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November 29, 2003
Lick Me, I'm A Macintosh
I was thinking about packaging today. A friend got a new computer (a Dell) and the packing was just your typical cardboard box with foam and I was thinking back to when my wife unpacked her iMac and how even the packaging was elegant. Then I recalled an email that someone had sent me. A the time I was flat out and the post dropped off the "current" list and I had forgotten about it. Well I decided to spring clean my email box (yes I know it is almost summer) and found it again. The post was from the ever observant Kingsley and it pointed to this wonderful post from SFGate.com. The full title of the article is: "Lick Me, I'm A Macintosh: What the hell is wrong with Apple that they still give a damn about design and packaging and "feel"?"
Here is an extract to whet your appetite:
And there it is. The welcome screen. An exquisite downtempo chill soundtrack and the world "Welcome" swimming over the monitor in a number of different languages and you think, what the hell is this? Where's the pain? Where's the hassle and the misaligned factory molding and the broken keyboard and the 3,000 setup steps and the sense that I'm drowning in a sea of programmer jargon and plastic waste and ubergeek hell?
This is what Apple does. This is what they are known for and why their design team is so famous and why they win so many awards and why they engender such passionate devotion from their adherents and why Macs are still far, far superior to PCs and always will be. It's true.
Apple actually cares about this sort of thing. Which is odd. Which is rare. Which is why they deserve gushing adulation now and then. They actually put the time and energy and labor into creating a gorgeous package most people will toss anyway, and why they include a first-time welcome experience, with subtle music, with flowing lush clean graphics, one that will never be repeated, just because.
Posted by Ozguru at November 29, 2003 10:11 PM
