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“Designed by Apple in California” chronicles 20 years of Apple design
- rbanffy 10y agoI don't think the last 20 years were that much interesting. The 15 years before that? Certainly.
- chrisseaton 10y agoWhy go out of your way to comment to say that you aren't interested in a particular book? If this book doesn't interest you why did you click the link? Such negativity and casual dismissal of things other people may be interested in.
- rbanffy 10y agoBecause hinting the last 20 years were the pinnacle of achievement, or particularly special, seems unfair to the pioneers who were there before, opening the paths their successors walked.
- charlesism 10y agoI find it interesting to read everyone's reactions here, both positive and negative. As long as it's not trolling, or being rude to others, why shouldn't one feel free to leave their thoughts? In fact I checked out the comments for this article specifically because the book doesn't appeal to me either, and I was curious if I was the only one who felt that way.
- ddrmaxgt37 10y agoI think it is fine. I will actually be going in person to buy the book tomorrow. I'd prefer people voicing their opinions over an echo chamber.
- onion2k 10y agoThe early days of Apple were interesting, but to suggest that the development of the iMac, iPhone, Macbook, the iTunes store, etc is "not interesting" is quite an unusual position to take.
- rbanffy 10y agoIt's certainly not the most interesting period. The development of the Snow White language and the multiple prototypes that never went out hint at what Apple would do in those 20 years. The iMac, iPhone are interesting, but are interesting for the details - the "friendliness" of the first iMacs, the psychedelic ones (the Blue Dalmatian and Flower Power), the sleekness of the iPhone's interface are all details. The pioneering work had already been done and those roads were somewhat explored, some saved for the time we'd have the technologies for it. For comparison: https://www.amazon.com/Keep-Simple-Early-Design-Years/dp/3897904071 https://www.amazon.com/Keep-Simple-Early-Design-Years/dp/389...
- ethanbond 10y agoThe iPhone's interface might be details, but the iPhone itself certainly wasn't. It singlehandedly brought smartphones (and the screen-only form factor) to dominance. Of course you can argue it was timing and someone was bound to do it, but others didn't do it. The iPad "created" (again, technically just brought to prominence) the tablet form factor. The iPod fundamentally changed music forever, the shitty Apple earbuds are iconic in and of themselves, and barely anyone even purchases those. Furthermore, I contend that Apple changed design as a whole forever. It takes high end boutique design and without fail sets a new bar across every industry they set foot in. Great design has become a prerequisite for consumer products. On the one hand this trivializes design in that few of the people demanding Apple-tier design understand the amount of work it takes, but on the other hand it means companies can look at Apple's astronomical margins and perhaps justify stronger investment in design. The entire history of Apple is pretty fascinating, but from a design perspective alone (i.e. not necessarily a technical perspective) I think the last 15 years or so contain the highest density of notable strides forward.
- 10y ago
- grenoire 10y agoThe price tag feels rather exorbitant.
- throwanem 10y agoIt is explicitly a showpiece, as well as an aspirational good aimed squarely at those who feel owning Apple products reflects positively on them. (Note the locations where it's on sale.) The price is exactly what it should be.
- illuminati1911 10y agoIt's clearly created for companies, design agencies etc. They'll buy few of these and put them in their cafes, waiting spaces, bookshelves and it will make them look more credible/serious in front of potential customers. Pretty good deal for them but for average consumers not so much.
- jacobolus 10y agoNot to mention this coffee-table book can sit in the Apple store and serve as extended marketing material for folks loitering there. The book probably makes Apple money even if they never sell one.
- gruez 10y agoThey made all the pictures in the book downloadable, so you can make your own print if you'd like
- uw_rob 10y agoI'm not sure where you found the download link. The "Photos of “Designed by Apple in California”" download under media is just the promotional images.
- carlob 10y agoDownload them all, import them in Photos.app and then get Apple to print you a copy of the book for you through their own app.
- guptaneil 10y agoI love Apple, but they seem really focused lately on how good they used to be. It's a troubling cultural trend.
- TheGorramBatman 10y agoMemberberries...
- jacobolus 10y agoBecause someone in their marketing/design department published a retrospective coffee-table book?
