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#Apple computer icons software#
And now, because of a small change in an icon, all of this is more connected to the software inside. Especially for those C-levels (Steve Jobs) who put the force of $$$ and commitment to manufacturing excellence behind the attention to detail that every designer dreams of implementing. I have to end with more praise and gratitude towards Apple. If you’d like to dig deeper, read some really technical surfacing stuff, and find out that there are actually two levels of curvature continuity, check out this tutorial on Autodesk’s Alias tool (one of many tools capable of curvature continuous surfacing). And many are limited by the resources and commitment of the companies for which they design (i.e., not always the designer’s fault). Plenty of Industrial Designers apply this level of craft to the non-Apple products they design. Or its importance to the bottom line wasn’t recognized. Or surface design tools and engineering tools didn’t play well together.
Or engineers might not have been expert in that module of their CAD tools. It used to be that engineering CAD tools weren’t as concerned about this sort of thing. So why don’t they? Companies used to have more excuses. Any company can bring their surfaces to this degree of quality. This difference in curvature is harder to spot in an icon, but the important thing is that now the icons and the hardware are part of the same design language.Īpple doesn’t have the patent on this. There’s no sudden break in curvature and, as a result, the highlight is smoother. The curvature comb transition is a curve itself, starting from zero curvature.
On the right you see what curvature continuity looks like. What the Industrial Designers at Apple are doing is designing the highlight. Sudden change in curvature = sudden highlight.
On the left, the curvature goes from zero to the value of the radius instantaneously. Each line of the comb represents the amount of curvature at a point on the curve. Look at the image of the curvature combs below (a way to visualize curvature). It’s a beautiful, sweet, sexy surface with continuously variable curvature, and one of the reasons Apple products make me love them. I know I just said “rounded” but of course it’s not round at all. See how soft the highlights are? That’s not just because the surface finish is matte (yes, it helps).
#Apple computer icons pro#
The MacBook Pro on the right is also a product with two right angled surfaces joined by a rounded curved surface. See how there’s a sharp shift in highlight? That’s the result of tangency. Look at the beginning and end of that rounded edge on the main surface.
#Apple computer icons how to#
Here are two products that are basic rectangular boxes with a rounded edge (the one on the left also has some unpleasant drafted walls, but that’s another article about how to become a hardware design snob). Once you know how to spot it on products, you’re likely to start seeing it (or more likely the lack of it) all around you. It’s not something the average Apple product owner is likely to be aware of unless pointed out by their Industrial Designer friend.Ī ‘secret’ of Apple’s physical products is that they avoid tangency (where a radius meets a line at a single point) and craft their surfaces with what’s called curvature continuity. Apple products are described as minimalistic, but ‘minimalistic’ shouldn’t be confused with ’simple.’ There’s nothing simple about the surfacing efforts on their hardware products.
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