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WWDC 2018: Our Highlights on Apple's Developer Conference
Here I am, just finished watching Apple's keynote at WWDC 2018 Conference. It was fun to see what Apple has been working for the past year, some really cool updates coming to the iPhone and iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. We have decided to share our highlights on Apple's Developer Conference, so you simply won't have to watch the keynote again hah! In all seriousness, I love the part where Apple spoke about privacy, about them working tirelessly to create a seamless experience. This is music to my ears and it will be interesting to give it a whirl. Now let's break it down! Announcing upgraded operating systems for iPhone and iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. We’ve packed them with new features and experiences, so with a simple update this fall all your devices will feel more powerful, personal, and fun than ever. More Links Learn more about the WWDC 2018 Announcement WWDC 2018 iOS New Features This is where I have been putting more of my attention and at the same time noticing so many cool updates. To be honest, I have a feeling that Apple has been learning a lot from its competitor (Android) even though they mentioned that iOS has the fastest software OS adoption than Android. From introducing a new file for AR called the USDZ, I particularly loved the app called: Measure where you would use to phone to measure things in real-time through AR. Apple introduced another new app called: Shortcuts where you will be able to direct a series of actions through this app, all triggered by setting your own keywords with Siri. It's pretty impressive, imagine with just a few words, Siri can set up your home thermostat, your home commute and even play your favorite playlist. It's super intuitive, might be interested to give it a try myself. Just like Google, Apple has acknowledged the fact that we spend a lot of time on our phones and it's becoming quite distracting throughout our daily life. They have improved the Do Not Disturb Mode for your bedtime and also you can set up your DND Mode by setting it up with a timer or whenever you are leaving your actual location. For the same occasion, Apple is finally releasing the Group Notifications, with a swipe you can now triage a whole bunch of notifications away. New iOS 12 Introducing Memojis The cool stuff hah! We have to see this type of Emojis before with Samsung but no one does it like Apple. With iOS12, you can now customize your own Emojis, now called: Memojis. It's fun but again how long you wanna spend time on your phone Memojis Group FaceTime That's a cool feature coming to iOS12 where you will be able to use Group FaceTime up to 32 people simultaneously. That would be video conference a lot funnier, not sure about productive though! One thing though, the UI for this new feature has been giving a lot of think about their approach. It's a nice touch to see the person's window getting larger as they talk but I think we would have thought about something a little bit more visual. WWDC 2018 WatchOS New Features Not a lot of people were too crazy about the latest updates on WatchOS, I personally liked the new app entitled: Walkie Talkie where you simply communicate to another Apple Watch user by simply pressing the Talk button. Great onboarding for adding a new contact/friend. WWDC 2018 MacOS New Features WWDC 2018 Dark Mode! Some little thing are coming to MacOS but the most noticeable change would be the introduction of Dark Mode. You gotta admit that it makes everything look even more gorgeous. This might be my most exciting feature to come on the next MacOS. WWDC 2018 Most of the updates were mostly software NOT hardware. It's mostly to be expected when you are attending the WWDC which are for developers. I loved those little updates, nothing too crazy but enough for us designers to start to think about different things related to our workflow. Hope you have enjoyed this coverage. More Links Learn more about the WWDC 2018 Announcement
Redesigning Apple OS / MacOs 2020 with Edge to Edge Macbook Concept
We are taking a look at a very interesting redesign by Montreal-based designer Aurélien Salomon on a concept for Apple OS / MacOs 2020 with Edge to Edge Macbook. First of all, we can't help to notice the edge to edge MacBook design, what do you think? I am not too keen on the margins but it's quite interesting though. Aurélien does a remarkable at this presentation and he's pretty amazing to see his ideas/concepts for the finder, dark mode, Safari and of course Augmented Reality. What do you think of this concept? Aurélien Salomon is a UI/UX/AR/Motion designer from Montreal, QC, Canada. We love his work on ABDZ, make sure to check his Behance for more. Apple OS concept redesign ( ux, ui, product, augmented reality, operating system, windows, apple, ios, safari, music, finder, design, motion, animation, 3d). This is a concept that I had in mind for a long time and I am happy to share it with you today. It is an unsolicited visual direction exploration done just for fun. The goal wasn't to solve every problems and it is by no means stating that it is "better" that what we have now. I learned a lot working on it and it was a lot of fun. More Links Learn more about Aurélien Salomon at gumroad.com/aureliensalomon Follow Aurélien's work on Behance Interaction Design & UI/UX
