When we think about the design of Apple products, Jonathan Ive always comes to mind. However, the designer considered legendary had important predecessors. And one of these predecessors was the one who had already thought of designs that are still recognizable today.
He paved the way with technological objects with immaculate aestheticsclean lines and rounded corners, minimal textures and a monolithic construction. We are talking about Hartmut Esslinger, an industrial designer who came to work at Apple in the 80s and who already imagined at that time a corporate phone or devices too similar to a MacBook to be considered a coincidence. Let’s take a look at what Esslinger managed to do at Apple with his company Frog.
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The Story of Snow White as a Design Language
A little joke with this device that Esslinger proposed to Jobs: it’s almost like a MacBook.
A German by birth, Hesslinger studied design in Schwäbisch Gmünd, in his native Germany. It didn’t start well: His mother burned his sketchbooks and the first watch he designed received widespread criticism.. But he still created his own design studio in 1969, Frogdesign, with which he managed to be hired by brands like Sony, in 1973. It was there that he became a prestigious consultant, being the main person responsible for the Sony Tr initron concept.
Already alongside the Japanese elite, in 1982 the flute was sounding from Cupertino: Apple needed a new design for its products to raise the bar and move from being a small company to something bigger and more serious. Something respectable. Esslinger pulled a trick up his sleeve to get hired: Snow White’s proposal with which she sought simplicity and made a device appear smaller than it actually was thanks to a few lines on its cover.
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Steve Jobs was so convinced by the language of design that he He gave Esslinger a contract worth $2 million a year. on the table. Mind you, in 1982, if we correct for inflation, we’re talking about $6,450,000 a year. With that kind of salary, it doesn’t matter if it’s distributed in 12 or 14 installments, right? Apparently, Esslinger’s character was controversial, so he and Jobs must have been an interesting combination.
The “Snow White” design style was seen on several early Apple computers. To show this button you can see above: the three founders of the company with one of these computers. Do you see those lines? This is Esslinger’s legacy both in the Cupertino brand and with the rest of the devices on the market that used them.
A visual identity that would mark Apple forever
These lines also they hid the air ventsand combined with rounded corners, it got the look and feel we all remember from the Lisa and the original Macintosh. And besides the laptop you can see in the tweet above, there are also little gems like the Apple mobile design you can see above.
So Esslinger’s mark has been felt since the 1980s and throughout the legacy of creations led by Steve Jobs and Jonathan Ive. But when Steve was fired from Apple, Esslinger He broke his contract and left in search of new opportunities. with NeXT.
And it didn’t stop there: after the failure of this venture, Esslinger ensured that his studio Frogdesign obtained contracts with Microsoft, Siemens, NEC, Olympus, HP or Motorolaamong others. He also wrote a book about his adventures at Apple, called “Keep it Simple”. It is, we say unequivocally, an absolutely essential book for anyone interested in design, whether it is UX/UI, interface, or industrial product.
A gold medalist for best design for several years, among other awards, Esslinger continues to be the visible face, now 47 years old, of Frog. In addition, he currently works as an advisor and professor at the University of Arts and Design in Karlsruhe, in addition to also participating in the DeTao Academy in Beijing. Their ranges may no longer be present in the company’s products, but they You can’t understand the idea and design of the 80s Apple without this.
An older version of this article was originally published on 07/03/2023.
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