A new book about Apples designer in chief Jony Ive hits stores today. The unauthorized biography is by Leander Kahney, editor and publisher of the Web site Cult of Mac, and a former managing editor of Wired. Its chock-full of tidbits about the designer, but many of the interesting insights revolve around the details and personality of Apples notoriously secretive industrial design group. For example, Kahney gives us a look at early prototypes of Apples most iconic products. One early design for the iPod -- the device that arguable came to set the tone for Apple design for the next decade -- looked almost nothing like what eventually shipped in stores. Instead, it was a round device inspired by a yo-yo, and looked like the original iMacs mouse: Jony particularly liked an MP3 player that resembled the iMacs hockey-puck mouse, dressed out in transparent red plastic. Inspired by a yo-yo, the device had a groove around its perimeter for holding the earbuds wires, which slotted into cutouts on the back. (It looked like a round version of the earbud packaging used with the iPhone 5.) The player was controlled by a series of buttons arranged in a circle, with a small black-and-white screen in the middle. It resembled what, eventually, would be the familiar iPod scroll wheel, but at that time was purely button based with no wheel to turn on. And when designing the iPad, according to Walter Isaacsons biography of Steve Jobs, Ive has said he and Jobs personally poured over more than 20 models of various-sized screens and chose the display size from there. But according to Kahneys book, an unnamed Apple executive who worked there at the time said the size of the tablet was strongly influenced by something less subjective: the size of a standard piece of paper. Kahney also says that some of the larger prototypes had kickstands, like the Microsoft Surface would eventually have. In terms of the labs personality, there are two words that journalists and authors usually use to describe Apples designer in chief Jonathan Ive: quiet and sensitive. But that doesnt mean the team behind the designs of some of the most widely used products in the world isnt above crude humor. Apple is famous for its sense of showmanship -- from its elaborate product announcements to the packaging and arrangement of a new device when it first meets a consumer. So why not have a little fun with that first impression? As a joke, when Apple was getting ready to release the iMac G4, the design team laid out the product in the box to look like male genitalia. You had the neck laying there and the two ball speakers next to it, Doug Satzger, Apples former Apple designer, told Kahney. People would open the box and say What? These are just some of the lighter design details in the book, diving into the decisions made in the lab. The entire thing is worth a read, and delves into the early life, education, and background of the uber-private designe
Posted on: Fri, 15 Nov 2013 00:30:48 +0000
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