Fun Safety Reflector

Inspiration for the Pink Cat Safety Reflector

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It’s amazing to see the eyes of little girls light up when they find the pink cat safety reflector among all our other reflectors. We’ve seen it become an instant favorite so many times. Not surprising though, considering my own excitement as a toddler for the pink cats my mom appliquéd on my ceiling light. I have to admit that I’m not really a cat person, but cats are cute, cat videos are fun and the graceful pet is a wonderful source of inspiration for any designer and artist. And although different than the cats on my childhood ceiling light, our funflector cat safety reflector was inspired by the style I grew up with in Sweden in the 60’s and 70’s. We realize, not every cat lover likes pink, but luckily, the cat safety reflector looks just as good in other colors. Currently, it is also available in gray, orange and light brown. 

The funflector cat safety reflector was inspired by the bold 60's Scandinavian style.
The funflector cat safety reflector was inspired by the bold 60’s Scandinavian style.

Ladybug and gray cat safety reflector on backpack.
Ladybug and gray cat safety reflector on backpack.

Get Some Pink Cat Safety Reflector to Support Human Rights

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Inspiration for the Pink Cat Safety Reflector Read More »

Reflective Slap Bracelet with Nobel Prize Collection – Part 2

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For our fellow science nerds around the world, we teamed up with  The Particle Zoo and designed an ultra-reflective slap bracelet with elementary particles related to the Nobel Prize in physics. Order it in here webshop, or in our German webshop. In our previous blog post, we discussed the significance of the Photon (1921), the Neutron (1935) and the Electron magnetic moment (1955). That means we are up to the antiproton!

Two difference views of the reflective slap bracelet with the Particle Zoo Nobel Prize collection of elementary particles.
Two difference views of the reflective slap bracelet with the Particle Zoo Nobel Prize collection of elementary particles.

1959 – The Antiproton

Emilio Gino Segrè and Owen Chamberlain
“for their discovery of the antiproton”. An antiparticle is a “mirror image twin” of the particle and Paul Dirac’s theory predicted every particle has its antiparticle. The positron, the antiparticle of the electron, had been discovered in 1932 but the creation of the antiproton, required a more powerful machine followed by new techniques to detect and measure the result.  They announced the discovery of the antiproton in 1955. Read more here> and here>.

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Reflective Slap Bracelet with Nobel Prize Collection – Part 2 Read More »

Canada Safety Reflector 🇨🇦

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Happy Canada Day! Bonne Fête du Canada!

Today is a special Canada Day, the 150th anniversary of the enactment of the Constitution Act. To celebrate, we have launched a Canada safety reflector in our webshop! It will be available online in Canada later this summer. We are excited that our funflector safety reflectors have been so well received in Canada and are looking forward to help more Canadians around the world stay visible in the dark.

Safety Reflectors with Canada maple leaf design by funflector
Safety Reflectors with Canada maple leaf design

The Constitution Act laid the foundation for Canada in 1867, the first Dominion within the British Empire with four provinces; Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario. …

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Canada Safety Reflector 🇨🇦 Read More »

The Treble Clef Safety Reflector 🎼

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Safety for Musicians and Music Lovers

Musicians and music lovers are at double risk ending up in nighttime pedestrian crashes. 1. They are mostly dressed in black. 2. They often head homewards in the dark after evening concerts and rehearsals. Obviously, these things won’t change, so the easiest solution is to add some reflective gear that fits right in. A black treble clef safety reflector is stylish and blends in with any black outfits. It can hang on instrument cases, jackets, purses, backpacks and bags.

Treble clef and snowflake safety reflector on instrument case by funflector
Treble clef safety reflector looks good on a violin case.

Treble clef and snowflake safety reflector on instrument case at night by funflector
Treble clef safety reflector on violin case increase visibility up to 500 feet (125m) at night.