Industrial Design: Mkeke Stand Series
With the arrival of the latest iPhones, there is of course, the release of accessories for us to get and have it part of the essentials. Called: Stand Series, it has been designed by the folks from Seoul-based creative studio found / Founded for the Mkeke brand. Being two parts and made of the soft rugged material; you gotta love the simplicity and again the attention of details to the cord introduction. It's the little details that truly make a difference and you gotta love that colour! found / Founded is a creative design studio based in Seoul, Korea. Their work is generally related to industrial design, branding and product design (as industrial), check out their projects on Behance. A low-priced smart phone cradle is essential in everyday life. The soft Rugged series stand has a unique structure in which two parts in thin board form are easily separated and assembled. Thus, when separated, it is easy to store because of its thin volume, and when assembled, the smartphone can be mounted firmly in a desk environment. Both products can be docked simultaneously using the existing iPhone and Apple watch charging cable. Because it uses molding language which is representative of Rugged, it emphasizes solid feeling, but it has two charms of simple design and soft finish color and soft feeling. More Links Learn more about found / Founded at foundfounded.com Follow found / Founded on Behance Learn more about Mkeke goods Photo Gallery
Mobile Photography: #ShotoniPhone8Plus
It's been more than 5 days since the release of the iPhone 8 / 8Plus. Do you have one? Are you still indecisive? Aside from all its premium features, I am more interested in the camera since it's more in-line with what is my criteria from a phone, especially being a nerd with mobile photography. I did some surfing on Instagram and I tried to find images that rocked the iPhone 8 Plus camera which is a Dual 12 MP, (28mm, f/1.8, OIS & 56mm, f/2.8), phase detection autofocus, 2x optical zoom, quad-LED (dual tone) flash. What do you think? If you would like to know more about the iPhone 8 / 8Plus or purchase yours, check out the Apple iPhone 8 site. "A new generation of iPhone." More Links For more, check out #ShotoniPhone8Plus Follow my tweets @aoirostudio Follow my pictures on Instagram via Instagram Beautiful autumnal weather at Highclere. #highclerecastle #athomeathighclere #lifeathighclere #shotoniphone8plus A post shared by Highclere Castle (@highclere_castle) on Sep 22, 2017 at 7:15am PDT Big Apple. #reflectiongram #reflectionshot #shotoniphone #shotoniphone8plus #iphone8plus #click_N_share #nomirrormag #mobgrafia #mobgraphia #suafoto #respirofotografia #shotoniphone #achadosdasemana #mobphotography #instarefa #vivamobgraphia #ny A post shared by LFinardi (@lifinardimeyer) on Sep 26, 2017 at 11:55am PDT Big Apple. #reflectiongram #reflectionshot #shotoniphone #shotoniphone8plus #iphone8plus #click_N_share #nomirrormag #mobgrafia #mobgraphia #suafoto #respirofotografia #shotoniphone #achadosdasemana #mobphotography #instarefa #vivamobgraphia A post shared by LFinardi (@lifinardimeyer) on Sep 23, 2017 at 6:55pm PDT "I need you to be strong right now." — Me to Coffee #ShotoniPhone8Plus A post shared by ALYSSA LENORE • NEW YORK CITY (@alyssa.lenore) on Sep 27, 2017 at 8:24am PDT “Tiki” stunting #shotoniphone8plus A post shared by Spencer Pratt (@spencerpratt) on Sep 23, 2017 at 2:22pm PDT blessd by amazing sunset 뜻밖에 아름다운 석양을 만나 황홀한 날✨💜 . . . . #iceland #shotoniphone #shotoniphone8plus #iphoneonly #아이슬란드 #커플스냅 #아이슬란드스냅 #노필터 #인생샷 #커밍순 A post shared by 제제 Katie Kim SF (@jh_byzeze) on Sep 27, 2017 at 6:07pm PDT iPhone 8 Plus - zdjęcie zrobione w trybie portretowym z efektem oświetlenia studyjnego. Takie zdjęcia telefonem to już coś 🤓🤓🤓 #shotoniphone #shotoniphone8plus #zbitaszybka A post shared by ZbitaSzybka.pl Serwis iPhone i (@zbitaszybka) on Sep 27, 2017 at 8:46am PDT I will never get sick of this view 🌁 . @dubai 27/09/17 6:45am . #shotoniphone #shotoniphone8plus #thecityseries A post shared by Λ l (@aljvd) on Sep 26, 2017 at 9:48pm PDT The Night We Never Met • Low light shoot out with iphone 8 plus with @tunnelnuke • #shotoniphone #shotoniphone8plus #singapore A post shared by Aik Beng Chia (@aikbengchia) on Sep 25, 2017 at 5:02pm PDT Brooklyn Ferry View ⛴ #shotoniphone #shotoniphone8plus #brooklyn #ferry #sunset A post shared by @calvin_voon on Sep 24, 2017 at 6:15pm PDT The Night We Never Met • Low light shot with iphone 8 plus at Little India. • #shotoniphone #shotoniphone8plus #singapore A post shared by Aik Beng Chia (@aikbengchia) on Sep 24, 2017 at 1:11am PDT d o i t f o r t h e a n i m a l s 🐾 @centinelle donates $1 to the SF SPCA for every post! How cool is that!? Fashion with a cause! #putascarfonit #sfspca #shotoniphone8plus #shotoniphone A post shared by NIKIA PROVENZANO (@madmavenstyle) on Sep 22, 2017 at 4:28pm PDT Happy Launch Day 😘 #ShotoniPhone8Plus #PortraitMode A post shared by Rebekah Edmondson (@bekahedmondson) on Sep 22, 2017 at 1:47pm PDT [#HandsInFrame] . Test test. A simple shot because it's all about the details here. I am definitely blown away by the capability of the #iPhone8Plus camera. Here's a low light shot. Will be sharing more night shots soon! . #ShotOnIphone #ShotOnIphone8plus A post shared by _Yafiq Yusman_ | 🇸🇬 Singapore (@_yafiqyusman_) on Sep 21, 2017 at 4:51am PDT
