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A Peek Inside Apple's Design Studio
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The elevator leads to the secret vault where those first two items are being kept.
Silly you.
Its a Powerbook G6.
Freescale actually is working on the next-generation PowerPC chip.
For a electronics gear geek like myself, anytime I get to see inside a facility where some honest to goodness gee-whizzery is created, I get goosebumps. I was able to take a tour of Thiel Loudspeakers in Lexington, KY last year and it was a treat to experience their factory floor and their bad-ass listening and demo room. Wanted to make that my permanent residence immediately.
Now Apple Design Studios? Just leave me the key under the doormat, please Mr. Ive? I do have a new member of the family who works in audio QA at Apple who said he would give me a tour of the place if I make it out there. Well guess what, the tickets have been booked. I can hardly wait to see inside.
BF
Now Apple Design Studios? Just leave me the key under the doormat, please Mr. Ive? I do have a new member of the family who works in audio QA at Apple who said he would give me a tour of the place if I make it out there. Well guess what, the tickets have been booked. I can hardly wait to see inside.
BF
Note Jony has the items on a light wooden desk like the ones in Apple stores. I suppose this is to see if a given new product looks good on this surface. If it doesn't look good, you'd have to either change the product itself or change the background to make the product stand out nicely.
This kind of attention to detail I really like. Apple products have some design features you only appreciate after a while. For example, on Macbooks, the ports are all on the left, no need to close the lid or turn the laptop around to connect some cable. Also, there are no unnecessary status lights on Macs, only the sleep LED. Flashes slowly when sleeping, quickly on boot errors, morsing "S.O.S." on Firmwware errors, lit when the Mac is running, but the display went to sleep. Early Intel iMacs had a light sensor so the big white light dims when there's no light in the room.
This kind of attention to detail I really like. Apple products have some design features you only appreciate after a while. For example, on Macbooks, the ports are all on the left, no need to close the lid or turn the laptop around to connect some cable. Also, there are no unnecessary status lights on Macs, only the sleep LED. Flashes slowly when sleeping, quickly on boot errors, morsing "S.O.S." on Firmwware errors, lit when the Mac is running, but the display went to sleep. Early Intel iMacs had a light sensor so the big white light dims when there's no light in the room.
Could be, but more likely it's a corded keyboard with the cord going down behind the table (notice the numeric keypad is on the right).
If Apple let that film crew in to the Design Studio, I sure wish someone would be able to go in there and do a second edition of the book "AppleDesign" (Graphis), which covers Apple's entire industrial design history from the very beginning of the company up to the end of 1997, just before the iMac hit.
I imagine Jobs and company don't even want people to see the unreleased prototypes they've come up with, and Jobs is famously unsentimental about keeping stuff like that around in storage. The "rejected" designs and prototypes from the 80s and early 90s as pictured in the book were really, really fascinating, and I'm sure Ive's castoffs are even more interesting.
That was an excellent book despite the lax copy-editing. It's long out of print and really fetches a premium on the used book market. And no, I'm not selling mine.
I imagine Jobs and company don't even want people to see the unreleased prototypes they've come up with, and Jobs is famously unsentimental about keeping stuff like that around in storage. The "rejected" designs and prototypes from the 80s and early 90s as pictured in the book were really, really fascinating, and I'm sure Ive's castoffs are even more interesting.
That was an excellent book despite the lax copy-editing. It's long out of print and really fetches a premium on the used book market. And no, I'm not selling mine.
I believe I spotted one, hiding, in the back, slightly to the left underneath the iClock on the wall.
After some extensive image post-processing, I think we've uncovered the secret to Apple's success:
-Kevin
After some extensive image post-processing, I think we've uncovered the secret to Apple's success:
-Kevin
Thank you for that - I knew I wasn't hallucinating.
True, but who hangs their USB cord over the side of the table? I guess if you have as many at your disposal you can do whatever you want
What are all these oompa loompas I have been hearing about?
(this is a serious question).
Slave laborers, basically. For all their hard work, they get paid beans... literally.
Oompa loompa doompadee doo
I've got another puzzle for you
Oompa loompa doompadah dee
If you are wise you'll listen to me
Who do you blame when your kid is a brat
Pampered and spoiled like a siamese cat
Blaming the kids is a lie and a shame
You know exactly who's to blame
The mother and the father
I'm glad to see this. I don't care so much about the fact that I get to see inside apple's studio, which is cool don't get me wrong, but I'm more excited for industrial design. It's great to see the cool processes, products and studios and designers that go into making great products. +1 for ID.
haha totally agree with you...
I think Steve was out of the office that day..for that camera to be allowed.
And I ALREADY wanted to see this movie! This is just icing on the cake!
I sure hope we eventually get a book of rejected iPod designs. We may have to wait until Steve leaves for good, but eventually it will happen.
I sure hope we eventually get a book of rejected iPod designs. We may have to wait until Steve leaves for good, but eventually it will happen.
Wow, you'd think with all that ambient neon lighting, Jony Ive would realize how much glossy screens suck!
Oh well, I guess not
Edit: PS: Also that must be the most anally clean workshop I've ever seen!
Oh well, I guess not
Edit: PS: Also that must be the most anally clean workshop I've ever seen!
I would say it's more likely the AppleStores are modelled after the workshop, and Jonny would have had some say in the Apple store presentation.
I would imagine that they have access to the complete library.. or at least priviledges to download whichever songs/movies they like for testing.
What are all these oompa loompas I have been hearing about?
(this is a serious question).
Must be a youngster.
Oompa Loompas (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory)
