iPod - 2001 and 2002

This was an entirely new object – a small, personal product that could store 4,000 songs. The challenge was to develop an interface which would be simple and completely intuitive. Ultimately the solution for the interface became the icon of the device.

As such a radically new product, the iPod was inherently so compelling that it seemed appropriate for the design effort to be to simplify, remove and reduce. The construction was similarly informed as we developed schemes that were completely sealed – no battery doors, no screws and no product labels. The polycarbonate/ABS twin-shot resin top snaps into the polished stainless steel back. Even the graphics are laser etched on the stainless steel.

eMac - 2002

The eMac has a 17” CRT (cathode ray tube) display which is flat unlike the spherical screen of the original iMac. Requiring a fundamentally new design approach we developed a single form that would naturally support the display at an angle to enable use without the optional tilt or swivel stand.

The apparently simple form is in reality a complex transition of a sphere to a square front face. As this pure form and surface would have been compromised by traditional cooling schemes we developed an efficient forced air system to exhaust hot air from the annular plenum at the back of the product.

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