iOS 11 Review: Actually Useful Features
It is here! The most anticipated iOS that we've been waiting for a long time now. Is it worth the upgrade? Yes, definitely is. Overall, it's more or less the same but it's definitely an enhanced experience from its predecessor. I would say that is 2x the radical enhancement you will experience on the iPad, that's a nice move from Apple. For the review, we decided to change the formula of instead highlighting its new features. We'll be more focusing on useful features that you can use as a designer for your workflow. Let's dive into iOS 11! iOS 11 sets a new standard for what is already the world’s most advanced mobile operating system. It makes iPhone better than before. It makes iPad more capable than ever. And now it opens up both to amazing possibilities for augmented reality in games and apps. With iOS 11, iPhone and iPad are the most powerful, personal and intelligent devices they’ve ever been. iOS 11 Control Center Control Center Control Center gets the most attention from this update, just because it is totally different. I would say the UX approach is pretty close to what's been done on Android. Everything is easy to access, works like a toggle mostly and you can customize it. I heard that when you are turning off "Wifi" or "Bluetooth" for example, it doesn't entirely turn them off. That's for debate. One thing though, when clicking on the "Wifi" icon, the transition will work like a long press. I wish that very same transition could have worked for when you wanna go straight to your "Wifi" settings instead of going through the "Settings Icon". Overall for the day-to-day activity, the Control Center gives you what you actually want of your iPhone. Your browser does not support the video tag. Screen Recording If you stay aside from recording creepy videos off Snapchat. It's actually a really neat feature for us designers. I would see this feature working well for instructional videos or tech support. As you can see, it's pretty simple, you tap the "Record" button off the Control Center (with or without audio) and that's it! I would definitely see myself using "Screen Recording" to explain a user flow or transitions for example. That's pretty neat! SOS This might be off-topic but I think it's a nice feature that can actually save lives. Imagine yourself in a very unfortunate situation, you press quickly five times on the power button, you can "Auto Call" which will dial 911. To setup: Settings -> General -> Accessibility -> Call Audio Routing -> Auto-Answer Calls Your browser does not support the video tag. Editing Screenshots Another great feature to enhance your workflow, I've found myself in many situations where you would take screenshots and upload it through Instagram Stories to be able to use their editing tools. Well not anymore with IOS 11. I also love the fact that you don't have to go back to your "Camera Roll" and edit. Drag and Drop Feature Drag and Drop I gave it a try on the iPhone and sometimes it worked and vice-versa. It was definitely worth it on the iPad. The feature "Multi App Dragging" where you tap and hold an app until it wiggles so you can select multiple apps and then drag them all to a new screen or folder. It truly makes the iPad into a solid device more beyond than before. iOS 11 Gallery If you still haven't downloaded or upgraded your device yet, check out Apple's iOS 11 site. And give it a whirl yourself! More Links Follow my tweets @aoirostudio Follow my pictures on Instagram Images via Apple
Embracing the Peculiar iPhone X Notch
A few days ago Apple announced their new lineup of phones including the widely expected and leaked iPhone X. There was nothing new due to the huge amount of leaks and prototypes that were being reviewed months before and the biggest thing about the new phone is the screen. It pretty much takes the whole front face of the phone but has a very distinct cutout at the top to case the cameras and sensors, the iconic and weird, iPhone X Notch. Personally I don't like it. It looks like a badge that when the screen is using white or light colors. With black it looks dope. However the most amazing thing for me and the reason of this post is to highlight how much the design community embrace any new Apple release. It's not a rant, it's just an observation. Many devices in the past had to create workarounds due to similar constraints and they were always fiercely criticized by designers. The best example was the Moto 360 smartwatch. But enough of comparisons, below you can see a compilation of recent Dribbble posts already adopting and promoting the new look of iPhone X. iPhone X Notch
iPhone X: Interface Guidelines
