An iPhone application with icons designed in Adobe PhotoShop. The balance lies in creating something fresh while leveraging images that are commonly used and understood.

Before smartphones, Palm introduced the world to PDAs and portable computing. These new devices redefined the user interface -- that space between the user and the computer. These icons needed to be quickly understood, work in one color and establish a brand.

Medical applications have made the leap to interfaces that appeal to sophisticated users. For Philips Medical, these icons were created to convey positive energy, brightness and an appeal that makes the user want to click them.

These icons were created in Blend, a Microsoft authoring application that combines XAML, WPF and C# to design and code user interfaces. The challenge was to take a Windows 3.0 interface and transform it into a user experience that would appeal to an 'iPhone' audience.