concept Design Laboratory, Italy

The students thought through the physical UX of a pothole-fixing device, as well as the economic system that would allow municipalities to sustain it.

Peter Morgan's 6:1 Toaster Concept

National College of Art and Design, Ireland

Morgan asked "How much of our appliances are actually essential?" and designed a toaster with "a distributed feature set: where the features of the design are completed by other objects the user possesses."

Karen Kong's Adjustable Sesura Chair

University of New South Wales, Australia

Kong's elegant seating designed for orchestra members has improved adjustment mechanisms to suit a variety of instrument-based seating postures. It also stacks to take up less space than the incumbent design.

Mina Kasirifar's FLIP Furniture

San Francisco State University

Kasirifar's chair designed to seat, stimulate and engage children can be flipped into a variety of configurations, "merging the concept of toy and furniture."

Sophie Williamson's Beta Guard for Vineyard Protection

University of Canterbury, New Zealand

Williamson designed a less expensive, more sustainable way of protecting vineyards from pests than the incumbent system.

Wang Yuwei and Wu Xuanqi's "Rotate" Ergonomic Restaurant Cart

National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan

Wang and Wu's clean-up cart makes things easier on the body for the worker with improved ergonomics and a transforming configuration that offers better maneuverability in tight spaces.

Jade Echard Transforms Oyster Shells Into Durable Material

Central Saint Martins, UK

By developing a practical method to transform a food waste material into something useful, Echard came up with a system that considers the environment, the supply chain and the economy.