Monday, December 20, 2010

Hacker Web Design: Words of Wisdom for Building Great Apps

David Kadavy talks about the needs and pain points of would-be (or must-be) designers in the world of web development. By Jolie O'Dell

Monday, December 06, 2010

Advanced walking


Welcome to the future of walking support, so says Andres Sebastian Sanchez. By Yanko Design

Starchitect Norman Foster Reportedly Designing New Apple Campus

Sir Norman Foster, the British starchitect behind London’s iconic Gherkin tower and the master plan of Abu Dhabi’s mega-green Masdar City, reportedly has been selected to design Apple’s new campus in Cupertino. By Suzanne Labbarre

Sign of the Times: A Device That Does Boring Small Talk For You

With Gerard Ralló's conceptual Reiterative Communication Aid, a digital readout replaces predictable speech. By Suzanne Labarre

AU 2010 Exhibition



Here Autodesk's Matt Ratliff, Applications Engineer, demonstrates the industrial designer's dream software/hardware set-up: Alias Sketch on a Wacom Cintiq monitor. By Core77

5 of the Best New User Experiences of 2010

When it comes to user experience, designers and developers must do much more than present their users with a “pretty face” web page. By Jolie O'Dell

Susan Kare: Interview With an Iconic Designer

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Susan Kare is the master of making icons iconic. From a mere handful of pixels she has created small-scale graphics that have become part of the visual language of computing. By Mashable

Designers: Here’s the Brief for Project Magazine’s iPad Cover Contest



As part of its launch, Virgin’s first iPad-only magazine, Project, announced a contest to redesign the magazine’s animated cover.

Favorite Mobile News Reader, The Flud

FLUD for iPhone v1.0 Down and Dirty Demo! from Bobby Ghoshal on Vimeo.



Its slick interface has the media gushing so we decided to give it a go. There’s a diverse collection of content already featured in the Flud ecosystem. By Yanko Design

Book Reading Made Haptic And Easy For The Blind

The Haptic Braille is a mouse-like device that’s capable of translating ordinary text into braille on its surface. By Yanko Design

Is All Fair in Love and Web Design?

The implication of the phrase "deadly sin" is certainly rather negative, but just how bad are these sins really? Would we eradicate them all from this world if we could? By ZURB

The Future of Design: Blue Is the New Green

Blue design creates places that are not just neutral in their take, but actually add back to our world. By Co.Design

Qatar's World Cup: Engineering Marvel, PR Nightmare?



If you thought building 12 open-air, air-conditioned stadiums was hard, try shipping them abroad when you're done. And then try to explain why one of your top architects is called Albert Speer. By Co.Design

Syd Mead, Blade Runner Concept Designer, Envisions the Future

2019: A Future Imagined from Flat-12 on Vimeo.


Syd Mead discusses robots, Ridley Scott, and the nature of imagination.

ED Med Levitra Gives Users a Really Nice Package


Levitra, the latest erectile-dysfunction pill on the market, is going hard on design. The brand’s parent company Bayer Healthcare has adopted new packaging that not only looks sexy but works precisely how you need it to.

Bloom eco-superyacht integrates retractable sail to harness renewable energy

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Bridging the gap between eco tech and superyacht design, Netherlands-based designer Xiang Yu has developed a mega yacht that harnessing renewable energy offers a sustainable sail without compromising the style and comfort of the luxury yachts. By The Design Blog

Friday, December 03, 2010

Steven Johnson: Where good ideas come from

Augmented Reality Part Two: Challenges & Opportunities

Josh Damon Williams focuses the conversation around challenges and opportunities around this “new” [Augmented Reality] market.

Augmented Reality Part One: The Low Down

Augmented Reality isn’t exactly new, according to Bruce Sterling it’s at least 17 years old. Here’s a useful diagram made in 1995 by a couple of Sony’s tinkerers to call out the differences between AR, VR, ubiquitous computing, and classic GUI-based HCI:

Virus Beware, The Spuit Is Here

There are two sides to a coin, on one side we have groovy gadgets and on the other we have hidden malware and virus to spoil our fun. By Yanko Design

This Phone Hovers in Space


Oh so you’re not satisfied with phones that connect at speeds almost as fast as you can click and hundreds of new applications that do everything under the sun each day? Well here’s something new for you then! By Yanko Design

Emergency Exits of Splendor


Many gigantic cities in this modern wonderful world of ours have underground transit. Under the ground you’ll find tunnels with trains galore, traveling all around the city and sometimes even under great bodies of water. By Yanko Design