Today we've witnessed the latest from Apple, whatever you feel it was amazing or not; they have released the new iPhone. It's here and it's what Apple think will be the future of the smartphone. Introducing the iPhone X, coming with a new size of 5.8-in with a "super" retina display. Wait! We are not going to go through its features but more into their human interface guidelines. Basically what has changed on the UI aspect of things that will probably affect our work somehow if you are in iOS Design. Let's dig! Apple also shared their UI Design Resources, how cool is that? They provided files for Photoshop, Sketch and Adobe XD where based on the iOS SDK, it's just a really good and reliable resource to dig through for your next project or just by curiosity. ...a large, high-resolution, rounded, edge-to-edge display that delivers an immersive, content-rich experience like never before. Image via Apple Developer Site Screen Size In Portrait, the iPhone X has the same width as its predecessors (iPhone 6, iPhone 7, and iPhone 8) but the display is actually higher of 20% on the vertical space for the content space. To be specific, it's 145pt taller. For our UI assets, they will have to be @3x to support its high-resolution display. • Portrait Dimensions: 1125px × 2436px (375pt × 812pt @3x) • Landscape Dimensions: 2436px × 1125px (812pt × 375pt @3x) Layout "Safe" Area There are many things to think about when designing for the iPhone X including the newly sensor housing on the front. Make sure to remember about the backgrounds to give a fully immersive full-screen experience to the edges of the display all the way to the bottom. Apple is advising us to design with a mindset of having the content centered, looks right with the different orientation and to stay away from the corners including the sensor's area. Please take a look at the different possible situations below. We gotta think about the aspect ratio as well especially how your UI will behave with auto-hiding for like playing videos or photo slideshows for example. Gestures Since Apple got rid of the "home button of the iPhone X, they had to rethink about the gestures. Just to add to the list, now we have home screen, app switcher, notification center, control center and also Face ID. Regarding iOS 11, I am not a huge fan of how you have 3 different ways to swipe down, from the home screen. We can leave these thoughts of the full release of the next iOS. Links on Apple Human Interface Guidelines Overview for iPhone X Apple UI Design Resources More Links Follow my tweets @aoirostudio Follow my pictures on Instagram Images via Apple Developer Site
MacBook Pro Review - Love and Hate with the Touch Bar
It's time for our honest appraisal of the MacBook Pro. After almost 5 years using my old MacBook Pro, a first generation retina display, the time had come for an upgrade. I've been chomping at the bit for Apple to announce a new laptop because mine was having a lot of issues. Be it the bevy of dead pixels, battery life of less than 1 hour to the most frustrating of all, ghosting effects on my screen. So finally, at the end of last year, Apple announced the new MacBook Pros with the Touch Bar. Time to hit the savings and purchase one. Before getting to the review, I have to say, Apple products hold a good resale value. After almost 5 years, I was able to trade in my old laptop for 500 dollars at Best Buy. A great deal. Now back to the MacBook Pro Review. I have been using the laptop for almost 4 weeks now. I have done pretty much the same things I did with the previous one. Tasks using tools such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Sketch, Figma, Sublime Text and Android Studio. This review is based on my personal experience, some people might think differently, but again, everyone has his or her own way of seeing things, this is mine. MacBook Pro Review Industrial Design Let’s start with the easy one, the industrial design. What can I say about this machine, it is simply stunning. The Space Grey color gives it a super sleek look, it’s like the Lamborghini Aventador of the laptops in my mind. In terms of size, it’s not much different than the previous one. It’s definitely thinner and lighter, but putting them together the dimensions are quite similar. The difference is how solid/dense this machine feels. The old one now feels to have a bunch of wasted space internally compared with the new one. It’s like it’s a solid piece with no parts. Try to shake him, you cannot hear a piece moving. I also like the new design of the screen, it’s a detail, but the MacBook Pro logo looks nicer over a black surface. Keyboard and Trackpad There’s a lot of talk about the keyboard, quite a lot of hate too. What can I say? I love it. I love pretty much everything about it. The sound, even though it gets a bit loud; the keys and how short the travel is when you press them. They also feel a bit bigger. My theory is that Apple is slowly transitioning to digital keyboards by making the laptop keys with shorter and shorter travel therein training us to type on flat surfaces. If that is true, it’s working for me and I appreciate it. The trackpad got a redesign as well, they made it really big. But, does size really matter? To be honest with you, in this case, it doesn’t. It’s nice that it’s bigger, but it captures a bunch of