Apple creates some of the most iconic tech gadgets on the market, and a new report just revealed the secretive lab where the company designs them. Apple products stand out for a few different reasons. They're immensely popular, have unmatched brand recognition, and they sell like hotcakes every single year. Whether it be the iPhone, MacBook, or Apple Watch, they're devices that need no introduction.
But where are all of these things conceived? Since April 2017, Apple Park HQ has been the home for all things Apple. It's been featured numerous times over the years in Apple's keynote presentations — with Apple showcasing the building's gorgeous exterior, expansive hallways, and more. However, Apple's been very careful to not show too much of Apple Park's inner workings. Today, however, the curtain was just pulled back for the very first time.
The folks at Wallpaper recently had the opportunity to tour Apple Park's design studio and speak with some of the people on the team. This is the first time Apple's ever opened the doors of its design studio for people outside the company. As you'd probably expect, it looks just as stunning as the rest of Apple Park. The photo above shows one of the many design labs the team works in. The table is filled with tons of iconic Apple designs. There's a section with different AirPods cases, Apple's famous 'Hello' typography used on the Mac, and renders of the Apple Watch Series 7. The wall behind the team is filled with other Apple-related icons — such as ones for spatial audio, the iPhone's share button, and more.
A Reminder Of How Much Apple Cares About Design
The second picture above offers another view of Apple's design team in action. Here, they're seen working on the Apple Watch. They're comparing different styles of watch bands, watch faces, and various complications. There's even one section of the table dedicated just to compare different styles of the air quality index complication. It's no secret that design has always been one of Apple's greatest focuses, but it's still interesting to see photos like this that reinforce that idea.
This immense attention-to-detail is also revealed in some of the interviews Wallpaper conducted. One of the best examples of this is 'human factors researcher' Kristi Bauerly explaining how Apple created the AirPods design. As Bauerly says, "We [Apple] molded and scanned ears, worked with nearby academics, focusing on outer ears for the earbud design and inner ears for the acoustics." Wallpaper then explains that "Thousands of ears were scanned, and only by bringing them all together did the company find the ‘design space’ to work within."
Apple's made a lot of impactful design decisions with its products over the years. There's been the iPhone's notch, the squircle shape of the Apple Watch, and the revival of ports on the 2021 MacBook Pro. There's also talk of big design changes in Apple products next year — such as a notch-less iPhone 14 and a colorful MacBook Air. These are the rooms where all of those design elements are cultivated, tweaked, and refined. To get a look inside of them, even a brief one, is pretty amazing.
Source: Wallpaper