Apple just released a book that pays tribute to the last twenty years of the company's history and products. Designed By Apple In California has a lot in common with Apple's gadgets; it took more than eight years to finish it, it is bound in stark white linen, printed on special paper, and it has an exorbitant price tag.
A Typical Apple Product
The book is about the last 20 years of the company's industrial design. Most of those years is under the helm of Steve Jobs, and people can just imagine the late CEO approving of the book. The book has 450 pages and it is made up of photographs shot by Andrew Zuckerman in the signature minimalist style of Apple. The book is filled with photos of iPhones, and Apple Watches, and Macbooks. But it also shows how some of these products are made.
There are photos of the tools used in creating the products and prototypes. It shows the journey of a product from being a concept, to a prototype, and finally to a working product that is ready for the consumers.
Jony Ive says that the book is more than just a documentation of Apple's design process. He says that it is an objective presentation of their work and of who they are.
But what makes the book a typical Apple product more than anything else is the price. The large version sells for $300, while the smaller one can be bought for $200. That's a bit pricey for a coffee-table book of pictures of gadget parts.
But aside from the price, the book has the typical Apple attention to detail. The bound pages are actually edged with silver, giving it an elegant look. The printing too is something else and the images are very clear and seem to jump out of the pages.
The photos by Zuckerman were very clear and has that minimalist style that has always been the mark of Apple since its resurgence. Some of the most eye-catching shots were the ones of the gadgets that were broken down to their components. There were pictures of the older Apple products like the colorful iMacs of the 90s. Towards the latter part of the book, the gadgets become more modern.
The book is going to be a bestseller for sure. With millions of Apple fans all over the world waiting to get their hands on their own copy even as they complain about the price.
