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Increasingly, some Apple fans think Jony Ive has lost it.
He’s killing ports and headphone jacks left and right. The latest MacBooks value form over function. He’s designing gold watches for the 1 percent.
And now his glossy new photo book, Designed by Apple in California, looks like a $300, linen-bound ego trip.
So let's take a look inside..
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0:00
Design by Apple in California is the first book, their first official book from Apple's
0:06
design team that has been responsible for a remarkable string of hit products in the last 20
0:10
years or so. And, you know, it looks like a way for them to acknowledge to themselves and to the
0:16
world the remarkable work they've done. And their lack of much recognition in the last 20 years
0:22
And this is a sort of gentle and quiet way, I think, of asserting themselves in the public eye
0:28
and saying, look, here's the work that we've done. Okay, I'm Leander Keeney from Cult of Mac
0:36
and look what arrived in the mail this morning. Let's open it up. Big. There's a note here
0:42
Leander Keeney, Jonathan Ive. It's got a nice crest on it. Leander, I do hope you like the book, Warmly, Johnny
0:49
It's very nice. Let's put that over here. Let's open it up
0:54
Here we go. It's just like the Apple Watch. Huh, even more packaging
1:05
Nicely wrapped up. Ha, look at this. It's got illustrations of the iPod, the earphones
1:12
So yeah, this is your typical Apple unboxing experience. It's all very beautifully done
1:17
And here's the book. It's made from custom learning from a German manufacturer, I believe
1:24
And the paper and the inks were also custom made. Designed by Apple in California
1:29
Very nice. And there's the Apple logo embossed in the front. This is a big, hefty book
1:34
This is the larger one, which sells for $299, $300. And it's available today in select Apple stores
1:43
The paper's really luxurious. Designed by Apple in California, dedicated to Steve Jobs
1:51
And here's the introduction on Johnny Ive. And as far as I know, this is all there is
1:55
These are all the words in the book. It starts in 1999, 1998 with the iMac, and then it features all the products to 2000
2:03
2001 2002 a lot of iPods cinema display more iPods MacBook Air up to 2013 2014 2015 with the Apple Watch Apple Watch and ending in the Apple Pencil That the last product in here Introduction Johnny I said that this is a book with a very few words yeah
2:21
It's about our products, their physical nature, and how they were made. Well, this is a design book
2:26
It is not about design team, the creative process, or product development. It is an objective representation of our work that ironically describes who we are
2:32
It describes how we work, our values, our preoccupations, and our goals. We have always hoped to be defined by what we do rather than by what we serve
2:39
The photography was by Andrew Zuckerman who's worked, I think, quite a lot with the Apple design team
2:45
and the first picture here is the IMAQ from 1998 and this is reminiscent of some of the early advertising they did
2:53
for the IMA when it was released. Pretty iconic. But for this they had to recreate it
2:58
I read in an interview, the photography from that 1999 was not good enough of the book
3:03
so they went back and they had to buy some of these products so they didn't even have them in their archive
3:08
and they went back and recreated this for the photography. Here's the inside, the CRT, different versions
3:16
I remember that one, the flower power eye mac, the eyebook, polycarbon eye book
3:22
and they spent a lot of time working on all the different materials and the finishes and the manufacturing processes for this
3:28
I remember when I was doing my book, one of the designers told me how difficult it was to get the different coloured and textured plastics
3:33
into the mould together and to work. And this was known as the toilet seat
3:38
but it had a built-in carrying handle, which is seen as a big innovation at the time
3:43
The photography really is beautiful. The cube, the iconic cube, this is the product that almost sank Apple
3:49
when it was a big bust in 2000. They had a string of hits
3:54
and this was the first misstep that the company had. It was sort of a form of a function
3:59
but still a very innovative computer, very, very beautiful. And here are the insides of it
4:05
You could take the insides out. This is the speaker that Johnny I have designed for Harmonians, Cardin, Isob, I subwoofer. I have one of those. It sounded great. So this really is a trip
4:14
through memory lane, all of these different products. And here's the iPod. This is really
4:20