Then in nighttime traffic, it puts its wearer in the spotlight with its reflective power. Thanks to a unique manufacturing technique, …

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The Treble Clef Safety Reflector 🎼 Read More »

How To Choose a Brand Name

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Eons ago, when we were still at the research stage for all that we do today, we needed to choose a brand name. All we had, was a handful of safety reflector samples from a manufacturer and some ideas and advice. Today, on the anniversary of finding our funflector brand name, we would like to share some ideas we had on how to choose a brand name that cut through the noise on search engines and help you build your own niche. These were our criteria:

  • The brand name needed to be different from our business name, the newly registered funflector.com LLC
  • The brand name needed to be available as a .com domain
  • The brand name should not be a normal word or series of words as it would be hard to find our products when using the brand name in search engines.
  • The brand name needed to be reasonably short so the URL was easy to read, remember and type.
  • The brand name needed to flow and be easy to pronounce and spell in American English. Having lived in Sweden, Germany and France in addition to the US, we had plenty of impossible names to draw from.
  • Of course, the brand name must not be offensive, obscene or disrespectful.
  • Lastly, it would be nice if the brand name described the product.

We came up with gazillions of ideas, and some we believed in enough to test in google. For most, however googling was the end until March 15th. That’s when when we typed in funflector.

How to choose a brand name
A perfect brand name – no confusion with existing brands or words!

The result: “Your search – funflector – did not match any documents.” Yes! In that very moment we knew we had chosen a great brand name!Try that today and see how many hits you get!
So, that’s our story on how to choose a brand name!
A couple of weeks later, as we were about to submit trademark registration for funflector, we listened to a webinar about branding. They talked about how many of the best brand names were made up from two normal words smushed together into one name. And that was exactly how we had turned “fun reflector” into funflector!
We still love our brand name and it keeps serving us well.
What’s your favorite advice when it comes to brand creation? Please comment below!
Elisabeth 

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Halloween Safety

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Halloween safety tips poem

Halloween is just a week away and it’s time not just to plan costumes and decoration but also to prep your teens and kids for a safe and fun night. Drivers not seeing trick-or-treaters is the number one halloween safety concern that should be on every adult’s mind this week. It is not too late to order funflector reflectors, ultra-bright Halloween reflectors that are fun and stylish. The Ninja and Ninja star safety reflectors are sailing up as our best sellers this year! From now to Halloween, we’ll promise to get any orders out our door within 24 hours.

4 Steps to Halloween Safety

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Halloween Safety Read More »

The Meaning of the Ampersand

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The typographic symbol “&” or “ampersand”, is a fun squiggle that requires some practice to write smoothly. As the funflector team has worked on the design of our ampersand safety reflector, I remember the proud feeling of accomplishment when, in second grade, I finally got the pen to turn and twist the right way. From a designer’s perspective it is fun to play around with and many different 3D versions has lately made it onto the shelves of many home decorating stores. The Design Hack has written a blog post on the history and their love affair with the graphic beauty and styles of the ampersand and we totally share their love of the design.

Ampersand safety reflector in sandalwood hanging on the handle of a bag.
Ampersand safety reflector in sandalwood hanging on the handle of a bag.


If you want to decorate your home with ampersands, there are so many styles, materials and sizes, but how about if you want to decorate your bags or clothing with one? We did not find many ampersand accessories beyond jewelry so we are proud to add an ampersand safety reflector to our 2016 collection. It looks awesome on jackets, bags and purses. Check it out in our webshop here! It is available in a number of colors and even our black safety reflectors are super bright as explained here.

What’s the meaning of the Ampersand?

Ampersand home decoration covered in with sequence and purple safety reflector.
Ampersand home decoration covered in with sequence and purple safety reflector.


The ampersands symbolizes the word “AND”, which is
the word that brings people together, ties together two disparate things or thoughts,
the word that can make 1+1 equal to 3
AND it is the word that if used in the right place, sparks discoveries and innovation! The ampersand is also a reminder that we are not alone, but stronger together. As a friend of mine put it: “I have many brothers and sisters and think of us all strung together by the word AND. So when I se the ampersand, it makes me think of my loving family.”
In many languages  it represent a very short word
AND in English
UND in German
ET in French
OG in Danish
even in Finnish where something as simple as 1-2-3 is yksi-kaksi-kolme, the word for “and” is JA.
Why is it a favorite for us? When you put AND between thoughts, concepts and models that have not previously been combined, that’s when you get discoveries and innovation! It is also a constant reminder to take one more step, to dig one shovel deeper and take in one more viewpoint. And then what?
We’d love to hear what you think of when you see the ampersand. Please comment below!


