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Snow White design language
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The Snow White design language was an industrial design language developed by frog design founded by Hartmut Esslinger. It was used by Apple Computer from 1984 to 1990. It is characterised by vertical and horizontal stripes acting as decoration and occasionally ventilation, as well as creating the illusion of the computer enclosure being smaller than it actually is.
History
The Apple IIc computer was the very first Snow White design along with the various peripherals and accessories designed for it.
Discussion
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Encyclopedia
The Snow White design language was an industrial design language developed by frog design founded by Hartmut Esslinger. It was used by Apple Computer from 1984 to 1990. It is characterised by vertical and horizontal stripes acting as decoration and occasionally ventilation, as well as creating the illusion of the computer enclosure being smaller than it actually is.
History
The Apple IIc computer was the very first Snow White design along with the various peripherals and accessories designed for it. Initially Snow White debuted in a creamy off-white color known at Apple as Fog but later other products moved to the warm gray "Platinum" color, lighter than the previous Apple "putty" color, used throughout the Apple product line from 1987 on. Though Hartmut Esslinger favored a bright-white color originally for the IIc (which Jerry Manock successfully argued against, claiming it would attract fingerprints), the Snow White code-name had little to do with color. Rather, Snow White refers to the 7 projects code-named after the 7 Dwarves on which the new design language was to be applied. Several designers were courted by Apple under the Snow White project to see what they would come up with for the 7 products (of which there were actually 8). The "winner" ultimately was Esslinger and the resulting "style" assumed the project's code-name. Nevertheless, Esslinger who detested the original Apple beige-color, insisted all Snow White-styled products use the same off-white color as the IIc. Until the change to Platinum no Snow White designs appeared in any other color, except for the Hard Disk 20SC in order to better match the beige-color of the Macintosh Plus for which it was designed to sit beneath. The Snow White language was gradually phased out as it was adapted by the Apple Industrial Design Group beginning in 1990.
Design features
The distinguishing characteristics originated by the Snow White design language, in contrast to the original Apple industrial design style, include the following:
- minimal surface texturing
- colored a light off-white (Fog) or light gray (Platinum)
- inlaid 3-dimensional Apple logo, diamond cut to the exact shape
- zero-draft enclosures, with no variances in case thickness and perpendicular walls
- recessed international port identification icons
- silk-screened product name badging
- shallow horizontal and vertical lines, 2 mm wide, 2 mm deep, spaced 10 mm apart on center, which run along any and all of the surfaces of the product, some of which act as vents and setback 30 mm from the front and 4 mm from the back.
- Fog products have beige accents and cables, Platinum products have uniform color (no accents) and Smoke gray cables
- 3mm radius, rear and 2mm radius, front corners
- simple unadorned ports and slots
Any or all of these features indicate a Snow White frog design influence over an otherwise Apple designed product. In particular the first official implementation, the Apple //c does not represent the complete set of design elements, while the Macintosh II includes all of them. Later, the Macintosh LC began to phase out some of the design elements.
Legacy
In 1982, Apple sought to establish itself as a world-class company. As a result they chose to look outside the company and indeed the country for a designer who might help them achieve that kind of recognition. The Snow White project helped them achieve just that. The resulting design language created by frog and Esslinger not only helped Apple's recognition factor on a world stage, but the innovative designs helped mold the way computers were perceived throughout the manufacturing and business world. As a direct result of these designs Apple set trends for the entire industry which often copied both its warm gray Platinum color as well as its Snow White designs.
In addition to its recognizable style, the Snow White design language, if not Esslinger himself (who detested the beige color Apple used), is responsible for Apple's change of color throughout its product line. But more importantly, Esslinger redesigned Apple's product badging methods by creating a 3-dimensional Apple logo that was inlaid directly into the product case, with the product name printed directly onto its surface. This branding became an Apple signature, included on nearly every product for several years.
