Apple Inc.
Less is more
Prof. Craig Jackson
Head of Psychology Division
BCU
craig.jackson@bcu.ac.uk
health.bcu.ac.uk/craigjackson
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It was back in the seventies
Counter-culture meets Business-culture
Inspires passionate argument
Strong feelings both FOR and AGAINST apple principles
Mac design principles
“Magic Cap”
Metaphor
Visual Metaphor
Historical significance of the apple
Greek Mythology
Atalanta – daughter of Hades.
Melanion won her hand in a footrace – used three
golden apples to cheat.
Eris (strife and discord) gave Zeus golden apple to
give to the fairest woman. Apple of Discord.
Nymphs guarding the tree bearing golden apples
given to Hera when she married Zeus
Biblical significance of the apple
Book of Genesis
Forbidden fruit (although the apple is not named)
Renaissance painters took liberties
Knowledge
Immortality
Temptation
The fall of man
Sin itself
Latin ambiguity – Malum
Adam’s Apple
Germanic & Norse Paganism
Idunn provides apples to the gods
Eternal youthfulness
Nehalennia Norse goddess sometimes
pictured with apples
Similar Irish parallels
Skald (Norse poets) Thorbion Brunarson
“Food of the dead”
Emotional Responses to seeing the logo
Positives
Negatives
Jealousy
California
“It’s not Microsoft”
Greed
Envy
Temptation
Mac Users
Symmetry and Almost-Symmetry
Best logos not quite symmetrical
One small deviation from perfect
Psychology behind a great logo
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Know the company
Know your design strengths
Logo should be demonstrative
Lines, shapes and form
Avoid cliché
Simple yet memorable
Use clever visual devices
Use vector software
Get objective opinion
Try it in different formats
Some other brands
Some other brands
Some other brands
Some other brands
Some other brands
First Logo
Designed in 1976 by Ronald Wayne
(third co-founder of Apple)
Depicts Isaac Newton sitting under a tree
Apple dangling above his head
Outside border reads,
“Newton… A Mind Forever Voyaging
Through Strange Seas of Thought
...Alone.”
Wordsworth
Second Logo 1976-1998
Designer Rob Janoff came up with
something more modern
Janoff’s eventual design would go on to
become one of the most iconic and
recognizable corporate logos in history
The “bite” in the logo was to help people
identify it as an apple, and not a tomato or cherry
(bite/byte)
22 years is a record
“The symbol of lust and knowledge, bitten into, all crossed with
the colours of the rainbow in the wrong order. You couldn’t dream
a more appropriate logo: lust, knowledge, hope and anarchy.”
Jean-Louis Gassée, former Apple CEO
Rob Janoff
Created apple logo
Art director at advertising and public relations firm Regis McKenna
Designed it with a bite for scale, so people get that it was an apple not a
cherry
Also it was kind of iconic about taking a bite out of an apple.
Something that everyone can experience.
Accessibility
Gay Rights Movement
Monochrome Logo 1998-present
Jobs returned to Apple in 1997
Tinkering with one of the most recognizable
logos in the world wasn’t done simply because
Steve Jobs is always looking to change things
up.
Experimenting with larger logos to make it more
prominent.
If the shape of the Apple logo was universally
recognizable, why not put it where people could
see it?
Chrome Overhaul
Classic logo becomes metallic
Old logo looke dout of place on monochrome kit
Akin to work by Hajime Sorayama
Airbrushed metallic erotic portrayals of females
Sexy Robot 1983
Fetishism?
Seduction link?
The Turing Myth
Alan Turing
Small evolution
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Contrast this with Quicktime
Constantly changes
Objectification
Objectification
Objectification
Objectification
Objectification
Homage
Minimalism
Work stripped down to
fundamental features
Extreme simplicity
Music, art, design, architecture
Frank Stella
Donald Judd
Eric Watson
Dan Flavin
Minimalism
The logo is used sparingly
“As I type this on my MacBook, an iPad and iPhone on
the desk before me, the only Apple logo visible to my
eyes is the small one in the top left-hand corner of my
computer display.”
It uses the logo effectively
It shouldn’t work – but as a consequence it does
“Less is more” – Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Minimalism
Minimalism
Minimalism
Making it flesh
Spoils the beauty
Distillation of purity
From Hi tech to carbon
From bits to atoms
What slogan?
Logo so effective we forget the slogans
“Byte into an Apple"
used in the late 1970s
“Think Different”
1997–2002
("think" is a verb, which is modified by adverbs; therefore the adverb "differently"
should be used, not the adjective "different”)
"iThink, therefore iMac"
used in 1998
"Say hello to iPhone“
used in 2008
A few words about fonts . . .
Motter Tektura
Designed by Othmar Motter in 1975
Look familiar?
A few words about fonts . . .
This text is standard Garamond
1984 onwards
Myriad and Podium Sans
2002 onwards
Slimbach & Twombly for Adobe
Litigation & Apple
New York City
Litigation & Apple
The Beatles and Apple Corp
It’s not a shop
Clinical
Beyond retail
Religiosity
Cult
Temple
Cubism
Zen
Contemplative
Minimal
Alters
Birmingham
Anne Summers?