When I think Steve Jobs design, the first thing that pops into my mind is mastering the craft of detail. Jobs level of detail has always been above par, sometimes probably exceeding his own expectations. Whenever he built the inside of a computer he wanted to make an impression to the people who happened to look inside. This, as we know by Apple’s beautiful products, was also implied on the outside as well. However other companies couldn’t care less about the inside (sometimes it appears they don’t care about the outside either). But not Steve. This is something he learned from his father as detailed in his biography. ” It was important to craft the backs of cabinets and fences properly, even though they were hidden…” (Issacson’s Steve Jobs). Later to show he followed his fathers lesson, Steve, in a interview just after the Macintosh came out, said “When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful set of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through” (Issacson’s Steve Jobs). Steve Jobs, as we see now, has clearly kept this design ideal by giving us beautiful, intuitive products that we all enjoy, inside and out.
Thanks for reading,
Joe