Clarice Tudor’s self-deprecating comics tackle themes of anxiety, friendship and Jeff Bezos

Through comic strips that are both hilarious and vulnerable, Clarice is “taking ugly feelings and making them more digestible.”

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Dyson devises 44 engineering challenges for children during lockdown

Dyson has created 44 engineering and science activities for children to try out while at home during the coronavirus pandemic, from making a balloon-powered car to building a bridge from spaghetti.

Following the closure of schools across the globe due to Covid-19, designers from the James Dyson Foundation have come up with a series of challenges to help kids learn at home during isolation.

Comprised of 22 science tasks and 22 engineering activities, the Challenge Cards can be completed by children using common household items such as eggs, string and balloons.

The James Dyson Foundation has created a series of challenges including getting an egg in a bottle

Suited for kids aged seven and above, each challenge comes with a brief, a method, a list of materials needed, a top tip on how to complete it, and a scientific explanation of how it works.

Tasks include making an egg fit into a bottle without breaking it, creating a colourful underwater volcano and skewering a balloon without popping it.

In total there are 22 science and 22 engineering tasks

Children can also try making and racing a balloon-powered car using just a balloon, a plastic cup, straws, thread and rubber bands to provide a good example of Newton's Third Law.

To make the car, cut the cup in half lengthways using scissors to create the car body, then poke two sets of holes through the cup using a pencil – one set near the top and the other near the bottom – and another hole through the bottom of the cup.

The James Dyson Foundation has also created some video tutorials

Then insert a straw through each set of holes, before sliding the cotton reels onto each end of the straws to make wheels, and wrapping a rubber band around the end of each straw to secure the wheels.

Next, push the neck of the balloon through the hole in the bottom of the cup, leaving it lying inside the cup, while making sure the hole is big enough to let the air out. The blow up the balloon, place on a hard surface and release to see it travel.

Tasks include creating strong spaghetti bridge

Other challenges include constructing a free-standing bridge from dried spaghetti that's strong enough to hold a 250 gram bag of sugar.

The Dyson engineers advise bracing strands together for extra strength, suggesting that shapes like triangles are particularly strong, and recommend using rubber bands to create good junctions.

Children can also watch a video showing Dyson engineers attempting the task with a spaghetti replica of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

Dyson engineers attempted the bridge challenge 

These types of demonstrative Youtube videos are available for several of the challenges to show children and their parents how the tasks can be carried out.

The Challenge Cards can be downloaded via the James Dyson Foundation's website.

The foundation also encourages children and their parents to share photos of their creations or videos of them completing the challenges on social media using the hashtag #JDFChallenge.

By tagging @Dyson and @Jamesdysonfoundation, the institutions can also share this content for others to see.

Keeping children entertained in lockdown is not the only way that Dyson has provided help during the coronavirus lockdown.

The British technology company also designed a ventilator in just 10 days to help meet the demand caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, and plans to produce 15,000 units in the coming weeks.

Named CoVent, the ventilator was developed after Prime Minister Boris Johnson contacted several manufacturers to help bolster the National Health Service's supply of ventilators.

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Daily coronavirus architecture and design briefing: 7 April

Daily coronavirus briefing: today's architecture and design coronavirus briefing includes an Iranian shrine being used to make masks, Foster + Partners' design for a face shield and a ventilator prototype by Tesla.

Foster + Partners designs open-source laser-cut face shield

Foster + Partners has created a shield that can be manufactured quickly and disassembled, sanitised and reused after wearing. The British firm is among a number of architecture practices like BIG, KPF and Handel Architects that are creating personal protective equipment (via Dezeen).

Iran holy shrine turned into mask workshop

The Shah Cheragh shrine in the Iranian city of Shiraz has been temporarily converted into a mask manufacturing workshop. Photos released by Fars News Agency show people working on sewing machines and assembling the masks in the highly decorative shrine (via IFP news).

Tesla unveils ventilator prototypes

Tesla has shared a new video on its YouTube channel showing two versions of the ventilator the company is building to address the shortage caused by the coronavirus crisis. One is a prototype model, with its components laid out across a desk, the other a packaged model that shows how the ventilator could look when used by a hospital (via The Verge).

Lindsey Adelman and Apparatus auction off designs to raise money for PPE

The online auction At Home will raise money for Direct Relief, which is working to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) to New York's health workers. Lindsey Adelman and Apparatus are among 40 local design studios and makers that have donated to the cause (via Dezeen).

Helpful Engineering creates design collective

Non-profit organisation Helpful Engineering has established a global network of volunteers to crowdsource designs that can be helpful in the fight against coronavirus. The first product created by the group is a face shield that can be made using a home 3D printer (via Helpful Engineering).

Hastings Contemporary launches robot-led guided tours

The Hastings Contemporary art gallery in the south of England is offering virtual tours of its exhibition of British abstract artist Victor Pasmore in real time, led by a robot (via Guardian).

