The Apple effect on design
Robert Brunner over at Design Matters brings up an interesting question with his latest entry: Has Apple's definition of good design skewed consumer perception?
Brunner, who admits right off the bat that he is a loyal Apple fan, makes a very good observation about design in the Apple-inspired world:
Here's the gist: Apple has been so successful in design, that to many people if something does not resemble an iPhone, iPod, MacBook, etc., it is not "good design." If it is not an uber-simple, highly-rationalized, single-buttoned, machined-from-a-solid-block-of aluminum thing, it can't be good, right? It's become a pretty common undertone in articles, reviews, blogs, and user commentary. Sometimes subtle, sometimes overt. But the overall message is there: If you don't do it like Apple, you are not practicing "good design."
And Brunner does have a point. Thanks to the design standards at Apple, there are now a lot of companies that are trying to emulate it in their products and coming up short, as seen in the pair of Samsung home theater systems from early 2008 pictured above (note: these are no longer available), which Brunner originally posted on his blog. It's definitely not easy to create a design; the folks in Cupertino will be the first to admit to that. In April 2008, BusinessWeek did an article covering a presentation at SXSW where Apple engineers discussed the design process.
The risk of Apple innovation can also lead to oversaturation as well. After the iMac came out, suddenly things weren't cool if the product name didn't have a lower-case "i" in it, and the word "pod" after the iPod became popular. What started out as very clever now just makes me roll my eyes when other companies try to incorporate those terms into its products.
Has Apple's products changed your perception of good design? Do you think it's led to oversaturation?
Many thanks to @ohmgee on Twitter for the article link!
