Apple's Design Father: It was me who taught Jobs how to design

　　The founder of "Frog Design," Hartmut Esslinger, who also created Apple's "Snow White" design language, has designed countless classic products for many global leading companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, Sony, LV, and Adidas. He himself was rated by BusinessWeek as "the most influential industrial designer in America since 1930."

　　In his new book, "Keep It Simple: The Early Design Years of Apple," Esslinger recounts his collaboration journey with Jobs and reveals many unknown insider stories to the public.

　　Below is an excerpt of the main content:

　　First Encounter with Apple

　　I first met Apple at the "ICSID World Design Congress" held in Helsinki, Finland, in 1987. At that time, Apple had prepared an Apple IIe, and I really liked their technology, pricing strategy for the device, and their proficient use of immature technologies at the time.

　　From its appearance, the ridiculous rainbow logo spanned above the ugly "Apple computer" font, and the device looked like an old-fashioned typewriter without a ribbon or roller. Even the keyboard was unreasonably elevated far above the desktop. A 5.25-inch floppy drive was placed on top of the case, and above it was a ready-made black-and-white monitor made in Japan. It was evident that this Apple IIe hadn't yet realized Apple's vision for future product design, but I eventually decided to buy an Apple IIe. Over time, I gradually discovered that the concept of this "big toy" or "thinking machine" was designed for everyday life.

　　At that time, my main client in the tech field was Sony, and I firmly believed that their technology would eventually enter the personal computer market. However, after collaborating with Sony engineers to develop several prototypes of personal computers in 1981, I realized that Sony’s management seemed uninterested in my designs. So, I began to shift my focus towards Silicon Valley companies, one of which was HP. Given HP's technological advantages, they had developed many excellent products, so choosing this company seemed like a natural decision. But soon, I found that HP's corporate culture was quite different from the human-centered design philosophy of tech products. Therefore, I knew it was time to reach out to Apple.

　　My approach to connecting with Apple was rather unconventional. In early 1982, I had discussions with some designers in California who were interested in collaborating with me. Most of these talks didn’t yield much success, but through these exchanges, I discovered a fact: most American company designers were internal employees and typically reported to engineering and marketing executives. Later, I met Rob Gemmell, then chief designer of Apple's Apple II department, at a party in Silicon Valley. After showing him some of my visual design samples, Gemmell said to me: "You must meet Jobs; he's a crazy person, but he's deeply passionate about world-class product design and hopes to bring those designs to Apple."

　　Collaboration Begins

　　Afterward, Gemmell came to my studio in the Black Forest region of Germany, indicating that Apple would choose among several competing design studios. I had no objections because I firmly believed that collaborating with Apple would be a life-changing opportunity. I clearly understood the enormous gap between Apple's current products and Jobs' vision of "world-class" products. Thus, Gemmell and I agreed that during my next trip to the U.S., I would visit Apple's office in Cupertino and personally meet with Jobs. Coincidentally, after our meeting, Jobs appeared on the cover of Time magazine.

　　During my preparation to meet Jobs, I kept imagining what kind of person this moody individual might be, whether he might kick me out of the office right away, etc. Subsequently, I headed to Apple's office in Cupertino. While waiting outside, I saw a well-dressed man walk out of Jobs' office, which made me feel quite uneasy because I was dressed in jeans, sneakers, and a T-shirt. But when I actually met Jobs, I found that his T-shirt was even older than mine. Then, he smiled and told me that the person who had just walked out of his office was then California Governor Jerry Brown.

　　"He came for an interview," Jobs joked.

　　Reorganizing Corporate Structure

　　After Jobs said that, the atmosphere immediately relaxed. I then showed him some of my design works, emphasizing particularly the products I had designed for WEGA and Sony. Jobs immediately responded: "I hope you can also come up with such designs for Apple." Afterward, we discussed the specific design process, and I said: "To make design a core element of Apple's corporate strategy is a leadership-related issue. A design team always at the bottom of the corporate hierarchy and needing approval from various levels of managers cannot create world-class product designs."

　　To support this, I specifically cited some internal design cases from American companies to prove my point, as these companies' design teams usually had to report to lower-level department managers first. When I said that Apple's design process was not much different from companies with strict corporate hierarchies, Jobs' face showed a hint of displeasure.

　　However, this wasn't the only tense moment in our conversation that day. Jobs was also shocked by how I spent more time describing how I helped clients set goals, processes, and resolve internal power disputes during the design process rather than talking about my design works. Moreover, he struggled to accept my belief that design is not a universal language but should be adjusted according to each company's unique culture. And when I said, "Design aesthetics, while capable of evoking user emotions, are ultimately just one component of a great product," I clearly saw him frown.

　　In fact, Jobs didn't know much about design itself, but he loved German cars. Using this, I explained to him that design must be a complete language that fully expresses the soul of a product. Without an excellent driving experience and high-performance sports characteristics, Porsche would still be an outstanding car, but it would lack the soul of the Porsche brand. Additionally, we discussed the design styles of American companies. When I insisted that "American computer and consumer electronics companies severely underestimate the taste of American consumers" (Sony's success with its simple design at the time being the best example), Jobs' expression of dissatisfaction became even more apparent. Nevertheless, he graciously admitted that the current Apple was far from reaching the industry's top level and indicated that significant changes would be made. This was precisely why Apple needed to seek out top designers.

　　Subsequently, I asked him, "What is your greater ideal?" In response, he first smiled faintly and then said: "First, I hope to sell millions of Macs and make Apple the greatest company on this planet." For some inexplicable reason, both of us somehow believed that this was not an unattainable dream.

　　Rethinking

　　At the end of the meeting, I suggested that Jobs rethink Apple's existing design process and the situation of the company's designers long suppressed by the engineering department. I told him: "Personally, I believe Apple needs a senior executive in charge of design and a design team that directly reports to him. The design work conducted by the design team needs to lead Apple's actual product development plan by several years. With such a design framework, Apple can leverage new technologies and novel user interaction experiences to stay ahead in the industry for several years and avoid producing short-sighted imitation products."

　　Finally, Jobs reluctantly promised me that if my "Frog Design" company ultimately won Apple's favor, he would place design in a more important position and have it report directly to him. As I left his office, I felt very excited but also clearly aware of the immense challenge I faced. From my brief visit to Apple headquarters, I realized that neither Apple's department managers nor its designers would easily submit and fully embrace my design philosophy. However, Jobs assured me that he would fully support my methods.

　　To be honest, there were still disagreements between me and Jobs on certain issues. For instance, Jobs believed that an exceptionally outstanding product alone could make Apple succeed, but I insisted that Apple first needed a product strategy that could produce several excellent products. Regardless, we reached a preliminary consensus that day and subsequently formed the most successful and influential "design entrepreneur" alliance in consumer electronics history.