Self-isolating is a luxury says New York Times

Lower-income workers across the USA are still moving around the city while wealthier residents are self-isolating, according to smartphone location data analysed by The New York Times (via New York Times).

RISD graduates prototype mask and face shields

Five alumni of Rhode Island School of Design have joined the effort to create face shields and masks to meet the growing demand for medical supplies during the coronavirus pandemic (via Dezeen).

Female-focused co-working club The Wing closes its doors indefinitely

The Wing, an international co-working club famous for its female-focused membership, has laid-off or furloughed the majority of its staff. The announcement came three weeks after the club closed its doors and suspended its memberships. "We simply don't know when we will reopen," said co-founder Audrey Gelman (via Instagram).

Grimshaw starts 3D printing face masks

Grimshaw is the latest architecture studio to start 3D printing face masks as part of the UK's National 3D Printing Society campaign (via Grimshaw Twitter).

Keep up with developments by following Dezeen's coverage of the coronavirus outbreak. For news of impacted events, check Dezeen Events Guide's dedicated coronavirus page.

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Send us a video message from lockdown for Virtual Design Festival and we'll publish the best ones

As part of Virtual Design Festival, we're calling on readers everywhere to send us short video clips with their messages to the world.

The best ones will be published on Dezeen as part of VDF, which starts on 15 April and runs until 30 June. This will including a special montage of video messages to launch the festival, which will be soundtracked by musician Beatie Wolfe (above).

If you want to contribute, please carefully follow the instructions below! Please note that video messages must not contain any commercial or promotional messages.

If you want to promote your work, we are offering an affordable product launchpad as part of the festival. We're also looking for sponsors and commercial partners to help us make a success of VDF. Drop us a line at virtualdesignfestival@dezeen.com for more details.

Here's the brief for your video messages:

Please record a continuous clip with no breaks or edits of 45-60 second in length. Longer clips will be rejected.

Start with a greeting and say who you are and where you are.

After a short gap (to allow for editing), please explain how you are faring during the restrictions where you are, what you are doing, and giving a positive message to the world. This is your chance to be creative so feel free to do something entertaining!

Finally, after another short gap, please end with a signoff. This could be a simple "Goodbye" or "Cheers" or similar.

Important: please hold your phone or camera horizontally to record in landscape format and try to ensure your clip has good audio and lighting.

Avoid background noise and don't include anything to which you don't own rights; for example, don't record TV, radio or music tracks that are not yours to share.

Please look into the camera when you're recording the beginning and end bits, but you can also move around and pan the camera around your surroundings during the middle section if you like.

That's it! Please upload your clip to dezeen.wetransfer.com. When uploading the clip, be sure to include your email address so we can contact you, as well as your name, the name of your company, your location and any other key details in the message field.

There's no deadline, but the sooner you send us your clip, the more likely it is that we will choose to feature it.

For more details about Virtual Design Festival, visit www.virtualdesignfestival.com.

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Coronavirus "disaster" sees 45 per cent of architects lose income in UK

A survey conducted by the Royal Institute of British Architects has found that 45 per cent of architects have lost income due to the coronavirus pandemic, while almost quarter are struggling mentally.

The survey found that the disruption caused by the necessary measures to slow the spread of coronavirus Covid-19 are having a huge impact on the profession.

"The findings of this survey show how that Covid-19 is having a severe impact on architects, professionally and personally," said RIBA CEO Alan Vallance.

"For many architects, their work is more than a way to earn a living, and to see decades of hard work threatened by circumstances none of us can have foreseen is a disaster."

Cancelled projects and cash flow shortages

Almost 80 per cent of respondents reported project delays, with over a third seeing their projects cancelled entirely.

Of those surveyed, 59 per cent reported a drop in workload for their practice, and 57 per cent had seen decreased cash flow.

Only one per cent had been made redundant, but 45 per cent reported a loss of income and 33 per cent are looking into applying to HMRC for an extension on their tax bills.

Over 80 per cent of the 1,000 architects surveyed are now working from home, but almost a third said that the disruption of family or caring responsibilities was affecting their ability to work.

Mounting pressure on mental health 

Isolation and stress over the uncertainty had 23 per cent of architects reporting a negative impact on their mental health.

"During this extremely unsettling time, I call on employers to prioritise the welfare and wellbeing of their staff," said Vallance.

"This means enabling them to work from home flexibly where possible, and taking advantage of the Government’s Job Retention Scheme," he added.

"Above all else, we must all prioritise our own physical and mental health, and seek support if needed."

The RIBA said it was lobbying the government to protect architect's incomes and asking for grants for practices to rent computer equipment for staff that need to work from home.

Vallance has been appointed to temporarily lead the RIBA after its president Alan Jones stood down unexpectedly last week.

Main image is by Mrkaushikkashish from Pixabay.

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