Adobe is out today with its latest app for content creators on the iPad. The new Adobe Slate app is available for free and joins the similar Voice app Adobe launched last May. Where Adobe Voice focused on using the iPad and later the iPhone for story telling with the spokenword backed by visual elements, the new Adobe Slate app pairs text with fluid and customizable attractive layouts that look great whether you’re a designer or not. Expand Expanding Close
Adobe today released a new iPad app dubbed Comp CC that offers “rapid creation of layout concepts for mobile, Web and print projects” that can later be used in Photoshop CC, Illustrator CC and InDesign CC. Adobe first previewed the new app last year when it was still an early prototype, but today the app is arriving on the App Store for all. Expand Expanding Close
In an effort to eliminate bugs from upcoming iOS versions ahead of their general releases, Apple plans to launch the first-ever public beta program for the iOS operating system, according to multiple people briefed on the plans. Following the successful launch of the OS X Public Beta program with OS X Yosemite last year, Apple intends to release the upcoming iOS 8.3 as a public beta via the company’s existing AppleSeed program in mid-March, according to the sources. This release will match the third iOS 8.3 beta for developers, which is planned for release the same week. Apple then expects to debut iOS 9 at its June Worldwide Developer Conference, with a public beta release during the summer, and final release in the fall…
In an amusing retaliation to Jony Ive’s opinion of Motorola’s Moto Maker, Motorola president described their company as a ‘different philosophy’ as well as directly attacking Apple’s product lineup, describing iPhone prices as ‘outrageous’ in a conversation with the BBC. Expand Expanding Close
The New Yorker has published an extensive profile on Jony Ive, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Design. Many newspapers have written up articles on Ive in recent years, but this latest account by Ian Parker is by far the most detailed and (arguably) the most interesting, revealing new anecdotes and tidbits on Apple’s latest products in the process.
The story tracks how Jony arrived at Apple back in the late 90’s, how his relationship with Jobs developed over that period, and how he is adapting to ‘leading’ design in post-Jobs Apple. The piece includes some new details about how the Watch project and the newest iPhones formed, as well as incorporating quotes from Tim Cook, Bob Mansfield, and others.
Read on for some select excerpts from The New Yorker’s story.
Apple is working to step up the secrecy surrounding future iPhone and iPad models by targeting a frequent source of leaks: third-party accessory makers. 9to5Mac has learned that in fall 2014, just before the iPhone 6 launched, Apple demanded that a number of leading accessory makers sign agreements barring them from seeking out information about future Apple devices, according to four sources with first-hand knowledge of the matter.
On one hand, the agreement dangled the loss of “future business opportunities that Apple and/or its affiliates may present to you” as a potential consequence of violating or not signing the agreement. On the other hand, signing and following it could lead to months-long delays in making accessories like cases available, during the time of year when those cases were most needed and demanded by customers. Expand Expanding Close
iTunes Radio, Apple’s first real foray into streaming music, made its public debut back in June 2013, where it was announced alongside iOS 7. Over a year since its release, the service hasn’t exactly taken over the world, quite literally. It’s still only available in the United States and Australia. If you compared iTunes Radio today with iTunes Radio as it existed the day it was first available to use, you’ll notice that not much has really changed.
So in the meantime, what could Apple do to make iTunes Radio more appealing to customers? Some might say the music selection is limited, or that streaming doesn’t always work correctly. However, focusing on the service strictly from a feature standpoint, there are many small changes and additions Apple could implement that would have a huge impact on the usefulness and utility of iTunes Radio. Let’s take a look.
Beautiful renderings from German site Curved/labs depict a stunning metallic ode to Apple’s original Macintosh computer. While acknowledging the enhanced functionality of Apple’s latest computers, such as the Retina iMac, Curved/labs suggests that the company often neglects its own design history when releasing new machines – the inspiration for this “tribute.” Expand Expanding Close
Chinese smartphone maker Digione is claiming Apple’s iPhone 6 and 6 Plus copy the design of its own smartphone line.
