How Apple introduced brushed metal

Remember when "brushed metal" dominated the look of Apple's software products, including OS X? Stephen Hackett at 512 Pixels does, and he's put together a look at its origins.

Brushed metal didn't debut with Mac OS X 10.3, as many believe. Instead, Hackett notes, the UI motif first slipped onto our screens with QuickTime 4.0 in 1999:

"The feature that's most remembered, of course, is its UI. Gone was the Platinum look that graced almost every single window in MacOS, replaced with a slick UI with embedded buttons, dials and more."

Hackett will publish more posts exploring the evolution and eventual demise of brushed metal. We're looking forward to it.