Exit The Rat Race is a speculative design project by Easton Nguyen for The Ohio State University questioning the habits of irrational spending in modern society. The project offers an inherent criticism of our capitalist system, as each piece calls into question various assumptions held and decisions made as we go about our daily life as consumers. The added transactional friction embedded in the products is enough to cause a temporary pause, or at least slow down the pace of consumption in modern society.

The project is very well executed, from concept to research to modeling, and includes a dedicated web site and a compelling video summary. In a poetic gesture, the concepts were promoted using a paid online advertising campaign coinciding with Black Friday, 2023, a quasi-holiday and the pinnacle of consumer spending.

Below are a few of the project images. View the full project here and start considering your own role in the future economy.

Cumbersome Credit Card In an attempt to slow down spending, the Cumbersome Credit Card is given to people in credit card debt, bringing shame and inconvenience to the physical check-out process. This credit card has two ends of payment, one end works, and the other does not. With the ends being identical, you can't tell one side from the other resulting in a 50/50 chance of holding up the Starbucks line and receiving the news that "your payment has been declined".

The Leaderboard A dating app of the future brings finances into the equation of partner selection.

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Congratulations to all of this year's honorees! You can view the honorees in all 23 categories on the Core77 Design Awards website.

Check out all the 2024 Core77 Design Awards honorees by category:

Apps & Platforms | Branding & Identity | Built Environment | Commercial Equipment | Consumer Technology | Design for Social Impact | Emerging Technologies | Furniture & Lighting | Gaming Accessories | Health & Wellness | Home & Living | Interaction | Lifestyle Accessories | Packaging | Robotics | Speculative Design | Sports & Outdoors | Sustainability | Tools | Toys & Play | Transportation | Visual Communication | Autodesk Fusion Prize | KeyShot Visualization Prize | Editor's Choice