Nowadays, our gadgets meld seamlessly into our lives straight out of the box. Once charged up, we can make sense of them after a few minutes of exploratory button-pushing. The horror of VCR programming seems like a faint memory, thanks in large part to Steve Jobs and Apple, whose intuitive user interfaces (UIs) have informed everything from thermostats to social media sites. And of course, the iPad has spawned a half a million apps, the more outstanding of which are included in this year’s list.

All of the designs profiled here share an ease of use--the hallmark of good UIs.