In surprising news, Apple just announced that Sir Jony Ive will leave the company later this year to start his own design company.
Design
22 Years of Apple Website Design History Visualized
The Version Museum has a visual history of 22 years of Apple website design history, starting in 1994.
Version Museum is devoted to showcasing the visual history of popular websites, games, apps, and operating systems that have shaped our lives.
The biggest change is the evolution of that tab bar at the top of the website, going from light to dark.
GQ's History of Cool Examines White Apple Earbuds
Johnathon Heaf writes how Apple’s white earbuds changed the industry forever. It all started with the iPod.
The “silhouette campaign” ads, which I’m sure many of you remember more than the early hardware, focused on the white earbuds that came with each iPod – a design feature that Ive has since stated was pure serendipity.
When he first saw the ads, Steve Jobs was worried the iPod wasn’t visible enough. Yet they were popular because they were fun and emotive.
#10YearChallenge: How iOS Apps Have Changed
Here’s a 10 year challenge I can get behind. Valia Havryliuk demonstrates how iOS apps have changed.
Just last year App Store celebrated its 10th birthday. In 2008 it launched with 552 apps and some of them are still live inside your iPhones. Time has passed and design trends have changed dramatically. #10yearchallenge is a good opportunity to see how fast the evolution is and notice changes in the oldest iOS apps.
iOS 7 was definitely the biggest visual overhaul to iOS. iOS 11 introduced UI changes but it was more along the lines of refinement.
How a Designer Uses iPad Pro as the Main Computer
The next iPad-Pro-as-main-computer narrative comes from Hicks Design. Jon shared his reasoning and workflow, as well as shortcomings & workarounds.
It’s started slowly, but the platform has been maturing and I’ve been using it more and more as my main computer. There are limitations and issues, which I’ll come to, but I keep coming back to it as a my main design tool. There’s something very alluring about this light and portable thin slab of glass that can do (almost) everything I need it to.
Apple Watch Series 4 First Impressions - TMO Daily Observations 2018-09-24
Adam Christianson from the Maccast and Bryan Chaffin join Jeff Gamet to talk about how well the original iPhone’s design is holding up, plus they share their first impressions after a weekend with Apple Watch Series 4.
Apple Made a Siri Webpage Detailing Everything She Can Do
The design looks great, and the webpage is informative. Apple gives examples of what you can do with Siri.
This Designer is Re-Thinking the macOS Font Picker
Designer Sam William Smith wants to make the font picker easier to use when you have a lot of fonts installed.
Adobe is Giving Away its App Interface Design Tools with Adobe XD Starter Plan
Adobe wants to be the go-to choice for app interface design, so the company just introduced Adobe XD Starter Plan—a free version of its Adobe XD user experience design tools.
Amazon's Photo on Delivery, Apple's Design Change Leadership - TMO Daily Observations 2018-03-05
Bryan Chaffin and Dave Hamilton join Jeff Gamet to discuss Amazon’s Photo on Delivery feature and privacy concerns, plus they look at a list of Apple product features that were mocked but later became standards.
Apple Just Redesigned the App Web Interface For iOS and Mac Apps
The icons are bigger, the fonts are bolder, and the iPhone X screenshots are showcased front and center.
Apple Takes Heat for Chicago Store's Falling Ice Problem
Apple’s new flagship store in Chicago is taking some online heat for the way its roof deals with ice and snow.
The Mac Observer's Top iPad Apps for 2017
Here’s our short list of stand-out iPad apps from 2017.
Adobe Brings AI to Creative Cloud Apps with Sensei
Adobe unveiled the latest updates to its Creative Cloud suite of creativity and design apps at Adobe MAX on Wednesday.
Samsung's Iris Scanning Joke, Crappy Business is Not OK, and PC Design - ACM 412
Unsurprisingly, Samsung’s crappy iris scanner on the Galaxy S8 has been defeated. Worse, defeating it is easy. Bryan and Jeff think it’s a joke and another example of Samsung’s delusions of relevance. They also discuss Bryan’s theory that PC makers can’t compete with Apple’s MacBook with me-too design, and say that surveillance capitalists being honest about spying on your doesn’t make their spying OK.
Right to Repair Laws, Apple Design Critics - TMO Daily Observations 2017-02-15
Apple doesn’t make it easy for people to get parts for do-it-yourself repairs, and some states want to change that. Kelly Guimont and John Martellaro join Jeff Gamet to debate whether or not companies should be required to make device parts available outside of authorized repair centers, plus they look at a claim Apple is actually pretty crappy ad designing products.
Apple Releases New Design Resources for iOS Developers
Today Apple shared some free design resources for iOS developers with an update to its iOS Human Interface Guidelines (via 9to5Mac). The resources include UI and template materials to make it easier to design iOS apps. Apple says the design resources are “comprehensive and accurately depict the full range of UIKit controls, views and glyphs available to developers using the iOS SDK.” The files are available in Sketch and Photoshop formats. This is a change from the Sketch-only files in the past. Interestingly, both light and dark UI elements are given. It adds a small amount of fuel to the fire for a rumored Dark Mode.
Hey Quark Fans, Check Out QuarkXPress for Dummies
It’s been a while since a quality QuarkXPress book came out, so my long time friend and graphic design expert Jay Nelson stepped up to the plate with a QuarkXPress for Dummies. Jay explains print and digital publishing workflows, color management, image resolution, fonts, output formats, and more. He also explains the evolution of QuarkXPress, which is great for understanding how it went from being the premier desktop publishing tool to the more specialized product it is today. QuarkXPress for Dummies is available now on Amazon for US$34.99.