MacLife - USA (2019-09)

TO CELEBRATE APPLE’S

20th birthday, Jony Ive went

all–out and designed the Twentieth

Anniversary Macintosh (TAM). More

a technical showcase than a viable

mass–market product, the TAM

contained a number of high–end

technologies and was meant as

a futuristic exploration of where

computer design could go. Its all–

in–one, (almost) flatscreen form

was a precursor of the iMac that

would arrive almost 10 years later.

Another important legacy of this

Mac was its removable trackpad,

which was later replicated in the

Magic Trackpad.

Although it never sold well (it

was priced at $7,499, equivalent to

roughly $9,300 today) and was

aimed at the “executive” market,

Ive’s design set the scene for much

of what was to come later in the

computing world.

APPLE WASN’T JOKING when it used the

word “nano”. When the iPod nano was launched

by Steve Jobs, he asked the keynote audience

whether they ever wondered what the coin pocket

in a pair of jeans was for. “Well, now we know,” he

declared, pulling out the miniscule iPod nano.

If Apple proved it could do tiny with the iPod mini,

it did it again in triplicate with the iPod nano,

demonstrating Ive’s ability to outdo himself when it

came to delivering tech in a small, light package.

TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY MACINTOSH (TAM) 1997

iPOD NANO 2005

THE CREATOR OF ICONIC

DESIGNS BECOMES AN ICON

IN HIS OWN RIGHT

As Jony Ive started to gain fame, he also started to

appear in Apple videos, explaining how his latest

work expressed the inner beauty that is produced

when form meets function. Even these videos took

on their own aesthetic: white backgrounds, products

tumbling through the air in slow–motion, Ive’s

soothing voice. They demonstrated just how

seriously he took design, although they received

their fair share of parodies, too.

Jony Ive on video

Image rights: Apple.

Feature

40 SEP 2019 maclife.com