December 1, 2011· scvtalk.com · Blogger (SCVTalk 4.0) · Wayback capture

On Industrial Design & Snobbery

By Rider — Jeff Wilsonidentified by the editor; not printed in the publication

For a long time I mocked Apple users for spending 40-60% more on a computer than I did, all so they could point at how smoothly a mouse cursor moved across the screen or geek out on fonts.

"It's a tool whose purpose is to help you get stuff done, not a piece of art, you fools" I thought.

But after reading most of the Steve Jobs biography, I'm starting to understand why Mac users are such snobs about fonts, color accuracy, and product design. What's more, I'm realizing that I'm more like them and Steve Jobs than I thought.

Here's how: Everyone is a snob about something.

Steve Jobs and, by extension, Apple users are snobs about the look, feel, and design of electronic products. I happen not to be: give me a black box with fast components, a good clicky keyboard, and I'll make that computer perform regardless of how it looks. If it's nice to look at, well that's just gravy!

But in other areas, I'm a total snob, as bad as any iTard whining about mouse cursors. For example, bicycles. My main bicycle cost more than a used Hyundai and the best feature about it is not that it's lightweight or super high performance, but rather that it was handcrafted by a master bike maker in Massachusetts for me. Have a look:

If you were standing next to me and my Seven Alaris right now, I'd probably be going on and on about the masterful welds made to join all the titanium tubes. "It's really difficult and time consuming to weld titanium, you see" I'd tell you, probably in a low tone of voice to emphasize how important this was to me. "You have to weld the tubes inside a chamber filled with inert gas!" I'd exclaim, getting excited now, while you rolled your eyes and glanced at your watch, looking for an excuse to leave. If you asked a question about the welds, I'd probably go on for another 20 minutes about them.

So notice: you probably don't think much about how a bicycle is welded together just like I don't think much about how a mouse cursor flows across a computer screen or whether a font is anti-aliased or not. But we're both the same! We're both place value on a product because its design and quality transcends function & performance.

When I realized this, it was a breakthrough moment. I now realize why it took Steve Jobs eight weeks to select a washer and dryer when he got married and settled down in 1991 (he chose a high end German brand because of its design and laundry workflow philosophy). What's more, I realized I'm a snob about all sorts of things: watches (I only wear watches with fancy Swiss mechanical or quartz movements) and radios (I really dig the old Hallicrafter and Grundig radios not because they perform particularly well but because they have large knobs and big glowing dials and were hand built).

I have a friend who met a guy who was into antique fishing poles the way I'm into bicycle welds, Mac fans are into polished aluminum and audiophiles are into $1000 headphones. Antique fishing poles, can you believe it?

I could very easily (and probably will) drift towards being a complete and total coffee snob who spends as much time thinking about the industrial design of my coffee implementing instrument and the beans as I do drinking coffee.

Everyone is a snob about something. I bet you can think of a few examples in your own life. It's as close to a hard and fast rule of modern American consumer life as anything you'll come across.

So thank you to Steve Jobs and Apple: I may never have been a fan of your products, but your perfectionism resonates and inspires me in other areas of my life and helps me justify my own snobbery.

Comments

5 · as published

ScottEDecember 1, 2011 at 11:54 am
I TOTALLY get the snobbery regarding your Seven Jeff. As to all that other stuff and iSh*t, no. That other stuff is unimportant. Period. By the way, have you seen my new Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker? It's AWESOME! So efficient and well designed! Breaks down into blah blah blah ... OK, maybe I do get it too.
ScottEDecember 1, 2011 at 11:56 am
Also, your pedals are at completely the wrong angle for pics. Check "The Rules" (Velominati) Tsk tsk.
RiderDecember 1, 2011 at 11:57 am
Ha! I know that rule. The pic was old and taken when I didn't know the rule to make sure your pedals are parallel with the chain stay. Doh!
mike devlinDecember 1, 2011 at 12:14 pm
Excellent post, and I say that apart from the immense satisfaction of being understood. It's a real thing that's hard to convey to someone who doesn't share that particular snobbery (intensity? passion? insanity?). I could go on for hours about the book but parts that stuck a chord with me were the stories of the development of the Macintosh. Our family's first computer was a three year old Mac Plus, which came out about a year after the original Mac's introduction. It really struck me just how important their work was in my life. I'm not overstating to say that it was a personal revelation of skills, talents and interests that I hadn't pondered – and regrettably spent years fighting to deny. I never knew just how much certain people mattered to the way that computer came about, especially Bill Atkinson and Steve Jobs. At that point he was a glorified project manager, and the Mac was his product. The thread you see throughout the book is really instructive and I'm sure it applies to watches and bicycles and even fishing rods. The really great things require an incredible amount of perfectionism and craftsmanship, an attention to things most people think they can skimp on, and a great sense of taste. So many "pretty good" things have one of those, but the great things usually have it all. They don't happen by accident, they're almost always too expensive but they endure and inspire, even after they're obsolete. Did I say I loved the post?
RiderDecember 1, 2011 at 11:34 pm
Mike it's amazing you remember your first Mac Plus just like I remember my dad's TRS-80 Model 1, around about the same time the Apple II was being released. I remember sitting on his lap and staring at the screen and the big 5 1/4 inch floppies. I'm really fortunate that my dad was such a nerd; throughout the 80s & 90s he bought a Tandy 4, a Tandy 1400LT, a 386, 486, and Pentium. I learned that a PC was a machine, nearly infinitely configurable but also something to be discarded, something to value only insofar as its raw performance is concerned. If both you and I grew up with a shared Ferrari, I think I would have been more into the engine and you would have been into the process, materials, and design. So yeah, this: "The really great things require an incredible amount of perfectionism and craftsmanship, an attention to things most people think they can skimp on, and a great sense of taste. So many "pretty good" things have one of those, but the great things usually have it all. They don't happen by accident, they're almost always too expensive but they endure and inspire, even after they're obsolete." is what I learned from reading the Steve Jobs bio and I'm glad I did.