Phaidon Design Classics

The Phaidon Design Classics iPad app contains an authoritative, researched collection which charts the story of product design over the past 200 years. It was years in the making and was compiled via a rigorous selection process by an international panel of design-world insiders, including architects, critics, curators, product designers, auctioneers, and historians.

The iPad application offers access to an encyclopaedic, illustrated history of 1,000 timeless design classics by not only renowned designers, such as Marcel Breuer, Achille Castiglioni, Le Corbusier, Jasper Morrison, Dieter Rams, Eero Saarinen, and Philippe Starck but also anonymously-designed pieces, such as the clothes peg, the corkscrew, and the chopstick, that have stood the test of time.

Presented in a 3D environment, the application has been built to take full advantage of the large multi-touch screen and advanced capabilities of iPad. The objects are organised chronologically, easily accessible via a timeline on the right side of the screen.

Material contained in the application includes archival photographs, original sketches, patents, prototypes and informative text with precise information about each product, designer, manufacturer and the object’s historical context.

From cars to chairs, from tableware to cameras, from toys to airplanes, the application features products that are most often still in production today, largely unchanged since their creation.