In Praise of Design, Engineering, Art and Beauty
Since his death last week, there has been a great deal written and said about Steve Jobs; his life, his work and his impact on society. I have collected some of what I think are the best pieces – ones worth taking a few minutes or more to read (or watch).
First is this discussion on Chris Hayes’ new show on MSNBC called, “Up With Chris Hayes”. No, I don’t like the title either but it is one of the smartest political news/commentary shows out there. It is on from 8am to 10am on Saturday and Sunday. Here (video) is some unique and sharp commentary on Jobs from the show.
The best long read I came across comes from Wired magazine (including a nice video montage). Also, this NYT piece written by Mike Daisey, the monologist appearing in the video clip above.
All very good stuff from different perspectives. I would like to add my perspective on what Jobs and Apple have done over the last 30 years.
There has been nearly as much criticism as praise of Jobs and Apple. Much of the criticism is valid. One trope that irritates though goes like this. Jobs did not invent the personal computer, the mouse, or the graphical user interface, the MP3 player, the smartphone or the tablet. Therefore the success of the Mac, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad should be somehow diminished or seen as mere marketing genius. It is true that Jobs and Apple did not invent any of those things but the argument is specious. Jobs and Apple did not invent those things but they re-invented all of them. The genius, as is so often the case, is not in the invention but the re-invention.
There are many great examples of invention versus re-invention in history. Gutenberg did not invent the printing press. He re-invented it by adding the essential ingredient of moveable type. Henry Ford did not invent the automobile or the assembly line but he brought the two together along with then brand-new concepts in management (which he also did not invent) to create the Model T.
So how did Jobs’ re-invent the personal computer, the MP3 player, the smartphone and the tablet? Marketing genius to be sure. But the real genius was in the products themselves.
I could spend several thousand words extolling the design and engineering of OSX, the Mac machines and the iPhone and the iPad. Let me focus on one small example that illuminates the bigger picture.
Building a good laptop is a challenge; an exercise in compromise. Users want their laptop to perform as well (or nearly) as a large desktop machine but they also want them to be small enough, light enough and rugged enough to carry in a smallish bag. Small, light and rugged is the challenge. The traditional design of a laptop (taken from the original design of desktop computers) was to build a rugged metal frame and then cover that frame with thin sheets of plastic or aluminum. This created a fairly rigid and rugged unit but the exterior shell was prone to damage and breakage. Also, the overall unit was not very light at all and fairly bulky. A compromise.
In 2008, Apple decided to throw out this compromise and start over with the unibody MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops (video). These laptops had no internal frame. The body of the unit was built from one precision machined block of aluminum. This created a smaller, lighter and more rugged laptop than had existed before. A small but important triumph of design and engineering.
My favorite part of the story, however, is the screen. The screen is the most vulnerable part of a laptop. Most laptops (even today, 4 years after Apple solved this problem) use an internal frame for structure and rigidity and then cover with plastic or aluminum. Apple applied the unibody concept to the screen as well as the body of the laptop. The problem was they wanted the screen to be very, very thin. When they got it as thin as they wanted it was way too flimsy. When they got it as rigid as they wanted, it was way too thick and heavy.
The designers and engineers (and you can be sure, Steve Jobs) struggled with the problem. Bear in mind, they could have just put a heavy, bulky frame inside the screen and accepted the additional bulk and weight. They didn’t. They kept at it. Finally, someone came up with the idea of putting the actual display behind a thin sheet of glass. The rigidity to weight ratio of glass is higher than almost any substance in the universe. With the aluminum shell behind the display and the glass in front, they had a thin, rugged, rigid screen.
If you have a chance, go ahead and try this. Grab the upper right and left corners of the screen on a unibody MacBook and gently twist. There is a little give but you will be surprised at how rigid the screen really is. Now take a look down from the top edge. It is hard to believe something this thin can be that rigid. Now do the same thing with any other laptop. You will discover that the screen doesn’t feel nearly as rigid. Now take a look down from the top edge. It is likely that screen is 2 or 3 times as thick as the MacBook screen. Thicker, heavier, not as strong. Also cheaper to build.
The unibody laptop is a beautiful piece of design and engineering but I believe it also shows Jobs’ genius and why Apple has succeeded so well: re-invention followed by uncompromising design and delivery. Apple showed consumers that computers and music players and phones and tablets do not have to be the commodities that the rest of the marketplace assumed they were. We pay more for Apple products because they are worth more. Design, engineering and yes, art and beauty play a subtle but important part in what we buy and why we buy it. Jobs knew this and that’s why we should praise him.
