If I have not remembered wrongly, the last website re-design that I found inspiring and functional is probably from Apple.com in 2007. And since then, I have not really find any site design that I really admire so much, that I would want to start a blog post about it. However, few days back I was surprised to see that Engadget has got a new look and layout. Things are certainly looking even bigger, bolder and happening for Engadget. Really like the new layout design, at one glance users can very quickly know what’s the hottest IT/gadget news online, interested to read more? Just click on the big thumbnail, and there you are.

The portion of the site that I like best, is the ‘Top Stories’ section, its quite interesting to see how the 5 different top stories thumbnails are being laid out in a grid manner, with their respective headings pinned below each thumbnail. The ‘Top Stories’ layout is pretty effective in gaining the maximum attention from the visitors. Not only that, the new sidebar looks and feel more functional than before, information like Latest Quote, Most Commented, and even Twitter posts, will help to provide visitors an overview about the hottest things posted in the site, kinda bringing the blog closer to the community.

Interested to learn more about the concept behind the re-designed Engadget?
http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/19/welcome-to-the-next-engadget/

Located at the start of Orchard Road (at 4 Nassim Road), a 450m2, single-storey building known as ‘Japan Creative Centre’ is now officially open to the public. The main purpose of this centre is all about “Innovation and tradition”.

The Centre will showcase Japan’s “soft power,” such as pop-culture and traditional arts, such as their art, design, movie, fashion, architecture, tradition, food and etc.. The content of the Centre can be enjoyed not only by the Singaporeans but also by the people of other Southeast Asian countries.

In addition, you might be interested to know that, Mr. Toshiyuki Kita, a world-renown industrial designer and design producer, is in charge of the concept and design of the Centre as the Overall Project Producer of the JCC project.

For more details about the centre:
http://www.sg.emb-japan.go.jp/JCC/index.htm

Frankly speaking, since Apple debuted the iPod in 2001 and iPhone in 2007, I have not really seen any other portable device designed with a UI, with a look and feel of its kind, and most importantly it must be easy to navigate. And I used to think that Microsoft cannot come out with any nice UI (because of its plain boring Windows), and this time round, after looking at the brand new Zune HD’s UI, I’m pretty impressed by its simplicity, with a artistic touch to it. The UI, together with the industrial, luxurious, angular and slim design look of Zune HD, really makes the device unique to its kind. Just watch the video demo below, and you will know what I mean. (Note: Zune HD is available in US market only)

Google has just launched its latest experimental site called Google Fast Flip to allow users to browse through the online news in a brand new way. It basically works this way, images of the articles are being captured and then display them in an easy-to-read way. The stories are grouped by categories, such as Entertainment, Business, Opinion, Politics and Most Viewed. Readers can flip through stories quickly by simply pressing the left- and right-arrow keys until they find one that catches their interest. Clicking on the story takes them directly to the publisher’s website. It also enables users to follow friends and topics, discover new content and create their own custom magazines around searches. I have personally tried out the site, and find it pretty easy to use and read through, just try out and your will know what I mean: http://fastflip.googlelabs.com/.

Yahoo! Developer Network has recently announces its relaunching of the Yahoo! Design Pattern Library with ten new patterns, 3 new versions of the stencil kit available now (Fireworks, Axure, and 8 Shapes Unify), a reorganized category structure, cleaner URLs for easier bookmarking, and much, much more… Other than that, in order to make the overall experience more open and social, they have built in more forums and integrated them more tightly with the relevant pattern categories, and added Buzz and Delicious buttons and links to each pattern to enable easier saving, sharing, and favoriting.

So what is this Yahoo! Design Pattern Library about?
For those who have not heard about it, this site actually describes optimal solutions to the common types of problems web developers and designers come across in specific contexts as they build applications and user interfaces. It could help you by providing all the necessary design information. In this library, a design pattern is described by, its title, the design problem description/summary, identification of the context of usage (when you should use a certain pattern), the solution, examples with a visual representation of the pattern, and explanation of the basic reasons of usage (rationale). When you select a design pattern from Yahoo! Design Pattern Library to see its details, on the right menu you will discover entries for related patterns, YUI (Yahoo! User Interface) implementations of the pattern, YUI code examples and a blog article.

The main objective of having this site is to create a central place providing web design related solutions (patterns) with the possibility to monitor in real time the appearance of new design patterns represents a great advantage for all designers or developers facing unpredicted situations that need to be solved quickly. Visit its official site to start using it: http://developer.yahoo.com/ypatterns/.

Source – Yahoo! Developer Network Blog:
http://developer.yahoo.net/blog/

The Laws of Simplicity is a book written by John Maeda in late 2005 to early 2006, to get his ideas down about simplicity. In the course of 100 pages, the book actually outlined the following ten laws on simplicity. It’s a must read for those who think that the current things and life around them are just too complicated to handle/accept. Just read it, and who knows, the book might be a big help for you…

• Law 1: Reduce – The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction.
• Law 2: Organize – Organization makes a system of many appear fewer.
• Law 3: Time – Savings in time feel like simplicity.
• Law 4: Learn – Knowledge makes everything simpler.
• Law 5: Differences – Simplicity and complexity need each other.
• Law 6: Context – What lies in the periphery of simplicity is definitely not peripheral.
• Law 8: Trust – In simplicity we trust.
• Law 9: Failure – Some things can never be made simple.
• Law 10: The One – Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful.

To learn more about the book, visit the official site.
For more reviews: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0262134721.