What's wrong with this picture?

woobi on kid
© Kilo

Behold the Woobi, a mask designed by Danish firm Kilo Design "to protect and educate children." The designers write:

Woobi Play is an anti-pollution mask for children that filters at least 95% of dangerous airborne particulate matter (PM). The mask is designed to meet children at eye-level, with a playful, educational approach, and is a bold shot at designing a simple, new typology that transforms a professional mask to fit into a child’s universe.

woobi is translucent© Kilo

It evidently differs from other masks, like the Doodle we recently showed, that are not transparent and hide the face.

Compared to more traditional masks on the market which typically hide the face, Woobi’s asymmetric design DNA and its translucent, medical-grade silicone structure aims to achieve effective protection while remaining sensitive to the social needs of its users.

parts of woobi© Kilo

The first question raised by this, as it was with the Doodle Mask, is: what kind of a world do we live in now that we have to send our children out in masks, where 300 million kids can't breathe fresh air? As one commenter on Dezeen noted, "We live in a crazy world, why should pollution mask appeal to children ? Hell, it's a nightmare. A good-looking nightmare."

It would be nice if designers (and politicians) would deal with the source of the problems and design polluting cars and coal fired power plants off the planet, but no, instead our kids will have to wear masks in our smog-filled dystopian future.

WOOBI Play from designboom on Vimeo.

Tags: Air Pollution | Air Quality | Health | Pollution


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