A sneak peek at YouTube’s future as it rolls out new channel design for everyone
YouTube’s new channel design will roll out to everyone in early June, and the site’s designers are already busy working on big things to come. Read more »
Benetton teams up with Little Printer creator Berg on connected devices
The internet of things may be largely about connecting everyday objects, but who says design shouldn’t be a major focus? Not Berg and Benetton, who are partnering up on an Italian R&D facility called Sandbox. Read more »
Checking out Pinterest’s new home in San Francisco with CEO Ben Silbermann
photo: Om Malik
Pinterest moved into its new offices in San Francisco on Monday, and CEO Ben Silbermann talked with us about his goal for the company and where it’s headed. Read more »
Why your favorite iOS apps may look different six months from now
Should Apple roll out a version of iOS with a new and fresher design language this fall, third-party iOS app makers will very likely follow suit. Read more »
Tumblr updates its look on Android with a Path-esque launcher button
photo: Om Malik
Tumblr updated the navigations features on its Android app Monday, and now the navigation looks a lot more modern — and a lot more like apps such as Path. Read more »
How big is your baby? Doctors use design to uncover insights in children’s health
A time-tested tool for monitoring children’s health is getting a redesign for the digital age thanks to a Harvard Medical School/Boston Children’s Hospital partnership with design firm Fjord. Read more »
How closely knit design and engineering teams put Pinterest on a rocket ship
For companies in Silicon Valley who want to prioritize design, the real question is how to do it while also shipping engineering products to market. At Pinterest, the designers and engineers are vocal that you can, in fact, do both. Read more »
Pinterest’s new look emphasizes photos with larger pins
Pinterest is launching its new design to the general public, rolling out a look that it began testing back in January. The updated design features larger photos and a smaller activity feed when viewing the homepage. Read more »
Emerging technologies are creating new ethical challenges for UX designers
photo: Everett Collection/Shutterstock.com
The digital age has made possible many of the human-technology interactions that once were the stuff of science fiction. But at what cost? UX designers must be aware of and accountable for the human impact of their work. Read more »
Path hopes that a renewed focus on design will make 3.0 the charm
photo: Eliza Kern
Path has tried to get more users for its relatively private social network, and hopes that the addition of richer messaging features will help do the trick — along with its usual focus on design. Read more »
Microsoft shows it gets the cloud by integrating products and focusing on mobile
Microsoft has introduced a new sign-on experience for users of business applications such as Office 365 and Windows Azure, showing it’s trying to better accommodate cloud users. Read more »
How Sitegeist used great design to make census data cool
How can a design firm and a non-profit focusing on government transparency come together and make data look cool? The Sunlight Foundation and designers from IDEO teamed up to create Sitegeist, an app using location-based data to help you understand where you are. Read more »
One design, any screen: Introducing paidContent’s new look and feel
photo: PlaceIt by Breezi
Our site — and the content on it — now adapts to whatever device you’re reading. The first phase of our site redesign, which went live today, also includes more curation, easier sharing and a crisper display. Read more at paidContent »
One design, any screen: Introducing GigaOM’s new look and feel
photo: PlaceIt by Breezi
Our site — and the content on it — now adapts to whatever device you’re reading. The first phase of our site redesign, which went live today, also includes more curation, easier sharing and a crisper display. Read more »
Mobile designers no longer see Apple on the forefront of iOS design
As the iOS App Store nears the half-decade mark, one of the biggest changes we’re witnessing is how app developers are beginning to go their own way in terms of design. Some of the most forward-thinking designers are bucking Apple’s traditional look for cleaner, simpler interfaces. Read more »
Google’s big push to make better iOS apps than Apple
By creating a bevy of new iOS apps, what Google has been up to is becoming more obvious. It’s made it its mission to not just compete with Apple with the Android platform and Nexus mobile devices, but battle Apple on its own platform. Read more »
How much did Adobe pay for Behance?
