The Apple effect on design

I guess Apple design has influenced me, quite recently in fact. I was looking for an external monitor to go with my MacBook (aluminum), but I didn't really want to spend $900 on Apple's LED Cinema Display. I was looking at all the other monitors, and they were all glossy black, which I guess looks nice, but wouldn't fit with my MacBook, keyboard, and mouse, which are all Apple. I found myself really wishing other companies would make monitors with aluminum, just so it would fit with the rest of the stuff on my desk.

I miss the good ol' days when they were making staplers and other office tools with translucent blue plastic...

Alienware is an example of company that creates new design and makes computers that are completely different, compared to Apple's.
Like it or not (I don't), it's nice to see they have their own style.

When Apple released the candy-colored iMacs, suddenly there was a great deal of surplus of those raw materials in the plastics industry. It became really inexpensive for PC case manufacturers to use clear/colored plastics in everything, so hubs, routers, minitower cases etc. became candy colored too. You could attribute that trend of ugly iMac knockoff colors to Apple, since they enabled that trend by making a manufacturing process cheaper for everybody, for better or worse.

design is and always will be subjective. for example those speakers look like they go with the back end of a late 1990's ford taurus

While many manufactures make good products in terms of design, apple was the firs computer manufacturer, and still one of the few, that switched philosophy about designing.
Where others ask themselves the question: Ok, we have this budget, these functional/technical requests, and this hardware. How can we put this together and what can we make of it in terms of design and where can we compromise?
Apple says: Ok, we want it to do this and it must look like this. How can make that happen, what hardware do we need and how much will that cost?

It is this philosophy that makes apple one of the few manufactures that sets the baselines in terms of design.

Of course even apple makes compromises on design as well, like every manufacturer must, but one should always make them with his philosophy foremost in mind.

minimalism will die again.

As I started reading this item, with the (Japanese) TV on in the background, an ad came on for a new bra called the 'iBra.' So how's that for timely?

Here's the US version:

http://wacoal-america.com/ibra.html

Not sure which button to push though.

I agree, it makes me cringe when other companies call their products 'i' something. Same goes with apps in the app store; what's wrong with just 'Fruit Machine' or 'Fighter'? It just looks and sounds daft if it isn't an Apple Product.

I think other companies should be like apple, but in the sense that they should strive to create something completely original or at least iconic.
Most companies just want to make a quick buck and they'll copy, lie and mash together anything to achieve that.

I think the only company that is on par with Apple is Nintendo, and guess what, everyone is copying them too.

When a company is thinking about making a new product, they should ask themselves 'Can we make a better one of these?' instead of 'Oh look that's making money, lets make one, it don't matter if its crap, someone will buy it'. I understand companies need to make money, but can't they do it with passion? Apple gets that, others see, but they don't understand. They think, if we make products that look like that, people will love them, but that's not the case.

I agree that people have come to expect that certain degree of nuance that Apple provides, but I think it is more the fact that nuance exists, rather than what creates that nuance, If that makes sense, lol.

Basically, other companies need to replicate Apples process, not the result.

good design is quite trendy. I like Apple's "clean design" approach. but sometimes, it can get rather predictable and boring. the Apple stores are designed with similar "clean" approach, but the more I see them, the more they remind me of a rich man's bachelor pad - a little too industrial - stark and no real color or warmth.

but if I had the choice, I'd rather have things clean and tidy instead of clutter-city like most other stores!

I think they could do more fun designs to break-it-up once in a while...