Urban Cart makes you feel like riding a real horse cart

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Increasing traffic jams and pollution are two major problems that make cities a worse place to live in, not only in developing but also in developed nations worldwide. By The Design Blog

Readot scans text and images into Braille to help visually impaired to feel them

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Usually visually impaired people feel alienated from society due to less or no interaction with others in their day-to-day lives. By The Design Blog

Tron Legacy sneak peek

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As sophisticated software is increasingly used in hi-tech filmmaking for rendering, pre-visualization and so on, an interesting side effect has emerged from the special effects. By Core77

Blinput smartphone concept for the visually impaired

Sharing ownership of UX

A UX architect, or lead UX designer, is the member of a product team who is primarily responsible for ensuring all aspects of a digital product that users experience directly—including its form, behavior, and content—are learnable, usable, useful, and aesthetically pleasing. By UX Matters

Twitter Powered TV Remote Makes Channel Surfing Social



The Android application from KDDI R&D Laboratories runs on a tablet and aggregates opinions on current TV shows from Twitter. Read the article here.

Here's Moscow's Showpiece Stadium for the 2018 World Cup


The design, by Erick van Egeraat, builds upon the bones of an old structure. By Suzanne Labarre

Mastering the Apple Game of Customer Perception

When Apple took the iPhone prototype to Verizon, for a possible network deal, the carrier rejected it. By Ndubuisi Ekekwe

Get Local

Emily Pilloton and Project H Design move to small-town America, start teaching a high-school shop class, and find the power and impact of hyperlocal design. By Emily Pilloton

Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Custom-built, street-legal ‘Tron Light Cycle’ promises a power ride

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Florida-based bike store Legacy has rolled out 10 custom-built Tron Light Cycles that featuring a steel frame and fiberglass bodywork look almost identical to each other. By The Design Blog

Wanted: A Cell Phone That's as Simple as Possible



John's Phone is a rebuke to all the smartphones out there that ooze useless special features. By Suzanne Labarre

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Building your design business: promotion

Paradox logo by Mine

There is no one way or magic bullet to building a successful design business. You can surf for “how to” links, follow marketing gurus looking for ideas about how to promote your business, and use a ton of great online and offline tools and tactics. By Logo Design Love

Brochure Design Tips for Your Business

Some good tips on brochure design. By Logology

The Tower of Droplets by Sir Peter Cook and Gavin Robotham

CRAB by Sir Peter Cook and Gavin Robotham

The project, a conceptual design for Taichung in Taiwan, features a tower with a series of steel cages attached that will be covered in algae to produce biofuel. By Dezeen

What Your Web Design Says About You (Infographic)


Font and color choices in a website say certain things about the owner of the site. By Dona Collins

Dazzling Digital Ads: 12 Interactive Storefront Displays


In a world where advertisements are plastered all over every surface, from benches and stairs to pedestrian crosswalks, businesses are turning to high-tech interactive displays that all but reach out and tap us on the shoulder as we pass. By Web Urbanist

Bike Folded Sharp as a Razor


One bike might fold to a small size, one might fold in a way that allows you to wheel it around. This one folds down max, max, max. By Yanko Design

One fantastical technology campus


Those architecture masters over at UNStudio have their work cut out for them, and they’ve got the knives to do it. By Yanko Design

Monday, November 29, 2010

FailForward: Why Successful Innovators Have to Learn How to Fail

It is common knowledge that most new products and services fail when brought to market. Charles Kettering, Board Member of GM (1920-1947) famously noted that when it comes to innovation: “You don't know when you are going to get the thing, whether it’s going to work or not and whether it’s going to have any value whatsoever." By Design Mind

Dyson

One of my favorite designers...Dyson

Frog Design Makes Twitter Activity Gorgeous


A heatmap of real-time tweets around the globe. By Co.Design

Clever Park Benches and Fire Hydrants Make Life Easier for the Disabled

Five design teams tackle a thorny challenge: Making the circuitous cobblestone paths around Boston's Faneuil Hall more friendly for the disabled. By Co.Design

A 21st Century School on the Cutting Edge of Learning

Bosch & Fjord create a school that integrates cutting-edge thinking about how kids learn, and how teachers want to teach. By Co.Design

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Blackberry Empathy Phone adds emotions to social networking

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In recent past, social networking has emerged as a popular medium, especially among gen-next, to interact with friends and associates and discuss their day-to-day or business activities. By The Design Blog

