Tag Archives: design

Niice Is A Beautifully Simple Tool To Create Moodboards | TechCrunch

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Every now and again I’m pitched a startup that I “get” instantly because it addresses a problem I’ve faced in the past and solves it in a simple, laser-focussed way. Niice is one such startup. It’s created a tool aimed at designers who need to create moodboards — a collection of inspirational images — in order to seed the creative process. The cloud-based moodboard-making service quietly launched a freemium version earlier this week.

Part image search engine, part image collection creator, Niice lets you search for images within its preselected image sources consisting of design galleries and various image communities on the web. The idea is to save designers having to trawl through bookmarked sites or rely solely on something like Google image search, as well exposing them to images they might not otherwise come across.

READ MORE: Niice Is A Beautifully Simple Tool To Create Moodboards | TechCrunch.

U.S. Navy Launches NeRD, a Security Enhanced E-Reader | The Digital Shift

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The U.S. Navy General Library Program NGLP last month announced the release of its new Navy e-Reader Device NeRD, which comes preloaded with 300 titles including popular fiction, recent bestsellers, and content from the Chief of Naval Operations Professional Reading Program. The new e-ink readers were designed by preloaded digital content provider Findaway World perhaps best known in the library world for its Playaway and are the first devices to feature Findaway’s new “Lock” ereader security solution.

These preloaded devices do not have wifi connectivity or accessible data inputs or outputs, and are designed to be manipulation free. This design adheres to the Navy’s security protocols, which include restrictions on many types of personal electronic devices with rewritable media or recording capabilities on board ships. In an earlier interview during the request for information stage of the project in 2012, Nilya Carrato, program assistant for the NGLP told LJ that preloaded, manipulation-free devices would also help ensure that titles are not accidently deleted during long deployments, and that sailors would not use their personal credit cards to add content to the devices.

via U.S. Navy Launches NeRD, a Security Enhanced E-Reader | The Digital Shift.

LETS REINVENT THE BOOKSHOP | More Intelligent Life

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Bookshops are closing down like nobody’s business. So do they need rethinking for the electronic age? Rosanna de Lisle asks four firms of architects and designers to create the bookshop of their dreams

READ: LETS REINVENT THE BOOKSHOP | More Intelligent Life

Steelcase And Susan Cain Design Offices For Introverts | Co.Design

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7 | Steelcase And Susan Cain Design Offices For Introverts | Co.Design | business + design

Introverts of the workplace are having a moment. The office furniture company Steelcase teamed up with Susan Cain, author of the bestseller Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, to create a series of five spaces that address the need for more focus and privacy at work.

The collection, called Susan Cain Quiet Spaces, comes right in the middle of a long-established era in which open, non-hierarchical workplaces are the norm at any startup. But everyone knows how frustrating it is to take a phone call that requires privacy or to get serious creative work done amidst the distractions that naturally pop up in an open-plan office. “In the past we would talk about the benefits of collaboration, visibility, and the ability to show people work in progress,” explains Steelcase’s application design manager Vanessa Bradley. “There is a message here about balance.”

READ MORE: Steelcase And Susan Cain Design Offices For Introverts | Co.Design | business + design.

This Museum Gave Kids Crayon Helmets And Let Them Go Wild | Gizmodo

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If drawing on the walls at home is a no-no, drawing on the walls at a museum is a massive dont-even-think-about-it. Or it was, until the playful design duo behind Matheny Studio teamed up with Melbournes National Gallery of Victoria to create a new on-site space where kids can strap on crayon studded helmets, shoes, and all kinds of wacky gear and go completely nuts. All. Over. Everything.

READ MORE” This Museum Gave Kids Crayon Helmets And Let Them Go Wild | Gizmodo

A Brilliantly Simple Design Transforms Old Boxes Into School Desks And Bags | Co.Exist

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Most schools in rural India can’t afford basic supplies like desks, and most of the students attending them can’t afford backpacks. The Bombay-based nonprofit Aarambh worked with designers to come up with an ingenious solution to both problems: Their simple stencil transforms old cardboard boxes into a convertible desk and school bag.

READ MORE: A Brilliantly Simple Design Transforms Old Boxes Into School Desks And Bags | Co.Exist | ideas + impact.

Apple Just Put Its App Design Bible On iBooks For Free | Gizmodo

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Apple’s iOS Human Interface Guidelines, a set of tips and rules for designers that was previously only available through the developer portal, is free on iBooks as of today. It’s a little glimpse into how Apple hopes app developers will follow its lead when it comes to design.

The “book,” which is more of a primer, covers everything from aesthetic decisions to actual user experience decisions. For example, in the Color and Typography chapter, we learn about kerning and font size. Meanwhile, we also get insight into the nitty gritty of UX—from consistency to figuring out who your users even are.

It sounds like a document for developers, but it’s actually a fascinating insight into how Apple thinks about design. That ranges from building palettes of “pure, clean colors” to breeding trust in your users: “Important: Don’t tell people to reboot or restart after installing your app. Restarting takes time and can make your app seem unreliable and hard to use.”

Read More: Apple Just Put Its App Design Bible On iBooks For Free | Gizmodo

LEGO Car Fueled by Air Drives Into History | PCMag.com

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What started more than 60 years ago as a children’s building-block toy has turned into a technological tool, most recently used to design a plastic car fueled by air.

More than 500,000 LEGO bricks were used to build Steve Sammartino and Raul Oaida’s “Super Awesome Micro Project”: a drivable LEGO car. Read more: LEGO Car Fueled by Air Drives Into History | News & Opinion | PCMag.com.

Mind-Boggling Spherical Gear Made from 3D-Printed Moving Parts | Gizmodo

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New York-based Proxy Design Studio has given Gizmodo a first glimpse of its incredible, 3D-printed spherical gear called the Mechaneu, equal parts tactile toy and mechanical sculpture, a mind-bogglingly precise intermeshing of wheels within wheels.

Read: Mind-Boggling Spherical Gear Made from 3D-Printed Moving Parts | Gizmodo

Palette’s modular controller brings dials and sliders to your laptop (hands-on) | Engadget

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Palette

Palette co-founder Calvin Chu has a problem with how people work. “Creative professionals spend so much of their time on the computer, and at the moment, they still use a very generic one-size-fits-all keyboard and mouse interface.” It doesn’t make sense, he says — photographers, gamers, film editors, musicians and accountants all using the same interface? Surely there is a better way. “It should be specialized and made for your needs, and that’s where we came up for the idea for Palette.” Palette is Chu’s answer to a world that’s discarded tactile dials and switches for keyboards, mice and touch screens. It’s a modular collection of buttons, sliders and potentiometers that can be programmed to do almost anything on your PC. We took a look at an early prototype of the customizable controller to reacquaint ourselves with the tactile world.

Read: Palette’s modular controller brings dials and sliders to your laptop (hands-on)  | Engadget