Elegant Technology

Ah roundrects, rectangles with rounded corners, visible everywhere in product design.

• Used to make manufacturing easier - an item with a radius is easier to remove from a mould or press.
• Used by designers to ’soften’ the visual appearance of a product and to make it more comfortable to the touch.
• Used to remove sharp edges and make things safer.

I was reminded of this fact whilst reading the interesting site Folklore.org; a site where the people who worked on the original Macintosh Computer have posted their stories.

It appears that even as far back as May 1981 Steve Jobs was obsessed with the roundrect when he challenged Bill Atkinson [the creator of quickdraw] to develop routines to draw them on the original Macintosh screen.

This obsession is still evident in Apple’s product design today. From the product case designs of computers and laptops, the new Airport Extreme, the iPod, and the OSX interface elements. One of the most blatant examples is the keyboard of the MacBook.

Could this be because Steve has the final say on design matters at Apple?

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