Smartdesign is a practical design language that prioritizes user intent and workflow over aesthetic polish, helping teams avoid AI-generated interfaces that prioritize speed and decoration over clarity and accessibility. The framework emphasizes semantic structure, honest state feedback, and considered design patterns rather than superficial effects.
Apple Watch Series 12, arriving this Friday, features larger bezels around its display compared to previous models, a design change Apple did not highlight in its announcement. Despite maintaining the same case height, the Series 12's width increased while the display size remained unchanged, resulting in more noticeable bezels—a reversal of Apple's typical trend toward bezel reduction. The larger case accommodates new internal upgrades including the Health Sensing System and S11 chip.
Apple's product design follows a consistent philosophy where objects closer to the human body have progressively rounder corners, measured using a 'roundness score' formula. The article reveals that Apple uses squircles (complex curves without discontinuities) rather than simple circles, with personal devices like AirPods and Apple Watch scoring around 50% roundness, while distant objects like displays score only 2–3%, following designer Naoto Fukasawa's principle that proximity to humans correlates with roundness.
macOS 27 Golden Gate is now available with Apple's new AI-powered Siri developed in partnership with Google's Gemini, refined Liquid Glass design improvements, and a cleaner Safari interface. The update includes revamped app icons, standardized window corner radius, and removal of excessive menu icons that cluttered the previous version.
This academic proposal advocates for making interaction techniques (IxTs)—the fundamental building blocks of user interfaces like menus and text fields—more intelligent by integrating AI capabilities. The author argues for enabling users to mix interaction modalities freely within a single interface, requiring new research into intelligent interaction techniques and supporting infrastructure, while addressing security, privacy, and economic considerations.
Circle Crop Image is a free, browser-based tool that converts photos into circular profile pictures locally on your device with no uploads or signup required. It supports multiple image formats and includes presets for platforms like Instagram, Discord, Facebook, and LinkedIn, with output options for PNG or JPG.
A new book titled 'The Secret Life of Circuits' has been published and is now available for order. The book serves as a practical reference guide to electronics and circuit design, featuring over 300 diagrams and illustrations in a full-color hardcover format, with orders shipping directly from the publisher and through major retailers including Barnes & Noble and Amazon.
Apple's iPhone 18 Pro, arriving two years after the iPhone 16 Pro, features over 50 upgrades including a new A20 Pro chip, variable-aperture camera, smaller Dynamic Island, and record battery life of 36 hours. The $1,199 starting price is $200 higher than the iPhone 16 Pro's launch, though base storage doubled to 256GB. For iPhone 16 Pro owners, the cumulative changes across two generations—including design, display, cameras, and charging speed improvements—make it a worthwhile upgrade.
Wikipedia deployed its page previews feature to English Wikipedia after years of development involving extensive testing, community consultation, and technical refinement. The feature displays preview content on link hover and required building new APIs to render HTML summaries efficiently. Documentation covers product requirements, design decisions, engineering architecture, and the resolution of complex technical challenges including a Firefox browser bug.
Cartesian by Formas is an AI 3D modeling tool for architecture and product design that allows users to edit individual objects within models while preserving their spatial relationships. The tool supports precise geometry editing, BIM workflows, and integrates with multiple file formats and platforms including AutoCAD, Rhino, and SketchUp.
Apple has hidden a Clarus the Dogcow easter egg from classic Mac OS in the iOS 27 Settings app, accessible by scrolling in the Liquid Glass customization pane. The easter egg includes a figurine photo and 'Moof!' text, referencing the iconic glyph created by Susan Kare for the original Macintosh.
Fujifilm announced the Instax Pal 2, a redesigned compact digital camera with an analog-inspired look featuring an optical viewfinder, Animation mode for creating flipbook-style animations, and integration with the Instax Pal app for remote control and printing. Unlike its unusual predecessor, the Pal 2 resembles a miniaturized film camera and launches this month for $169.95 in the US.
Apple released iOS 27, macOS Golden Gate 27, and other 2026 OS updates featuring Siri AI, a large language model-based assistant with natural language understanding and app integration capabilities, plus refinements to the Liquid Glass design interface across platforms.
A 1994 article presenting ten usability heuristics for user interface design, including principles like system visibility, real-world matching, user control, consistency, error prevention, recognition over recall, flexibility, minimalist aesthetics, error recovery, and documentation. The heuristics emphasize clear communication, intuitive design, user autonomy, and preventing problems before they occur.
Apple is reverting from its 2016 'Genius Grove' open design back to dedicated Genius Bars under new CEO John Ternus, according to Bloomberg. The bars will feature an all-wood aesthetic and replace video walls in many stores, marking a return to the company's earlier retail support format.
Apple released macOS Golden Gate 27, a free update for Apple silicon Macs featuring Siri AI, Visual Intelligence for on-screen actions, advanced photo editing tools, and enhanced Safari browsing. The update also includes improved parental controls, natural language Shortcuts creation, and refined Liquid Glass design.
Apple released macOS Golden Gate 27, a free update for Apple silicon Macs featuring Siri AI, Visual Intelligence, enhanced photo editing, and Safari improvements. The update also includes new parental controls, design refinements to Liquid Glass, and performance optimizations.
Avery Robinson's book explores how cheap photocopiers, low-quality paper, and DIY production methods created the distressed aesthetic that defines heavy metal visual design. The text traces how underground tape trading circuits, flyers, and repeated copying transformed economic limitations into intentional design choices that now symbolize authenticity and survival in metal culture.
Apple is redesigning its stores to bring back dedicated Genius Bars, remove large video walls, and create separate pickup and class spaces along store aisles. The shift moves away from former retail chief Angela Ahrendts' vision of stores as public gathering places toward a focus on service, fulfillment, and shopping, with renovations rolling out gradually over several years.
Apple is planning major renovations for its retail stores, including bringing back dedicated Genius Bars, revamping Avenue sections with new pickup and workshop bays, and removing giant video walls. The changes aim to refocus stores on traditional retail, service, and fulfillment functions.