Vous voulez voir cette page en français ? Cliquez ici.

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Appledesign: The Work of the Apple Industrial Design Group
 
See larger image 
Share your own customer images
Publisher: learn how customers can search inside this book.

Appledesign: The Work of the Apple Industrial Design Group [Paperback]

Paul Kunkel (Author), Rick English (Photographer)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.


Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed

Product Details

Product Description

From Amazon

This oversized, coffee-table volume is devoted to the industrial design of every product made at Apple Computer over the course of 20 years. Lavishly illustrated with over 400 large color photographs by photographer Rick English, the book transforms the plastic cases, LCD displays, and disk drives from old Apple IIcs, Lisas, Macs, PowerBooks, and Newtons (and a few technologies that never made it to the street) into objects of fine art. The book's attention to detail, even in the small peripherals, such as the stylus of the Newton--the ubiquitous round stick-on microphone that ships with the Mac--contributes to the technological identity of the Apple brand.

Remember that 20 years ago, when you walked into a campus computing center or office building, you could distinguish an Apple system from an IBM system from across a room. The early IBM PCs were box-shaped--as close to pure squares and rectangles as possible--and buttoned down with garters on the socks like the Big Blue executives who sold them to the world as business machines. In contrast, the physical design of the Apple machines has always represented the company's "alternative" (and borderline arrogant) mindset, appealing to the more artistic user and fueling the left-versus-right-brain debates. In addition to the packaging of the machine, the Mac's graphical user interface and Motorola CPUs provided the artistic cover by which this innovative book could safely be judged.

Today other computer companies casually imitate the technofuturistic curvedness of the once-almost-shocking Apple design. Much like how the set of the movie Blade Runner has influenced many films that followed it, the industrial design of Apple machines continues to shape other companies' computer designs. AppleDesign is interesting both as an historical document and an artistic appreciation of these designs.

Book Description

On Apple's 20th anniversary, the firm's groundbreaking and colorful design history is laid out more fully than ever before. With the author awarded complete access by Apple to its archives and executives, this is the most detailed study of the company and its products ever published. The book covers all the goods made and sold by Apple, and also discusses concepts for products that never made it to production. 400 color and b&w illustrations.

Tag this product

 (What's this?)
Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.
Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags
 

Customer Reviews

22 Reviews
5 star:
 (10)
4 star:
 (9)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (22 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most helpful customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Information, May 24 2002
This review is from: Appledesign: The Work of the Apple Industrial Design Group (Paperback)
Although this book reads a bit "dry", it is the best source for the information contained therein.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


5.0 out of 5 stars Worth the money, period., Oct 13 2001
This review is from: Appledesign: The Work of the Apple Industrial Design Group (Paperback)
I'm an avide fan of Apple Computer and it's history. If you love Sony and other excellent industrial design, then you'll love this book. I've only read small portions, but the pictures and history are well worth the price alone . . . especially at this new lower price.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


3.0 out of 5 stars So-so, Aug 15 2000
By 
Mr. A. Pomeroy (Wiltshire, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Appledesign: The Work of the Apple Industrial Design Group (Paperback)
A book of two halves, the core of 'appledesign' is a set of photographic plates of Apple's products, preproduction models, and design ideas, around which is wrapped a lengthy history of Apple's design work. Although this sounds very simply, the end result seems confused. For a start, the photographs concentrate heavily on design concepts to the exclusion of all else. The Apple 2, Lisa and Macintosh are covered with just three photographs, whilst concepts for what was to become the Newton are spread leisurely over half a dozen pages. And whilst they're an enlightening glimpse of what might have been, most of the design concepts are less interesting than the final product.

And then there's the text. It's a very dry, corporate history of Apple's design, full of projects and companies with DoubleWords and e. e. cummings-esque lower-case text. With little interest in the real world, it chronologically details the Apple design process in a hermetically-sealed fashion, as a result of which the launch of the Apple Laserwriter 2 seems to be more important that Apple's diminishing market share. Meanwhile, a shifting cast of design heroes are built up and knocked down. Some of the personal details are fascinating, though - early-80's guru Hartmut Esslinger comes across particularly badly, especially his comment that the doomed Jerry Manock, designer of the original Macintosh, 'used to be someone important at Apple'. Oddly, whilst Steve Jobs (visionary, yes, but not a designer) is constantly present, the other Steve is written out of the Apple story by page 14 (and he isn't mentioned in the 'cast of characters' at the end).

All in all it's a frustrating experience. As a history of Apple's design its focus is too narrow, it's not really interested in the technology, or even the people, and it's hard to encapsulate design in words (especially when those words are usually 'X conformed to espresso, save for detailing around the front bezel'). As a book of photographs, there aren't enough of them. And for the price of the book you could buy a second-hand Mac Classic, and study that instead.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
› Go to Amazon.com to see all 30 reviews  4.3 out of 5 stars 
 
 		 Most recent customer reviews











Only search this product's reviews


Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Look for similar items by subject





















i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Feedback

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?