“Harmut Esslinger was already a big name in the field of industrial design in 1982, when his firm, Frog Design, bid on a secret project to help Apple become the company that would transform computers from ‘business machines’ into consumer goods,” Christopher Mims reports for Quartz. “After he submitted the Red Book—a binder full of design inspirations ranging from Walt Disney cartoons to the pioneering Sony Trinitron televisions designed by Frog—Esslinger won the Apple contract, and an intimate, decade-long relationship with Steve Jobs began.”
“Now retired from Frog Design, Esslinger wants to set the record straight about the history of design at Apple. In a new memoir, Keep It Simple: The Early Design Years of Apple, to be released October 9 at the Frankfurt Book Fair, he claims that almost everyone has missed the true lessons of Apple’s early days,” Mims reports. “Throughout the book, Esslinger slams the bad guys—mostly John Sculley, the Apple CEO who pushed Jobs out, but also other project leads and executives at Apple—and describes his own work with the kind of superlatives that Jobs was famous for applying to Apple’s products. Ultimately, Keep It Simple is either a monumental act of egotism or the epitome of the inspired bluntness that Jobs was famous for—most likely it’s both.”
Mims reports, “Quartz got an exclusive advanced look at Esslinger’s book, and what follows are some of the more interesting excerpts: ‘I make no secret of my disgust for all those books written by outsiders who, if they mention design at all, describe it as Steve’s hobby or some kind of whimsical ‘add-on’ to his main product focus. Even Walter Isaacson’s much-touted Jobs biography falls into this disappointing category.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Esslinger, Apple’s first Jony Ive, is right: Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs biography is disappointing. While it’s certainly a worthwhile and recommended read, something’s missing. Ultimately, it lacks verve. Hopefully somebody (maybe Esslinger?) will nail it someday.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Ellis D.” for the heads up.]