the product that changed Apple in 2001 although it didn take off initially It sold very very few units until two or three years into the run when they put a USB interface on it and made it compatible with Windows That when it really took off
4:34
And here is the first picture, and this must be a polishing wheel. This must be a polishing wheel for the back of the iPod
4:39
The sleds, I think, they call them, was made out of stainless steel. Which actually was quite controversial at the time because it scratched
4:44
It scratched pretty easily. So people would complain about that. And of course, they had a sealed battery. This is one in early controversies
4:49
This is a controversy that won't go away. So this must be how they polished it. The G4i mark with the sunflower
4:56
This, I was told, was really difficult to produce. This is the sunflower neck that had to be very, very carefully balanced with the spring inside
5:04
And in fact, it was so tricky an engineering problem, they had to bring an outside design center helped into it. Of course, that's not mentioning here
5:11
The G5, Parmak. This thing was really beautiful. And I actually interviewed Johnny Ive about this machine
5:17
He was very proud that they made the outside casing out of one sheet of aluminum
5:22
They cut out the scoop. They scooped out the top here to make two handles, top and bottom, and then folded it
5:29
And then this door was in engineering tour de force because the way it latched, they had a latch on the back that had sliders inside, top and bottom, which let the door go, but then also grabbed it when he pushed it back in again
5:42
So, yeah, they gave this, you know, the book beautifully documents all the different, all the work they went into it
5:47
But, you know, unfortunately, the book doesn't have any explanation of what you're looking at
5:52
doesn't tell you the different design challenges that they faced, the problems and how they
5:57
overcame them, the compromises they made. I'm running to Johnny I've, when this thing was released
6:03
at the release party. And I asked him if you could say a couple of words. And all I was looking
6:07
for was a quick soundbite for my story. And instead, I got a 20, 25 minute, really impassioned
6:13
tour of the machine and all of the different design elements that aren't obvious, weren't obvious to me
6:21
And I'm obvious to someone just looking at pictures. I mean, it was the explanation
6:25
It was, you know, and he actually kind of got into trouble. The PR people were trying to tell him to pull away and you can see their faces
6:31
They were horrified. But he so into design that and making these beautiful objects that he just couldn help himself He was nerding out He was really geeking out on all the details and all the things they did This is I think really what a book like this needs is that explanation There a huge amount of work
6:48
a huge amount of manufacturing that go into these things. And I'd love to see a book
6:51
that discussed all of that and discussed all of the different decisions. Ah, so this is the only picture
6:55
in the whole book that isn't from the design team and it actually shows the shuttle
7:02
and here in the window is an iPod. And I read it
7:07
that when they saw this picture, they were so delighted by it. It was such a, you know
7:12
I mean, what great, two great pieces of technology, world changing technology
7:17
And the iPod, you know, it's such a strange image. There it is right there in the window
7:22
This is just a catalog. It's a beautiful catalog, but it's just a catalog. I think, you know
7:27
their intention to show, to show you the objects and how they got there
7:31
I don't think it achieves that because you don't know what you're looking at
7:36
Anyway, it's definitely a beautiful, beautiful book. It's definitely an apple, very, very much an apple product, custom
7:43
inks, custom paper, custom linen, very expensive. This is as expensive as some of their gadgets
7:49
It's a beautiful object, but I wish it were more instructive. I wish it told you a little more
7:54
Anyway, a beautiful book. You have $300 to spare. I don't think you could go wrong. You know
7:59
many hours of a fascinating study here. I stand corrected. In the back of the book, there is a separate leaflet
8:13
It's printed on a different paper. It's almost like used print. And it's four or five pages
8:21
And here are all the details of what's in all the photographs. Some of it is pretty geeky about the injection molding and polishing and dyes
8:31
But here's all the detail that I was hoping they would include. It's not exactly, you know, narrative
8:37
you know, and not that revealing. In fact, it kind of like leaves a lot of questions
8:42
But anyway, yeah, I stand corrected. There is actually some detail about what the pictures show
8:48
But why they didn't put this in the book, I don't know
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