Gallery: 12 Designs That Shaped the Gadgets We Love Today
01Nest
Nest has ushered in a boom in connected home, and is a good example of how well it pays to bring top-notch design into a neglected product category.
02Jordan
The first Air Jordans set a course for modern marketing, while subsequent versions made product releases into cultural events.
Grant Cornett03dcte-polcamera-f
The Polaroid SX-70 was the first pocketable, instant-gratification camera—and the precursor to the cameras we all carry around in our pockets now.
04Apple-iPhone
Of all the Apple products we could have chosen, the iPhone was the must-have, but not for the reasons you'd expect.
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The Anglepoise lamp was a break-through because of how fluidly it responded to any whim the user had about positioning. That paradigm is still present in digital products today.
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Before there were Legos, there were Kiddicraft Self-Locking Bricks. These toys helped inspire generations of designers and engineers, by teaching the virtue of modularity.
Science & Society Picture Librar07dcte-grid-f
The GRiD Compass was the first clamshell-style portable computer—a typology that won't be leaving us anytime soon.
They also correct for the effect of gravity on the water's path08dcte-cubicles-f
Herman Miller's Action office inspired a slew of copycats, which begat the dreaded office cubicle. But the ideals behind its design were far more lofty.
