Designed by Apple in California Video Analysis

Earlier in my previous post, I examined the kind of designs that I enjoyed where I talked about consumer design and I mentioned the iPad mini as one of those design that I felt quite encapsulates the trends for the early 21st century. But not only that, I would like to extrapolate this by examining how this relates to Apple's Design thought. To do this, I will refer to the infamous Designed by Apple in California video which explains many of Apple's design theory and how it relates to the iPad mini. But it doesn't just reflect on Apple's design, it is also reflected upon it marketing philosophy.

The video overall has this very simple black and white theme which is immediately reflected with the design of all of Apple's products except for the iPod line and older macs. In fact, Apple's own website is largely gray and white, with hints of black. This is not just a common theme for Apple products, but is is also a common color combination for modernist design in general; a three/two color complimentary combination often allows for a clear, non cluttered layout. The message of the video speaks to design as invoking emotions with consumers. This phenomenon is true with color, shape and construction having the biggest impact on creating joy for consumers with an Apple product. The colors - black and white is a very classy combination and the white version of Apple products are often coveted because they give this immaculate, delicate appearance to it. Knowing that its products are often monochromatic, Apple's marketing and design involves two other important elements that makes Apple very successful. Their ads and info pages often depict people smiling while using their products and at the same time using very colorful themes within the iOS operating system itself, allowing Apple to emphasize the actual user experience, rather than the product design. Apple is also popularizes the simple market method; using concise buzz words like "Retina" and bold claims like "the World's most advanced mobile operating system" to give consumers the low down on their products. This often allows Apple to captivate its consumers quickly and allow them to spread the word more quickly. Apple's video also maintained that "for a thousand no, there is one yes" as a fancy way of saying that there were many drafts and revisions before there was even a prototype. This doesn't make Apple any way unique; like its marketing buzz words, this is another example of Apple's stylistic marketing. Looking into the future of Apple, their iOS 7 operating system emphasizes the bright user experience and simplistic approach into design, reinforcing Apple's design ethos of hardware as being "sleek" and user experience "productive and colorful". However, I will review iOS 7 in the future and give a more in depth look at the creation of Apple Vice Design Chief, Jony Ive.