Audi RB-1200 S motorbike adds luxury to the thrill of biking

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The growing popularity of motorbikes among young auto enthusiasts has attracted the attention of big car makers as well as designers, looking to add luxury to the thrill of biking. By The Design Blog

Aquafit drinking fountain adjusts to suit the height of the user

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Usually kids, or even tall people for that matter, have to struggle with standard drinking fountains, as they do not suit the height of every user, which often results in wastage of drinking water. By The Design Blog

Design trends: Nokia E10 concept phone with rollout display

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With modern gadgets getting minute in size and big in function, contemporary designers seems to follow the catchword “small is the new big,” which is equally supported by latest advancements in technology. By The Design Blog

Nokia 2030 cellphone in polished titanium case is future perfect

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With the latest technological advancements, features and functions of mobile phones change more frequently than any other portable gadget available on the market, as we see something different and new in a cellphone every few days. By The Design Blog

Hospital of one


The healthcare landscape is rapidly changing. Chronic illness has become the true burden on the healthcare system — accounting for over 75 percent of national health expenditures. By Continuum

Helping Maryland reducing energy 15% by 2015

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Looking for a fresh take on how to cut back on the amount of energy you use? By Core77

Thomas Vu's lunch box concept would make a great toolbox

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Product design student Thomas Vu's Lunch Box concept features a dry-erase surface for doting moms and creative kids to scribble on. By Core77

Why design education must change

Traditionally what designers lack in knowledge, they make up for in craft skills. Whether it be sketching, modeling, detailing or rendering, designers take an inordinate amount of pride in honing key techniques over many years. Unfortunately many of these very skills have limited use in the new design domains. By Kevin McCallagh

OpenIDEO contest winners

IDEO announces the winners of the OpenIDEO contest.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

The Blistering Rise of iPad and Tablet Computing

Is iPad an iFad? Think again. By Cliff Kuang

The U.S. Postal Service Is Dying. Why Not Radically Rebrand It?


And is retro the way to go? By Suzanne Labarre

Poland Unveils BMW-Designed Subway Cars Which Are 98% Recyclable


The Siemens Inspiro transit concept will bring sustainable engineering to Warsaw's metro system in 2012. By John Pavlus

The 7 Biggest Challenges in Merging Design and Business

By now, businesses should have learned to embrace design. Yet they still don't. Why? By Helen Walters

A changing role for design

The recent Industrial Design Summit 2010 in Cannes attracted top management in design and technological sectors from some of the worlds leading corporations including Audi, Lego, Samsung, Volvo, Scania, Sony Ericsson, Absolut, Campari, Bentley, Carlsberg, 3M and Nokia to mention a few. By David Report

18 best practices to improve your e-commerce website

Designing e-commerce websites is probably one of the most complicated task for a web designer. Your client (or yourself) will have some very clear goals that will make the UI even more important, you will also need to take special care of your visitors. By Mirko

Harley Davidson 1


A motorcycle that remembers the past but creates a future. By Jonathan Russell

Amor Tablet


This 13mm thick tablet-pc was developed in collaboration with Freescale (semiconductor) and Surface Ink (engineering company) It comes with a matching USB,HDMI and power docking station, which also works as a portrait stand. By Mika Becktor

Trasformable Spin vehicle



The Transformable Spin Vehicle was designed to provide the rider with a number of options, pertaining to driving stance and style. By Matias Conti

What Marshmallows and Spaghetti Can Teach Your Design Team



Ever watch a child build a sandcastle at the beach, or a group of kids tackle a pile of LEGOs only to create an entire city in less than an hour? Children are born with an innate ability to design things out of thin air. What happens by the time we reach adulthood? Where does all that talent go? By The ZurBlog

See the Marshmallow Challenge transcript here.

Who dominates your design?

You can learn a lot about an organization or company by viewing its company website or online application process. By The ZurBlog

Why Workflows Work Better than Sitemaps



Workflows are more specific than sitemaps and map to actions a particular user will take through a website or application. By The ZurBlog

Podcast of Tom Conrad’s talk on Apple, Pets.com, and Pandora

At 15 years old Tom saw the 1984 Apple ad during the superbowl. He became fixated on going to California and working at Apple on the Macintosh. He applied for an internship and followed his dream. After his internship he worked on the Finder team at Apple for three years. By Zurb

Waxy Printing



The Wax-on is a solid ink printer that simplifies the process of printing. It removes the need of producing plastic waste and annoyance of using ink jet cartridges. By Yanko Design

Print that screen, literally!

