Layar Takes Shopping Into the Augmented Reality Dimension With In-App Purchasing

Layar, the augmented reality browser, is stepping up its efforts to bring sci-fi-like AR to the world: It's just introduced in-app shopping. Yes, that's the world's first augmented reality store, and it implies all sorts of astonishing potential for all sorts of people--from world travelers to Disney vacationers. By Kit Eaton

Design Is Critical to Nike CEO Mark Parker's Strategy; How About Yours?

What's the difference between a CEO with a management background and one with a design DNA? Nike's president and CEO Mark Parker is the answer.

Decoding the Pavilion Architecture of Shanghai World Expo 2010

On Friday, the Shanghai World Expo 2010 opening as "a grand gathering of the world cultures," a kind of international "We are the world" singalong. As many as 100 million visitors are expected. By Suzanne LaBarre

Expanding Video Screen

Innovative Designs, Hoberman Associates (screen design); Barco, Innovative Designs (screen production) Location: A U2 concert in a city near you. By Anne Gulney

Networking for architects, minus the idle chatter

For architects looking to network online in a serious way, the options have been limited. LinkedIn consigns designers to text-based profiles, making it difficult to convey a firm’s essence. By John Gendall

GPS in a Hand Disk

This one’s for those of you who have low or no visibility with the eyes. Blind, sometimes people say. By Yanko Design

I got news for you

Motorized wheelchairs are a great invention, giving millions of disabled people mobility and independence but they’re still prohibitively expensive. By Yanko Design

Apple elbows Google aside to become Silicon Valley's most valuable company

"The reason Apple has been able to do so well is that it produces products that consumers want," Kaufman Brothers analyst Shaw Wu said.

New Computer Interface Goes Beyond Just Touch

Manual Deskterity combines a touch with the trusty pen. Read the article here.

Designer of 2015 competencies

In order to fulfill the expectations placed upon designers in the future, they will need to employ a set of skills that include some beyond today’s typical scope. By Aiga

Match the Mental Model to the Conceptual Model

Imagine that you’ve never seen an iPad, but I’ve just handed one to you and told you that you can read books on it. Before you turn on the iPad, before you use it, you have a model in your head of what reading a book on the iPad will be like. By Susan Weinschenk

Slim Sexy Scanner Looks Like A Saber

Doing away with the traditional norms of a bulky scanner is the svelte scanU. By Yanko Design

Solar-powered 4-way traffic lights relay laser signals for better guidance

With the increasing number of vehicles multiplied by square traffic lights on urban roads, chaotic traffic jams have become the order of the day, challenging the safety of the pedestrians on messy crosswalks. By The Design Blog

15 transparent gadgets that let you see through them

Transparent gadgets are at the top of the list of trendy designs making to the forefront. Here are some of the most elegant transparent gadgets that let the users see through them, just literally. By Naresh Chauhan

MIT Student Develops $3 Cutting-Edge Healing Device, Field Tested in Haiti

The new device could radically improve healing times for tens of millions, at a cost of $3. By Cliff Kuang

American-Designed Shanghai Pavilion at World Expo

When the World Expo in Shanghai opens on May 1, some of America's leading design talent will be center stage. And not just in the American Pavilion. By Linda Tischler

Branding, Identity & Logo Design Explained

A logo is not your brand, nor is it your identity. Logo design, identity design and branding all have different roles, that together, form a perceived image for a business or product. By Just Creative Design

What are your Principles of Good Design?

Similar to a mission statement, a personal design philosophy defines a designer’s view on life. By Design Sojourn

40 Conceptual Print Ads – Creativity with concept!

With the rapid development of media and promotion, advertising is almost impossible to avoid. Simply put, advertising is everywhere. The graphic design field has significantly helped in development of advertising. By Graphic Design blog

24 Examples of Creative Logo Design

Having a well designed logo can separate you from your competitors and help you build your brand. This post showcases unique and memorable logos. By Toxel

Mercedes-Benz Museum Elevators

The Mercedes-Benz Museum houses an incredible amount of automotive history, unexpected surprises, and is in and of itself an absolutely mind blowing architectural space. By Notcot

First principles of interaction design, by Bruce Tognazzini

NN/Group's Bruce Tognazzini compiled an excellent and exhaustive overview of principles for interaction design, that he considers fundamental for the design and implementation of user interfaces. By Uselog

57th Annual P/A Awards

The 57th annual P/A Awards recognizes nine projects that exemplify the speculative value of progressive design. By Architect

Nomad RV to keep you safe and fit in post-apocalyptic times

The pace at which climate is changing all over the world with each passing year, the day isn’t too far when we will have to follow the nomadic lifestyle for survival once again. By Naresh Chauhan

Beyond the handset

Mark Rolston discusses the evolution from mobile devices to an ubiquitous digital life. Get his presentation here.

