Additionally, Germany is pretty cool.

Photo by Werner Böhm

Are we going back to the 1990s with this recent crop of ugly remotes with keyboards on them? Can someone please design a good looking remote so I don’t have to hunt around for the record button? Or can Samsung just hire some good designers?

There are some rare gems in the Application Interfaces section on deviantART. This is one of them, it’s a mockup of a iOS lockscreen with some inspiration from WP7. Ignore the fact it looks a bit like WP7 but look at the general idea of a simplified calendar and a simplified messaging area; it’s something I’ve been wanting on my iPhone for years.

It doesn’t try to be too fancy, too informative or too clunky; all it does is bring a clean snapshot into your day. Something Microsoft strived to deliver for years with the Today screen on Windows Mobile.

Wood is one of my favourite design features of a product; I love my wooden speakers, my wooden and steel desk and my wood bookcase. When done right, products look especially amazing when wood is balanced with modern materials.



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Its the only grill on cars that I truly admire. Unlike the conservative grill on base Mercedes Benz cars; this beautiful but balanced grill is a symbol of a great car.


Ferrari may have the striking colour of red, but seeing the Benz grill front on is something that really makes you stop and appreciate great German design and engineering.

I don’t really understand why some companies or designers feel the need to use popular and well designed applications as basically carbon copy reference designs when building their applications or user interfaces. Take this interface for MeeGo tablets, doesn’t the music application look vaguely familiar?

This seems to be happening more and more often, even the Samsung Galaxy Tab had a keyboard and browser reminiscent of the iPad. The whole point of design is to make something new and unique that sounds out from the crowd.

Would’t the world be a dull place if we all did what Apple thought was best for design?




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After working at an amazing startup for a bit, I’ve come to love big open spaces with just the bare essentials in terms of the room. It doesn’t really feel like work when you’re in some amazing building with big open spaces.

Some of my favourite designs are the ones that express the power they produce; the Mac Pro, AirBus A380 and my favourite car series: the Zonda R.

This design is beautiful because it reflects what the Zonda R deserves: a great street presence, when you walk past this car you know that this car is one of the fastest in the world. It doesn’t try to be reserved or refined, from the front to the back it demands attention. Anything with a Mercedes Benz AMG V12 should be respected.




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One of the more exciting parts of the iPhone and iPad family is the well designed and useful accessories that are built specifically for that. I don’t see that excitement in Android or WP7. Is the extensibility and popularity of iPad/iPhone/iPhone accessories a factor?

Android and WP7 diversity in terms of hardware is also its weakness, manufacturers need to invest a lot to build accessories for a broad range of devices. In the end they’ll just pick the most popular such as a HTC Desire or Xpera. Something like an iPhone is great to build for as you know your product is at least valid for a year.

We recently got rid of our old but well built and well designed Loewe CRT TV Everything about this TV was the reason you can’t fault the Germans/Europeans for building great products. The menus on the TV explained everything in full English sentences, no abbreviations. The thing I’ll most miss is the simple and easy to use remote that shipped with it.



Notice there isn’t any buttons for switching digital/analog, switching on subtitles or going to “theatre” mode. It’s just the buttons everyday people need to use their TV without looking at a remote. Why do Sony or Samsung feel you need every aspect of the TV at your fingertips? All I want to do it change the volume, change the channel or switch off the TV!