Design

Mostly because he got his mitts on this rad KDDI Infobar Apple Watch case. Turning the KDDI Infobar’s iconic design into a nostalgic Apple Watch accessory? Chef’s kiss. I miss that era of Japanese feature phones so friggin’ much.

You can read more about it in Sam’s review, but how’s that for ‘replacing’ your phone with a smartwatch?

If last week’s big revamp and the launch of the Canva Enterprise package didn’t convince you, hang on one minute.

Perhaps the power of hip-hop dance and Hamilton-style rhymes can prove that Canva’s suite is soulless enough (or “safe and securrre” enough, if you prefer) to have a place in your corporation alongside Microsoft 365, Zoom, Google Workspace, and Slack.

Maxon announced in October that it will bring its beloved desktop 3D sculpting software to the platform this year, but our first look at it comes courtesy of Apple’s “Let Loose” iPad event.

There’s still no word on the release date or pricing. The UI looks really clean though, and it seemingly supports Zbrush’s Sculptris Pro mode, judging by the icon seen up top.

Much like the Tupperware in your parents’ pantry, the company is struggling despite a time that reheatable plastic kitchenware has never been more popular. Apparently, it’s partially down to how the Tupperware is sold. It’s not in an online store or through TikTok. Instead it's still peddled at parties.

Oops?

The San Francisco-based software maker received information that has prompted “an internal investigation with the assistance of outside counsel and advisors,” Autodesk said in a filing late Monday. The probe involves accounting practices around free cash flow and non-GAAP operating margin practices, the company said, while noting it doesn’t believe the review will affect previously issued financial statements.

Lots to talk about — life after the Adobe deal went away, of course, but much more interestingly there’s a lot going on with the web, design, and AI, and Figma’s right in the middle of it. We’ll see you there! (And check out the rest of the Vox Media Podcast Stage schedule, it’ll be a party.)

The “Your apps” row is getting a refresh with rounded app icons and more of them as well as a new shortcut to free channels and quick access to reorder apps and add more.

Google says the tweaks are rolling out starting today and coming to all devices over the “next few months.”

Judging by the comments on last week’s post, everyone is adjusting to the new default font for the Microsoft Office apps either well, terribly, or somewhere in between.

For people who like font-related puns, here’s another video to watch, and if you can’t stand Aptos as the Microsoft 365 standard-bearer, this support page has the details on how to change it.

Microsoft 365 office suite users on TikTok are picking up on the switch to Aptos that was announced and started rolling out last fall:

This new look specifies an updated standard color palette and type font that are applied throughout Microsoft Office. The new theme will affect only your document, not the look and feel of Microsoft 365. 

If it’s bugging you, this support page can explain how to change the default font or theme across Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.

Tim Cook shared a fun animation celebrating the 40th anniversary of the original Macintosh, and hidden amongst the colorful array of products and iconography is none other than Clarus, a lesser-known piece of Mac history otherwise referred to as the “dogcow.”

Designed by legendary graphic designer Susan Kare for the original Macintosh as part of the Cairo font, Clarus continues to make cameos in Apple’s software. Stephen Hackett has a great write-up at 512 Pixels on Clarus that I highly recommend, especially on a day like today.

Wilco have debuted “Loft Sans,” a new typeface for the band — and for its fans to license. It’s only $30, which is less than half the price of a Wilco hoodie. Good deal.

I still have sketchbooks full of perspective and figure-drawing practice, experiments with comic book layouts, shading, endless sketches of my feet and hands.

But somehow I never decided to just study how light works in a water droplet? This post from Apple design alum Michael Darius about the influence of Wes Modes’ “Anatomy of a Water Drop” on the Aqua design of Mac OS X has a fun scan to pore over.

Sometimes the internet delivers you a portal to a world in which someone is deeply overthinking 24 packs of crayons and like, hell yes. Hell yes.

After a period of beta testing, NASA rolled out an updated eighth revision of its website last week. The modernized image layouts and text look fine, even if I’m a little nostalgic for the seemingly-ancient previous version that was last updated in the mid 2010s. (The Internet Archive shows even earlier revisions, like 2007’s v5.0 update.)

This new version of NASA.gov is also launching ahead of a full NASA App revamp and NASA Plus video on-demand streaming launch later this year, promising an “ad-free, no cost, and family-friendly streaming service,” with live coverage plus collections of original video series and a few new series.

The Formula One racer has a futuristic new helmet — designed with the help of Japanese artist Hajime Sorayama — that makes him look a bit like a robot, or like a long-lost member of a certain French electronic musical duo.

Car and Driver noticed that the blue oval emblem found on the new 2024 Ford F-150 has been redesigned. The slightly larger white script and removal of the outer chrome ring are subtle changes, but significant when placed on America’s bestselling vehicle since, well, forever.

iOS 17 is moving the end call button as it brings in the Contact Poster, but where would things end up with a more significant rework?

John Gruber notes that Microsoft announced Aptos, a new default font, without actually showing all the characters at standard sizes. And like a true font nerd, he could not let that stand.

So I took matters into my own hands, and created rudimentary specimens for each of Microsoft’s five new typefaces (and Calibri to boot). A–Z in upper- and lowercase, 0–9, and the most common punctuation marks. Then a paragraph of sample text at 11 points. Dear reader, you really owe me for this one, because I had to use the web app version of Word, by way of Microsoft 365 to produce these PDFs. To describe this software as brutal and frustrating is an understatement. Herewith, the PDF specimens, and my brief comments.