Design

In 1915 Coca-Cola asked glassmakers for a bottle recognizable by touch in the dark or by its shards. Designer Earl Dean found no images of coca leaves or kola nuts, so he sketched a similarly named cocoa pod instead—the mix-up shaped the bottle.

Smartphone app icons are not rounded squares — they are "squircles," a portmanteau of square and circle. Defined by the mathematical equation |x|⁴ + |y|⁴ = r⁴, this superellipse shape gives a smoother, more pleasing impression than simply rounding the corners.