Document Extractor – Combi Monitor is a screen that doubles up as a printer as well. Why? Because you need precious space on your desk to put other stuff! You need to have cool tech devices that put stacks of printer paper hidden away from view! You need to boast of uber cool monitors just cause you don’t own a 27” iMac! That’s why! By Yanko Design

20 Motivating Design Quotes for Graphic Designers – Words Visualized!

“Simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication.”

The maestro, Leoanardo Da Vinci, illuminates the beauty of simplicity in art and graphic design through such brilliant words. By Graphic Design Blog

Famous Brands shortlisted for 2010 – Who will win the race?


Let’s start off with a simple question…what differentiates a brand from a product? Any idea? Or better don’t bother thinking because whatever you say will be CORRECT! By Famous Brands

Friday, November 19, 2010

I Can See Through Your Juice


The Second Life Mobile Phone Concept works on the premise that we often forget about the battery life of our mobile phones, hence run out of juice, just at the wrong time. By Yanko Design

Sands Of Traffic Times!


The Sand Glass is a new look at traffic lights. By Yanko Design

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Boxed and Labelled – New Approaches to Packaging Design


A specialist discipline in itself, Packaging Design is in many cases as important as the product it houses, its about much more than just whacking the product in a box. By Raph Goldsworthy

Principles of Creative Development Research

Consumer research is often seen as a necessary evil rather than a real contributor to the creative process. By Sabine Stork

Emotive Branding: The Path to Meaning (And Kick-Ass Creative)

Emotive Branding from Emotive Brand on Vimeo.


At Emotive Brand our goal is to make brands truly meaningful through emotive branding. Emotive branding is about transforming the way a brand reaches out to people and the way people respond back to that brand. The key is meaning. Read the rest of the article here.

Pierini Partners


In this article, Adrián Pierini, designer and CEO of this prestigious Argentinean agency, tells us about the process that led to the new image of an emblematic icon of the most important beer company in Bolivia. By Processed Identity

The Redesign of the Twitter bird

An interview with designer and illustrator, Phil Pascuzzo. By Karen Horton

The Undesigned Web is Design

…in the 21st century, Internet standards have successfully separated design and content. The two live more interdependent lives, sometimes tightly tied and sometimes completely separated from one another.

The message is now free from the medium. By Designs Sojourn

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Project Modai

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Julius Tarng is wrapping up one of the most brilliant student projects worth seeing. By Michael DiTullo

Frog Design on the Nautilus Mobia

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Working out at home may be convenient and cost effective, but why do the machines for home use echo gym units so closely? By Core77

A Typographic Clock That Tells Time The Way People Do


QLOCKTWO's exquisite hands- and number-free face makes time easier to digest. By Suzanne Labarre

New Firm Built on "Hybrid Thinking"

Continuum Advanced Systems gathers experts in far-flung fields to tackle complex design problems, from Humvee safety to ultra-fast AIDs testing. By Suzanne Labarre

Sliding Walls Turn Tiny Apartment Into Home Office (and Back)


How do you add new rooms when you can't add floor space? If you're Yuko Shibata, you just make the walls mobile. By John Pavlus

Xerox Fills Nation's Airports with Life-Sized Interactive Commercials


Environmental marketing takes to the unfriendly skies. Brills or not? By Susanne Labarre

Design Thinking for Social Innovation

Designers have traditionally focused on enhancing the look and functionality of products. Recently, they have begun using design techniques to tackle more complex problems, such as finding ways to provide low-cost healthcare throughout the world. Businesses were the first to embrace this new approach—called design thinking—and nonprofits are beginning to adopt it too. By Tim Brown & Joycelyn Wyatt

Redesigning the airline boarding pass

Designer Tyler Thompson gets frustrated with boarding passes and attempts to redesign them. By Richard Pak

Sunday, November 14, 2010

MoVete personal mobility device allows electrifying ride in crowded places

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The “MoVete” by Argentine designers Natalia Portugal and Sara Aletta de Sylvas is a personal mobility device for people of all ages that running for compact wheels provides stability to the rider. By Naresh Chauhan

Designing the future: Soundscape Tower to become the world’s largest speakers

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Proposed for the dense urban area of the San Lorenza neighborhood of Rome, the “Soundscape Tower” is a series three modern towers that blending the past with present and history with modernity adds significance to the rich culture and heritage of the “once walled-in old city.” By Naresh Chauhan