Other than making a fashion statement with your umbrella, I didn’t think there was much you could technically improve on. Keeping the rain out seems like a straightforward goal to me. Then again, I rarely think about umbrellas. If I lived in NYC, like designer JooYoun Paek does, they’d probably be on my mind a bit more. I hear it rains a lot there. You know what else I hear about NYC, that the people can be rude. If you’re a New Yorker don’t go getting all pissed off at me for saying that, I didn’t start the fucking rumor. Anyway, so we’ve got two facts laid out right now: New Yorkers can be rude and it rains a lot.

JooYoun Paek has obviously mulled over said facts, because she’s come up with a genius way to put some civility into life when trying to navigate busy streets in the rain. But that’s what she does, she reflects on human behavior, technology and social change. She uses her observations to design interactive objects for public spaces. She’s like Master’s degree smart too, which is probably why places like the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Museum of Science in Boston and the Seoul Museum of Art have all displayed her work.