The five best design links, every weekday

Category: History

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bryanbraun.com

After Dark Screensavers in CSS

Relive classic 1990s Mac and PC screensavers like Flying Toasters and Aquatic Realm, remade using modern CSS techniques.

webdesignmuseum.org

Web Design Museum

Web Design Museum exhibits over 2,000 unique designs from the years 1991 to 2006. Discover forgotten trends in web design.

craigslostchicago.com

Craig’s Lost Chicago

Nostalgic photos & images of lost eateries, amusement, shopping, manufacturing service, and more.

caseypotterdesign.com

Windows XP Logo

Original logo concepts for what would become Windows XP.

uxdesign.cc

UX lessons from a 17th-century warship disaster

The tragedy of the Vasa: Why the crown jewel of the Swedish navy sank on its maiden voyage and what UX professionals can learn from this

arstechnica.com

Revisiting Apple’s ill-fated Lisa computer, 40 years on

On its 40th anniversary, we look back at the machine that brought the GUI to personal computers.

aaronhertzmann.com

When Machines Change Art

At a few times in history, new technologies came along that changed the way we make art.

youtube.com

A Brief History of Art Movements

The first piece of visual art in history is from 40,000 years ago.

klingspor-type-archive.de

Klingspor Type Archive

She stock of historical material from the former type foundry Gebr. Klingspor in Offenbach.

oldrichmenhart.com

The Heritage of Oldřich Menhart

On the 125th anniversary of his birth a project to digitize some of the Czech designer's iconic typefaces.

arun.is

The Spanish designer in Dieter Rams's shadow

We always hear about Dieter Rams, but there were many others involved in Braun’s iconic designs.

jackrusher.com

Classic HCI Demos

A curated collection of HCI demo videos produced during the golden age from 1983-2002.

uxdesign.cc

Evolution of AR and VR: UX inspiration from history

If AR is extending, adding, or changing reality, we can find a lot of examples that eventually will lead us to AR invention.

reproof.app

The Canon Cat and the Mac that Steve Jobs killed

A software design framework for humans, distilled from Jef Raskin’s Humane Interface.

webflow.com

Homepage history: Apple.com

Looking at over 25 years of Apple.com homepages to see how it has influenced a generation of designers and marketers.

matthewstrom.com

Beauty in the machine: post-industrial design

Has design become boring? Or is it just harder to notice?

knowyourmeme.com

Where Do Memes Come From? The Top Platforms From 2010-2022

From the rise of TikTok to the Boomerification of Facebook, our data tells many important stories.

seattlemet.com

The Twisted Life of Clippy

In the ’90s, Microsoft created a cartoon paperclip that it quickly retired.

sakofchit.github.io

system.css - a design system for building retro Apple interfaces

A CSS library that allows you to implement a classic MacOS interface. Based on the monochrome stylings of Apple's System OS that ran from 1984-1991

doc.cc

A brief history of the numeric keypad

Picture the keypad of a telephone and calculator side by side. Can you see the subtle difference between the two without resorting to your smartphone?