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Hartmut Esslinger

Keep It Simple: The Early Design Years of Apple Flexibound – January 7, 2014

by Hartmut Esslinger (Author)

53 ratings

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•The true design story behind the evolution of Apple computers
•An inspiring collaboration of Steve Jobs and author Hartmut Esslinger
•380 illustrations that takes a step by step view of the most famous brand that’s still a dominating force today

Keep it Simple is the authentic story of the collaboration between Steve Jobs and Hartmut Esslinger, which began in 1982. The result of this partnership between entrepreneur and designer was revolutionary, in terms of historic dimensions: Steve Jobs was the first to make strategic design the core of Apple's Business Strategy. From this, Apple grew from a technology focused company into one of the world's most successful, global brands and this was achieved by creating and delivering innovative and intelligent products.

Of course, there are many books about Steve Jobs and Apple. Professionals everywhere want to be like him - or want their company to succeed like Apple - so they compulsively absorb accounts of his work, hoping to find the magic recipe. For those readers this book is a first, because it tells the story of Apple's evolution from the inside and its initial conception, when Steve was first driven by the power of design to establish it as the strategic core of Apple's business model.

This book is also for the millions of Apple users, admirers, fans, and critics who may be curious about the origins of the products and the brand they feel so deeply about.

Here is the story of the most amazing creative journey, which had to overcome tremendous opposition, both inside Apple and across the wider technology industry.

Print length

296 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Arnoldsche Verlagsanstalt
Publication date

January 7, 2014
Dimensions

8.98 x 0.93 x 10.19 inches
ISBN-10

3897904071
ISBN-13

978-3897904071
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Hartmut Esslinger knows a thing or two about industrial design and what it’s done for Apple. He worked directly with Steve Jobs to establish a “design language” that was used on the Macintosh line of computers for over a decade.
(Christopher Mims Quartz, September 12, 2013)

Keep It Simple is filled with prototypes and drawings in the “Snow White” style, as well as many familiar finished designs... We need to give credit to Mr. Esslinger for being a true visionary.
(John Maeda The Wall Street Journal, December 14, 2013)

About the Author

Hartmut Esslinger is founder of frog design, inc., a leading global innovation firm, and one of the most respected designers and business consultants in the world. Esslinger sparked a design revolution when he founded the company in his native Germany, around the guiding principle 'form follows emotion'. His work has defined the modern consumer aesthetic with such revolutionary products as the Apple Macintosh computer, Sony's Trinitron television, Lufthansa's brand and fleet image, Disney's Cruise Lines and Consumer Electronics, and Louis Vuitton's brand aesthetic.His designs are in the Museum for Modern Art and the Whitney Museum in New York. He is also Founding Professor of the Hochschule fur Gestaltung, Karlsruhe, Germany, and was Professor for Convergent Design at the University of Applied Arts, Vienna, Austria.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Arnoldsche Verlagsanstalt (January 7, 2014)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Flexibound ‏ : ‎ 296 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 3897904071
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-3897904071
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.83 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.98 x 0.93 x 10.19 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #573,920 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #317 in Design History & Criticism

Customer Reviews:
53 ratings

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5 star		76%
4 star		11%
3 star		4%
2 star		6%
1 star		3%

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S. Kosloske

Basically a compendium of frog designs work with Apple

Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2018

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Can only give this one 2 stars. IMHO the title is very misleading. This is a book about the design proposals that frog designs presented to Apple up to the early 80's. Some of the designs are interesting, but most never saw the light of day. If anything, frog can claim a win on the Apple //c, but that's about it.

The author claims that the first Mac flopped because Steve jobs ignored frog's efforts to re-design it. And claims that they were right, saying the design of the Apple //c led it to sell 50,000 in the first month.

At the end, they even claim that their designs can be seen in the 21st century Apple products like the iPad and iPhone.

Meh.

I own 4 different "Apple Design" books, and this is the only one that I'm going to sell to Half Price Books. Not a fan.

2 people found this helpful

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David Fradin

A fantastic, honest and frank book about the creation of today's Apple

Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2014

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I was a product manager and Apple /// Business Unit Manager during the period Hartmut covers in this superior read. Start-ups, innovators, product managers and all product leaders can learn exactly what they must do to be successful over the long term. Anybody writing about Apple and Steve Jobs must read this book. It corrects some of the myths we have all heard about. It reflects everything perfectly that I recall as a manager at Apple in the early years.

I notice only one, and that is unusual for such a book, error. Hartmut says he bought and Apple //e in 1978. Not possible. The //e didn't come out until late 1982 or early 1983. So either the date of the conference where Hartmut first saw the Apple // is wrong or he saw and bought the original Apple //. Not a big deal, though.

9 people found this helpful

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Stephen Thomas Reese III

If you love good design, this book will fascinate you; if you are also a fan of the early Macintoshes, you are in for a treat!

Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2014

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I love this book. I have respected Hartmut Esslinger and Frog Design since their early involvement with Apple and Steve Jobs. This book is a treasure. It is loaded with images of models/prototypes that allow a glimpse into the design process. I found the text to be a little self serving, but his message about the integration of design in what could other wise be engineering driven product development is as timely now as it was in the 1980s when he brought the model to Apple. Excuse me while I go back and peruse the book again.