Macworld reports that the company published a letter online yesterday that was originally sent to Apple back in September in order to make them aware that the latest iPhones might infringe on a patent it was granted in July by China’s State Intellectual Property Office. Expand Expanding Close
Google just bought RelativeWave, the company behind the mobile app prototyping software Form, and with the purchase it’s making the previously $80 Mac app available for free on the Mac App Store. The company made an announcement on its website noting that it will continue working on the Form app after joining Google:
I speak for the team when I say that we’re incredibly humbled by what the community has created with Form. We’ve seen people create designs that we could have never imagined. It’s one of the best feelings in the world to see people using your work.
The team adds that with new help from Google it will be “focused on improving the state of design and development tools.”
Form is a Mac app with an accompanying Form viewer app for iOS, but the company hints an Android version could be in the works noting to “stay tuned” for other platforms. The Form app for Mac pairs with the viewer on a mobile device and allows users to rapidly prototype native mobile app experiences in real-time using easy-to-use presets that the company says “are as powerful as their coded counterparts.” An example of a finished composition using Form is above.
The announcement also notes that users that previously paid for Form can get a refund by emailing support@relativewave.com.
At Apple’s special press event this past September, we witnessed the introduction of several new user interface paradigms, in the form of Apple Watch. Perhaps one of the most interesting was Apple Watch’s entirely new home screen. This is the first departure from the same basic concept of the home screen that Apple demoed in January of 2007 when it debuted the iPhone OS.
Apple clearly thinks that Apple Watch is the future of the company, but is the Apple Watch home screen the future of the iOS home screen? Let’s take a look at how we arrived at where we are today.
With Apple preparing to show off an updated lineup of iPads on Thursday, designer Martin Hajek has asked the question “What if the new iPad’s were to borrow the design language from the iPhone6/6+?” on his site. As he has done in the past, Hajek has mocked up some remarkable 3D renderings of how the theoretical Apple devices could appear.
While the new iPads this year are expected to largely appear unchanged physically, the iPhone 6-style iPads in Hajek’s renderings adopt the protruding camera lens, flash, and antenna bands as well as the completely curved edges from the latest iPhones. Expand Expanding Close
Image via <a href="https://twitter.com/stevekovach/status/520360606994415617" target="_blank">Steve Kovach</a>
Jony Ive appeared live today at Vanity Fair’s New Establishment Summit and talked about Apple’s design team, principles, and process. For example, the executive revealed that Apple’s core design team is made up of only about 16 people, and the company almost gave up on the first-generation iPhone because they weren’t sure they could get a touch interface working.
According to Business Insider, Ive said that no one has ever voluntarily left his small design team, which is a pretty fantastic track record. He also said that the rounded edges on the newest iPhone models were designed to make it feel thinner. Previous attempts had been made at creating a larger iPhone, but the squared edges made it feel bulky.
You can find some of the more interesting tidbits below. Video footage of the event below.
Is that Jony Ive and Marc Newson at the top right?
Update:Both relevant photos have since been removed from Instagram.
Following a report earlier today that Apple and French fashion retailer Colette were teasing a one day in-store experience, there’s now more evidence the collaboration might be for Apple’s upcoming Apple Watch. It appears that Apple’s design team could also be headed to the event or at least to the same city, lending more weight to the idea that Apple Watch is about to get some stage time during Paris Fashion Week. Expand Expanding Close
A few weeks after Apple was granted a European trademark on the key design elements of its retail stores, the company has been awarded a U.S. patent on the iconic glass cube design of its Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan. Steve Jobs is one of those credited as an inventor.
Patently Apple reports that Apple also applied for a trademark for the design back in 2010, but no decision has yet been made on that.
Apple was granted a patentfor the similarly iconic glass cylinder design for its Shanghai store back in 2012.
The iPhone 6’s packaging might not only include a redesigned smartphone, but a redesigned USB to Lightning cable. While it’s unlikely that Apple will yet-again change the Lightning port introduced with the 2012 iPhone 5 anytime in the near future, a redesigned version of the USB plug could be ready for this fall. Sketchy photos of a reversible USB cable first surfaced on the web last week, and Sonny Dickson yesterday shared another shot of the cables via Twitter.
