A Minor Design Mystery
I was visiting a company in the Boston area last Tuesday, and happened to walk by this awesome Vespa scooter accessorized with an Apple Sticker. Two stylish icons of design, separated by some 40 years of technology. Yet, they both somehow draw from the same pool of associations.
This was quite a mystery until I found this photo on Flickr, showing Steve Jobs (with Apple hardware design deity Steve Wozniak on the right) wearing his trademark turtleneck at age 21.
Jobs still seems to favor turtlenecks today. So the chain of association goes something like this:
Apple Computer
is connected to...
Steve Jobs
who wears...
Turtlenecks
which were favored by...
The Mod Scenesters
who rode...
Vespa Scooters
Mystery solved! I have my "hip" sister to thank for that, because she's the one who told me about the whole scooter thing in the first place. In celebration, we must all watch The Lambretta Twist and smile! Beep beep! :-)
Have a look at the design work and life of Eva Zeisel. She is said to have influenced more than three generations of product designers in the 20th century. A reaction to modernism’s coldness, her work had elegance, grace and a fun personality. She had a very long career and chances are, if a product has that aspect that you identified with both Apple and Vespa, the designer was heavily influenced by Zeisel.
I wish I could say that I drew this connection myself, but I read a great article about her on the web that talked about her influence on industrial design in general and Apple in particular. She’s got a site at EvaZeisel.org. I adore her.