The Apple Collection: 1986
It may not be Apple at it’s best, but it’s certainly Apple at its brightest!
Okay… you might be a bit confused. You might even be thinking that I've gone off the deep end, or how on Earth does this wallpaper have anything to do with Apple. Keep reading.
In the 80s, Apple was a very different company than what we see today. By 1985 Steves Jobs and Wozniak had both stepped down from the company, and Apple began to drift through the next several years, struggling to make a dent in the market with the likes of IBM & Microsoft making more affordable, more commercially sought computers.
And in 1986, Apple released a catalogue of Apple-branded merchandise available under the banner "The Apple Collection." It's not unlike the branded merchandise that you can still find to this day; Apple maintains two locations (Infinite Loop & Apple Park Visitors Center) that feature a range of clothing and other Apple-branded tchotchkes.
The introduction to The Apple Collection catalogue reads:
"Last year 22,000 people bought Apple shirts from The Apple Collection - people who like the way we make Apple® computers.
At The Apple Collection, we find manufacturers who make their products the way we make our computers.
We put our logo on these products because we appreciate their quality, and think you will, too. They come from such outstanding companies as Tiffany, Braun, Bree, ixi:z, Lamy, Mistral, Honda, and others you might not be familiar with yet.
They're the kind of products we'd make ourselves. So each comes with our guarantee: if you're not totally satisfied with any item, you can return it within 30 days for a full refund.
If you're one of those people who like our computers, we think you'll like the products in our collection."
Opening up this catalogue, you'll find a range of the typical, the dated, to the completely unexpected: a black attaché case with Apple logo ($49), an Apple-branded mouse pad (in blue, black, red, or gray; $9.95), a walnut wood case capable of storing all your 3.5" disks (up to 100; $24), a Honda Helix scooter (with AM/FM radio & Apple license plate frame: $2,598), and an 11" sailboard emblazoned with the Apple logo ($1,100).
But it was on page 21 that I came to a dead stop. There, right below the photo of three suave gentlemen with perfectly coiffed hair & donning 100% brushed cotton polo shirts (with the collars popped, because of course they were; $32), was this shirt! It took me a beat to process what exactly I was seeing. The 'A' is just blocky staircase-of-nonsense, the first 'P' was filled with a hot pink leopard print, the second 'P' is pixellated, the 'L' is a checkerboard of orange and red squares, and the 'E' is done up in elegant cursive. And underneath all that was a thick royal blue zig-zag underlining it all. Nothing is aligned, the shirt was completely unhinged! I couldn't get it out of my mind. It was bold; it was extreme; it was painfully bright! It was quintessentially 80s! Some things are better left in the past, but this shirt was not one of those things! The design had to be resurrected!
There’s absolutely nothing about this photo that I don’t love.
I went straight into Sketch and began working on a design near to the original masterpiece. Colours, prints, and fonts were modified and approximated, though the final product pays tribute to the original. I am proud to bring you a remastered version of this 35-year old design, available as a wallpaper for your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. I hope you choose to let this garish wallpaper grace your displays, and please tag or send me photos of your setups; I'd love to see them! Versions are available with and without the Apple text for all devices.
DOWNLOADS
With Apple Text: Mac (up to 6K) | iPhone | iPad
Sans Apple Text: Mac (up to 6K) | iPhone | iPad
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