- gr3yh47 10y ago> (for better or worse the most novel hardware change to a laptop in a decade) not by a long shot. I see this kind of statement all the time from apple fans about apples oh-so-unique innovations, and it's rarely something that hasnt been done before I could give several examples of more novel features in the last decade, but that's subjective, and this isnt: the touch bar concept has been done before [0] (and better imo) 0: http://www.pcworld.com/article/3136325/computers/razers-radical-switchblade-ui-was-apples-touch-bar-before-apples-touch-bar.html http://www.pcworld.com/article/3136325/computers/razers-radi...
- fredley 10y agos/Apple/America/. Or the UK for that matter.
- agumonkey 10y agoI believe it's a normal cycle of mutations. A time comes when a system has to choose between evolving or not.
- IBM 10y agoThis sentiment, posted every time Apple does something post-Steve Jobs, is essentially American declinism [1] but for Apple. Substitute Apple for America in this Robert Kagan article [2]. >But how real is it? Much of the commentary on American decline these days rests on rather loose analysis, on impressions that the United States has lost its way, that it has abandoned the virtues that made it successful in the past, that it lacks the will to address the problems it faces. Americans look at other nations whose economies are now in better shape than their own, and seem to have the dynamism that America once had, and they lament, as in the title of Thomas Friedman’s latest book, that “that used to be us.” [1] http://foreignpolicy.com/2012/10/08/declinism-is-america-and-mitt-can-too/ http://foreignpolicy.com/2012/10/08/declinism-is-america-and... [2] https://newrepublic.com/article/99521/america-world-power-declinism https://newrepublic.com/article/99521/america-world-power-de...
- LaSombra 10y agoMade in China?
- kristofferR 10y agoWhy buy a $300 book full images of products when IKEA gives you a book like that for free?
- 1propionyl 10y agoRandom aside: the IKEA mail catalogs are actually very well designed and nicely printed. They're one of the few catalogs I actually keep. They don't feel consumeristic and actually have a lot of neat furnishing ideas, even if you don't want to buy anything from them. I am pleasantly surprised by their non-consumeristic advertising. It's sexy functionalism.
- 24gttghh 10y ago>non-consumeristic advertising This seems like an oxymoron. Would you please elaborate?
- lbotos 10y agoI think he means to say "beautiful" in a sense that it's not JUST about showing a picture and a price, but that they are first "interesting pictures" first and "ads" second. see http://flyers.smartcanucks.ca/uploads/pages/31884/chesley-grocery-store-flyer-november-7-to-13-1.jpg http://flyers.smartcanucks.ca/uploads/pages/31884/chesley-gr... vs http://cdn.home-designing.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/ikea-2011-living-white.jpg http://cdn.home-designing.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/ike...
- 24gttghh 10y agoAh yes, the "selling a lifestyle" model of advertising. It's still about selling a product so 'non-consumerist' is patently the wrong way to describe it. Non-consumerist would be the rejection of a disposable, non-repairable, 'you should buy this because you'll feel better about yourself' attitude towards the selling/purchasing of goods.
- pasta 10y agoAside trivia: Did you know most of those Ikea pictures are 3D renders?
- jheriko 10y agolol. explifying the apple design itself - a beautiful, but less practical embossed white cover.
- doodpants 10y agoWell, Steve Jobs was a fan of the Beatles...
- thowar2 10y agoYo dawg, we heard you don't like the new MacBook Pro, so we put pictures of old Macs in a book so you can buy a new book of Macs for pros.
- cjmcqueen 10y agoAren't you suppose to publish a book before you step down from a role? Seems to be the Silicon Valley trend...
- sgtnasty 10y agoI would really like a book on NeXT design, UI and hardware.
- Isamu 10y agoStrikes me as the sort of thing that Steve Jobs would have said "no" to. (He famously avoided doing much backward looking. "It distracts from the NOW," as Edna Mode would say.)
- joao 10y agoA video trailer for the book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkskY9bL9Bk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkskY9bL9Bk
- ironchief 10y agoThe time period covered by the book (1998-2015) is significant. This is Ive telegraphing the end of the Jobs roadmap. "from 1998’s iMac to 2015’s Apple Pencil" which is very much in line with the following Jobs quote of pre-iPhone prototypes. "I had an idea of a multitouch display that you could type on. About six months later they called me in and showed me this prototype display. This was in the early 2000s"
- muad 10y agoIf you have the disposable income to afford this you should be giving more money to charity, not Apple.
- bitmapbrother 10y agoAnyone care to guess the margins on the $199 and $299 books?
- NEDM64 10y agoYes, Apple is getting rich selling books.
- dfar1 10y agoPlease tell me there's a jony ive video about it!