If you saw our main page today, you’re probably aware already that we’ve launched iDesign, a salute to innovative iPod and iPhone industrial designs, but you may be wondering “why?” And the very release of such a thing brings up some other issues I wanted to deal with in advance, as we have an entire series of these features planned for the near future.
A Major Difference: iDesign’s subject matter is picked by iLounge editors without any involvement from advertisers or developers, a fact that is critically important in distinguishing this series of articles from similar ones that might appear elsewhere. These are not going to be puff pieces based on pitches from companies desperate to spotlight their products. Like all iLounge editorial content, our iDesign features won’t shy away from pointing out problems with the products we spotlight, but here, the major emphasis will be on the things that make the products great. We won’t pick the products if they aren’t worthy of special attention.
Why? We created iDesign for two reasons. The first was to serve as a creative inspiration to iPod and iPhone accessory developers, the vast majority of whom have become so obsessed with churning out lots of products that they don’t focus on making one or two really great, novel ones. Our offices are now so full of me-too accessories that we wanted to take a step back and figure out which ones really made a difference, and why. We also wanted to show our readers just how amazing some of these products really look when they’re paired up with the right iPods, and in some cases, other accessories. Too often, photos of really great products get lost in our ever-growing pool of accessory previews and reviews, so we figured that it was worth spotlighting them.
Negative Consequences: The point of iDesign is to show how original and beautiful designs can make a positive contribution to the world. Unfortunately, the talent required to create such products is not so widespread that companies will just read the articles, see the pictures, and create great new things; instead, as history has shown, many will look at the examples and just copy them. We can’t prevent that from happening, but some of our first articles will be focusing on products where the cat’s already out of the bag, and clones already exist.
Ultimately, creative energy and fantastic design are the fuels that differentiate iPods, iPhones, and their ecosystems from the thousands of other products out there. We want to celebrate and encourage these elements, rather than wasting time on all of the me-too filler that has been boring us and you to tears lately.
