Wow. I am truly speechless. Apple has once again demonstrated their incredible courage and desire to break what we, mere mortals, conceive as the norm with their latest product yet — Designed by Apple in California. If that naming scheme puzzles you, it’s because Apple’s latest product is a book. An actual book.
Revolutionary.
Designed by Apple in California is a hardbound photo book that “tells the story of design at Apple” chronicling 20 years of the company’s brilliant design and innovation, dedicated to the memory of Steve Jobs. Inside, you’ll find 450 photographs of past and present Apple products ranging from the 1998 iMac to 2015’s Apple Pencil, showcasing the camera work of Andrew Zuckerman in “a deliberately spare style”. I do hope that they include a photo of the brilliant way the Apple Pencil charges too because that’s nothing short of revolutionary.
In fact, I think it would be great if they included a photo of the photo book itself because my goodness is it a gorgeous piece of design. It’s all clean lines, accentuated by a soft off-white colour scheme that will look amazing on any self-respecting hipster’s coffee table.
True to Apple’s all-inclusive policy, the photo book’s clean design is only broken at the spine where its name is embossed into the hardcover. This means you can also find the book you’re looking for with just your fingertips. Though why you would ever let this book leave your side is beyond me.
The company’s use of quality materials is also evident here. Designed by Apple in California is “printed on specially milled, custom-dyed paper with gilded matte silver edges, using eight colour separations and low-ghost ink”. You can really tell that Apple only produces products that are truly ready for the masses because this book was developed by Cupertino over an eight-year period.
Just to give you a taste of what you can expect with this stunning photo book, here’s the foreword:
“While this is a design book, it is not about the design team, the creative process or product development. It is an objective representation of our work that, ironically, describes who we are. It describes how we work, our values, our preoccupations and our goals. We have always hoped to be defined by what we do rather than by what we say.
We strive, with varying degrees of success, to define objects that appear effortless. Objects that appear so simple, coherent and inevitable that there could be no rational alternative.”
— Jony Ive
Needless to say, the hype is real. For those who are interested, Designed by Apple in California is available in two sizes: A large one and a small one. The large one is priced at USD299 (around RM1304) while the small one will cost USD199 (around RM870). If you think about it, that works out to less than USD1 per photo!
Unfortunately, this is where I have to deliver some bad news. The Designed by Apple in California photo book will only be available for purchase on Apple.com in Australia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, the UK, the US and select Apple Stores. So, if you’re in Malaysia, you’re out of luck.
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