design

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- A single button on one of Apple's phones or tablets might have gone through 50 or more iterations before ending up in the final design, one of the company's lead designers said today.

The first expert witness in the jury trial between Apple and Samsung here was Christopher Stringer, who has been an industrial designer at Apple since 1995 and helped design the iPhone along with other Apple products.

In his testimony, Stringer -- who donned an all-white suit to court -- said that the design process for any product typically began with lots … Read more

When the world first met James Bond on-screen in the 1962 film "Dr. No," it changed the way many people imagined the life of a secret agent.

Six actors and nearly 25 films after Bond's film debut, the Barbican Centre in London is commemorating the dapper life of James Bond with "Designing 007: Fifty Years of Bond Style." The massive exhibit features 400 effects from the Bond movie franchise, ranging from rarely seen conceptual art and on-set photos to original costumes and props. … Read more

Why is Apple successful? It all starts with the quality of its products, according to Jonathan Ive. The company's senior vice president of industrial design waxed eloquent on this theme during a talk about Apple's design focus at the British Embassy's Creative Summit.

"I refute that design is important. Design is a prerequisite. Good design -- innovation -- is really hard," said Ive, according to Wired. "We say no to a lot of things that we want to do and are intrigued by so that we only work on a manageable amount of products … Read more

Ever wondered what the thought process must have been like for Apple's designers in coming up with the early iterations of the iPhone and iPad? Or if there were any crazy versions that never made it to the shelf?

Now, thanks to the Apple vs. Samsung patent court case, you can take a look at some of the early sketches and prototypes of these devices by way of public court documents.

According to Ina Fried at All Things D, Apple filed several documents Saturday that include dozens of hand-drawn and computer-generated sketches of early iPhone and iPad designs, along … Read more

Although Windows has a clock of its own, there are plenty of clock applications that add functionality -- or just decoration -- to the task of displaying the time. LCD Clock is a simple program that's fairly light on features, but isn't a bad choice if you're looking for a simple way to view the date and time.

LCD Clock annoyed us right away by forcing us to install the FunMoods toolbar, a piece of malware masquerading as a tool for adding emoticons to social networking sites and e-mail. Although it's not uncommon for software to … Read more

Design-focused shopping site Fab hopes to expand its global footprint and increase its warehouses and inventory with the $105 million its secured in a third round of funding, Fab CEO Jason Goldberg said in the company's blog post today.

The new round of financing was led by investment firm Atomico, which is also helping Fab expand its site globally, starting with London, Tokyo, Beijing, Sao Paulo, and Istanbul. Atomico's other investments include Skype and Rovio, the maker of Angry Birds.

"We believe that we have a special opportunity to create one of the world's next great … Read more

A clever electric bike, which won a design competition last fall for creating the best urban utility bike, is coming to market via Kickstarter today.

The Faraday, designed by the Palo Alto, Calif., design consultancy Ideo and Santa Cruz, Calif., bike-maker Rock Lobster Custom Cycles, took home top honors in the Oregon Manifest creative collaboration challenge, which CNET followed. The competition paired global design firms with small, handcrafted bike builders to create a bike for city living.

That success generated enough interest that Adam Vollmer, who led the design efforts for Ideo, left the firm to launch a company to … Read more

If you own an HTC Evo 3D or Evo Design 4G, here's a bit of good news. An update to Google's modern Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system is just around the corner.

Android ICS certainly isn't Google's freshest mobile software flavor, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Frankly I'd rather have the nimbler handling and trove of new abilities JB brings to the table. … Read more

Looking at the Stig Chair for the first time, you'd almost think this thing originated from Batman's flight simulator.

The exotic $11,000 seat by Veraseri Designs sits at 52x23x39 inches, and consists of stainless steel, yellow pine, and deer leather for the ultimate in "high-performance sport luxury furniture," according to designer Adam Krehbiel. Additionally, the supporting frame contains recycled steel pipe from the frames of previously crashed Nascar stock cars.

For protection, the Stig sports Line-X protective coating, somewhat similar to the type one would see in the bed of a pickup truck. Krehbiel notes that someone can "hose down" the coating if needed, and that it "resists 9mm small-arms fire." … Read more