The iMac may have signaled a new, design driven direction for Apple on Steve Jobs’ return to the company, but it’s the iPod that set the company on a path to market dominance. It led to the iPhone (arguably, the device that made smartphones cool for the masses) which led to the iPad, which is (at least for the moment) the only tablet device that’s managed to gain significant traction with consumers.

Innovation is often credited to the first version of something new, but design is the unspoken element that makes the difference between the product that’s first and the product people care about. For more than a century, there hasn’t been a better example of design driving innovation than the devices that brought music to the masses.

From Edison’s phonograph to Jobs’ iPod, here’s a look at the devices that have driven innovation through the art of design.

Thomas Edison’s Phonograph

Thomas Edison’s phonograph wasn’t the first device to record sound , but it was the first that could play them back. The one working invention prior to the phonograph – the phonautograph, only created visual representations of sound. You can thank Edison for the fact that you’re able to listen to music, rather than watch it on a fancy transcription machine.

Alexander Graham Bell and Emile Berliner’s Wax

Originally recorded on tin-foil horizontal cylinders (imagine an imprinted Coke can), engineers at Alexander Graham Bell’s Volta Laboratory improved upon the sound quality of Edison’s phonograph by replacing the tin cylinders with ones coated in wax. A year after Bell was granted the patent for recording in wax, and named the invention the graphophone. It was a German inventor named Emile Berliner, however, who created the modern record disc as part of his gramophone system, seen as a key development in the modern music industry. Bell’s design improvement made recordings better to listen to, Berliner’s made them accessible.

The Victrola

The design of the records themselves were an improvement, but the phonographs used to play them largely stayed the same until the Victrola. For purely aesthetic reasons, the Victrola was the first record player to conceal the horn in an effort to make the players blend in, as opposed to standing out. Cabinets with gold trim and expensive wood made them best selling luxury items of the early 1900s.

The little black dress, pretty in pink, the white picket fence; few things define style like color (or the lack thereof). On clothes, at home and away, color can be the difference between standing out or blending in. Going hue by hue, we take a look at the iconic products that illustrate the color of style.

Black

The Little Black Dress

In womenswear, there’s perhaps no other item that endures like the little black dress. At its best, it’s both classic and modern, and one of the few pieces of clothing that’s never out of fashion.

White

White Linen

If summer had an official fabric, it would probably be linen. While style is about setting your own standards, white as the neutral for warmer weather is one to leave in the rulebook, even if you throw the rest of the rules out. Put the two together on clothing, around the house or just on accessories for impeccably clean, crisp summer style.

Red

The Red Wedding Dress

Depending on where you live red can be the color of sin or purity, and almost universally, passion as well. In China and India, it’s the traditional color of wedding dresses, and (in our opinion) one of the most glamorous variations on bridal style.

Blue

Blue Jeans

It’s been bleached, battered and dyed, but when it comes to denim there’s only one hue that outlasts them all. We’re preferential towards the deep, indigo end of the spectrum, but in all its variations blue jeans have been the definitive color of casual style more than any other shade.

Yellow

Gold

The price of the precious metal has reached record highs as cautious investors seek security, and after a period of surging popularity for platinum, it looks like we’re returning to a bit of a gold standard. Not just any type of gold, mind you. Whether you’re going for jewelry or bars, gleaming yellow gold that clearly indicates exactly what it is looks like it’s poised for a return as the color of luxury.

Green

Emeralds

There are many beautiful green stones, but there’s only one that has its own jewelry cut. Diamonds are forever, and sapphires are having a moment thanks to a certain royal couple, but emeralds have been turning up on Hollywood royalty and reminding everyone why green is the color of envy.

Last year, von Furstenberg and the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation launched the DVF Awards to offer recognition and financial support to four outstanding women each year. Two are chosen from the Vital Voices Global network, one award is given to a prominent public figure, and the final award is where you make a difference.

The DVF “People’s Voice Award” goes to a woman in the US who is chosen by popular vote. There are five finalists, but the one with the most votes will receive the award to benefit their cause. Not only can you play a role, but those who vote will be entered in a sweepstakes to attend the awards in New York, dressed in a brand new DVF outfit. Sounds like a win-win to us.

The Five Finalists

Lyn Pentecost of The Lower Eastside Girls Club

In the 1990s, the Lower East Side was the only neighborhood in the United States with a “boys only” program, and nothing for girls. Faced with rising teen pregnancy, dropout and incarceration rates, Pentecost was one of a diverse group of Lower East Side women that took matters into their own hands.

Malika Saada Saar of The Rebecca Project for Human Rights
The Rebecca Project for Human Rights has been at the forefront of efforts to end the sexual trafficking of American children. In May 2010, the Rebecca Project conducted a congressional briefing with the actress-activist Demi Moore, where two girl survivors testified on the horrors of being exploited, beaten, and raped by men who bought and sold them.

Susannah Shakow of Running Start
Running Start believes that the only way the make-up of political leaders in the United States will change is if young women and girls are educated about politics earlier in life. They seek to instill in the next generation that public service is admirable and achievable.

Taryn Davis of the American Widow Project
At 21, Taryn Davis found herself widowed when her husband, Corporal Michael Davis, lost his life serving in Iraq. In the wake of his death, Davis found the resources available to military widows insufficient. After a documentary profiling military widows across the country, Davis started a non-profit dedicated to offering support to military widows as they deal with their losses.

Zeinab Eyega of the Sauti Yetu Center for African Women

Founded in 2004 to address the unmet needs of African immigrant women and girls in New York City, Zeinab Eyega created Sauti Yetu to provide direct social services to curb domestic violence, prevent the practice of female cutting/genital cutting in immigrant communities and promote rights for women and girls.

Which organization will you support? Visit the Diane von Furstenberg Facebook page to cast your vote, and join the iconic fashion designer in encouraging the women who support other women.