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Apple's Rainbow Logo May Return to Some New Products as Early as This Year
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Gray or black? It's been rainbow, then white, now white or silver. I don't recall gray anywhere along the way.
I would welcome back the glowing Apple logo.
I would welcome back color and joy to the interface
Videos of Jonny talking about products and design always show him agonizing over the process. His face straining and contouring. This shows in the products.
The Mac was the first computer that smiled at you. A machine that smiled at you. It’s hard to understand today how profound this was. (And the smile was fashioned as a Picasso face, not a cheesy clip art “have a nice day” face)
Apple needs a design leader, team, and culture that can execute beyond the Ive minimalism and get back to making empowering tool which bring joy to the user.
As for the retro logo. I love it. But you can’t go home again. Feels like a gimmicky idea from a marketing team which has run out of ideas. Gold? Pink? Now what?
I would welcome back color and joy to the interface
Videos of Jonny talking about products and design always show him agonizing over the process. His face straining and contouring. This shows in the products.
The Mac was the first computer that smiled at you. A machine that smiled at you. It’s hard to understand today how profound this was. (And the smile was fashioned as a Picasso face, not a cheesy clip art “have a nice day” face)
Apple needs a design leader, team, and culture that can execute beyond the Ive minimalism and get back to making empowering tool which bring joy to the user.
As for the retro logo. I love it. But you can’t go home again. Feels like a gimmicky idea from a marketing team which has run out of ideas. Gold? Pink? Now what?
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I don’t think looking back into the past is a bad thing. There has been a huge 90’s nostalgia kick and lots of kids that grew up in the 90’s remember the rainbow Apple logo. I remember using Apple II’s in school and that logo was always so fun and cool, made me want one at home. Unfortunately, we had a Vic 20 at home. I also wouldn’t be opposed to a new all in one simply called Macintosh, the original Mac is 35 years old this year so it would be a fun throwback.
If this does happen...
There’s an argument to be made that it’s Apple treading over old ground.
However...
To most people who buy Apple products, they won’t even know that this logo existed.
And if this new/old logo is used on the first ARM Macs (the ‘Mac’ and ‘Macbook’) you could say that the Mac is going back to its roots of being a combination of an Apple specified processor and OS working in harmony - and what better to celebrate that than to go back to the six colour logo?
And finally, there’s a sense that the cool minimalism begun by the iPod has run its natural course. There’s just nowhere really to take it anymore.
Having said that, I except that Apple’s Pro machines to still keep the cool minimalist look - you want the design to get out of the way on a machine aimed at creative pros.
However for its consumer devices:
I expect Apple to start using very different materials and colours - and again, what better way to celebrate this (and to differentiate them from pro machines) is to use the six colour logo?
There’s an argument to be made that it’s Apple treading over old ground.
However...
To most people who buy Apple products, they won’t even know that this logo existed.
And if this new/old logo is used on the first ARM Macs (the ‘Mac’ and ‘Macbook’) you could say that the Mac is going back to its roots of being a combination of an Apple specified processor and OS working in harmony - and what better to celebrate that than to go back to the six colour logo?
And finally, there’s a sense that the cool minimalism begun by the iPod has run its natural course. There’s just nowhere really to take it anymore.
Having said that, I except that Apple’s Pro machines to still keep the cool minimalist look - you want the design to get out of the way on a machine aimed at creative pros.
However for its consumer devices:
I expect Apple to start using very different materials and colours - and again, what better way to celebrate this (and to differentiate them from pro machines) is to use the six colour logo?
Yah, no offense to that community, but I sure hope that this move isn't tied to Pride in ANY way! That would ruin its legacy. Rumours, gotta love em!
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Nice reference to the past. Today's Apple favours centering things over left-aligning. I'm surprised the Apple logo hasn't moved back to the center of the menubar like it was in the earliest versions of OS X.
I think it’d work well with the iPhone XR in vivid colours. Neutral colours like the silver and space grey products would probably retain the black logo.
Easy way to charge more for an iPhone 11 that’s to the iPhone XS what the 7 was to the 6s.
Jet black all over again (just what I think will happen).
Jet black all over again (just what I think will happen).
Cool very nice.
I miss it a lot.
It will bring back memories of when Apple focused of computers.
I miss it a lot.
It will bring back memories of when Apple focused of computers.
I was just going to post the same thing. It just doesn't go well, and "jarring" is the perfect word for it. Wish there was a more subtle way.
That looks great - genuinely fresh, modern (as in contemporary) whilst respecting the history of the logo/company.
I don't hate the idea of the classic rainbow logo coming back, but just in basic aesthetic terms I don't think it really looks all that great for the kind of things Apple sells now. It wouldn't stop me buying an Apple product I planned to anyway, and people can always do as you have - use a stick to change it to whatever they want.
Anyone who has hoarded those free white Apple stickers they've included for years, this is your time to profit from all the rainbow-phobes!
Technically, that was not an officially released version of Mac OS X. That was a public beta that you could purchase that expired after a certain date. I had it on my iBook G3 and it was pretty but it was terrible at the same time.
Thanks! I agree. I had originally bought the rainbow version of that sticker and it looked out of place. But the watercolor version is fresh.That looks great - genuinely fresh, modern (as in contemporary) whilst respecting the history of the logo/company.
I don't hate the idea of the classic rainbow logo coming back, but just in basic aesthetic terms I don't think it really looks all that great for the kind of things Apple sells now. It wouldn't stop me buying an Apple product I planned to anyway, and people can always do as you have - use a stick to change it to whatever they want.
Anyone who has hoarded those free white Apple stickers they've included for years, this is your time to profit from all the rainbow-phobes!
This was my response to Apple putting the "MacBook Pro" text back on the screen bezel, it was a step backwards. Excessive branding distracts from the experience. That being said, I wouldn't mind a throwback or limited edition with the rainbow logo.
I hope they do it. Not as some tie in to political/social things but as a celebration of Apple’s history. As someone who grew up with the Apple color logo, it still feels more “right” to me than the current cold/modern version. Of course they could spruce it up a little and smooth it out and “freshen” it a bit.
way back in the day when a rainbow was just a rainbow, it was just a rainbow.
But nowadays, any printed rainbow can not be assumed to be just a rainbow- it now can have another meaning which pretty much has nothing to do with rainbows- so it's not a rainbow anymore. Its something else entirely.
But nowadays, any printed rainbow can not be assumed to be just a rainbow- it now can have another meaning which pretty much has nothing to do with rainbows- so it's not a rainbow anymore. Its something else entirely.
And they know this....
Looking at the concepts above I think it looks good on the white iphone but not so much on anything else.
There shouldn’t be any corporation not profiting off of popular sentimentality. Why should Apple be left out?
The thing is, the other meaning(s) to which I presume you refer is part of the company's ethos. It's not like it's a surprise. If it's an issue to anyone I would argue they have been fooling themselves for years already that a blank white or silver logo didn't signal that corporate identity and ethos already. This would make it more obvious I guess, but it wouldn't be an entirely new thing (beyond obviously not literally being a new thing, you understand my meaning!).
"way back in the day when a rainbow was just a rainbow, it was just a rainbow" - well... yeah... I guess.. ...way way way back in the day maybe, like before human civilisation... !
e.g.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbows_in_mythology