

In the world of Microsoft and IBM logos were very corporate, very blue. "If you go back to when Apple’s famous logo was created, it was a symbol of rebellion. Inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s vision of simple modern homes for the American “everyman,” the two-Steves took note and endeavoured to apply a similar mindset to their product design. Jobs came up with the name after he visited an apple orchard commune, as it sounded “fun, spirited and not intimidating.” It was the only computer that could be used at home, and when the Apple II came out, it was the only computer with colour graphics.Įven the design was different. Inspired by the counterculture aspects of their hippie lifestyles, the pair wanted to find a way to exercise the technical capabilities of emerging East coast tech as a device for escapism and self-sufficiency.Įverything about Apple was different.
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Laurence Green, executive partner, MullenLowe Group UK Rebel at heartĪpple’s co-founders Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs met in the techno-utopianism of Silicon Valley – not the typical playing ground for free spirit bohemians. "The broader lesson for us all in communication design? Sometimes it’s better to work backwards from our desired outcome rather than forwards from our brief." Note that it’s a response he’s aiming for rather than a message that he wanted to send on his client’s behalf. "That was Janoff’s stated ambition back in 1977.

"Thirdly, it created the impression that - unlike its competitors - an Apple computer (or phone, or watch, or store) is ‘easy and fun to be around’. (Logos communicate, of course, but not the way that advertising does: see below). "Secondly, because it’s aesthetically pleasing and memorable in its own right, a quality that’s forgotten too often as we try to shove too much ‘brand meaning’ into design. "Firstly, because it scorched the first, disastrous Apple logo without any misplaced deference to continuity. And Rob Janoff’s Apple logo is a VERY good logo. What is it about the iconic logo that still manages to draw people in, 43 years since it was first etched in Janoff’s sketchbook? And the bite was necessary to ensure the fruit was easily identifiable.”Īlthough the bite mark was a purely functional modification, it’s the culture behind its creation that gives it its edge. "It wasn’t Adam and Eve, a lot of people thought that it was but my inspiration was the name Apple," Janoff explains to The Drum. However, the real reason for the bitemark was actually far more practical. It’s by virtue of its simplicity that the logo can be read in so many ways, and it’s these whispers of intrigue that have helped it become so symbolic. Does the bite mark symbolise original sin, by alluding to Adam and Eve’s downfall? Was it designed with a nod to the godfather of modern computing, Alan Turing, who was found dead with a suspiciously half-eaten apple beside his bed? Since its inception, for a logo that is arguably quite self-evident, Apple heads have been eager to layer it with deeper meaning.
