“ The locus of the infantilist aesthetic seemed to be Steve Jobs himself, if his pronouncements at keynote presentations were an accurate representation. The default book in iBooks? Winnie the Pooh. The trailers he used to demonstrate the video capabilities of the device? Pixar movies. The music choices? Resolutely mainstream, conservative and sentimental. At his recent memorial service on the Apple campus, Coldplay and Norah Jones played. Can you imagine these artists playing at a Dieter Rams memorial?
My question is: why does this approach not extend to the devices themselves? Why not make a wooden case for the iMac, like those hideous Sony TVs from my childhood? Or why not a case that makes the computer look like a typewriter?
And why, when we have these beautiful, clean, efficient devices, do we put up with this horrific, dishonest and childish crap?
My question is: why does this approach not extend to the devices themselves? Why not make a wooden case for the iMac, like those hideous Sony TVs from my childhood? Or why not a case that makes the computer look like a typewriter?
And why, when we have these beautiful, clean, efficient devices, do we put up with this horrific, dishonest and childish crap?
—
From “Apple’s aesthetic dichotomy,” James Higgs/Made by Many.
There is a certain garish sentimentality to the design of these applications. James Higgs apparently feels the same glaring dissonance I feel when i look at this stuff: the iPad or iPhone is so damn elegant it makes you wince when you see the clumsy digital image of a puffy leatherbound book when you turn it on.
My guess, personally, is that the issue comes down to the fact that Jony Ive doesn’t design GUIs. Or the people in charge of the whole package think he’s designing a piece of hardware with a different character than what he thinks he’s designing. Sad.
