Hasta La Gadget!

It’s always fun getting a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into the apps and services we use daily, showing us how the professionals behind it work and what they have in mind while working. Back in March, for example, we got a rather detailed look into how the Facebook News Feed redesign was developed. Instagram recently tweaked its design, and now designer Mackey Saturday has given a statement – and a few pictures – of the work process.

Over on Dribble.com, Mackey Saturday posted the redesigned Instagram logo late last week, along with a more detailed look at it in long-JPEG format and with a couple paragraph write up. Says the designer, who hails from Denver, he worked alongside Instagram’s team to make the redesign, which anyone who has used the app more than a few times will recognize instantly as being both very similar and uniquely different.

The goal, says Mackey Saturday, was to create a new logo that kept all the things familiar to the mega-popular photo app, but changing it in such a way that it becomes more refined and “durable,” and that likewise took the service’s brand to the next level, making expansion in the future possible. The original logo, according to the designer, was used to heavily inspire the new logo.

Not leaving it at just a few paragraphs, he also attached an image to the post that included several images connected together, including close-ups of the new Instagram logo in various states of creation, as well as a sketchbook with pencil sketches of the letters, and someone – the designer we presume – in front of a wall plastered with logo printouts.

[via Digital Trends]

Instagram’s logo redesign process detailed by Mackey Saturday is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

3D printing is a fantastic way to rapidly prototype something that you’re trying to design or develop for business or personal use. The problem is that 3D printers can be pretty expensive, and you can’t just walk into most retailers and buy one. That is all about to change with office supply retailer Staples announcing that it now has 3D printers available directly from its website. The company says that some Staples locations will also have 3D printers in their store by the end of June.

The printers that are available at Staples come from a company called 3D Systems. The printers are Cubify’s Cube 3D Printers and are available for $1299.99(USD).

The printers are ready to work right out of the box and support Wi-Fi for wireless printing. The printers will work on Windows or Mac computers and come with 25 free 3-D templates designed by professional artists. Additional templates are available online and designers can create their own templates to print from the printer. The Cube printer is able to print items up to 5.5 x 5.5 x 5.5″ and has cartridges available with 16 different colors. Staples is selling these ABS and PLA plastic cartridge refills for $49.99 each.

Flash drives are useful, and I always keep one on me in case I need to transfer files, but they are getting so tiny these days that they are easy to lose. I’ve probably lost about four myself, just because they were so small. This flash drive uses a simple system so that you won’t lose it quite so easily, unless you’re the kind of person who constantly loses their keys.

The SanDisk Cruzer Orbit has a special circular design, allowing it to be easily snapped onto key rings, carabiners, lanyards, as well as ring binders. Its swiveling ring mechanism also doubles as a way to protect the USB connector.

The SanDisk Cruzer Orbit costs $30 to $50(USD), and is available in 8, 16 and 32 GB capacities. Like many flash drives, it comes with encryption software to protect your private files, as well as backup software.

So, how about that power squid under your desk? Is it big enough yet? Well, if you’ve got the same problem that I have, then maybe a more discreet power strip would help. Or maybe it won’t. Needless to say, it might blend in, depending on your actual flooring.

The Invisiplug is a standard power strip with 6 ports. Instead of coming in an off-white or gray color, it comes in a variety of realistic woodgrain patterns. These are patterns, and the power strip itself isn’t made out of wood. Obviously, wooden power strips could potentially be a fire hazard, so they stuck with plastic.

It comes in three different shades of wood and costs $15.99(USD) each over on Amazon. Now if only they made woodgrain power cords to go with. But then the part of the cord that goes up by the wall would need to match the wall too. You just can’t win.

[via Ubergizmo]

So you need to transfer files from your portable hard drive to a USB drive, but you don’t have access to a PC or laptop. It’s a huge emergency and you need to get it done, pronto. Unfortunately, there’s not an easy way to do it but with a computer – or is there?

Designer Dongwook Kim is aware of the inconvenience of needing a computer to access and transfer files between drives, which is why he came up with Without PC. It’s a neat little gadget that lets you access and transfer files between the two drives without, as the name indicates, needing a PC to do so. It’s compact and features a cool, curved touchscreen interface so you can get the job done, pronto.

Without PC is a concept design entry to the 2013 iF design award, but there is no word on a production version at this point. With that custom curved touchscreen we might be waiting a while.

[via Yanko Design]