involuntary touches, especially when I am typing, like now. I also like to set up the trackpad speed to the max, so I can move the cursor across the screen without much effort. That said, the trackpad feels great without the physical click. It’s like the new iPhone in that it just emulates the click. I know, I know, it’s been on laptops for a long time, but remember I had a 2012 MacBook Pro. Touch Bar To summarize my feelings about the Touch Bar, gimmicky. Apple calls it a touch of genius, I call it a touch of laziness or just stubbornness on not making the screen touchable. Here’s the thing, I don’t want to sound bad but there’s nothing about it that I like. It made my life more difficult. For example, if I want to change the volume, now I need an extra click because I need to expand the volume slider. Same goes for screen brightness. In addition to that, you have to expand the touch bar to access other functions like the apps drawer, the expose and keyboard backlight control. Why? Some apps take advantage of that Touch Bar, but I am so used to those apps that I never noticed anything different. Oh there are the emojis on Messenger, too bad, I am an old and grumpy man that doesn’t use emojis. Also there’s Siri, that is right on top of the Delete key and next to the Touch Id key. That means, I trigger that button by mistake a bit too often. That’s when I get reminded about Siri, which I never used. Again, this is my personal opinion. Maybe I will change my mind about some of these things, but for now, I think the Touch Bar is dumb. The best thing about it is the Touch Id to turn on and login without password. That is pure genius, but that is not exactly part of the Touch Bar. Performance and Battery life Performance-wise for me it’s great. It is better than my previous MacBook Pro but not by much. It definitely handles apps like Android Studio and Sketch with multiple artworks faster, but it’s not mind-blowing faster. I also feel that in general the computers cannot get that much faster as the tech might have reached a plateau. I have to also say that I don’t use a lot of CPU or GPU intensive software that much. For my needs it’s an excellent machine. The screen is also beautiful, the colors are much improved compared with the 2012 cousin. It’s more saturated and brighter. The contrast is another great improvement in my humble and not so knowledgeable opinion. Resolution-wise, it's the same, still crisply beautiful. Now the battery life. Oh the battery life. This one for me is tricky because my previous laptop would last for less than 1 hour so anything over that is much better. But it’s far from what Apple claims 10 hours, which I think someone could sue them for false advertising. I never got close to that, maybe if I only use Safari with a blank tab with 10% brightness for the screen I might get the result. In short, the battery life is not 10 hours, actually it’s pretty hard to track it for me because it’s extremely unreliable. Sometimes it lasts more, others it feels that it goes down like a % every minute. I believe that’s the reason that they removed the time estimate from the battery indicator. Hopefully, it can be fixed via firmware or software, but, as I said in the beginning, I was used to a terrible battery life. So it’s not a deal breaker for me, especially now that I can charge it from anyone of the 4 USB-C ports available. USB-C ports only I appreciate Apple’s boldness on adopting new technologies and getting rid of old ones. They are not predicting the future, but trying to define it by going there first.Another new feature that generated a lot of controversy, the USB-C only ports. I see a lot of people complaining, but for me, like with the keyboard, I love it. I simply do. I love the idea of one type of port for everything, that’s the future and Apple is betting on it. Too bad that now you need an adapter for the iPhone cable. Thankfully I am a Pixel owner so it works just great with my Android Pixel. How paradoxical, right!? I also have only one adapter, that came with my Pixel phone. It’s an USB-A to USB-C. It works great and serves all my needs. I can connect my Sony RX1 camera, or my old external hard-drive just fine and best of all, I can use my external monitor with just one cable for everything. It cannot get any better than that, unless going all wireless. Conclusion Overall the MacBook Pro 15 with the Touch Bar is a great machine. It’s clearly an evolution from the previous one in terms of industrial design and aesthetics, not so much in performance, but still better and faster. The new features like the keyboard, Touch ID, bigger trackpad and USB-C only are really good for me. I appreciate Apple’s boldness on adopting new technologies and getting rid of old ones. They are not predicting the future, but trying to define it by going there first. It also resonates with my minimalist mind of reducing clutter by simplifying things, like having only one port for everything. Despite the Touch Bar being a hit or miss for me I highly recommend this machine if you have an old MacBook Pro like I did and need an upgrade urgently. If you can wait, I’d wait because Apple is notorious for having bad first generation products, I suffered with my old MacBook Pro, but this time I will be more prepared by acquiring the Apple Care extended warranty. In a nutshell, if you want to have the sexiest laptop you can get, I would get this one in a heartbeat. Perhaps the 13, if you don’t need too much screen real estate. Pros Beautiful Industrial Design; Thinner and lighter than the previous one; Spacegrey color is sleek; Keyboard; USB-C only for everything; Touch Id to unlock Cons Battery life; macOS is getting a bit outdated; Touch Bar is useless for me. It also adds extra clicks for volume or other common tasks; No touch screen Photos
