Earlier this week, Apple somewhat surprisingly announced a new book focused on the design history of the company. The book, which features 450 photographs of new and old Apple products, is available now from Apple for $199/$299 depending on the size you choose.
Popular YouTuber-er DetroitBorg got his hands on a copy of the book and has shared a video of the experience, showing an in-depth look at what the book has to offer…
DetroitBorg purchased both the small and large sizes of the ‘Designed by Apple in California’ book, noting that the price is high but not unreasonable in the grand scheme of design books from architecture firms and the like. He also points out that there’s a considerable amount of attention to detail with the book, such as how the pages going all the way to the edge, the detail of the images, and the quality of the cover.
The book covers the last 20 years of Apple design, starting at about the time Jony Ive and Steve Jobs started working together.
The book itself is incredibly simplistic. There are several blank pages before you get to the first actual words, which are simply ‘Designed by Apple in California’ in small and out-of-the-way text. The next page is the book’s dedication to Steve Jobs, while the page after that is an intro written by Jony Ive. In terms of product images, the first product featured is the first-gem iMac and its bright vivid color options. From there, we continue with the iBook, the Cinema Display, the G4 Cube, the Power Mac G4, and then the PowerBook G4.
The book then delves into the original iPod and the production that went into it. From there, the book continues to focus on the various different Macs introduced during the early 2000s.
One product that gets a notable amount of attention in the book is the iPod Hi-Fi. The speaker system gets multiple pages in the book, which seems interesting considering it never really took off in terms of popularity.
The book continues by delving into the MacBook, the continued evolution of the iPod line, the iPhone, and eventually the Apple Watch and Apple Pencil. The Apple Watch is shown in great detail, with the book offering a glimpse at some internal parts as well as all of that effort that went into the design in the first place.
At the very back of the book is a removable glossary that you can use as a guide as you move through the book, in case you’re not able to recognize all of the products on your own.
You can watch DetroitBorg’s full video below. If you’ve picked up a copy of the ‘Designed by Apple in California’ book, let us know what you think of it in the comments…