Like the Lightning connector, the benefit of a reversible USB connector is that it can be inserted into a USB port in either direction. This makes it easier to insert the connector in darkly lit or hard to reach places (like behind a desk). Due to uncertain sourcing, the first batch of photos did not seem completely believable, but digging a little deeper into the situation reveals that Apple readying a reversible USB iPhone cable is a real possibility…
Verdura next talks about the design process and how everything goes through CEO Elon Musk at the end – something that should remind people of how Steve Jobs’ Apple worked.
For the past few months there have been a host of leaked schematics and dummies of the next-generation iPhone. While the veracity of those leaks won’t be fully confirmed until Apple shows the device off to the public later this year, at least one case designer is already creating covers for the phone based on those schematics.
As noted by iLounge, case maker Spigen has revealed its line of Thin Fit and Thin Fit A cases for the unannounced phone. Provided the iPhone 6 actually matches the leaked design, the Thin Fit lineup will run for $15 and be available in both clear and opaque styles in a selection of colors. The Thin Fit A will be available in gunmetal and black for the same price, with the only other difference being a cutout on the back for the Apple logo to show through.
The cases are scheduled to go on sale in late September, pending the announcement and release of the actual phone they’ll protect. You can find more photos over at iLounge.
One of our favorite designers of Apple concepts, Martin Hajek, has put together this visual showing how a new iPad mini design might compare with the existing one if it were based on the design of the iPhone 6.
The existing design, top, has the familiar flat front and tapered, chamfered edge. The bottom one, Hajek’s concept, has the rounded edge now familiar from countless iPhone 6 renders, mockups and purported leaked parts …
For months, physical mockups, display components, front covers, and schematics for Apple’s upcoming iPhone 6 have leaked on the web. However, the physical reconstructions and diagrams simply do not do the potential design of the redesigned smartphone justice. Based on recent reports and earlier part leaks, designer Mark Pelin has created a set of iPhone 6 design renders that might just be the clearest and nicest looking view of the potential phone. You can see the full image gallery below from Pelin:
Following a few quotes from a Jony Ive interview with The New York Times appearing in a longer piece about Tim Cook over the weekend, the publication has now published a longer transcript from the interview. In the interview, Ive was asked about working with Cook, how things have changed post Steve Jobs, and he also gave some insight into his daily work routine. “We meet on average three times a week. Sometimes those meetings are over in his space, sometimes here in the design studio. We all see the same physical object. Something happens between what we objectively see and what we perceive it to be.”
Ive described his new role leading software design at the company as “some leadership and direction in terms of user interface – a subset of software,” and most interestingly seemed to hint at using new materials for products that the company hasn’t worked with before. Naturally, Ive would have loved to say more but couldn’t: “I would love to talk about future stuff – they’re materials we haven’t worked in before. I’ve been working on this stuff for a few years now. Tim is fundamentally involved in pushing into these new areas and into these materials.” Expand Expanding Close
The secret behind Apple’s design excellence is a simple one, says former senior designer and user experience specialist Mark Kawano in an interview with Fast Company: it’s not just something left to the designers.
It’s actually the engineering culture, and the way the organization is structured to appreciate and support design. Everybody there is thinking about UX and design, not just the designers. And that’s what makes everything about the product so much better . . . much more than any individual designer or design team.
Kawano says that everyone on the team caring about design was how Apple was able to create its core products in the early days of the iPhone with a team of around 100 designers.
For the most part, Apple didn’t employ specialist designers. Every designer could hold their own in both creating icons and new interfaces, for instance. And thanks to the fact that Apple hires design-centric engineers, the relatively skeleton design team could rely on engineers to begin the build process on a new app interface, rather than having to initiate their own mock-up first.
He also revealed that many of the small, thoughtful touches for which Apple is famous were things that individual designers and engineers came up purely as interesting experiments and then tucked away for years. He gave the example of the password box in OS X shaking if you didn’t enter it correctly.
Say we need a good way to give feedback for a password, and we don’t want to throw up this ugly dialog–then it’s about grabbing these interaction or animation concepts that have just been kind of built for fun experiments and seeing if there’s anything there, and then applying the right ones.
