Apple’s latest is a book, but not just any old book: “Designed by Apple in California” chronicles 20 years of Apple design, the material and the techniques used, from the seminal 1998 iMac up to last year’s Apple Pencil.
Shot by photographer Andrew Zuckerman in a deliberately sparse style, the book contains 450 images that illustrate Apple’s design process as well as its finished products.
“The idea of genuinely trying to make something great for humanity was Steve’s motivation from the beginning, and it remains both our ideal and our goal as Apple looks to the future,” said Jony Ive, Apple’s chief design officer in a statement. “This archive is intended to be a gentle gathering of many of the products the team has designed over the years. We hope it brings some understanding to how and why they exist, while serving as a resource for students of all design disciplines.”
Two versions went on sale at apple.com sites in selected countries and a limited number of Apple stores yesterday. Neither, you won’t be overly surprised to learn, are cheap, partly because they’re being printed on specially milled, custom-dyed paper with gilded matte silver edges, using eight colour separations and low-ghost ink. A small format (10.20” x 12.75”) version starts at $199, while its larger format cousin (13” x 16.25”) starts at $299.
Rumours that it will be better to wait until Designed by Apple in California 2 sorts out the bugs are, of course, unfounded.