The five best design links, every weekday

Category: History

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figma.com

24 artifacts that define craft

Artifacts that embody craft—something that speaks to our understanding of what it means to make with intention.

matthewstrom.com

The history of album art

This is the story of the people who made music visible.

thehistoryoftheweb.com

1995 was the most important year for the web

The world changed a lot in 1995. And for the web, it was a transformational year.

skins.webamp.org

Winamp skin museum

Infinite scroll through 80k Winamp skins with interactive previews.

wired.com

An oral history of WIRED’s original website

With HotWired, we introduced the world to the internet. Hyperlinks! Verticals! Banner ads! Cookies! Thirty years later, the hangover is real.

wikenigma.org.uk

Wikenigma: a catalyst for curiosity

A unique wiki-based resource specifically dedicated to documenting fundamental gaps in human knowledge.

jillianhess.substack.com

Pablo Picasso’s stunning repetitions

"I picked up my sketchbooks daily, saying to myself: what will I learn of myself that I didn’t know. Je suis le cahier / I am the notebook."

geocities.live

GeoCities time machine

Transform any modern webpage into a totally rad 90s GeoCities style website.

infinitemac.org

Infinite Mac

A collection of classic Macintosh and NeXT system releases and software, all easily accessible from the comfort of a web browser.

microsoft.design

A glimpse into the history of Windows design

At the turn of the millennium, Windows revolutionized network management and paved the way for the modern, connected workplace.

historicborders.app

Historic borders

Visualize country borders from different times in history (123,000 BC - 1994).

wiki-timeline.com

WikiTimeline

Transform Wikipedia articles into beautiful, interactive timelines. Compare historical events and explore history in a visual way.

aresluna.org

The hardest working font in Manhattan

A story of a 150-year-old font you have never heard of – and one you probably saw earlier today.

calculatingempires.net

A genealogy of technology and power since 1500

Explore how technical and social structures co-evolved over five centuries in this large-scale research visualization.

printmag.com

13 African American graphic designers you should know

A celebration of African American graphic designers who have left an indelible mark on their field.

x.com

A computer can never be held accountable

A quote from a 1979 internal IBM document.

nokiadesignarchive.aalto.fi

Nokia design archive

Exploring unseen concepts of design and opportunities of design-driven transformation and change.

fastcompany.com

Christmas cards inspired by older British holiday traditions

The first Christmas card’s design was actually influenced by other, older British holiday traditions.

ben-mini.github.io

IMG_0416

Between 2009-2012, iPhones included a feature called “Send to YouTube” that allowed users to upload videos directly to YouTube from the Photos app.

arun.is

A Visit to the Eames Institute

I saw a rare glimpse into the creative legacy of legendary designers Ray and Charles Eames at Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity.