APPLE: BAUHAUS — AUSITN FENN

APPLE: A CONTEMPORARY BAUHAUS AND THE WORLD’S BIGGEST TECH COMPANY

SUMMER 2021

Both the Bauhaus and the twenty-first century’s biggest company, Apple, have left a legacy in the material world that we can still see and experience in today’s contemporary reality. The Bauhaus seamlessly integrated art with everyday life, architecture, design, performing arts, and applied arts. In a similar sense, Apple flawlessly fused aesthetics with technology. As the Bauhaus reimagined the material world to reflect the unity of all the arts into a single creative expression, Apple imagined, anticipated, and created a new material world that reflected a contemporary reality. By using a craft-based curriculum, the Bauhaus gave birth to revolutionary artisans and designers capable of creating functional objects that were equally as useful as they were beautiful. Similarly, Apple operates under additive design principles that result in a coherent design philosophy based on a love for simplicity, giving Apple its world-renowned signature touch. Apple’s “think different” design philosophy allows the company to constantly innovate existing hardware and software, and to create new original products that are just are simple and easy to use as they are cutting edge.

As of June 30, 2021 Apple stands as the world’s biggest company by market cap (2,275 trillion dollars), and one of the most popularly traded public companies (average three month volume 88.88 million).

Marcel Breuer “Wassily” Armchair (1925) — Marcel Breuer *“Wassily” Armchair* (1925)

Interior of Apple Park by Andreas Gursky (2020)

Paul Klee Ghost Chamber with the Tall Door (New Version) (1925) — Paul Klee *Ghost Chamber with the Tall Door (New Version)* (1925)

Wilhelm Wagenfeld Kubus Stacking Storage Containers (1938) — Wilhelm Wagenfeld *Kubus Stacking Storage Containers* (1938)

Herbert Bayer Design for a cinema (1924-25) — Herbert Bayer *Design for a cinema* (1924-25)

APPLE’S FOUNDING FATHERS

“*I want to put a ding in the universe.”*

Steve Jobs

Steve Paul Jobs was born on February 24, 1955, in San Francisco California where he was put up for adoption. He began studying at Reed College in 1972 but quickly dropped out to travel throughout India in pursuit of Buddhist enlightenment. In 1976 he founded Apple along with two other partners. He lived to be a businessman, industrial designer, investor, media proprietor, and one of the most consequential figures in design history. On October 5, 2011, Jobs died at age 56 due to respiratory arrest.

*“In the end, I hope there's a note somewhere that says I designed a good computer.”*

Steve Wozniak

Stephen Gary Wozniak was born on August 11, 1950, in San Jose California. He began studying at the University of Colorado Boulder but was expelled in his first year for hacking the school’s computer system. In 1971 Wozniak met Steve Jobs and by 1975 he had begun developing Apple I, the first computer that launched with Apple. Between 1979 and 1981, Wozniak played a leading role in the development and design of Apple’s first products, software, and concepts. In 1985 Wozniak left apple to begin pursuing other businesses and philanthropic ventures related to technology in lower education schooling. At age 70, he now resides in Los Gatos, California with his current spouse Janet Hill.

*“Standing in the shadow of intellectual giants.”*

Ronald Wayne

Ronald Gerald Wayne was born on May 17, 1934, in Cleveland, Ohio. At age 22 he moved to California. In 1976 Wayne met Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak at Atari, where all three were working at the time. On April 1, 1976, the three founded Apple Computer with Jobs and Wozniak each taking a 45% stake in the company, and Wayne a 10% stake with the purpose of making tie-breaking decisions. Twelve days later, he asked for a buyout and sold his 10% stake in the company back to his other two partners for only $800. Wayne now lives retired at the age of 87 in Pahrump, Nevada where he sells rare stamps and coins during the week and plays penny slots at casinos on the weekends.

NEWTON’S APPLE: THE EVOLUTION OF APPLE’S LOGO

1976
Late 1976
1998
2001
2007
2017

“It was very simple really. I just bought a bunch of apples, put them in a bowl, and drew them for a week or so to simplify the shape.”

Ronald Wayne, a co-founder of Apple, created the company’s first logo to represent the law of gravity inspired by an apple. Surrounding the image of Newton under the tree was a quote written by Williams Wordsworth that read, “Newton… a mind forever voyaging through strange seas of thought.” However, the original logo didn’t last for long, as Steve Jobs had a couple of problems with Wayne’s logo. It was too old-fashioned, and it didn’t have the capability to be resized either very large for ads or very small on Apple products. Jobs then hired graphic designer Rob Janoff and told him to fuse the brand’s name with a new design for their logo. By the end of the company’s first year, the now world-renowned logo of the bitten apple had replaced the old Newton logo.

The classic apple bite logo was completed within two weeks after Jobs contacted Janoff. It was first overlaid with a rainbow spectrum as a reference to Apple’s computer Apple II, the world’s first computer with a color display. Other than the green on top, which was there because that’s where the leaf on an apple was, the order of the rainbow spectrum was arbitrary. The bite out of the apple stood to make sure people could clearly discern the logo as an apple and not a cherry tomato, while also subtly referencing the technology term byte.

In 1998, Jobs replaced the colorful Apple logo with a monochromatic black apple logo, and a few years later in 2001, the company started using a more modern stylized Apple logo. The new 2001 embossed logo was debuted alongside their first-ever iMac and was applied onto Apple products and implemented into Apple software. In 2007 the logo was refined even further and by 2017 the company was back to the simple flat Apple logo, this time in a neutral gray.

❤️ IN LOVE WITH SIMPLICITY: THE DESIGN PRINCIPLES OF STEVE JOBS

Apple_16-inch-MacBook-Pro_Advanced-Thermal-Design_111319_inline.gif.large.gif — Craft

Under the leadership of Steve Jobs, Apple became famous for its pristine level of craft in both its hardware and software. Even though few people would see the insides of the computer, Jobs still spent just as much time on the architecture of the circuit boards of the first Macintosh as he did on the physical design of the exterior of the computer. This sort of design principle was taught to Jobs by his father who stressed the importance of crafting the backs of cabinets and fences properly even though they were hidden from sight.
“When you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood in the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.” - Steve Jobs

The Apple Marketing Philosophy

Mike Markkula, one of the first investors and employees at Apple, anticipated user need-based design principles that were decades away from being implemented into technology companies. He wrote, “The Apple Marketing Philosophy” which was a one-page paper that emphasized three design principles: empathy, focus, and impute. An emphasis on empathy in design establishes an intimate connection with the feelings of the customer, where Apple focuses to truly understand the customer’s needs better than any other company. Focus says that “in order to do a good job of those things that we decide to do, we must eliminate all of the unimportant opportunities.” And impute emphasizes that customers, employees, investors, basically everyone, form an opinion about a company based on the signals that their products convey. In other words, “people DO judge a book by its cover,” Markkula says. Even though a company could have the best products in the finest quality, and loaded with the most useful software, “if we present them in a slipshod manner, they will be perceived as slipshod; if we present them in a creative, professional manner, we will impute the desired qualities.” Markkula was worried about consumer empathy before Apple even had any customers. This sort of thinking was revolutionary because at the time consumer empathy was unheard of. The attitude at leading technology companies of the time like Sony and Panasonic was that the devices shouldn’t be designed for the customer, if the customer didn’t understand them then it was their own fault, not the company’s. These design principles allowed Apple to be so successful because they allow Apple to anticipate the needs and behaviors of consumers before the consumers know them themselves.

Friendliness

Jobs recognized that technology devices could be equally as friendly as they were advanced and cutting edge. An emphasis on friendliness allows Apple products to be appealing to even those who are overwhelmed by traditional technology products or who have no experience using computers. Job learned this design principle from household appliances at Macy’s in Palo Alto. He went to the popular department store to study their appliances, and when he came back to the office the following Monday he asked the design team to buy a Cuisinart appliance. Jobs and the team then made design changes inspired by the lines, curves, and bevels of Cuisinart appliances.

apple_macos-bigsur_redesignedapps_06222020.jpg.landing-big_2x.jpg — Finding simplicity for the future in metaphors from the past

Jobs believed that a product should be both simply designed and easy to use, however, those objectives don’t always coincide with each other. A product design could be so simple to a designer, but to the customer, the high level of simplicity could be intimating or unfriendly. Jobs said, “the main thing in our design is that we have to make things intuitively obvious.” He used a desktop metaphor as an example. “People know how to deal with a desktop intuitively. If you walk into an office, there are papers on the desk. The one on top is the most important. People know how to switch priority. Part of the reason we model our computers on metaphors like the desktop is that we can leverage this experience that we already have.” Jobs understood that for a product to be both simple and easy to use, it had to be based on things that people already understood.

apple warhol.png — Codependence of aesthetics and technology
Apple products break the traditional barriers between aesthetics and technology, placing the two realms on the same level where the two exist and complement one another. The signature aesthetics of Apple products and Apple branding give the company massive public appeal, and the advanced cutting edge features in the technology underlying the beautifully designed products are backed with intuitiveness and ease of use that speaks for themselves.

Andy Warhol *Apple (From Ads set A)* 1985

SETTING NEW STANDARDS: APPLE’S FIRST MACINTOSH

With the arrival of Apple’s Macintosh in 1984, the first low-cost computer ever to be released to consumers, both the company’s value and public appeal exploded as Apple expanded from a small elite sector in technology to a large portion of American households. Apple’s Macintosh computer, a revolutionary product with an equally revolutionary design, set a new standard for technology, aesthetics, and the relationship between the two disparate realms.

