That Iconic Apple
These two quotes from an interview with Rob Janoff, the designer of the Apple logo, are really fascinating:
We presented two versions of the logo. One with and one without the bite. Just in case he thought the bite was too cute. Fortunately he went with the one that gave it the most personality with the bite. Frankly it was a no brainer and you would miss the mark if you don’t show some kind of an apple. When I presented I showed him several variations. Striped version, solid color version, metallic version. All those with the same shape.
I designed it with a bite for scale, so people get that it was an apple not a cherry. Also it was kind of iconic about taking a bite out of an apple. Something that everyone can experience. It goes across cultures. If anybody ever had an apple he probably bitten into it and that’s what you get. It was after I designed it, that my creative director told me: “Well you know, there is a computer term called byte”. And I was like: “You’re kidding!
via Frank Chimero
HOW Brand
@HOWbrand
We all know this logo had MEGA positive response!
great job!
I’m impressed that even back then, Rob presented a metallic version.
The fact that he didn’t know there was a computer term “byte” is a sign that it was 100% meant to be. Sometimes when we create things we try to put so much meaning into them. It’s nice to have those AhhhHaaa moments. Very interesting to know that he presented the metallic version then as well. Guess it just shows that sometimes a good idea is just to far ahead of it’s time and needs to be cultivated and sit a bit before you release that much awesome into the world.
It’s what the logo represents that’s amazing. I’m not so sure the logo is really, in and of itself, all that impressive. It’s an apple with a bite taken out of it. Sure, there’s some symbolism, but brand is bigger than a logo…the logo just represents something – which is why it’s so cool to have the glowing logo on the laptop – and why every VW Bug has it stuck on the back glass.
I love the logo and saw it the first time back in 1984. My last year from Graphic Design College, we had a sale rep come to the College and present the Apple Computer to us students and said that this was the future. Here I am now 2011 with 24″ MAC OS X with a black Apple in front of me. Amazing! Thank you for article
What if they had used a Mega Byte … would there be any logo left?