2 people found this helpful

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T. G. Cline

Come for the pictures, stay for the story

Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2014

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The main selling point of this book is the numerous photographs of Frog's design concepts, both in foam core and more detailed plastic models (including the aptly named "MacBook" or what some have called the "iPad //c"). Esslinger details his history with design and Apple in particular, and tells a compelling if necessarily one-sided story of creating some of the most recognized (and could-have-been most recognized) computers in the world.

3 people found this helpful

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J. King

Recommend!

Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2014

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Fans of Apple and it's product designs will treasure this book. Esslinger stakes his rightful claim to his role in Apple's product designs. He details "behind the scenes" relating to his work with Steve and Apple, Inc. His style is matter of fact and creditable. While I read it in one sitting, this book will serve as a history and design reference book I go back to. He included dozens of full and half page photos of prototype designs too.

7 people found this helpful

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DesignBookBlog

A must read for every Apple and design fan

Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2014

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Frog design is one of my all-time favorite design studios and they did a remarkable job with Apple by designing products pre Jony Ive era. I guess since Jobs has now passed away we'll see a flood of books describing him as a person and this book is no exception. However the tone of voice is more or less warm and it seems that Hartmut and Jobs did share a common view on things.

This is a good read, nice layout and pictures from frog design archives including some crazy futuristic sketches. Good background on designs and motivations.

Well worth the money invested.

4 people found this helpful

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ScottH

A really fascinating view of what could have been.

Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2018

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A really fascinating view of what could have been. There are so many design cues that pop up in products ten years later.

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Mark Wise

Awesome look at the early design years at Apple

Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2015

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Awesome look at the early design years at Apple, when the company was shifting into a more professional mode, in the lead up years to the introduction to the Macintosh and beyond.

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Jim Moores

A treasure-trove of retro-futurism

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 30, 2017

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Fantastic book with unseen designs from early Apple history. Unseen prototype designs for Macs that never were, evolution of designs, prototype phones and tablets, etc.

One person found this helpful

Cristina

Un libro imprescindible para cualquier interesando en el diseño y en Apple

Reviewed in Spain on September 23, 2021

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Me parece una maravilla de libro, con un diseño gráfico y maquetación estupendas, y con un montón de información y fotografías que es prácticamente imposible de conseguir de otro modo.

Se muestra el desarrollo de estrategias y lenguajes de diseño, prototipos nunca vistos, pruebas de concepto, y parte de la historia de Apple visto desde la perspectiva de Hartmut Esslinger (Frog Design), una figura clave en el diseño industrial.

Lo dicho: un libro imprescindible para cualquier interesado en Apple y/o en el diseño industrial.

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Cliente Amazon

Ottimo libro per appassionati di design (non solo di Apple)

Reviewed in Italy on April 20, 2020

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Libro molto interessante, nel quale l’autore, Hartmut Esslinger tiene a raccontare la sua versione dei fatti di come sono andate le cose con il lavoro per Apple, e lo stretto legame con Steve Jobs, nel periodo 1982-1985, durante il quale l’autore (fondatore della prestigiosa design agency FROG) attraverso il suo lavoro ha posto le basi per la filosofia futura dei prodotti Apple, sia del punto di vista estetico che manageriale.
Un racconto in prima persona molto interessante e stimolante delle fide che lui e Jobs hanno dovuto affrontare in quegli anni.
Il libro è prevalentemente fotografico con un formato piuttosto grande, i contenuti testuali sono il 20% del totale delle pagine, belle le foto di archivio di tutti i prodotti ed i prototipi.
Unica neo, sebbene le immagini siano belle ed interessanti, sono un po’ troppo ripetitive, la stessa foto viene pubblicata anche 4/5 volta, si poteva risparmiare un po’ di carta!

One person found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

“How frog design provided all the great ideas that made Apple successful”

Reviewed in Canada on May 6, 2018

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This book is interesting as it is but both the title and the presentation are somewhat misleading.

The catchy title suggests that tips on how Apple supposedly became successful by “keeping it simple” are included. Not so much. A more appropriate title would have been, “How frog design provided all the great ideas that made Apple successful”, or “Esslinger and Jobs were right and the others were wrong”.

The presentation/format is more appropriate for a, well, business presentation: about 2/5 of the book are pictures. If there is a design language in the pictures provided, it's not obvious to the casual reader. For example, it's not clear to me why Apple accepted some of the proposed models and rejected others as they all seem to be Snow White-compliant. This would be okay if the actual story were not rather short. It’s about how frog design, a German industrial design company, ended up working with Apple and left its imprint on every Apple product, including the more recent ones.

I think the key message in this book is that, even today, Apple is busy developing products based on designs and user interfaces that it came up with in the ‘80s.

Marco

Libro molto interessante.

Reviewed in Italy on April 11, 2021

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Ne ho comprati tre: uno per me e due per altrettanti miei amici “Apple maniaci” che sono rimasti molto contenti del regalo.
Personalmente lo trovo un libro interessante e ben progettato, con foto, schizzi ed appunti ben selezionati:

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Keep It Simple: The Early Design Years of Apple Flexibound – January 7, 2014

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Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

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Hartmut Esslinger

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