History of computer design: Snow White

The Design Revolution: 1983-85

Part 2 - Snow White

Home || Introduction || Historiography || 1-Cottage industry || 2-Emerging standards || 3-Macintosh
4-frogdesign || 5-Corporate focus || Conclusion || Bibliography & links

Apple's general concern for "elegance" is described in Part 1 - frogdesign

It is difficult to define a design language verbally, and frogdesign did not. One of Esslinger's designers, Tony Guido said, "Despite all the rules, there was no Snow White rule book . . . We didn't bother to write it down. To us, it was like art . . . you just had to look at it to know whether it was right or not" (Kunkel, 38). However, the Snow White language can be partly explained through its treatment of corners and of surface lines.

Every Snow White product has lines running over part of its surface, providing a visual illusion well known to psychologists and designers: the objects appear smaller than they are. These lines are vaguely reminiscent of the "grab bar" at the top of windows in the Macintosh interface, establishing an association between the physical machine and the virtual desktop it provides. The Snow White lines also provide a sense of precision that has been carefully crafted by experiment with size and spacing. They are 2 mm wide and 2 mm deep and spaced 10 mm apart when measured on their centers. Their width and depth casts a shadow, large enough not to collect dust but also not enough to "read as a groove or slot." They are, however, functional, since they could extend through the plastic to provide ventilation without disturbing the surface appearance of the machine; vents are hidden within the design language. The lines do not extend to edges, but end in a perpendicular line called a "setback" 30 mm from the front and 4 mm from the back (Kunkel, 37). The setback increases the visual illusion the lines provide by foreshortening the length of the product, and it also preserves the precise appearance of the corners.

While the size and spacing of the Snow White lines is consistent across all products, however large, the treatment of corners is slightly different on the displays and the computers. On each computer, the corners are rounded in tight curves. Around the back and sides, the curves each have a 3 mm radius, while the front of each computer has 2 mm radii curves. The curves soften the appearance of the machine, further contributing to the illusion of smaller size, but the tighter 2 mm curves give a slightly more formal and visually significant appearance to the interactive front bezel. Displays have even softer curves on their edges, with 5 mm corners on the back and sides and 7 or 9 mm curves around the front bezel. The rounded corners, like the surface lines, contribute to the identity of products as appliances, functionally capable and precise but small, elegant and approachable. One of frogdesign's initial employee's, Stephen Peart, said, "We wanted the designs to say 'I'm powerful, but OK. . . not 'I'm so strong that you should lock me up in a vault'" (Kunkel, 37).

Though these surface details decrease the perceived size and increased the visual precision of Apple's products, Esslinger insisted that a more complex plastic molding process be used to obtain more rigorously geometrical cases in smaller sizes. Conventional plastic injection molding requires that the walls of a case be at a slight angle, called a "draft," to prevent a vacuum and allow the mold to pull away cleanly. This angle of one or two degrees was compensation for the smaller number and simplicity of tools necessary in molding and the correspondingly lower expense. Until frogdesign insisted that Apple move to "zero-draft" tooling, no computer manufacturer invested in the technology necessary for cases with flat perpendicular sides (Kunkel, 33).

Esslinger convinced Jobs that zero-draft tooling was essential. As well as gaining a subtle but powerful precision to the shape of Apple's cases, it decreased their actual size. A zero-draft enclosure could fit more tightly around the components within, and, despite the tooling expense, the resulting decrease in plastic could eventually decrease costs. Moreover, zero-draft molding, being an unusual, complex and expensive technology, helped prevent a growing problem for Apple: unauthorized clones. Counterfeit Apple II computers had appeared using substandard components but cases identical to Apple's own. The precision in appearance that Apple's products gained with the zero-draft tools was not even technically feasible for most manufacturers (Kunkel, 33).

The precise appearance of Snow White cases was accompanied by a new badge. Jobs and Manock had altered the familiar Apple badge with a chocolate-brown background for the Lisa and the original Macintosh, but only to have the Apple logo diamond-cut so as to appear three-dimensional and glossy. Frogdesign simplified the badge even further, eliminating the background and embedding the distinctive 6-colour Apple symbol directly into the plastic of the products while printing model names on the adjacent surface. This elegant detail is still used today. Macintosh XL

The Snow White language built a sense of coherence throughout all Apple's products, appearing consistently on computers, monitors, numerous peripheral devices, and even on the plugs of cables. Snow White lines were added to the front of Lisa's case when it was adapted to become the short-lived Macintosh XL in January 1985. However, despite Esslinger's later disappointment, it was not used for the original Macintosh. Esslinger had had time to change Manock and Oyama's design for the Macintosh, which was still being tooled in August 1983, but the insular Mac team would have rebelled at the work of two of their members being usurped. The team was devoted to Manock, and they would not let his design be interrupted, even if it seemed provincial relative to Snow White (Kunkel, 38). Instead, the first Snow White computer was the Apple IIc, a version of the Apple II small enough to be portable.

Apple IIc (1984)

A year after the release of the Apple IIc, frogdesign began work on the final major version of Wozniak's Apple II design. For the Apple IIgs, the Snow White elements are less expressive and more formal; it is a hybrid between the "pure" Snow White of the IIc and the later "corporate" Snow White of the Macintosh SE and the versions of the Macintosh II which appeared in the late 1980s.