Designing for Awareness

Interaction designers talk a lot about a user’s emotional experience, but they understand very little about what motivates people to engage. How can designers understand triggers (signals, facilitators, and sparks) that help to change people’s behavior? frog VP of Creative Robert Fabricant investigates. By Kristina Loring

Teach Design: The Importance of Failure

Design is all about failure. It's about taking an initial swag at something and seeing how it works. By Rob Stokes

IDEO Method Card iPhone Application

The Method Card app is released as a free download with 8 cards for you to experience on your iPhone or iTouch. You can purchase the full deck of 51 cards for $4.99 within the application, eliminating the step of having to leave the app to upgrade your experience. IDEO

Most Innovative Companies in the Red Dot Design Awards

Here are companies that designed and built some very innovative products.

A Conversation With Jan Chipchase and Frog Design's Chief Creative, Mark Rolston

How do you design for China, a country that hasn't had much exposure to design but whose citizens suddenly find themselves awash in new money? By Cliff Kuang

Almost Genius: A Mouse Made for Your Feet

The design is meant to aid those without use of their arms. That it doesn't yet exist tells you much about product development--and suggests a new solution to the bigger problem. By Cliff Kuang

Redesigning Education: Rethinking the School Corridor

Education reform is in the air and taking root in thousands of classrooms across the country. By Trung Le

Steve Jobs and Paul Rand: birds of a feather

You can read more about the story of Paul Rand and the NEXT logo here.

Scent as design

A one-day symposium on the conception, impact, and potential applications of scent, brought leading thinkers, designers, scientists, and artists together, to acknowledge scent as a new territory for design. By Eva Wisten

Watered by the Sun

Solar-powered irrigation comes to rural Benin. By Maywa Montenegro

henning larsen architects: palacio de congresos, lanzarote

The new concert and congress center, palacio de congresos by danish firm henning larsen architectsis based around the jagged and characteristic landscape of lanzarote. By Designboom

A Collection of Printable Sketch Templates and Sketch Books for Wireframing

At the beginning of a web (or application) development project you should always create the sketches first. While sketching can be done on a blank paper, it’s much better to use a sketch template. By Ivana Jurcic

iA’s 2006 Facebook Designs, Redesigned

From December 2006 to February 2007 we were in touch with the product manager of facebook. The prospective: Redesigning facebook. By iA

Eco Delight: 10 solar-powered concept cars that ask for attention

Solar energy is one of the most impressive and easily available sources of green energy that has the potential to power everything from the PMPs we carry to the cars we drive. By Anupam

World's largest solar powered creations

Recently, the world’s largest solar-powered office building was unveiled in Dezhou, Shangdong Province in northwest China. By Aditi Justa

Eco-friendly parking lots for gray pastures and green minds

With more and more people getting aware about the budding environmental issues, companies and designers are continuously thinking of new ideas that promote the use of clean energy. By Aditi Justa

Amazing futuristic airships for sustainable air travel

Without a doubt, there is something exceptionally beautiful and exciting about airships. By Aditi Justa

The Strata tower harnesses wind power with built-in turbines

Structures with rooftop turbines may not be a purely new idea in the world of architecture, but the newly completed tower block in Elephant and Castle, London, is a unique skyscraper. By Naresh Chauhan

Sustainable skyscraper captures the rain

Designed for the 2010 Skyscraper Competition, the “Capture the Rain” by Ryszard Rychlicki and Agnieszka Nowak, architectural students at H3AR, is a sustainable skyscraper that harvests rainwater to fulfill the daily water needs of its residents. By Naresh Chauhan

Electric ‘Urban Wheelchair’ moves on hubless wheels

Often wheelchair users have to face a number of problems to accomplish their day-to-day tasks in urban environments, when away from home on their own. By Naresh Chauhan

Venice Lagoon

Commissioned by Jesolo, one of Italy’s most established seaside resorts, Zaha Hadid Architects has come up with a new retail and business center dubbed “Jesolo Magica” for the resort of Jesolo. By Naresh Chauhan

Hornet: Gyroscopically balanced superbike can turn on a five-cent coin

Winner of the prestigious VACC competition, the “Hornet” by Liam Ferguson is a one-wheel superbike, which seems to be “up there in the clouds a bit.” By Naresh Chauhan

The Hand of the Designer: Design in the Making

Moleskine announced The Hand of the Designer, a collection of 462 reproductions of hand made sketches by 150 internationally recognized designers, including Bouroullec Brothers, Michael Graves, Hella Jongerius, Karim Rashid, and many others.