Earlier this morning, Adobe Systems, the San Jose-based creative software giant announced that it was buying New York City-based design-oriented community, Behance. Since then, many have been wondering how much did Adobe shell out? Now we have the answer. Read more »
Five products that get the user experience right
photo: Jawbone
What distinguishes an OK product from a great one? Typically it’s that intangible quality known as user experience. Henry Tsai, head of UX for Astrid, picks a few products he loves because they get it just right. Read more »
Nike-backed accelerator to support a new wave of digital fitness startups
On Monday, Nike announced the launch of a new Nike+ Accelerator, powered by TechStars. Through the program, ten startups that use Nike+ technology will received mentorship, coaching, office space and other benefits. Read more »
Loren Brichter: Designs on the future of iOS apps
Before he was 25, he’d invented what is now one of the most ubiquitous iOS app features around. At 28, Loren Brichter is continuing to push the boundaries of what an app can do. We sat down and talked about his future and that of iOS. Read more »
Sub-compact media: Rethinking the way we publish online
photo: Flickr user Arvind Grover
Many publishers seem to assume that the best way to publish their content online is to try and recreate the look and feel of the printed product they are trying to replace, but a better approach is to strip away everything that isn’t absolutely necessary. Read more »
Design shopping site Fab partners with LivingSocial for distribution
Fab, the NY-based design-centric shopping site, on Wednesday announced that it had partnered with deals site LivingSocial for the holidays. As part of the partnership, Fab products will be featured in LIvingSocial’s gift guide, which reaches 24 million people. Read more »
Kleiner Perkins adds Design Fellows program to promote design in technology
Legendary Silicon Valley investment firm Kleiner Perkins is announcing a Design Fellows program Tuesday, giving current design students the opportunity to spend a summer in Silicon Valley working on design-related projects with noted tech firms, marrying the importance of design and tech. Read more »
7 tactics lean startups need to build great products
photo: Shutterstock/Dusit
Among lean startups, a common mantra is “launch and learn.” Braden Kowitz of Google Ventures Design Studio says that’s precisely the wrong approach and suggests seven strategies that he says will save time and lead to a better product. Read more »
What every designer working in a startup needs to know
photo: Courtesy Porsche
Sometimes design is just another word for prettiness. But truly good design implies so much more. After launching a startup, Elle Luna, lead designer at Mailbox, believes design is “a way of thinking about everything” and offers three key insights. Read more »
How media companies can think more like startups
photo: Flickr user Zert Sonstige
Many startups like Tumblr and Airbnb have become successful because they focused on filling a need that their founders had, and then turned that into a business, and there are a number of important lessons in that kind of approach for traditional media companies. Read more »
Yves Behar: Connectedness is what design does best
What ties many design parts together into a highly desired, functional product? Connectedness, ranging from user interface, user experience, product functions and self-healing, says Yves Behar. Touch is a big factor and you might be surprised by which companies Behar says are doing it right. Read more »
Skeuomorphism is (finally) dead: So what is Apple’s next design move?
Many designers say Apple’s once polished software has lost its luster. Olof Schybergson, CEO of design firm Fjord, believes Scott Forstall’s departure could spark a new era of software innovation for the company and define Tim Cook’s tenure. Read more »
Fab, now with 9 million members, gets festive with new Holiday Shops
photo: Fab
Design site Fab is getting festive with new holiday shops that help people find the right gift for the holidays. The new shops caps off a huge year of growth for Fab, which is now up to 9 million members. Read more »
How to design for the ears
Pandora’s CTO Tom Conrad talks to us about designing for the ears, as part of the book we’re creating for our RoadMap conference, which will take place on November 5th in San Francisco, and will focus on design in the age of connectedness. Read more »
Jack Dorsey and Twitter: Can you have a part-time product visionary?
photo: Pinar Ozger
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey was brought back into the company last year to be its chief product visionary, but his role appears to have been dramatically reduced. So who is Twitter’s product visionary now, and what does that mean for the future of the service? Read more »
LayerVault aspires to be a designer’s best friend
photo: LayerVault
LayerVault wants to sit at the center of the universe for designers with its cloud-based application that manages revisions, stores files and helps designers collaborate around designs. The small company, which is backed by Betaworks and SV Angel, is introducing new feedback and delivery tools. Read more »
Tumblr’s Karp goes into pitchman mode for advertisers
Six months after launching the first ad on Tumblr, the startup’s founder and CEO David Karp took the stage during New York’s Advertising Week to talk up his platform’s approach to marketing. Read more »
Makerbot unveils next-gen 3D printer, opens first retail location
Brooklyn-based Makerbot Industries, which makes 3D home printers, on Wednesday announced that it is opening its first retail location in Manhattan and launching a new version of its printer. Read more »
Design shopping site Fab raises $105M
With the goal of becoming nothing less than the world’s next big design brand, commerce site Fab Wednesday announced that it had raised $105 million. Read more »
photo: Bloglovin
Investors show some lovin’: visual rss reader Bloglovin raises $1M
Stockholm-based Bloglovin says it has raised $1 million from Betaworks, Lerer Ventures and other investors to speed its expansion. Read more »
Former MySpacers move into social commerce with Uncovet
Between Pinterest and Fab and Fancy and Svpply and Wanelo and Lyst and many other similar startups, the social-meets-design-meets-commerce space is nothing if not crowded. But a couple of former MySpacers believe they can push through the pack with Uncovet, an e-commerce site rolling out to the public today. Read more »
Samwers kill their Fab clone after just six months
Just months after Germany’s notorious Samwer brothers courted controversy by cloning design sales site Fab.com, they are about to close their copycat site, Bamarang, down — folding it into its more successful stablemate, WestWing. Read more »
Founder Collective-backed Project Decor is like Pinterest for home design
Project Decor, a New York-based social home decorating platform, will open its site for an invite-only beta launch in June. Read more »
Jony Ive: Apple doesn’t like ‘godless’ products
Ahead of receiving his knighthood from the Queen, Apple’s British design chief Jonathan Ive has given a rare interview to the U.K.’s Daily Telegraph, outlining some of his thoughts and feelings on how the company’s products achieve a “sense of care.” Read more »