Apple IIgs (1986)
Macintosh SE (1986)
Macintosh II (1986)
Macintosh IIcx (1989)

To the influence of frogdesign (1983-85)

To the Apple IIc

Home || Introduction || Historiography || 1-Cottage industry || 2-Emerging standards || 3-Macintosh
4-frogdesign || 5-Corporate focus || Conclusion || Bibliography & links

			The Design Revolution: 1983-85 Part 2 - Snow White
			Home \|\| Introduction \|\| Historiography \|\| 1-Cottage industry \|\| 2-Emerging standards \|\| 3-Macintosh 4-frogdesign \|\| 5-Corporate focus \|\| Conclusion \|\| Bibliography & links
			Apple's general concern for "elegance" is described in Part 1 - frogdesign
			It is difficult to define a design language verbally, and frogdesign did not. One of Esslinger's designers, Tony Guido said, "Despite all the rules, there was no Snow White rule book . . . We didn't bother to write it down. To us, it was like art . . . you just had to look at it to know whether it was right or not" (Kunkel, 38). However, the Snow White language can be partly explained through its treatment of corners and of surface lines. Every Snow White product has lines running over part of its surface, providing a visual illusion well known to psychologists and designers: the objects appear smaller than they are. These lines are vaguely reminiscent of the "grab bar" at the top of windows in the Macintosh interface, establishing an association between the physical machine and the virtual desktop it provides. The Snow White lines also provide a sense of precision that has been carefully crafted by experiment with size and spacing. They are 2 mm wide and 2 mm deep and spaced 10 mm apart when measured on their centers. Their width and depth casts a shadow, large enough not to collect dust but also not enough to "read as a groove or slot." They are, however, functional, since they could extend through the plastic to provide ventilation without disturbing the surface appearance of the machine; vents are hidden within the design language. The lines do not extend to edges, but end in a perpendicular line called a "setback" 30 mm from the front and 4 mm from the back (Kunkel, 37). The setback increases the visual illusion the lines provide by foreshortening the length of the product, and it also preserves the precise appearance of the corners. While the size and spacing of the Snow White lines is consistent across all products, however large, the treatment of corners is slightly different on the displays and the computers. On each computer, the corners are rounded in tight curves. Around the back and sides, the curves each have a 3 mm radius, while the front of each computer has 2 mm radii curves. The curves soften the appearance of the machine, further contributing to the illusion of smaller size, but the tighter 2 mm curves give a slightly more formal and visually significant appearance to the interactive front bezel. Displays have even softer curves on their edges, with 5 mm corners on the back and sides and 7 or 9 mm curves around the front bezel. The rounded corners, like the surface lines, contribute to the identity of products as appliances, functionally capable and precise but small, elegant and approachable. One of frogdesign's initial employee's, Stephen Peart, said, "We wanted the designs to say 'I'm powerful, but OK. . . not 'I'm so strong that you should lock me up in a vault'" (Kunkel, 37). Though these surface details decrease the perceived size and increased the visual precision of Apple's products, Esslinger insisted that a more complex plastic molding process be used to obtain more rigorously geometrical cases in smaller sizes. Conventional plastic injection molding requires that the walls of a case be at a slight angle, called a "draft," to prevent a vacuum and allow the mold to pull away cleanly. This angle of one or two degrees was compensation for the smaller number and simplicity of tools necessary in molding and the correspondingly lower expense. Until frogdesign insisted that Apple move to "zero-draft" tooling, no computer manufacturer invested in the technology necessary for cases with flat perpendicular sides (Kunkel, 33). Esslinger convinced Jobs that zero-draft tooling was essential. As well as gaining a subtle but powerful precision to the shape of Apple's cases, it decreased their actual size. A zero-draft enclosure could fit more tightly around the components within, and, despite the tooling expense, the resulting decrease in plastic could eventually decrease costs. Moreover, zero-draft molding, being an unusual, complex and expensive technology, helped prevent a growing problem for Apple: unauthorized clones. Counterfeit Apple II computers had appeared using substandard components but cases identical to Apple's own. The precision in appearance that Apple's products gained with the zero-draft tools was not even technically feasible for most manufacturers (Kunkel, 33). The precise appearance of Snow White cases was accompanied by a new badge. Jobs and Manock had altered the familiar Apple badge with a chocolate-brown background for the Lisa and the original Macintosh, but only to have the Apple logo diamond-cut so as to appear three-dimensional and glossy. Frogdesign simplified the badge even further, eliminating the background and embedding the distinctive 6-colour Apple symbol directly into the plastic of the products while printing model names on the adjacent surface. This elegant detail is still used today. The Snow White language built a sense of coherence throughout all Apple's products, appearing consistently on computers, monitors, numerous peripheral devices, and even on the plugs of cables. Snow White lines were added to the front of Lisa's case when it was adapted to become the short-lived Macintosh XL in January 1985. However, despite Esslinger's later disappointment, it was not used for the original Macintosh. Esslinger had had time to change Manock and Oyama's design for the Macintosh, which was still being tooled in August 1983, but the insular Mac team would have rebelled at the work of two of their members being usurped. The team was devoted to Manock, and they would not let his design be interrupted, even if it seemed provincial relative to Snow White (Kunkel, 38). Instead, the first Snow White computer was the Apple IIc, a version of the Apple II small enough to be portable. Apple IIc (1984) A year after the release of the Apple IIc, frogdesign began work on the final major version of Wozniak's Apple II design. For the Apple IIgs, the Snow White elements are less expressive and more formal; it is a hybrid between the "pure" Snow White of the IIc and the later "corporate" Snow White of the Macintosh SE and the versions of the Macintosh II which appeared in the late 1980s. Apple IIgs (1986) Macintosh SE (1986) Macintosh II (1986) Macintosh IIcx (1989) To the influence of frogdesign (1983-85) To the Apple IIc Home \|\| Introduction \|\| Historiography \|\| 1-Cottage industry \|\| 2-Emerging standards \|\| 3-Macintosh 4-frogdesign \|\| 5-Corporate focus \|\| Conclusion \|\| Bibliography & links