Instead of AdBlock, enjoy ad-free CAN by becoming a member. Everybody wins!

Phaidon Design Classics [iPad]

Created by Phaidon, 200 years of design classics is now available on the iPad. The application offers access to an encyclopedic, illustrated history of 1,000 timeless designs 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. Unfortunately, I am yet to own an iPad, but if there was an app I would purchase first it would be this. Whilst I am somewhat sceptical of “beautifully rendered, 3D environment”, having an access to library of this size sounds like a wonderful Sunday eve sofa chill.

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 creations….. The objects are organized 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 the product, designer, manufacturer and the object’s historical context.

It is priced $19.99 (introductory price) which may be pricey for some but considering the cost of printed version which comes in 3 volumes (costing $175.00!!) it’s actually not a bad deal at all.

Platform: iPad
Version: 1.0.1
Cost: $19.99 (introductory price)
Developer: Phaidon

Related Posts

Posted on: 08/05/2010

Posted in: iPad

Post tags:

  • http://inanindeterminateplace.com Nipperkin

    Does the iPad version contain the *complete* text of the three-volume print version?

    If so, that would (almost) be a reason to get an iPad right there.

  • http://www.creativeapplications.net Filip

    That's what I understood… (1 – 1000, books are split 1-333, 334-666, 667-999 )

  • http://inanindeterminateplace.com Nipperkin

    That's really good! I hope that other publishers of art/design/aesthetic books will follow suit. It'd be great if you could get the collection Documents of Contemporary Art on the iPad, for example.

    On of the problems I have with the iPad is that, for the time being at least, it doesn't offer enough of things I can't have on my laptop or iPhone, and so I don't really feel a need to get one. If there were serious titles available for it, as opposed to commercial fiction, self-help books, and other such stuff, such that you could conceivably have a (small) library of useful books with you if you had one, now *that* would start to be interesting.