Macintosh 128k Specifications:

Release date: January 24, 1984
Price: $2,496 (today around $6,500)
CPU: Motorola 68000 (6 MHz effectively)
Memory: 128 KB
Display: 9 in
Weight: 16.5 Lbs

A SMARTPHONE REVOLUTION: THE iPHONE

Apple’s iPhone project originally began in 2004 under the name “Project Purple” where Apple’s design team worked on creating a tablet. Steve Jobs steered the company away towards a mobile phone, and on January 9, 2007, he unveiled the revolutionary product to the world. Later that year on June 29, 2007, two models of the original iPhone went on sale, one with 4GB of storage priced at $499 and another with 8GB of storage priced at $599. Since then, the iPhone has become one of the two largest smartphone platforms in the world with Apple selling over 2.2 billion iPhones (as of November 2018). Though it wasn’t the first device on the market with a touch screen, it was the first that made using touch screen technologies intuitive and easy for users. Scrolling, swiping, and sliding to unlock all were introduced by the iPhone and are gestures modeled after real-life actions. Below are all of Apple’s iPhones from the first generation released in 2007 to the latest 2020 iPhone 12 lineup.

iPhone 12 Pro Max & iPhone 12 Pro (2020)

Apple’s Ecosystem

Part of the reason why Apple products are so popular among consumers is that all the design principles complement one another and culminate to form a single design philosophy, which can then be applied to any product Apple makes. Furthermore, the individual products themselves also function additively as part of the Apple ecosystem. Sometimes products even have added benefits or features when used along with other Apple products in the ecosystem. Despite differences in software operating systems, almost all Apple products are still able to be seamlessly integrated and optimized to work with each other. Take text messages for example, under traditional tech company attitudes text messages would only be received through your phone, but with Apple, text messages can be received from your iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, or MacBook.

CURRENT STATE OF THE APPLE ECOSYSTEM

(AS OF SUMMER 2021)

BEYOND STEVE JOBS: IMPORTANT PEOPLE AT APPLE

All aspects of Apple’s business are factored in with each other within individual divisions of the company. For example, the design process is not a standalone division, it also factors in how the design will relate to ease of use. In essence, the business-facing, consumer-facing, and internal divisions of the company are all seamlessly integrated with each other. The people below are important people who work or have worked at Apple in leading these divisions and creating Apple’s signature touch.

Tim Cook

Tim Cook is the CEO of Apple and a member of Apple’s board of directors. Cook was named CEO in 2011 after previously serving as Apple’s chief operating officer where he was responsible for all of the company’s worldwide sales and operations.
Jonathan Ive

Jonathan Paul Ive worked at Apple for almost three decades as Senior Vice President of Industrial Design and was responsible for designing the iPhone, iMac, Apple Watch, and other popular Apple products in addition to helping design architectural projects at Apple like Apple Park and Apple stores. His genius is the reason for Apple products’ signature craft and design.
Craig Federighi

Craig Fedherighi works in Apple’s leadership team as Senior Vice President of Software Engineering where he oversees and manages the development of both iOS and macOS. His teams are responsible for the user interfaces, applications, and frameworks at the core of Apple’s continuously innovative products. Major software rollouts are released yearly, usually in the fall with the release of a new iPhone, which means his teams have to meet tight deadlines when developing new features and innovating existing versions of operating systems.
Phil Schiller

Phil Schiller has been working at Apple since 1997 where his responsibility has been to shape the public’s perception of Apple products. Previously he worked as Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, and is now an Apple Fellow where he leads App Store and Apple Events and helps guide Apple’s product marketing.
Angela Ahrendts

Angela Ahrendts worked at Apple as Senior Vice President of Retail where she played a crucial role in shaping the company’s image by overseeing how Apple ran its retail stores. She was responsible with everything from the Genius Bar to the colors of the shirts of employees to the way products are laid out and presented throughout the store.
Dan Riccio

Dan Riccio worked at Apple as Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering where he was responsible for being a leader in designing, developing, and perfectly engineering almost all of Apple’s products, and for scaling Apple’s ability to innovate across multiple new product lines yearly with pristine quality. Today, he works on a new secret project and reports to Tim Cook.
Steve Dowling

Steve Dowling worked at Apple for sixteen years as Vice President of Communications where he was responsible for Apple’s worldwide media relations and communications strategy, leading the public relations team through Tim Cook’s first years as CEO after the death of Steve Jobs, yearly new product rollouts, and most recently, an encryption dispute with the FBI.
Isabel Ge Mahe

Isabel Ge Mahe joined Apple in 2008 as Vice President of Wireless Technologies where she was responsible for overseeing the development of cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, location, and motion technologies for every Apple product. It is thanks to her that the wireless technology in Apple products function as flawlessly as they do. Today she serves the position of Apple’s Vice President and Managing Director of Greater China.