Design Loom

You know its easy to say something looks good. Your eyes sit on the image, object or thing (for the lack of a better word), and feel at home. Great paintings, while classical or contemporary, have an appeal that let us identify it as good or great. While there will undoubtedly be disagreements as to what is great and what is not, in general we all have a similar understanding of what something good is. Case in point, beautiful women would not be deemed so, if a pattern had not emerged from identifying traits that make them good looking or not.

Design is a perfected, isolated and refined type of beauty. Yes there many MANY types of styles of design, and the word itself is so broad that making any sort of assumptions about it being perfect will most likely create an uproar among those who take this craft seriously. But at its core, design is there to refine the things that make us feel good inside, the things that make us connect to objects, images sounds and our environments in general. This of course is the selling point for why design is important. And its been a select few who have had the foresight to realize its potential in a capitalist world. Clearly the early years of this new century have proved to be most fruitful to that company named after well… a fruit. Apple computer has in the wake of its reinvention managed to create a wave of change and appreciation for all things beautiful. So much so, and with such finesse that now its not a bad thing to think of yourself as superficial for the sake of acknowledging that design is king when it comes to the powerhouse of innovation. I will also take this time to add my two cents on the fact that I don’t believe that Apple computer has invented soo many of the things that have made it iconic, I do however think that their skill lies in refining the convention to elevate it into the unconventional.

All this commentary, which by now has many supporters and evangelist alike, exists more so that I can extend the metaphor of the importance of design, and more significantly, the effect that the Apple giant has had on not only on its competitors, but the general population, who now seem so consumed by the aura and gravitational pull of its products, that they are willing to give time, money and effort for what historically can be labeled as an appliance or a gadget. Apple has made people care what they own and made them obsess about how owning one of their products propels you to a higher understanding of aesthetics and originality.

The most fascinating thing is that now they have become the drum that sets the pulse, and I never thought I would see it as blatantly displayed in visual form as I did when i took a closer look at the DELL.com homepage.

In the following example we see how the well established and consistent design that Apple has been implementing for a good 4 years now, has been quietly and not subtlety been picked up by DELL. Within it, clear motifs that have been explored by

Apple through out the last couple of years can be clearly be identified in its counterpart. The sweeping main header graphic with clever messaging. and the three dividers of additional information. Utilized by dell to inform its customers of new and headlining messages. While Apple uses this space for upsell, its clearly referenced as a stylistic system for the site design. As you continue down the page you start to see the link module, which in Apple’s site helps as a way finding tool as well as a easy access tool to other apple products by category. In the dell Site the methods id used for links that assist the customer in a similar fashion. While the sample I pulled from Apple is not of the homepage, its actual homepage design is also using this schematic sweeping image with the lower three box up sell informative area.

But this is just the web, lets venture into Apples most recent and beloved product, the iPhone. In the evolution of this now must-have gadget, Apple conceived a not so innovative touch pad screen, into a formidable interaction experience, which also resulted in the establishment of a visual language which was so successful in creating ease of use, that its now closest competitor and first up to bat against the behemoth, has gone and offered the same touch experience with the SAME CONVENTION in navigation. With some visual changes here and there. Clearly responding the power of the the expectation set by the iPhone.

In this previous image we see the navigation first hand. (On a side note, in a little homage to the masters I also chose to set the type in myriad pro, apple’s default company font. geeky i know!) The Samsung Instinct has in the launch of the product, reaffirmed the tight grip and almost unbearable influence of the design koolaid that Apple dishes out. It quickly makes me think if soon we will all be drinking it. Not surprising I catch myself a couple of times a day making references to the way Apple does something on their site, and more often than not, it vexes me that they think about the design so thoroughly. Why cant most people think like they do, and for that matter why are companies not wising up faster to the need to let creative’s dictate a lot of what an experience can be. Im not saying let people run free. But I certainly think the reason Apple has succeeded as much as they have, is because they have let the world know that they speak a visual language unlike any other and not only that they are constantly striving to perfect it, but that they are not scared to try something new.

To end this post in a less kiss-ass manner, and hopefully letting people know I in fact have my own problems with Apple and don’t think they are the end all be all of design, I will say one thing about their aesthertic. While precise and meticulous as it may look, its also very safe. Its clean and accessible and guess what, that delivers on the goals of the company as well as that of the consumer, but they certainly are not pioneering a look that is revolutionary. The biggest design compliment I can give them as far as innovation is concerned, other than the overly emphasized industrial design dept flattery, is their iconography work. No one in the world has managed to make us be able to communicate with as little as 57×57 pixel graphics, as well as they have. The remaining part of their vocabulary is a constant reminder of the Bauhaus and the clear and ever present number one rule in design. WHITE SPACE IS KEY! And neither of these concepts are really new to the world, they however have been the only ones to execute a stylistic philosophy that can at times be stronger than the products themselves.