experience of living with a great work of craftsmanship is
irreplaceable.
Apple’s language of luxury is simplicity, the ultimate
sophistication. From the Snow White design style in the eighties (off-
white surfaces, horizontal lines to make computers look smaller) to the
iPod, “1000 songs in your pocket”—simplicity is an obsession at Apple.
Simplicity entails sleek appearance and ease of use—when the
interaction with an object sparks delight, brand loyalty increases. The
iPod click wheel was at once elegant and playful. The iPhone
introduced touchscreens: “You had me at scrolling.” Apple chose
aluminum for the PowerBook casings, as it was lighter than most
materials and allowed for a thinner body and better heat conductivity.
And it looks premium and exclusive. As an old iMac ad put it, Apple
technology is “Simply amazing, and amazingly simple.”^21
It’s how Apple makes products that repeatedly become icons
—“objects that appear effortless... so simple, coherent and inevitable
that there could be no rational alternative.”^22 Cognitive psychology
shows that attractive objects make us feel good, which in turn makes
us more resilient in creative challenges.^23 “Attractive things work
better,” says Don Norman, vice president of advanced technology at
Apple from 1993 to 1998. “When you wash and wax a car, it drives
better, doesn’t it? Or at least it feels like it does.”^24
- Vertical Integration
In the early 1980s, The Gap was a chain of pedestrian clothing stores
stocked with records, as well as Levi’s and other casual clothes, some
mixed in with The Gap’s own brand. Then, in 1983, the new CEO,
Mickey Drexler, remade the company. He softened the lights, bleached
the wood, piped in music, expanded the dressing rooms, and
decorated the walls with large black-and-white photographs by famous
photographers. Each store gave the customer a place to experience the
brand Drexler envisioned. He wasn’t selling luxury but creating a
world around the brand and engaging the consumer face-to-face. He
was taking a page from luxury brands and creating a simulacrum of
that luxury. His strategy stoked revenue and profits, and The Gap
began a twenty-year run that was the envy of the retail sector.^25