More on the reason for sad Mac

While our posts contain lots post-its re Steve Jobs, here's another bit / byte taken from a great The New York Times article by James B. Stewart.

The entire article embodies the goal of great design. Two paras in particular struck me:

1.
“Steve Jobs and Apple never—ever—wanted to be a low-margin commodity producer,” Donald Norman, a former vice president for advanced technology at Apple and author of “Living With Complexity,” told me this week. “Even the Apple II had some charm to it. It was the first personal computer that had professional industrial designers. Before that they were designed strictly by engineers, and they were ugly. Steve was always, if not an artist, then someone who was charmed by style. He had this dream of something beautiful. If it was going to cost more, it didn’t matter. This was in his genes.

2.Mr. Jobs “had an exceptional eye for design, and not just an eye, but an intelligence for design,” Ms. Antonelli said. “We don’t talk just about the looks, but how objects communicate: The specific shape, how it feels in the hand, under the fingers, how you read it in the eye and the mind. This is what Steve cared passionately about.”

The phrase "If it was going to cost more, it didn't matter" puts me in mind of my purchasing a case for my phone on the street a few weeks ago . A sign touted, "Phone cases $5." (Yay! Less than the $40 at the Apple Store. I'm embarrassed to admit that sometimes price does matter to me, but that's not my point here.) I chose a funky design and pulled out a 5 dollar bill. The salesguy gently corrected me.

He: "It's $7.
Me: "But the sign said '$5.'"
He: "Design is extra."

I've been using my street epiphany ever since. Design makes a difference. It's extra.

Photo is a screenshot from The New York Times article.