Implementation
Apple products designed in the Snow White theme (all used the "Platinum" gray color scheme except as noted):
*Apple IIc (1984)
- a:^ While the IIc generally gets credit for being the first Apple computer released in the Snow White design language, it was not a "pure" example. Rob Gemmel (who was instrumental in soliciting Esslinger) had designed the IIc a year earlier and unbeknownst to him, Frogdesign was working on their own design. In the end it was a compromise of Gemmel's original design and Frogdesign's modifications. Likewise, the Macintosh SE was essentially Manock and Oyama's design updated with Snow White details. The IIGS, which introduced Platinum gray, also suffered from the legacy design of the original Apple II case, in particular Manock's wedge-shape. It wasn't until the Macintosh II when Frogdesign finally had a clean slate on which to design from the ground up, that the first pure example of pure Snow White was realized.
- b:^ Introduced in off-white "Fog" and later switched to "Platinum" gray
- c:^ Off-white "Fog" only
- d:^ Introduced simultaneously in both Apple/Macintosh beige and "Platinum" gray to better match the beige Macintosh Plus for which it was designed to sit beneath as well as conform to the Apple IIGS color scheme released at the same time. This would be the only Snow White product to intentionally use the original beige color for the purpose of matching existing products.
- e:^ All Apple connectors and cables began a transition to beige in 1985, however, certain Macintosh peripheral cables (e.g. mice and disk drives), despite adopting the new connector style, retained their medium-brown appearance until the transition to Platinum in 1987, at which time all cables became a dark gray color Apple called "Smoke".
- f:^ Though technically beige, like the connectors & cables, the Mouse //c is considered to be colored as a Fog co-ordinated accent. It is definitely a Snow White design, which elements form the basis for the subsequent Apple Desktop Bus Mouse. It was not produced in Platinum.
Most Apple Displays introduced between 1984 and 1994 also used Snow White, except those specifically designed to match the Apple II series.
All Apple ADB keyboards and mice introduced between 1986 and 1993 were Snow White designs.
Unofficial Designs
*The Lisa 2/Macintosh XL (1984) had Snow White stripes added to the front bezel redesign along with the inlaid Apple badging four months before the Apple //c was introduced, technically making it the first Snow White product.
- The Apple Modem 300/1200 (1985) was updated from Apple beige to Fog and the inlaid Apple badging was added.
- The Macintosh Plus (1986) was updated by frog design, but only added the inlaid Apple badging and recessed connector icons.
- The Macintosh 800K External Drive (1986) only included the inlaid Apple badging and simple floppy disk slot styling as well as the 2 and 3mm radius corners and zero draft enclosure.
- The Macintosh IIcx (1989) was designed in-house entirely by Apple and though drawing upon the Snow White corporate language, departed considerably from the guidelines. This was the beginning of Apple's efforts to break ties with frog design and rebuild the Industrial Design Group.
- The Macintosh IIci (1989) basically the same case as the IIcx with different internal hardware.
- Macintosh LC (1990)
- Macintosh LC II (1992)
- Macintosh Quadra 700 (1991)
- PowerBook 100/200 Series (1991)
- Macintosh Quadra 900 (1991)
- Macintosh Quadra 950 (1992)
- PowerBook Duo Dock (1992)
- Macintosh LC II (1992)
- Macintosh IIsi (1993)
- Macintosh LC III (1993)
- Macintosh LC III+ (1993)
- Macintosh LC 475 (1993)
- Apple Workgroup Server 95 (1993)
- Apple Workgroup Server 9150 (1994)
Both the 100 & 200 series PowerBooks and accessories were intended to tie into the rest of the Apple desktop products utilizing the corporate Snow White design language. However, the light colors and decorative recessed lines did not seem appropriate for the scaled down designs. In addition to adopting the darker grey colour scheme which co-ordinated with the official corporate look, they also adopted a raised series of ridges mimicking the indented lines on the desktops. These early PowerBooks would be the last to utilize the aging Snow White look and the only ones to make such a radical adaptation of it.
See also
- Timeline of Macintosh models
- List of products discontinued by Apple Inc.
External links
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- (first Snow White machine)
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