Design firm Ideo has cultivated an image of being the creative minds behind the idea. As a consultancy, their job is to not take credit for the ideas, but rather design such ideas for other companies. This makes their iPhone video application a beautiful mystery.

Spark is a gorgeous and well-defined video iOS application that fulfills the first rule of great design: get the hell out of the way so I can get to the task at hand. Spark eschews the current fad of making all images and videos insta-square and embraces the 16:9 aspect ratio. On top of this, Spark provides the best real-time filter selection I’ve seen. With a flip of your finger, you slide the different Spark filters on top of your video while it loops.

I’m not doing a lot with video other than occasional experiments, but I keep firing up Spark because it’s one of the rare applications where the designers gave themselves room to experiment. Yes, they are clearly influenced by current flat design and thin typography trends, but the application’s attention to the details is novel.