Apple & The Bauhaus
This article was originally published on DesignByCaleb.com May 8th, 2015
Apple is highly regarded as one of the most influential companies of all time. Through the tireless efforts and creative vision of Steve Jobs, and others, almost every company today asks the question “How would Apple do this?” when creating their product, website, or service offering.
But many of the same ideals that Apple represents directly come from the teachings of the Bauhaus. One of the quotes that designers regularly throw around, or post, on their Facebook wall and Twitter feed, is Jobs’ famous “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” This quote, however, shows specifically how much Jobs, and Apple as a whole, was influenced by Bauhaus.
The Bauhaus is widely regarded as one of the greatest influences of the modern era. Famous for its “uncluttered and clinical” (Bauhaus: The Face of the 20th Century) approach to design the Bauhaus very much focused on simplicity and elegance as the basis of modern design. “Ideas from all the advanced art and design movements were explored, combined, and applied to problems of functional design and machine production.” (Meggs, 326) The movement wasn’t about form over function, nor the other way around. “Aesthetics must play their part; the [object] needs to look attractive to the possible purchaser as well as to the [user]” (Bartram, 49). Apple products from the beginning took this concept to heart. The design of each product needed to be beautiful and simple. But, most importantly, if the product didn’t work, or was too complicated for the user, then the beauty didn’t matter. The function and the form go hand in hand.
Take the iPod as an example. The iPod is what revolutionized the music industry leading people towards the digital music trend and away from transferable media. The iPod, however, wasn’t the first portable MP3 player nor was it the one that had the most features and functionality. The iPod was simple and effective. Bauhaus modernism first utilized this approach of striping down the object, like furniture, to its bare essentials while maintaining its beauty. Looking at Wagenfeld’s Bauhaus lamps compared directly to the fourth generation iMac you see that these objects are nearly identical in their aesthetics.
The Bauhaus was also known for its bright primary color palette. Early versions of the iMac featured a very similar color palette. Though not directly primary colors Apple utilized these bright colors throughout many of their designs and maintained a strict palette. Even today, each new product they come out with is available in three colors. The new color palette, however, is much more sophisticated than the early iMac colors but the strictness remains. If you don’t like Silver, Space Gray or Gold you might want to shop another brand.
These colors, however, aren’t chosen arbitrarily. Just as the Bauhaus was careful to use primary colors for their simplicity, Apple is using colors based on the materials they’ve chosen. Bauhaus believed in technology and evolution in production. “They believed the machine should be exploited, creatively.” (Bartram) Like the Bauhaus, Apple has chosen manufacturing processes that push the boundaries of conventional wisdom and methodology. Several years ago Apple introduced the aluminum uni-body for the Macbook Pro. This new concept allowed for the minimization of craftsmanship. No longer were all the pieces held together with screws, tabs and connectors. Now, the case held all the components with minimal connectors. Even the choice of aluminum itself was intentional for its cooling characteristics and the ability to pull heat away from the processors.
Even the user experience of Apple products is based on Bauhaus ideals. Like the Bauhaus, Apple almost exclusively uses sanserif typefaces. Both believe that typography is a “tool of communication. … communication must never be impaired by … aesthetics (Meggs, 329).” The visual aesthetic of all of Apple’s products focus on simplicity and functionality rather. Every icon, image or concept Apple creates is boiled-down to the very simplest form. Like Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Bauhaus final director said, “less is more (Meggs, 334).”
If it’s true that “the Bauhaus invented the modern art student (Bauhaus: The Face of the 20th Century),” then it must also be true that Steve Jobs was one of these modern art students. It’s clear that the Bauhaus’ influence not only permeates design and modern furniture but also one of the most regarded businesses in the world today.
