Eye of the beholder and all that
I've mentioned that my office mate is a big Mac/Apple fan, and also a techie person who really likes gadgets (she does not need to own every new thing Apple produces, but she needs to know about them. Yes, of course she's also a reference librarian.)
We generally coexist peacefully, but once in a while we kind of look at each other like o_O. The other day we had one of those moments--she was talking about the design of Apple products, and remarked on how, just aside from the productivity and so on, she really appreciated the fact that Apple designs are "beautiful." I've heard that before from Apple fans--people talking about how, if you're going to have a device anyway, why not have one that's beautiful. I can think of at least three examples offhand where it's come up recently, either in conversation or in media.
Apparently I am not a tech nerd at all, because not only is "beautiful" not one of my requirements, I would not even think of using the term to describe an electronic device. "Elegant" might describe something particularly well-designed, but I don't think I even think about the aesthetic appeal of an electronic device--I mean, I don't want something huge and clunky and actively ugly, but otherwise I'm pretty easy to please. (I use a Windows laptop and have no trouble with it, and my smartphone is a BlackBerry, which I like.) And again--I just do not perceive computers or phones or such devices as beautiful. My eyes do not perceive them that way.
Now, my office mate would probably have a similar reaction if I rhapsodized about the aesthetics of Gretsch guitars or Spitfires (and I am pretty sure she would have me carted away if I tried to explain to her just how beautiful I find the song of a Merlin engine.) Which doesn't mean we're wrong, we're just different (as Willie says.)
I would like to know, among people who do respond to the aesthetics of electronics--are there non-Apple devices that are generally held to be beautiful? Or is that really a strength of Apple design, at least among those who are able to notice that kind of thing?
We generally coexist peacefully, but once in a while we kind of look at each other like o_O. The other day we had one of those moments--she was talking about the design of Apple products, and remarked on how, just aside from the productivity and so on, she really appreciated the fact that Apple designs are "beautiful." I've heard that before from Apple fans--people talking about how, if you're going to have a device anyway, why not have one that's beautiful. I can think of at least three examples offhand where it's come up recently, either in conversation or in media.
Apparently I am not a tech nerd at all, because not only is "beautiful" not one of my requirements, I would not even think of using the term to describe an electronic device. "Elegant" might describe something particularly well-designed, but I don't think I even think about the aesthetic appeal of an electronic device--I mean, I don't want something huge and clunky and actively ugly, but otherwise I'm pretty easy to please. (I use a Windows laptop and have no trouble with it, and my smartphone is a BlackBerry, which I like.) And again--I just do not perceive computers or phones or such devices as beautiful. My eyes do not perceive them that way.
Now, my office mate would probably have a similar reaction if I rhapsodized about the aesthetics of Gretsch guitars or Spitfires (and I am pretty sure she would have me carted away if I tried to explain to her just how beautiful I find the song of a Merlin engine.) Which doesn't mean we're wrong, we're just different (as Willie says.)
I would like to know, among people who do respond to the aesthetics of electronics--are there non-Apple devices that are generally held to be beautiful? Or is that really a strength of Apple design, at least among those who are able to notice that kind of thing?