apple design
Latest
An Apple flip phone from 1984 and a tablet from 1979
In the early 1980s, noted industrial designer Hartmut Esslinger began working with Apple where he and his consultancy firm "Frog Design" helped shape the look and feel of Apple products for a number of years. Most notably, Esslinger is credited with shifting the aesthetic of Apple computers from beige to the once-ubiquitous Snow White design that graced a number of Apple desktops beginning with the Apple IIc. In addition to influencing the look and feel of Apple's product line, Esslinger during his tenure at Apple helped develop a number of interesting prototypes across multiple product lines that never made it to market. Just last week, we highlighted one such product, a "smartwatch" Esslinger designed in the 80s. Not to be outdone, Esslinger in 1983 also protoyped an Apple fliphone (viewable above) that was ridiculously thin by even 1990 standards. That cellphones nearly two decades later would so closely resemble Esslinger's 1983 prototype really speaks to his vision and design prowess. Below is another take on a mobile phone from Esslinger. As a quick aside, if you're interested in reading about the design philosophy that permeated through Apple's product lineup in the 80s, make sure to check out Hartmut Esslinger's book "Keep It Simple: The Early Design Years of Apple." Earlier today, The Verge posted a number of additional photos from Esslinger's book that many will likely find of interest. As a quick example, here's a photo of what appears to be a protable laptop/tablet hybrid. But enough about interesting Apple products that didn't ship, here is an actual Apple tablet from 1979 that did ship. Note the presence of a stylus as the mouse had not yet been brought to the mainstream with the Mac. The tablet worked by mapping designs on the tablet to an accompanying Apple II. Dimension and price wise, the tablet checked in at 15.5 inches x 15.5 inches and came with a $650 pricetag. One interesting piece of Apple trivia is that the graphics tablet below ran one of the first computer paint programs, titled "Utopia Graphics System." Also interesting is that the program itself was designed by noted musician Todd Rundgren.
Deciding on a tablet by comparing specs? You've missed the point
Last night, I was browsing through story after story on the interwebs that hoped to help people decide on a tablet purchase by comparing the Motorola Xoom specifications with the iPad 2. From multitasking to chip speed to RAM, analysists attempted to find consumers the best possible value for the money. And they completely missed the point. When it comes to tablets, it's not about the specs. It's about user experience. It's about the way we use the device and how the device fits itself to the way we want to use it.
Found Footage: Beautiful Apple design
In the tradition of the "30 years of Apple in 2 minutes" video we recently featured, here's a well-photographed, albeit incomplete, look at some of Apple's best designs. It starts off with the "beige angles" of the Apple II, Lisa and Macintosh before progressing to the "dark portables" (Apple QuickTake and PowerCD) and "translucent colors" (eMate and G3 iMac). It ends with "glass and aluminum," showing off the current-generation iMac, iPhone 4 and iPad. It's well shot and that ethereal music makes me feel like Tim Burton and Johnny Depp are going to pop up at any moment. Well done, Matt's Macintosh! You obviously love your machines, and we can't blame you.
Michael Lopp on how Apple thinks different in design
Over at Business Week, Helen Walters has an interesting summary of a presentation given by Michael Lopp at SXSW on Apple's design process. Lopp is a senior engineering manager at Apple and gives a sneak peek at the process that Apple uses to bring such great products to the market. Particularly interesting to me is the idea of the paired design meetings. Evidently each team has two design meetings each week. At the first meeting they're invited to "go crazy" and be creative in coming up with unusual ideas and approaches, while at the second meeting they have to get down to brass tacks and figure out how to actually implement some of those crazy ideas. It sounds like a great way to foster creativity, but also to make sure that there's enough practicality that things actually get shipped. In any case, it's worth a read if you're intrigued by the Apple design process.[via MacVolPlace]
Partially inside Apple's design process
Daniel Turner set out to write an article for the MIT Technology Review on the design process that went into the iPhone but, perhaps unsurprisingly, he ran into a wall at Apple. Instead he has penned this nice look at the overall Apple design process, drawing on interviews with former Apple employees as well as folks at Frog Design who have worked with Apple. There are some interesting tidbits comparing the way Apple does things versus other companies. For instance, instead of asking what a factory can do and then designing the product around it, Apple instead tends to make the factories re-tool to meet its requirements. From the beginning Apple has spent more time and money on design leading (as we well know) to superior products. Perhaps most unsurprising of all is Turner's conclusion that this all leads back to one man: Steve Jobs. Turner quotes a former Apple executive Don Norman as saying. "Jobs is a dictator, but with good taste. He is good and driven to the perfect experience. He doesn't want good design; he wants great design."Though the conclusions are unsurprising there are some good stories here and anybody interested in the Apple design process should head over to Technology Review.[via MacSlash]Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
Cleverly revised iSight indicator in the new Core 2 Duo MacBook Pros
Apple has removed the obvious green "online" indicator dot and accompanying hole that used to be just to the right of the iSight lens hole on the MacBook Pro and replaced it with a subtle integrated green LED just under the surface of the bezel that only appears when the iSight is engaged.Nice touch. It's tiny little things like this that really set Apple apart when it comes to product design. Almost makes you want to give them a pass on some of the far more serious quality control issues they're having these days...More pics on nobilog.Thanks, Dane!