Apple Mirror - Touchscreen Mirror Functional Concept
We love concepts and ideas over at Abduzeedo, we are even more intrigued when it’s actually functioning and live for the World to see. Let’s take a look at this amazing work from Rafael Dymek who has multiple roles as a Marketing guy, Designer and Web Developer currently based in New York, NY. He created a fully functioning smart touchscreen mirror based on Apple’s iOS 10 and it’s looking great! I would see this concept really working well in the bathroom for example while you’re prepping yourself for the beginning of the day. It is literally something you’ll see in a movie set in the future and how things like this concept comes to live to make your life a little more productive and even sweeter! Created a fully functioning smart touchscreen mirror based on Apple’s iOS 10. Design includes the time and date in the upper right hand corner and weather in the top left. All apps can be moved around and placed anywhere on the mirror. After 45 seconds of inactivity the mirror goes to sleep (appears as any ordinary mirror), simply tap anywhere to wake back up and resume use. Some useful things you can do with this mirror: Request an Uber, watch Netflix, read the news, control smart thermostat / light bulbs, control Sonos speaker system and more. Watch the Video More Information: http://www.rafaeldymek.com.
My Week with the Apple Watch
I had the chance to try the new Apple Watch for about a week now and I would like to share my experience with you on Abduzeedo. In this review, I'll share with you my UX experience, and also some of its features. Model I was using: 38mm Space Gray Aluminum Case with Black Band Sport More Info: http://store.apple.com/us/buy-watch/apple-watch-sport?product=MJ2X2LL/A… Context: To put you in a situation, I am a full-time Dad and also working as a Design Lead. On the whole range of available notifications, I wanted to only receive my texts, Facebook messages, emails and phone calls. User Experience: It's always exciting to try a new "technology" which you know the developers have spent months and months to build and test. At first glance, the interface is very familiar to Apple products, it's really easy to navigate through all the apps. What I liked is the fact that you can "customize" your Apple Watch preferences and create a new interface that reflects your tastes through an app on your iPhone (iPhone 6Plus). I'm sure it was a great challenge to Apple to create an effective interface and especially on a smaller surface. Everything is simple and direct, I think the Apple Watch has a lot of UX movement involved for my use but we adapt pretty quickly. Via Pttrns.com Via Pttrns.com Via Pttrns.com After a week, I noticed that Apple Watch was useful for: • Answering the phone on the road • Answering my texts with the help of Siri, which works well in English and French • Keep a close attention on my "Activity" • Taking pictures with the "timer" I will say that the Apple Watch is great for our small and quick needs during the course of our day but anything that went beyond that, I found myself going back to my iPhone in hand to respond to emails and to do stuff that will be impossible on the Apple Watch. We are still in the first generation of this technology and knowing Apple, we will witness several improvements in the near future. Links More info about the Apple Watch: http://www.apple.com/
Logo Design: Apples
The Logo Design series is up and running. We're thinking ahead and we want to find new ways to sort these listings. Last week we had the second part of the post on logos with mushrooms, but I wish I didn't have found the inspiration for today's post: apples. :(
Logo Design: Strawberries and Apples
The Logo Design series is up and running! We're thinking ahead and we want to find new ways to sort these listings. Last week we had a post on logos with pears and grapes... today it's all about logos with strawberries and apples! As usual, we'll search for logos in these galleries: Logopond, Logo Faves, Logo Moose, Logo from Dreams, Logo Gala, WS Logos, The Logo Mix and Wolda. We hope you all enjoy our selection! Cheers. ;) Strawberries Apples
Design History: Dieter Rams - Less But Better
