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Apple
It's a surprise to find Apple outside the top 10, and even more so to find the tech giant trailing IKEA in our brands ranking. Yet while a few years ago our readers couldn't get enough of Apple, we've detected a waning of interest recently.
Our most popular story about the brand was last September's unveiling of the Apple Pencil, a digital stylus, but apart from that its product offerings generated less excitement than in previous years.
Instead, head designer Jonathan Ive's comments about the "tragic" state of design education was our second most-visited post, while criticism of the Apple Watch from fellow designers and a dig from Tesla's Elon Musk about Apple's plans for an electric car were also popular.
Comic actor Sacha Baron Cohen's spoof of Ive also drew a lot of traffic, reinforcing the suggestion that the brand has lost a little of its lustre – but also highlighting how Ive has become a more visible personality and brand spokesman in recent years.
However if Apple's products weren't generating excitement over the past year, its new-look Apple Stores were, with Foster & Partners' branches in Brussels and San Francisco getting plenty of clicks and suggesting that, for our readers, Apple's innovations in retail design are currently outshining its industrial design.
Top posts:
1. Apple launches iPad Pro and "extraordinary" Apple Pencil for technical drawing
2. Design education is "tragic" says Jonathan Ive
3. First Apple Store under Jonathan Ive unveiled in Brussels
4. Foster + Partners unveils Apple Union Square store in San Francisco
5. Sacha Baron Cohen spoofs Jonathan Ive's Apple design presentations