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APPLE DESIGN: THE STORY OF A 

STRATEGIC INITIATIVE  BY APPLE

Reviewed By:

Swati Goel (191)

Written by: Paul KenkalPublished by: Watson-GuptillPublicationsPublished In: October 1, 1997

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BRIEF INTRODUCTION 

Celebration of Apple's Industrial Design (ID) i.e. creation of a

product's look and feel

Covers Apple product, from the Apple II to the 20th CenturyMacintosh

Uses Apple's products as a way of telling Apple's history

Corporate history of Apple's design, full of projects

Discusses projects that were never realized, or realized in a greatlymodified form

Fascinating personal details of early-80's guru Hartmut Esslinger,Steve jobs and more

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DESIGN 

Creation of a product's look and feel

Good industrial design makes products moreattractive, inviting, and easier to use

Good industrial designer has multiple skills such asgraphic design, sculpting or model-ma]=[-king,engineering, and psychology.

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HIGHLIGHTS 

Illustrated with 400 sketches, black and white and colourphotographs of Apples that were, that are and that neverwill be.

Text is concise and informative and easy to read

Attention to detail

Set of photographic plates of Apple's products,preproduction models, and design ideas, around which iswrapped a lengthy history of Apple's design work.

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PARTS OF THE BOOK 

Book divided into following parts: History From Another Viewpoint

Beginnings

Frog-design

The Middle Years

The Apple Industrial Design Group

How the History of ID Reveals Apple's Soul

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HISTORY FROM ANOTHER VIEWPOINT 

Description of the design, a history of the design, andwhat was happening at Apple at the time

Shows new aspects of well-known stories about Apple

Shows how Apple /// suffered from both bad luck and

poor management. Successes of Macs, such as the LC 520. The

PowerBooks showed the importance of ID and why itadds value to the computer

Apple's ID history is divided into four periods: Beginnings,frogdesign, the Middle Years, and the Apple IndustrialDesign Group (IDg)

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BEGINNINGS 

Apple II, Apple ///, Lisa, Macintosh, related peripherals,and the SnowWhite Project

Apple's commitment to world-class ID established

Steven Jobs recognized the importance of ID

Manock designed a distinctive case that proved to be anicon for Apple Computer

Jobs hated slots for two reasons

Cause for many computer problems

Wanted to design the computer to discourage anyone fromoutside this defined group i.e. general public

Introduction of Lisa and Macintosh

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BEGINNINGS 

Mac was another Manock design. Jobs influenced it. no arrow keys

no slots to keep costs down

no SCSI port

tight fitting cover to discourage customers from opening Apple's ID was disunited so it worked hard to devise an

international design to unite its products.

SnowWhite was to be the world-class design language

and the basis of a competition for finding a designer. Jobs eventually found a soulmate in the German

designer Hartmut Esslinger who established frogdesignwith an exclusive contract with Apple

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FROGDESIGN 

Continues until Jobs left Apple

Products shipped: ADB mouse, the Mac SE, ImageWriterII, LaserWriter, LaserWriter II, MacPlus, ImageWriter LQ,

and AppleScanner

First true SnowWhite design produced was the Apple IIcwhich was winner in sales and design

Best-known SnowWhite design was the Macintosh II butit was too expensive.

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THE MIDDLE YEARS 

Two Problems: Lost its designer and did not have adesign department

Competing on price and not quality would result in thedeath of Apple and ID was one way to make Apple

products superior

Sculley formed Apple's Industrial Design Group

“Inexpensive" Macs, the LC and the IIsi introduced.Sculley resisted sales of lower priced computersdue tohigher margins in IIfx." According to Kunkel, it was WallStreet that forced Sculley to support a low-priced Mac.

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THE APPLE INDUSTRIAL DESIGN GROUP 

A new era began when Bob Brunner joined IDG

A revival of Apple design

Apple indirectly provided R&D for the other computermakers.

Period saw great design, including the PowerBooks,Color Classic, and LC 520

The last machine described is the Twentieth AnniversaryMacintosh, the first computer for the living room and is a

totally new computer design

Apple's superior ID is appreciated, but it does not justify ahigh price.

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 HOW THE HISTORY OF ID REVEALS APPLE'S 

SOUL 

General attitude toward making products that excel:

Apple engineers support its industrial designers,recognizing that ID results in superior products, even ifthe extra work is a pain

Focus on products rather than management,AppleDesign shows us broader view of people insideApple

Lack of follow up: Apple killed other projects aimed atbuilding more powerful Macs with larger screens, losingsome top employees in the process.

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HOW THE HISTORY OF ID REVEALS APPLE'S SOUL 

Products were killed after engineering work rather thanafter ID work (which would have been cheaper).

Jonathan Project: to infiltrate MS-DOS users, allow themto run both MS-DOS and Mac software, see thesuperiority of the Mac, and convert. But top managementlacked faith in the Mac and the project was killed.

This reflects Apple's strategy of becoming moreproprietary and to lock in Mac users whenever possible.

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CRITIQUE 

Tells one aspect of Apple's history and notexplain Apple's current financial success

Focus is too narrow

Hard to encapsulate design in words

Very costly

Book falls short of the most recent steps

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CONCLUSION 

Tight focus for viewing the company i.e. whyApple was successful and appreciation of Apple'sindustrial design

Apple in a tough position It has little room for error

After going through a period of ignoring theMacintosh in favor of "the next big thing," Applehas refocused on the Macintosh and addressedsome of the problems these books mention

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THANKYOU…