Pablo Picasso once said "Good Artists Copy Great Artists Steal" then Steve Jobs mention that in one interview long ago. We all know that Apple products are the best out there, there's no doubt about it, and the main reason about that is because they have the best design. Jonhathan Ive, the chief industrial designer at Apple is a fantastic designer but it's always good to know what and who inspired him to come up with the Apple product designs. We might think that they are pretty unique and new but when we look at Dieter Rams the Pablo Picasso's quote makes even more sense. About Dieter Rams (Wikipedia) Dieter Rams (born May 20, 1932 in Wiesbaden, Hesse) is a German industrial designer closely associated with the consumer products company Braun and the Functionalist school of industrial design. Rams studied architecture at the Werkkunstschule Wiesbaden as well as learning carpentry from 1943 to 1957. After working for the architect Otto Apel between 1953 and 1955 he joined the electronic devices manufacturer Braun where he became chief of design in 1961, a position he kept until 1995. Rams once explained his design approach in the phrase "Weniger, aber besser" which freely translates as "Less, but better". Rams and his staff designed many memorable products for Braun including the famous SK-4 record player and the high-quality 'D'-series (D45, D46) of 35 mm film slide projectors. He is also known for designing the 606 Universal Shelving System by Vitsœ in 1960. Rams' ten principles to "good design" is innovative makes a product useful is aesthetic makes a product understandable is unobtrusive is honest is long-lasting is thorough down to the last detail is environmentally friendly is as little design as possible Video About Dieter Rams Works Further reading DIETER RAMS: Less But Better Seperated At Birth? Dieter Rams and Apple’s Ive “The man behind Apple’s design magic” Dieter Rams - Design Museum Dieter Rams: “Less, but better.” Designboom - dieter rams
Game Center Layout Style in Fireworks
This tutorial was inspired on the new Apple Game Center design. Besides to teach you guys how to make all the effects we will use the whole work spent on that to create a cool wallpaper. So check out the resolution of your computer and let's get started! Step 1 Here I create a 1440x990 pixels canvas. After that we can start with a rectangle, fill with #34884B. Also check out the texture we need to apply. Step 2 Now we will create other 2 rectangles. First one fill with #27693F and the last one with #286B3C. Check out the image of each effect and texture applied. Also check out the order of the layers until now. Step 3 Let's start a red rectangle now. We will make some nodes to model this rectangle, so I have a tip, just ungroup the rectangle, you will convert it to a path. With the pen, create the nodes, and also delete some others as I show in the image below. After that use the Subselection Tool "A" to select some points and model the rectangle until you have a draw like the last on the image. Step 4 Now we will apply a dirty style on this path using a texture. Just duplicate the path you've just created, place the texture bellow the path and use this path as a mask on the texture. Also apply an overlay 70% on this mask. Step 5 Now we need to put some light onto this texture. Duplicate again the red path and create an ellipse with light pink color fill. Don't forget to apply a feather on this ellipse. Use this other path you've just duplicated to mask this ellipse. Step 6 Here you will just create a new path inside the our draw. Duplicate again the red path, go to Modify > Alter Path> Inset Path, and use the values I showed on the image. Step 7 The part of the top and the bottom of the badge we will draw using the pen tool and adjusting the nodes with the "A" tool. Also we will write something inside that. Here we have another tip, draw a curve line and select this line and the text. Then go to Text > Attach to Path. Maybe you will need to make some adjusts with the "A" tool until you have exactly the shape you want. Step 8 To draw the bottom and top wood bars, we will use simple rectangles and use the Wood texture on Fireworks. You can adjust the saturation and color of this wood if you want, do it with filters. After that, draw a half height rectangle over the wood with alpha 16%. Step 9 We're close to the end! Fill the layout with new elements, you can follow the PNG file if you need some inspiration! Final Result Also put some round rectangles the the both sides of the layout, like Game Center does, this way you can place your desktop icons over those! Download the Fireworks File Click here to download the Fireworks file used for this tutorial
Sociology of Apple Objects
How did objects come to enter the human collective? Inspired by the research work of Bruno Latour, these graphics were created with the idea to speak about the marketing hidden behind objects the main goal of the serie and the forward on is social life. And having some distance about it, there is some construction of a potential user in products. This work is done by Stephane Massa-Bidal—for more visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/hulk4598/
LED Cinema Display in Fireworks