Elisabeth

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2016/17 Collection Sneak Peek

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Even in Chicago, it is almost spring – Yay! – and it’s time for the funflector team to emerge from hibernation. Let’s give you a sneak preview of our fall collection that we’ve been hard at work with during the never-ending winter months.

Camera safety reflector by funflector
New design 2016 – 📸 Camera safety reflector by funflector 📷

For amateur and pro photographers alike, the funflector® camera safety reflector will look great on your camera bag and backpack. When you are too focused on what’s in your lens at sunset, this reflector will help drivers notice you.

Ninja and Ninja Star ultra bright backpack safety reflectors by funflector®.

No ninjas on the roads, please! Make them visible in style!

“Is there a ninja school around here?” A friend of ours visiting us on a Saturday night was stressed out when arriving. Not one, but two kids had appeared next his car on the badly lit residential streets. The high schools kids were of course dressed all in black. Luckily, our friend was going slowly enough to stop, but it was stressful, nevertheless. Equip your ninjas with funflector safety reflectors for safer walks around the neighborhood and to keep heart attacks away from drivers.

Bass clef pedestrian safety reflector by funflector
🎶 For all bass singers, cello, double bass, bassoon, trombone & tuba players, we have made a bass clef safety reflector to keep you safe when getting home from late night rehearsals and performances!!! 🎶

Our popular treble clef reflector will get accompanied by a much asked for bass clef reflector. We have both cello and trombone players in the family and know about the struggle for bass clef gifts. Musicians are often out at night, on their way to and from rehearsals and performances. These ultra reflective tags look stylish on any instrument case!
Stay tuned for more cool designs coming this summer and fall. Follow us on Instagram, twitter and Facebook to get the news first!

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4 Halloween Safety Tips for Dealing with the Real Danger

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Are you looking for Halloween safety tips to share with your kids? We certainly hope so, but we also hope that you focus on where the real danger is – TRAFFIC!!! Enjoy Halloween and don’t go nuts worrying about things that rarely happen. We have written about this earlier years and we will keep doing it until every trick-or-treater wear reflectors!

When we look at statistics of what accidents actually happens on Halloween, there is one type that pops out: pedestrian accidents. Cars are the number one threat to trick-or-treaters and sadly, Halloween is the deadliest night all year for kid pedestrians. The graph below shows fatalities per day. Look at October 31st! The threat from cars and drivers is real. For every fatal accident, there are also about 10 seriously injured kids…

Child pedestrian fatalities by day of the year. How long did it take for you to spot Halloween?
Child pedestrian fatalities by day of the year. How long did it take for you to spot Halloween? Klick on the image to get to the original article.

Let’s focus on Halloween safety tips that make a significant difference. …

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4 Halloween Safety Tips for Dealing with the Real Danger Read More »

Chicago Symbols

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We often surprise people when we tell them they can significantly increase their nighttime visibility without clumsy vests and high-viz colors. If you choose a funflector® safety reflector,  you can wear stylish designs ranging in colors from from subtle to bold and still increase visibility up to 500 feet. After hearing several independent stories from people whose friends have been hit by cars in Chicago at night, we decided to add the Chicago flag motif to our collection of funflector® slap wraps, our super reflective slap bracelets that can be worn on ankles and wrists by walkers, runners and bicyclists.

We are excited to announce a funflector® wrap with the popular Chicago flag design! It will be available in the  webstore on May 9th.

funflector® reflecive wrap - The Chicago flag carries a lot of symbolism
funflector® reflecive wrap – The Chicago flag carries a lot of symbolism

We can’t imagine any Chicago visitors going back home without having noticed the symbolic two blue stripes and four red stars waiving on flagpoles on every block in the windy city. The top blue stripe symbolizes …

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Chicago Symbols Read More »

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