mockups

If Apple designer Jony Ive ruled the world

What's in a look? For some, design can mean the difference between embracing or rejecting a product. Earlier this week Apple unveiled iOS 7, prompting plenty of opinions about the dramatically refreshed look of one of the most-used mobile operating systems in the world.

One of the loudest -- well, visually loudest -- opinions can be found at Jony Ive Redesigns Things, a Tumblr run by designer Sasha Agapov. The visual blog hosts submissions of funny Ive-inspired products and logos from wisecrackers around the world, ranging from a seriously simplified dollar bill to a new look for the Apple logo. Browse through our brief gallery to see more.… Read more

Peek at the best-looking PlayStation 4 mockup yet

When Sony has a secret up its sleeve, the company loves to tease. If you missed last week's video enigma, Sony revealed very brief pictures of the mysterious PlayStation 4 hardware, leaving gamers in the dark about what the highly anticipated gaming console will look like.

Luckily, graphics guru Andy Gilleand has the imagination (and skills) to piece together Sony's puzzle, and created a general conceptual rendering of the PlayStation 4.

While Gilleand's interpretation will have most Sony purists crying foul, the render does align with the general shape and accents seen in the official teaser videos. It's widely expected that Sony will finally show off the PlayStation 4 during a company press event at E3 2013 on June 10.… Read more

Microsoft reveals early mockups of Windows 8 UI from 2010

Windows 8 mockups from two years ago show more or less the same interface found in the OS today.

The mockups from 2010 were revealed in a keynote demonstration given by Jensen Harris, a director of program management for Microsoft's Windows User Experience Team. Dubbed "The Story of Windows 8," the demo was given during a UX Week conference held by design firm Adaptive Path.

As displayed by blog site iStartedSomething.com, images of the mockups show that Microsoft certainly tweaked some of the look and feel of Windows 8. But the overall design of the OS … Read more

Forget Photoshop, this is a real iPhone 5 mock-up

Not satisfied with the abundance of Photoshop mock-ups for Apple's forthcoming iPhone 5, Giga Netzwerk blog benm.at has machined a physical mock-up of an iPhone 5 using specs and rumors as guidelines.

Sure, we'll see the real deal on October 4, but for those of us who must absorb every rumor, speculation, and theory, this particular iPhone 5 production is quite appealing.

So how did the folks at benm.at do it? According to the blog post, they took into consideration all the CAD designs, hardware components, leaked specs and rumors, cases, and other believable mock-ups and … Read more

Is this what the iPhone 5 looks like? MacRumors says yes

If the latest rumors are true, we'll find out September 7 what the iPhone 5 looks like. That's when Apple will purportedly hold a media event to unveil whatever it's been hatching all summer.

In the meantime, MacRumors has cooked up some decidedly sexy mockups of the iPhone 5. (Click either photo for a larger version.) But these images aren't based on wishful thinking; Chinese case manufacturers have already started producing iPhone 5 cases based on some design specs that were leaked last month.

Consequently, MacRumors commissioned CiccareseDesign to "create high-quality renderings made as closely … Read more

Alleged iPhone 5 case design points to big changes

Real or not? That's the question we always ask when we see design schematics, drawings, or mockups of upcoming cases for upcoming Apple products. But in the past, a few of those schematics have proved to be reliable previews of the design of next iPhone or iPad.

In this instance, the source of the alleged CAD drawing for a new case design for the iPhone 5 comes from a U.K. blog, Mobile Fun, which says a Chinese case manufacturer passed it on. Then Mobile Fun separately received a mockup (below) from another case manufacturer.

Related links • iPhone 5 rumor roundup • … Read more

Is the Apple tablet for cars?

We frequently get tips from readers offering inside information or links to obscure foreign sources. Sometimes they check out, sometimes they feel more like paranoid delusions (and sometimes it's hard to tell the difference).

There was a particularly frenetic message today from a reader offering links to an Russian Apple site called DeepApple, that purported to explain how the still-unconfirmed Apple tablet would in fact be targeted primarily at automotive use. In part, it reads:

"The Tablet itself will be aimed for use in cars (mostly, but not only) as a center of car equipment digital integration... Placing … Read more

See paper versions of your favorite sites

We've seen what Gmail, Twitter, and Delicious look like in paper, but what about Flickr, YouTube, and others? Sean Flannagan over at Deeplinking has put together a gallery of site prototypes that have been constructed out of paper. While tools like Adobe's Thermo and the freshly launched Balsamiq are making this less of a necessity, some of the best ideas are scribbled out on wet cocktail napkins right?

One of my favorites from the collection of Flickr places (coverage), which I've put side by side with its final result below. Be sure to check out the original version on FlickrRead more