There are so many ways our distant future can go, but fiction has so far been flooding us with rather dystopian scenarios. Although the world of cyberpunk does include advanced technologies, there seems to also be a magnification of the environmental and social problems that we have today. Pollution, decay, criminal empires, and corrupt government and corporations have the run of that ironically hi-tech backwater world. We can only imagine some diseases would be there as well, perhaps even worse than they are today. That might mean some people will still need to take a puff of medicine, so why not look stylish while doing so, at least in cyberpunk style.
Designer: metod kulčar
In terms of aesthetic, cyberpunk truly mixes contrasting elements. On the one hand, it’s a distant future filled with technologies we can only dream of. On the other hand, human civilization seems to have also taken a step back and left its indelible marks everywhere, from dilapidated and abandoned metal surfaces to sometimes incomplete mechanical parts.
This inhaler concept shows clear signs of such a design style. The form itself is unconventional and the transparent parts of the shell reveal the inner workings of medical device. At the same time, the worn-down metal surfaces of the canister suggests it has seen better days, like it has traveled through rough roads to get to the person who needs its life-saving medicine.
The small light at the end of the tunnel is that the design equally works for a utopian version of an inhaler. Idealized visions of the future often utilize white or bright motifs, a tremendous use of plastic-like materials, and clean, unmarred surfaces. There is nothing that says “bright future” better than pure white materials.
This futuristic medical tool could also be at home in that kind of future, just swapping out dark colors and metal for white plastic. Hopefully, that future would have solved our current plastic problem and will be able to easily manufacture environment-friendly materials that just look plastic to our 21st century eyes. Then again, such an ideal future should have probably removed to need for an inhaler in the first place.
Cyberpunk worlds have always carried a sense of irony with them. It is a future filled with technological marvel but fraught with human flaws. Instead of having finally solved the most basic health problems, such a future would still have medical problems that would require using an inhaler like this.