Homephone concept

Here's something different in phones. By Marc Schomann

What Does Meaningful Mean?

An illustrated guide for designing things that matter. By Joonkyung Shin

The Nook doesn't bode well for user experience

Somehow, Barnes & Noble invented a box that’s every bit as complicated as their product. By Richard Pak

Dissecting the iPad's user interface

This Flickr image set does a nice job of pointing out the unique UI elements of the iPad. Much of the interface is adapted from Apple’s extensive work on the iPhone but there are several unique elements. By Richard Pak

Who Said a Yacht has to Look Like a boat?

It's hot and summer and what better place to relax than on a yacht - especially one with a striking design. By Thomas Baekdal

Microsoft mobile surface

Remember Microsoft Surface? You know, the big multi-touch coffee table? Now Microsoft is working on a much smaller version with Mobile Surface. By Thomas Baekdal

Chris Georgenes: Flash Animator

Chris is self-taught as an animator and his clients include Pileated Pictures, Lucas Arts, Universal Records, Plot Developers, AOL and others.

Designing for re-use

A coffee cup as a plant pot, coke cans for Halloween cape, a detergent bottle as worm harvester or washing tablet net bags for toy storage; these are all things people have done with the packaging they found in their daily lives. By Petz Scholtus

Concept Waterscraper Brings Monumental Architecture Into The Open Sea

For the last five years, eVolo Magazine has hosted a futuristic skyscraper design competition. By Stuart Fox

Obama Loves Infographic Movies (and Edward Tufte)

Information graphics guru Edward Tufte will be joining the Recovery Independent Advisory Panel.

Why We Should Teach Design Early

A group of Austin designers is helping students at a local high school recreate their campus. By Rob Stokes

Lovely Globey Ironing

I know when you think Futuristic, you think Ironing. I know that when you drew (or draw) pictures of the future with crayons, you made sure those space-people had nice, no-wrinkle shirts on, right? Right! By Yanko Design

Getting A Drip On Light

The Ring-ge-roo Light shuttles between innovative, unique and kitsch! It definitely takes the sting out of a hospital drip, which is loathsome yet essential. By Yanko Design

Projecting With OO

Built from semi monocoque carbon fiber, the durable OO wireless projector is a part of the GEO series from designer David Riesenberg. By Yanko Design

iF Design Awards Highlight Brilliant Solutions to Everyday Problems

Next to the Red Dot awards, the iF award is the most prestigious design award out of Europe, attracting all sorts of designs that you'd otherwise never see. By Cliff Kuang

Video: What Herman Miller Learned From Toyota (Before the Recall Disaster)

Herman Miller owes a big part of its current success to Toyota, which schooled the furniture maker on its legendary production philosophy. By Cliff Kuang

An Exclusive Look at the Making of Joris Laarman's Bone Chair

Dutch designer Joris Laarman describes how he turned an algorithm created for the automotive industry loose on a chunk of material and spawned a chair that mimics how bones and trees grow.

Core77 to the Rescue: Pop-Up Shelters for Haiti and Chile

Earthquakes are design problems, and while more and more architects have been offering their support to rebuilding efforts in Haiti and Chile. Core77 opened it up last week as one of its famous 1-Hour Design Challenges. Well, the results are in, and they're awesome. By William Bostwick

Futuristic New York and Sustainable Sao Paulo Projects Win Zumtobel Prize

How can we examine ways that the built environment impacts both sustainability and humanity? By Alissa Walker

"Different" by Youngme Moon

Youngme Moon of the Harvard Business School collaborated with XPLANE to create this video introducing her new book, DIFFERENT, an intimately drawn meditation on the meaning of business differentiation. A very different ad.

Showcase of Beautifully Designed Brochures

Brochure design is a key component to the marketing of many businesses large and small. A well-designed brochure can present a positive image of the business while providing helpful information about the products or services offered. By Steven Snell