Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, iMac, Apple
iMac design vs. Audi
I really doubt the iMac's design was directly inspired by the car-- I don't see Apple designers sitting around a table while one of them looks out the window and is suddenly inspired by something he sees driving past. Rather, my guess is, as ConceptCar says, that they're both headed towards the same things: form mixed with function, and grace mixed with power.
But then again, who knows what inspired Apple to make that logo black? The iMac certainly costs about as much as my first car did.
Thanks, Christian!
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
MrShabby said 3:27PM on 8-11-2007
LOL
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a ham sandwich said 3:29PM on 8-11-2007
yeah really. LAME!
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fcgrabo said 3:48PM on 8-11-2007
Jalopnik did an article earlier this week about how Steve Jobs wanted the original Mac to look like a Porsche.
Connection? Maybe, maybe not.
Link:
http://jalopnik.com/cars/why-1984-wasn.t-like-1984/jobs-wanted-mac-to-look-like-a-porsche-287360.php
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Greg said 4:58PM on 8-11-2007
Actually, not so lame. Automobile magazine once described the Audi TT as the car that Apple could have designed. And I think it's even more true of the latest one.
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yashrg said 5:07PM on 8-11-2007
I like the contrast between black and white, makes it pop out more. exactly why some people swear by the black macbook.
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St3phen said 5:22PM on 8-11-2007
Well, FWIW, the last time I saw Jon Ive at the Apple campus, he was leaning against his Audi A8 talking to a sandals-and-shorts-wearing Steve Jobs....
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Sidep said 5:48PM on 8-11-2007
this is what i had to say at my blog
http://imac.selfip.com/~sid/Site/apple%20thought/613FB8A4-2BC6-4BA5-8FF7-4759715A8FA5.html
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Nick said 7:01PM on 8-11-2007
I sure hope the new iMac doesn't have as many problems as an Audi -
http://x018.uploaderx.net/x/jdpowerdepend1.jpg
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mingistech said 8:04PM on 8-11-2007
I'll take it! Audi makes some of the most beautiful cars on the road. At Ford we have meetings about their glass to metal design with no foam i
or rubber fillers used. They are quite an amazing company.
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Henrik L said 8:43PM on 8-11-2007
I love mac, and I just bought an Audi A4, which I love as well, sp I guess it's true.
But I would prefer a RS4, just as I'd prefer a MacBook Pro. :)
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larry said 9:28PM on 8-11-2007
Hmm, they do look vaguely similar.
They should call it the Aud-iMac
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DrWho said 9:42PM on 8-11-2007
@#7, Whats a furtleneck?
thought i’d point this out
:D
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Yanone said 10:55PM on 8-11-2007
Quite interesting.
Also think about how Apple has in the past few years influenced product design across industries. Some years ago everything in media devices of all kinds and elsewhere turned aluminium/brushed metal. Even coffee machines, water cookers. Definitely daily life products that car designers use and are at least indirectly influenced by. Or the other way round, can't tell. Then, more recently, hi-end products turned white. And I see more white "hi-end consumer cars" like the Audi models and some SUVs here in Germany recently. And the funny thing: they definitely stand out in the urbanness, just like the white iBook/iMac/MacBook did in computer case design. What I don't understand is that Apple sticks to this brushed metal, years after it was considered chic. And the black border around the screen doesn't do it for me. It definitely blurs the very clean product design Apple had, despite colours and surfaces. But then also the interface design changes in 10.5 don't do it for me either. What these transparency and reflection things do is completely beyond me.
But they say that consumers and pros liked the design of the new iMac. I guess it's true. That also shows me that Apple has turned from a true innovation laboratory to a huge company that follows consumer trends instead of engineering them. 10.5 is the best example. Consumers want shiny reflections and stuff, they've seem them on Vista and elsewhere. Let's just give them what they want. Easy. I guess that simply leaves a minority of interface and product design savvy people in disadvantage.
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mazzo said 7:59AM on 8-12-2007
Well, looks like germans have some influence on Jonathan Ive ;-) ;-) Take a look at this:
http://www.flankenlauf.com/journal/?bid=17
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Arne said 8:06AM on 8-12-2007
It's common known that jonathan Ive and his staff all drive AUDI'S.
See this link and read comment #8:
http://www.mikematas.com/2005/08/new-car.html
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oldefortarn said 11:06AM on 8-12-2007
btw- what looks like a current gen audi a4 figures prominently in the new Keynote theme "Blueprint" as well
apple loves the 4 rings!
http://gallery.mac.com/mvoshell#100085/Picture-202&bgcolor=black
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MyMac said 2:24PM on 8-12-2007
The original post was in ConceptCar.co.uk according to
http://www.mymac.cc/
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benjamin said 5:45PM on 8-12-2007
My car is silver and has a black border around the edge of the windscreen, but is not an Audi.
Someone looked far too much into this.
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Jirachi.Rob said 10:24PM on 8-12-2007
I think the new iMac looks like the old DS's top screen.
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ChuckEye said 12:31PM on 8-13-2007
I have a friend, a designer, who is a Color Nazi(tm). He's part of the cabal that decides what colors are going to be popular in 2 or 3 years. He correctly predicted the Bondi Blue craze at least a few years before the original iMac, and now days he designs dashboards for Audi. I'm not surprised in the least.
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