Surprise. Surprise. Arguably one of the world’s most iconic brand name, Apple, has released a book. Yes. A book. If you think this book will be filled with texts aimed at selling the brand name further, then you couldn’t be more wrong. In fact, it has none, save for the introduction by Jony Ive and a couple of text that denotes the book’s title and also a statement, dedicating this book to the late Steve Jobs. Apple wants the pictures to do the talking and it has all 450 of them, shot by photographer Andrew Zuckerman in the most minimalistic way possible.
Speaking of minimalistic, the book is in itself aligned with Apple’s minimalistic approach in product designs. Even the book exterior couldn’t be more minimal, sporting a matte white exterior void of graphics; all you can find are the book title Designed by Apple in California on the spine and iconic Apple logo on the front cover, both debossed and void of colors for added minimalism. The book chronicles Apple’s designs (read: products), in pictures, turned up by the company over the past twenty years, from 1998 up till to 2015.
Apple is widely recognized as the forerunner in merging design with style and this book is no exception. No effort was spared in creating this linen-bound hardcover, word-less literature with the contents “printed on specially milled, custom-dyed paper with gilded matter silver edges, using eight color separations and low-ghost ink.” Apple, oh, Apple. They just can’t stop boasting about the process, can they? Even when it is a thing as simple as a book.
And just in case you don’t know how much effort was put into this unbelievably austere simplistic “history book,” Apple wants make it clear that is no elementary school project; it was developed over an eight-year period, which we would imagine much of the time was spent debating on what type of paper to use. The book is published by, well, Apple. Of course, it is. Who else would it be?
The book is definitely not an object of love for bookworms since it appears to be lacking of any actual narrative or text; it is just the book and the products in picture, which means, this 300-page “literature” is likely reserved for hard core Apple fans or design fanatics who share the same design philosophy as the Cupertino tech giant.
Interestingly, Designed by Apple in California (ISBN: 978-0-9975138-0-6 and 978-0-9975138-1-3), like most Apple products, comes in different sizes and in this case, it has two sizes: small, which measures 10.20” x 12.75”, and large which comes in at an enormous 13” x 16.25” with the former costing $199 while the latter commanding a cool $299.
The pricing is definitely prohibitive, like most Apple products are, but if you are curious about what this Design by Apple in California hardbound book has to offer before taking the plunge, just take a look at YouTuber DetroitBORG’s full walkthrough of the books below.
Images courtesy of Apple Inc.
H/T: 9to5Mac.
