As our everyday technology morphs and evolves, it’s hard to predict what lurks right around the corner. But whatever comes next, odds are that it will carry some echo of the iconic products here. Each one of them continues to define countless objects in our daily lives.
How It Changed Things Accidentally inspired planned obsolescence.
At a firehouse in Livermore, California, there’s a Shelby carbon-filament lightbulb that’s been on nearly nonstop for 112 years. You can’t buy one like it, because a lightbulb that lasts a century isn’t good business. In 1924, a gang of corporations — General Electric and Philips among them — banded together to kill off the Shelby and its ilk. Known as the Phoebus Cartel, the group limited bulbs to 1,000-hour lifespans, fined companies that broke their rules, and implemented industry restrictions on research and development. These strong-arm tactics unleashed the concept of planned obsolescence — and that ethos still infects everything from software releases to smartphone updates.
How It Changed Things The first popular 35-mm camera.
Compact cameras once looked like lunch boxes. Oskar Barnack made the Leica A pocketable by designing it around the smaller dimensions of the 35-mm film itself. The Leica A’s form has remained a standard for the digital age: Full-frame digital SLRs have an image sensor that matches a 35-mm frame; the dials of premium compact cameras and DSLRs retain similar controls. The Leica A’s optics even retracted into the body when the camera was not in use, just like today’s compact shooters.
How It Changed Things An early form of responsive design.
You may know it as the Pixar lamp. The Anglepoise can easily adjust to any angle you demand, and it’s industrial-looking and anthropomorphic at once. But the lamp’s true legacy is its ability to adapt to human whims. “It’s a good example of how design can accommodate ease of use,” says Rama Chorpash, director of product design at Parsons the New School. “It’s related to things like the iPod; you touch it and it responds directly instead of setting off some other mechanism.” The key to its function is a rigid but highly flexible spring-and-lever mechanism that creator George Carwardine developed while designing car suspensions.
How It Changed Things Inspired Legos and a half-century of modular design.
Without Kiddicraft bricks there’d be no Legos. These interlocking blocks, created by Englishman Hilary Fisher Page, were colored plastic bricks with studs on top. Lego, which had previously been a maker of wooden toys, added the tubed undersides, which helped the bricks stick together. Then Legos took off. But they became much more than just a ubiquitous plaything and the bane of barefooted parents. Legos introduced modularity to generations of designers. Everything from a thumbdrive to a RED camera system to an iPad keyboard case has Kiddicraft in its DNA.
How It Changed Things Pioneered modular workspaces and made way for the cubicle.
White-collar offices used to resemble factory floors: Imagine scores of desks arranged in neat rows, with managers staring down from their offices like foremen. That changed for good in the late 1960s, when Herman Miller unveiled Action Office, a modular system designed by Robert Propst. In it, desks were arranged like spokes at 120-degree angles and separated by low walls, thus affording each worker some privacy while keeping the office floor open for collaborative work. But imitators quickly bastardized the idea, yielding the cubicle farms we all loathe.
How It Changed Things Introduced the amazing aesthetics of grainy films.
The SX-70 was legendary industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss’ last major project before his death, and it combined an innovative collapsible body with film that developed within seconds. It wasn’t Polaroid’s first instant camera, but it was the first to employ the quick-developing instant film that became synonymous with the brand. The urban myth that shaking the film helped develop it only made the brand more powerful, by creating a ritual around its use. The SX-70, in short, was an analog precursor to today’s smartphone cameras, with coat-pocket portability and immediately shareable photos. The film, whose graininess lent instant artiness, was even hackable: You added effects by smearing and etching the film as it developed. If that sounds a lot like Instagram, you’re right: The app’s old-timey logo pays homage to an SX-70 successor, the Land Camera 1000.
How It Changed Things Popularized portable music players and headphones.
The Sony Walkman was the first portable electronic device to become a full-blown fashion moment, and it fired imaginations around the world. One person in particular bears mentioning: Steve Jobs, who obsessed over the Walkman’s handsome, boxy form and its supreme fit and finish. Solid and refined at once, the Walkman’s every detail was considered, down to the distinctive, satisfying click when it closed. Jobs became obsessed with matching the achievement. As a result, the Walkman’s craftsmanship lives on in every wannabe Apple product.
How It Changed Things The first clamshell-style portable computer.
With a magnesium-alloy case that weighed in at more than 10 pounds, the GRiD Compass was a behemoth by today’s standards. But Bill Moggridge’s fold-up workhorse introduced the clamshell form factor to PCs. Prior to the Compass, portable PCs had flip-down keyboards and beefy cases that housed all the components behind the screen. Moggridge’s groundbreaking design kept the computer’s internals on the base level and placed the 6-inch display on a center-mounted hinge, thus protecting the screen when closed and allowing it to be adjusted when the computer was in use. Though laptops have gotten lighter and prettier, their design has remained largely the same.
How It Changed Things Made sneakers fashionable and transformed sports marketing.
When the first Air Jordans were unveiled in 1984, Michael Jordan was an unproven rookie and Nike was a small running-shoe company. The high-tops were summarily banned by the NBA. Sounds insane, right? Nike turned the league’s veto into a rebellious marketing campaign, rode Jordan’s unbelievable success, and changed the face of marketing forever. Superstars soon became brands by themselves, and the bold design of subsequent Air Jordans emphasized individuality over blending in with a team. Today, high-tops are high fashion in the hands of designers from Marc Jacobs to Alexander Wang.
How It Changed Things The first autonomous robot people trusted in their homes.
iRobot worked for years to make a mass-market robot before hitting paydirt. One early attempt: a terrifying baby doll that sensed your movements. But it was the Roomba that introduced us to the idea that our gadgets have lives of their own. This disc-shaped autonomous vacuum senses obstacles, finds its own charging station, and serves as a nifty ride for your cat. If these things had opposable thumbs and a decent speaking voice, we’d be worshipping them as overlords by now: The Roomba has sold more than 8 million units since its launch.
How It Changed Things A Trojan horse that taught design’s importance.
Every Apple product from the past 15 years that begins with a lowercase “i” could appear on this list, but the iPhone is the one that can’t be ignored. It proved that touchscreens could feel natural enough to push aside the mouse, created the app ecosystem, and brought about the end of the PC as hub. But it also served as a design classroom for the entire world. That’s because for the first time, the hyper-constrained smartphone environment laid bare crucial decisions about how a button behaves or how quickly screens transition. No other device has raised our collective design IQ in a similar way.
How It Changed Things Alluring design touched off a wave of in-home innovation.
With a silky scroll wheel and seamless performance adjustments based on your living patterns, the Nest proved that elegant design could make even a thermostat into a lust-worthy gadget. It also made the smart grid consumer-friendly, and it sparked a wave of smart-home devices, such as Dropcam, a streaming home-security camera, and August, a Bluetooth smart-lock. The era marked by gadgets that watch us and adapt to our whims has only just begun.
