*In late 2016, Apple released Designed by Apple in California, a 300-page book reviewing nearly two decades of Apple design from the late 1990s through the mid 2010s.*

On November 15, 2016, Apple debuted a brand new product. It wasn't a new Mac, an iPhone, or anything quite like that; it was a book, or rather, two books. Titled "Designed by Apple in California," the 300-page book was available in two sizes: a small $199 260x324mm size and a larger $299 330x413mm book. It remained on sale from 2016 and was discontinued in August of 2019.

*The two sizes of the Designed by Apple in California Book. Photo credit: Apple*

"This is a book with very few words.
It is about our products, their physical nature, and how they were made.
While this is a design book, it is not about the design team, the creative process, or product development. It is an objective representation of our work that, ironically, describes who we are. It describes how we work, our values, our preoccupations, and our goals. We have always hoped to be defined by what we do rather than by what we say."
- Jony Ive, Excerpt from the Introduction

The iMac G3 was introduced in the spring of 1998 in Bondi Blue. These five colours: Lime, Strawberry, Blueberry, Grape, and Tangerine, debuted in January of 1999. Photo taken on iPhone of the inside of the Designed by Apple in California book.

Across its 300 pages, Designed by Apple in California includes 450 images taken by photographer Andrew Zuckerman, guiding people across nearly two decades of Apple design, from the 1998 iMac G3 to the 2015 Apple Pencil. The book is titled after the iconic Apple phrase, Designed by Apple in California, which first appeared on their products after Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997. The book includes a dedication to Steve Jobs on the opening page and an introduction written by Jony Ive. In the back, a supplemental booklet is provided that provides further details about the images, components, and processes visualized on each page.

*The Power Mac G4 Cube was introduced in July of 2000. Image Credit: Apple*
“The entire computer is suspended within a clear acrylic enclosure to enable a quiet, convection—cooled architecture. Hot air exhausts from the chimney on the top surface.” - Excerpt from Designed by Apple in California

Ive described the purpose of the book in an interview with Wallpaper magazine:

“We asked ourselves, 'What is the value of a book like this, when most people know these objects so intimately already?' First, to see the objects out of their functional context. Next, to see them in a context of the subsequent products and hopefully how we have learned as a team how technology shifts, moves and evolves. And the other reason was to do with the fact that many people don't really have much of a sense of how their manufactured environment came to be. Most people wouldn't understand how the chair they are sat on is made. One of the things we wanted to do was try and explain as clearly as we can – through photography – how you transform a raw material into a product that you recognise and hopefully use as a daily tool.”
- Jony Ive, Interview with Wallpaper

*The original iPhone, debuted by Steve Jobs on January 09, 2007. Image Credit: Apple*

Taking over eight years to produce, the book was spearheaded by then Chief Design Officer Sir Jony Ive and his team. The book is an homage to Apple's design history and a rare instance of Apple looking back rather than ahead. In an interview with Wallpaper*, Ive admitted as much: "because we've been so consumed by our current and future work we came to realise we didn't have a catalogue of the physical products." Funnily enough, Apple had to go out and buy many of the products featured in the book as it didn't have its own archive of physical products to photograph in the creation of this book. According to Ive, every product was reshot for this book, and the process of creating this book took so long it required Apple to "re-photograph some of earlier products because of how photographic technology had changed and improved."

*The unibody Mac mini debuted in June of 2010. Photo credit: Apple*
“A custom-designed T-cutter enabled the removal of the maximum amount of material to ensure that all internal components could fit inside a single unibody enclosure.” - Excerpt from Designed by Apple in California

"You understand the nature of an object so much more when you understand how it came to be"
- Jony Ive

*The linen bound hardcover book featured custom paper, low-ghosting inks, and a gilded matte silver edged paper. Photo credit: Apple*

And in classic Apple fashion, the book became an over-engineered project in its own right. Apple had to develop custom-milled German paper with low-ghosting inks to capture the vibrancy and provide sufficient contrast against the white paper their products were showcased on. The book featured a soft white linen hardcover with a debossed Apple Logo, a Spine that featured the debossed name of the book, and gilded matte silver edges. The book follows the same tradition of obsessive craftsmanship and design that the products it contains came to be known for.

