A Retrospective Look at Apple’s Most Inspirational Designs

Design Inspiration

Stowe Gregory

August 6, 2024

‍Enter any coffee shop on a regular afternoon and you’ll see a MacBook before a proud owner with an Apple logo facing you. Its designs are made to be seen. Their functions are part of our everyday lives.

Was it always this way though? And what approach got Apple to the point where almost every product release is one that you’d happily display in your home or carry as an accessory?

Answers can be found in Apple’s retrospective book titled ‘Designed by Apple in California’. Released back in 2016, it’s simple and highly functional from front to back. No time is wasted. No clutter is found.

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Designed by Apple in California

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Inside an elegant custom linen hardcover (design assisted by Pentagram), 450 photographs are printed upon Apple’s bespoke ‘Heaven 42’ paper. With every page turn you see how Apple has never tried to fit in and as a result, how it’s changed the world of tech design we see before us every day. For designers, the book still provides a lightning bolt of inspiration for the ‘less is more approach’.

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Separating Themselves From the Rest.

Apple’s early years were innovative in many ways, but not in aesthetics. When it launched the Apple I in 1976, it followed the soulless, gray boxes trend.

In 1996, Apple brought back Steve Jobs (a man they’d once let go for being too obsessed with design) and took an approach to separate itself from the rest. They tore up the rule book. It was a decision that would have a profound effect on consumer appeal and act as a road map for the brand for the next 30 years.

Few better designs highlight the way Apple breaks the mold than the iMac 1999, a desktop computer vibrant in color, translucent and curved.

In ‘Designed by Apple in California’, it’s the first design on show. It brings a wave of nostalgia, proof that it left a mark lasting decades. It takes me right back to my school art classes, where it would sit on my teacher’s desk; it looked like the future.

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The level of colored transparency was achieved by mixing light-diffusing particles as part of the polymer composition, rather than by applying texture to the tool. - iMac 1999

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Apple continued to ignore 90s trends when it came to laptops. Compare the iBook 1999 to competitors of the time, like IBM or Compaq. The difference in color and personality is night and day. It was bold and a huge step in showing the market that they were different.

There’s no denying that these aesthetics have come and gone, but here’s to hoping it makes a return. Unashamedly fun.

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Bright blue and bright orange were on display, as Apple used a translucent durable polyurethane that was molded over the textured polycarbonate housing. - iBook 1999

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A computer mouse will also inherently limit what a designer can do; boundaries are set by the need to prioritize hand ergonomics. In an era of bland and frankly ugly mice, Apple again thought outside the box with a translucent outer casing. The design Apple used for its Magic Mouse in 2024 is not too dissimilar to the Apple Pro Mouse from 2000.

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Apple used a singular bubble of polycarbonate to support the hand and act as the button. But it’s almost entirely one piece, much like today. And in both cases, they look great. - Pro Mouse 2000

Less is More.

Apple’s entire brand philosophy today is based on the idea that less is more. From the Apple logo to their retail stores, their simplicity emphasizes a premium product.

As I turn through the book, it’s striking how the early 2000s marked a sharp change for Apple. Suddenly, bold colors took the back seat; other companies could replicate that but no one could come close to the simplicity Apple would embrace next.

Few other tech releases in our lifetimes have felt as revolutionary as the original iPod. It’s here that Apple defines its priority for functionality and simplicity.

‍The iPod design featured minimal text and just a few buttons, as the iconic scroll wheel reduced it all to a single central circle. Early observers thought the scroll wheel was a speaker - it was that unusual. Why stick to the rule book? Other MP3 players would quickly arrive, but none could compete with the design that Jobs had kept urging to be refined.

It also just looks so smooth. The edges are rounded and the weight distribution is perfect. It takes me right back to it slipping easily into a jacket pocket (how we take that for granted now).

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The rear housing is made from a single sheet of formed and polished 304 stainless steel. Apple also achieved visual depth for the display, by molding a double shot of white PC ABS under clear polycarbonate. - iPod 2001

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So, how do you make a laptop stand out and look premium, when your colorful plastic novelty has worn off?

Apple’s answer was to say “If you pay premium, you’ll get premium.” With this simple switch to titanium, they stood apart from a market saturated by cheap plastics. With a large 15.2 inch LCD screen, the Power Book marked a sudden turning point for Apple to what we see today. That metallic outer casing that we’re now so used to all started here.

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The book describes it as a lightweight enclosure, with an impressive strength-to-weight ratio. - Power Book 2001

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Steve Jobs used to deploy a ‘one thing more’ practice at Apple and the 2003 iSight Camera is a great example, as it was an aesthetic success all by itself. It’s a fine example of Apple pushing the limits even in areas that are usually after-thoughts. With perforations made in the aluminum-enclosed tube, it was a chance for the designers to rethink a traditionally ugly computer accessory.

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2003 iSight Camera

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Apple kept moving through the 2000s, deciding to make the brand ‘fun’ again around 2006, with the release of the iPod Mini. Giving it character with a candy-colored finish, it was cute and had smooth edges with no connection between each side. It even came with a belt clip! Apple would push the fun approach even harder with the iPod Nano in 2006 and the iPod Shuffle 2006.

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iPod Mini 2006

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Get Smart.

The iPhone changed the world, for better or worse. Your ease of using maps on the move, your addiction late at night and your ability to take endless photos almost certainly started here. With how much time we spend on these things, the design here has had a profound impact on our lives.

Take inspiration from how they added more to our tech world, but with significantly minimal design. From the UI on the screen to the single button, the iPhone 1 made complex mobile phone ideas easy. It seems like everything from 2007 has merely been an innovation, not a revelation.

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The aluminum rear housing involved a six-stage process, including the initial forming stage, a stamping and punching stage, a CNC machine, bead blasting and anodizing. - iPhone, 2007

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I’m looking back on the original MacBook and MacBook Air and I have to say, thanks. These designs gave us thin, lightweight and stylish, yet super powerful laptops. The metallic finish and housing from the iBook 1999 have never really gone away.

There’s a lovely exploded-view diagram of the MacBook and all its parts here, which highlights its simplicity from top to bottom. Everything is machined from one piece of aluminum.

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MacBook, 2008

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The iPad 2 Cover 2011 was also a smart design, acting as a protective case for the screen and also a portable stand. Magnets inside the iPad 2 housing moved when the cover was attached and detached. Combining two uses into one is harder than it seems without making it cumbersome and ugly, but here they perfected it.

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Apple iPad Cover, 2011

If you want to give a good user experience, you also have to go the extra yard. That’s what Apple did with the father of the Apple Airpods, the 2012 cabled Apple Earpods. Apple used hundreds of prototype models on more than 600 people to get a design ‘defined by the geometry of the ear itself’.

We’ll end with one of my favorite Apple designs, the 2015 Apple Pencil - a wireless digital pen that manages to look unique without being obnoxious. It’s super smooth to hold and brings me right back to the hours of comfort I’ve had creating PixelArt with it. The charging plug is located below the cap at the top and stays in place with a magnet.

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Apple Pencil, 2015

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‘Designed by Apple in California’ was released in 2016 by Apple. It was the first book to be produced and published by Apple. Its design was assisted by Pentagram.

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