Yesterday Apple announced the iPhone 5, and as we industrial designers appreciate—and have even come to expect—the attendant video treated us to brief, tantalizing glimpses inside a manufacturing facility, with accompanying narration by Jony Ive. (That video is here, for those of you that missed it.) Apple has probably done more than any American company to validate and spread awareness of our profession, and of all the things their competitors might try to copy, we wish it would be that.
The anticipation for the 5 was so high that the complete re-design of the iPod Nano is receiving much less press attention. Which is too bad, as it's interesting to see how its design has changed over the years. Unlike the iPhone's more-or-less linear design progression, the Nano's design jumps around a lot more.
