design

It's not every day that you land a spacecraft on Mars, even if you're NASA. And in the case of the Curiosity rover, hurtling toward a Mars landing as Sunday night turns into Monday morning, the space agency is tempting fate with a novel approach that involves a big parachute, a specially designed winch, and some very high hopes.

The rover's descent through the Martian atmosphere, which NASA has dubbed the "Seven Minutes of Terror," will be an edge-of-your-seat experience, despite the space agency's excruciating preparations.

Consider, for instance, just one key element that … Read more

My sofa has seen better days thanks to the hundreds of tiny claw pricks left by three cats. When I finally get around to replacing it, I would sure like to pick up a Cat Tunnel Sofa.

The Cat Tunnel Sofa incorporates a place for humans to sit, but it also features a bending tube for cats to play in. This means you're not likely to get much relaxing done as Toehawks and Ms. Floofer scurry around like hamsters right behind your head.

Korean designer Seungji Mun was inspired by the concept of pets as companions and the growing market for pet products.… Read more

Forget the zombie apocalypse for a moment. What if a real disaster struck your neighborhood? Where would you, or relief workers, take shelter?

As thousands of Japanese are still coping with the aftermath of the 2011 Tohoku quake and tsunami, Osaka-based Daiwa Lease recently showed off this shipping container, a home for disaster zones. … Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- A single button on one of Apple's phones or tablets might have gone through 50 or more iterations before ending up in the final design, one of the company's lead designers said today.

The first expert witness in the jury trial between Apple and Samsung here was Christopher Stringer, who has been an industrial designer at Apple since 1995 and helped design the iPhone along with other Apple products.

In his testimony, Stringer -- who donned an all-white suit to court -- said that the design process for any product typically began with lots … Read more

When the world first met James Bond on-screen in the 1962 film "Dr. No," it changed the way many people imagined the life of a secret agent.

Six actors and nearly 25 films after Bond's film debut, the Barbican Centre in London is commemorating the dapper life of James Bond with "Designing 007: Fifty Years of Bond Style." The massive exhibit features 400 effects from the Bond movie franchise, ranging from rarely seen conceptual art and on-set photos to original costumes and props. … Read more

Why is Apple successful? It all starts with the quality of its products, according to Jonathan Ive. The company's senior vice president of industrial design waxed eloquent on this theme during a talk about Apple's design focus at the British Embassy's Creative Summit.

"I refute that design is important. Design is a prerequisite. Good design -- innovation -- is really hard," said Ive, according to Wired. "We say no to a lot of things that we want to do and are intrigued by so that we only work on a manageable amount of products … Read more

Ever wondered what the thought process must have been like for Apple's designers in coming up with the early iterations of the iPhone and iPad? Or if there were any crazy versions that never made it to the shelf?

Now, thanks to the Apple vs. Samsung patent court case, you can take a look at some of the early sketches and prototypes of these devices by way of public court documents.

According to Ina Fried at All Things D, Apple filed several documents Saturday that include dozens of hand-drawn and computer-generated sketches of early iPhone and iPad designs, along … Read more

Although Windows has a clock of its own, there are plenty of clock applications that add functionality -- or just decoration -- to the task of displaying the time. LCD Clock is a simple program that's fairly light on features, but isn't a bad choice if you're looking for a simple way to view the date and time.

LCD Clock annoyed us right away by forcing us to install the FunMoods toolbar, a piece of malware masquerading as a tool for adding emoticons to social networking sites and e-mail. Although it's not uncommon for software to … Read more

Design-focused shopping site Fab hopes to expand its global footprint and increase its warehouses and inventory with the $105 million its secured in a third round of funding, Fab CEO Jason Goldberg said in the company's blog post today.

The new round of financing was led by investment firm Atomico, which is also helping Fab expand its site globally, starting with London, Tokyo, Beijing, Sao Paulo, and Istanbul. Atomico's other investments include Skype and Rovio, the maker of Angry Birds.

"We believe that we have a special opportunity to create one of the world's next great … Read more