“Here’s to… the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes, the ones who see things differently…”
Enjoy an unaired version of Apple’s 1997 “Think Different” commercial that was narrated by Steve Jobs (via laughingsquid.com).
As noted on our sister blog, Sallyportal (‘Think Different”), the death of Steve Jobs (an “almost” alumnus) has occasioned many tributes to his “archetypal Reedie” persona. He was unconventional, driven, and a bit subversive. Reed coursework influenced him deeply, whether or not he was officially enrolled, especially his study of calligraphy at the hand of Robert Palladino. An article on Smithsonian.com has gone so far as to suggest that mastering the lettered hand led Jobs to think like an artist.
Steve Jobs’ sense of design and artistry set him apart from other engineers, to be sure, but I like to think that his intuition and personal taste are what made the first Macintosh, and consequent inventions, so distinctive. He is quoted as observing that “Taste is trying to expose yourself to the best things humans have done and then trying to bring those things into what you are doing.” This concept of applying human qualities to technological devices may be at the heart of the appeal. While the Smithsonian article talks about typography triggering emotion, an essay by Adam Penenberg ’85 takes this idea further by arguing that the design of Apple products moves people to “ascribe human values” to them.