"We strive, with varying degrees of success, to define objects that appear effortless. Objects that appear so simple, coherent, and inevitable that there could be no rational alternative."
- Jony Ive, Excerpt from the Introduction

*“These custom-designed, high-performance tungsten carbide cutting tools were used to manufacture the iPhone 4 bezel.” - Excerpt from Designed by Apple in California. Photo Credit: Apple*

Although the book contains many assembled Apple products, it also takes a rare glimpse at some of the manufacturing, design tools, and processes involved in realizing these products. For example, there is a full 2-page spread dedicated to showcasing the custom cutting tools used in manufacturing the iPhone 4 bezel and another that shows the custom-designed tool used to remove aluminum for the Mac mini unibody extrusion. These deconstructed images help provide a material appreciation for the products that seem so self-evident once they are assembled. Flipping the pages, you witness the material and process evolution these iconic products experienced over the decades. You see the molds used to form the EarPods, the multistage process of how a Mac mini and Mac Pro go from aluminium billet to a finished product, to the sapphire tank growing crystals for the display on the Apple Watch.

The cylindrical housing of the Mac Pro was made out of a single 9-inch aluminum billet and polished to a mirror finish. Photo taken on iPhone of the inside of the Designed by Apple in California book.
“The 6063 aluminum housing was robotically buffed using a fine—particle abrasive compound, bringing the surface roughness down to an average roughness of less than 20 nanometers. The buffing wheels were stitched in Germany using cotton grown and sourced from a single mill in Pakistan.” - Excerpt from Designed by Apple in California.

Jony Ive spoke about the importance of approaching each design with a sense of care:

"Above all, I have come to feel sure that human beings sense care in the same way we sense carelessness. I do think we respond, maybe not consciously, to something much bigger than the object. We sense the group of people behind the products, people who do more than make something work, people who sincerely care about the smallest unseen details, as well as the big idea and primary function."
- Jony Ive, Excerpt from the Introduction

*“Leather Smart Cover after years of use.” - Excerpt from Designed by Apple in California.*
*Photo taken on iPhone of the inside of the Designed by Apple in California book.*

While most of the book features Apple products at their most pristine or disassembled and arranged with the utmost care, two images buck that trend: A distressed leather iPad Smart Cover and an absolutely beaten-up original iPhone. The iPhone, Ive disclosed, belonged to Evans Hankey, who worked alongside Ive since 2007 and was promoted to VP of Industrial Design following his departure. Ive shares that "we design tools to be used" and these images convey the character we impart to our Apple products through their use & service.

*“iPhone after years of (ab)use.” - Excerpt from Designed by Apple in California.*
*Jony Ive shared in an* *interview* *that this particular iPhone actually belonged to Evans Hankey, who work alongside Ive & became VP of Industrial Design following his departure.*
*Photo taken on iPhone of the inside of the Designed by Apple in California book.*

“it’s the designer’s job to try and solve problems that in their resolution do not allow complexity to become apparent.”
- Jony Ive, Interview with Wallpaper

*The original iPod debuted in October of 2001. With a 5 or 10GB spinning disk drive, the iPod began Apple ascent to becoming one of the most successful companies of our time.*
“Molding a double shot of white PC/ABS under clear polycarbonate achieved visual depth and provided protection for the display without requiring extra parts. A free-spinning mechanical scroll wheel is surrounded by four transport control buttons.” - Excerpt from Designed by Apple in California.

The book presents as a love letter to the work that Ive, the team he assembled, and Steve helped realize over the years. Shortly after its publication, Ive left the company, ending a nearly 30-year tenure at Apple.

"This book is dedicated to him.
This is a body of work that would not exist without Steve. The many thousands of people who worked together would never have worked together. These products would never have been designed, never have been made, never have been used."
- Jony Ive, Excerpt from the Introduction

My reason for putting together this entry is to share a closer look at a unique product that many people will never have access to. Apple is unlikely ever to produce a book like this again (though they did release that weird Apple Music book), and the few remaining copies are being sold on eBay for thousands of dollars, depending on their size and condition. I also tried to tie in the most significant sources that shared expanded details about the book, most notably Jony Ive's interview with Wallpaper Magazine & Dazed in 2016.

*The Apple Watch was announced in late 2014 and released in April of 2015. It was the first major new product category debuted by Apple since the passing of Steve Jobs in 2011. Image Credit: Apple*
“Made from 316L stainless steel cold-forged to increase its hardness by 80 percent, the case is machined in a 12-station multi-axis CNC milling machine, then polished to a mirror finish using a custom-designed 4-axis 'l' force-feedback wheel.” - Excerpt from Designed by Apple in California.

I'll also direct people to two full walkthroughs of the book, one posted by DetroitBORG and a longer 48-minute video created by Greg Wyatt of Apple Explained. They're both worth a watch. I will also include a link to the Jony Ive narrated video introducing the book and explaining the intention behind it.

Designed by Apple in California

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