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The point of this article isn't the damned turtleneck -- the lesson to learn is that Jobs was best friends with Issey Miyake. Think about that for a minute: How
by michaelpinto 15y ago
The point of this article isn't the damned turtleneck -- the lesson to learn is that Jobs was best friends with Issey Miyake. Think about that for a minute: How many other folks who work in tech in the valley have any friends who even work in fashion design? Add to that that this is the same guy who hired Paul Rand the grandfather of American graphic design to come up with the logo for NeXT. This is also the same man who hired I. M. Pei as an architect and powered the team that made the first computer animated motion picture. You can start to see why none of his peers even come close...
- tptacek 15y agoHe even hired Rand to do the logo for his private foundation, which he didn't even really care about. I found that kind of shocking; it is a move on par with having a typeface designed for your personal blog.
- noisebleed 15y agoInteresting.. I had never heard that, or anything about the Steven P. Jobs Foundation at all really. Now I'm curious to see the logo but I'm not having much luck finding it.
- pitdesi 15y agoI too am curious and am no better at finding this logo online than you are, apparently ;) In case anyone is interested though, here are other logos that Paul Rand has designed: http://www.paul-rand.com/site/identity/ http://www.paul-rand.com/site/identity/ Amazing how many iconic logos are on that page. Jobs paid Rand $100k for the NeXT brand identity, and Rand created a 100 page brochure detailing the brand. Jobs on working with Rand: “I asked him if he would come up with a few options, and he said, ‘No, I will solve your problem for you and you will pay me. You don’t have to use the solution. If you want options go talk to other people.’”
- dockd 15y agoThere's an entire book devoted to how he came up with the NeXT logo; you get to watch the design evolve. The book was probably published by NeXT itself; good luck finding one. I somewhat regret not "borrowing" the copy I saw lying around a computer lab at school.
- falling 15y agoCan't link to it, but pictures of the NeXT identity book are in that page.
- sandGorgon 15y agoIs it this book : http://www.modernism101.com/rand_next.php http://www.modernism101.com/rand_next.php THE SIGN OF THE NEXT GENERATION OF COMPUTERS FOR EDUCATION There is an interesting comment posted about this topic by someone whose father worked as a technical writer on NeXT http://www.nextcomputers.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1590 http://www.nextcomputers.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1590 Paul Rand was hired to design the logo for 50k, with the following rules: he would ask some questions concerning the mission of NEXT, and then he would leave. There will be no updates, no revisions, no meetings. he will return with a logo and if it is accepted, another 50k would be paid to him. Mr. Rand returned with this small brochure (not the 100+ page document that is written about all over the net.. i think people got the 100 from the price of the logo design). This NEXT logo brochure really brings you into the mind of a great designer. Steve Jobs was so overtaken by this proposal, that he asked Mr. Rand if he could make copies... to use as marketing material to potential investors.
- zem 15y agofascinating. this sort of "take it or leave it because i know better than you do what you really want" attitude is very reminiscent of apple's. it's nice to know that jobs could deal with people who saw things the same way he did.
- anoother 15y agoIt's online here: http://www.paul-rand.com/assets/gallery/identity/presentations/presNext[01..16].jpg http://www.paul-rand.com/assets/gallery/identity/presentatio... Replace square brackets with desired number.
- kragen 15y agoIf someone had a font designed for their personal blog (or book or whatever), it might be because they are really proud of the blog (or book &c.). Or it might be because they really like font design.
- aw3c2 15y agoThose things would be a no-brainer for me if I was a billionaire.
- singh 15y agoThat is truly what set Jobs apart. His left and right side of the brain were constantly in bed together while those of his peers (and dare I say most techies today) were satisfied with self-pleasure.
- mikepmalai 15y agoI had a completely different take on the article. I think the real lesson is Jobs was on a constant quest to learn/adopt from the best. Many of his future breakthroughs were the result of visiting places like Xerox PARC or learning from visionaries like Akio Morita. It reinforces my view that Steve Jobs' brilliance was his ability to piece together seemingly disparate observations/lessons (in a mosaic theory like fashion) into a single game changing vision.
- boop 15y agoThe point of the article is not the turtlenecks or who Steve Jobs knew. The point is that Steve Jobs was unique and followed his own path. Which other CEO or person do you know which would wear the same clothes every day?? Most people wouldn't and would fear they would get laughed at for doing so. But Steve was unique. Wearing the same clothes every day made sense for Steve and that is why Steve did that, period. He wasn't concerned about fashion or trends or what others thought - he did what he felt was right. Period. That is the lesson of the article.
- Multiplayer 15y agoI used to do that when I was ceo of a company. I had a blue jeans and white button down shirt uniform, but, I didn't even know it - I was just so focused on the products. I must of had 20 of each. One day we had a company meeting and everyone came to the meeting in my uniform. It was hilarious and awesome. And that's when I found out.
- stretchwithme 15y agoReminds me of how one first visit between teams at Apple and IBM had both showing up in each other's "uniforms".
- perokreco 15y agoThat was Microsoft and IBM AFAIK.
- stretchwithme 15y agoFrom http://applemuseum.bott.org/sections/ppc.html http://applemuseum.bott.org/sections/ppc.html "IBM officials often tried to accomodate Apple and vice versa so that both could comfortably work in unison. One popular anecdote talks of one of the first meetings between the two computer giants. IBM engineers dressed in blue jeans for the meeting, while Apple engineers dressed in suits. They both tried to make each other feel compfortable by conforming to what they thought the other was like." But I wouldn't be surprised if it happened a lot.
- tlack 15y agoI appreciate your point and I'm not trying to undermine it, but there are a lot of tech people in certain realms of fashion. For instance, many people that are into the 'avant garde' style of dress, popularized by brands like Rick Owens, Julius, and Carol Christian Poell come from technical backgrounds. Just an interesting counterpoint.
- teyc 15y agoThe point is to make a good design decision up front, and then not having to worry about it every day.
- saint-loup 15y agoAlso Norman Foster for Apple's new HQs.
- Keyframe 15y agoWhat I got from the story is a confirmation of what I already suspected. Steve Jobs basically created Sony 2. He hinted numerous times on how he modeled everything he did with apple was based on sony. He made Sony, but did it right.