We've been using 2 templates in our Wallpapers of the Week articles: the iPhone and the new Apple Cinema Display 24. The iPhone frame we had already shown you how to create it in Fireworks. Now it's time to make the new Apple's display in only a few steps. Take a look and let me know what you think. STEP 1 Open a new file with the canvas 625 x 625px. Create a rectangle that fit the canvas and fill it with a Radial Gradient with the colors #000 and STEP 2 Let's start creating the monitor. Draw a rectangle (538x360px). Fill with #000 and border 2px #CCC. Add a Inner Shadow with #FFF and the values: 0 - 65% - 2. Also, set a round corner of 10%. STEP 3 To create the support of the display, we need to use the Pen Tool. Draw a shape like the picture, than apply a Linear Gradient. The colors for this gradient and the positions of them are: #494949 - #C7C8CC - #C7C8CC - #FFF - #FFF - #C7C8CC. STEP 4 Now we need to duplicate this support to create a shadow. So after duplicate it, move it a nudge down a little bit; send it to backward and apply a Drop Shadow with the values: 4 - 40% - 4 - 270º. STEP 5 We need to create the canvas of the display. Draw a rectangle inside of the rounded rectangle and fill it with a nice background image, like your own desktop. Here we're using an image from James White, you can download here if you want. STEP 6 To create the reflectin on the display, firstly, we need to duplicate the rounded rectangle and bring it to front. After that convert this rectangle to path (just ungroup!). We must create 2 new dots with the Pen Tool and after that delete other ones. See the picture below for reference. STEP 7 Now just apply a Linear Gradient from #FFF to #FFF. At the bottom of this gradient change the opacity to 0. Also use 40% opacity to the entire path. After that, just move this path 2 pixels left and 2 pixels bottom. Final Result We can put an Apple's logo at the bottom and a very small circle at the top to simulate the camera. Now we have a beautiful vector Apple Cinema Display to play with some backgrounds, wallpapers or website layouts. It's definitely an awesome way to show off your work or present them to clients. Download the Fireworks file Click here to download the Fireworks file.
The Joy of Opening an Apple Package
If the small pleasures are really the ones that count, there's a special one that I had the opportunity to try in its full power last month. After being a PC user for over 15 years, I've bought my first Mac. I gotta confess that I got pretty anxious waiting for the delivery. But after 3 days, it finally arrived at my home, my dream came true. I had heard the things people say about unpacking a Mac, of how much of a powerful experience it might be, and I can say, they were right. First, the distributor box was nothing special, just a cardboard regular one, not fancy or anything. But, as I started to open it, I felt like I was in some sort of Pirate/treasure hunt movie, when they open the treasure chest and that golden glow shines upon their face, and this simply makes you think that all the hard work you had to buy it was really, really worth it. I'm totally serious when I say that the Macbook box is probably one of the most beautiful things that exist. It doesn't have any exotic shape, there's not much details, but its finishing is absolutely stunning. Minimalist, there are only the necessary elements, like a few pictures, some information, and of course, the apple logo. I really felt like I had won the lottery. Actually, the box is such a great piece of design that is almost like you had bought the box, and not what comes inside. In the podcast they discuss the packaging of an iPod (the 1st generation Nano as it happens) which I also own. Where this resonates with me is the fact that I didn’t purchase this product, it was a Christmas gift and as such I didn’t have the purchase experience; my first interaction with the product was to unwrap the box. At this point I’ll skip to the end; the box for my Nano sits proudly on my shelf. I haven’t retained the box for some perfunctory purpose to store the Nano again when I come to move house. I don’t keep it so that I can put the Nano away every night either. I keep it because, in itself, it’s a beautiful little piece of design that is worthy of display. - John Gibbard from Smorgasbord Design During the school year, the boxes for his third-generation iPod, PowerBook G4, Mighty Mouse and OS X Tiger sit at home with his parents. For the time being, he contents himself with a rear-lit Apple Pro Keyboard box dangling from the loft of his dorm room. 'I can't imagine throwing them away," he said. "It's more than a record of a serial number; it's a record of a good event that happened in my life.' - Wired Yet, opening the box it's another great pleasure... getting to see that fantastic piece inside, all yours. And I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who had this kind of experience. There gotta be much more people who enjoy opening their wish list itens, whether it's a mac or not. Like when we were a child, and we would open our presents under the Christmas tree, just to see that we got what we'd asked for or when you finally got that Pokemon game card you were looking for. Total madness. Wait... madness? THIS, IS, SPARTAAAA! But we would really love to hear from you guys, what packages really made you happy, these days, or when you were kids, like the Nintendo 64 kids. I do remember the joy of getting my Sega Gensis and my Super Nintendo. Happy, happy, joy, joy! Tell us!! We want to know! Cheers! ;)