It’s been said that Apple’s strength comes from simplicity. It actually comes from extremely detailed simplicity or, to be more precise, its strength comes from multi-layered refined simplicity. That is not simplicity at all *.
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What we call “simple and natural” is never simple or natural, unless it is nature itself (which, nevertheless, is not simple at all). Think about some “natural” postures of Da Vinci’s characters, or Shakespeare’s human profiles: these simple and natural characters are only perceived as such. In order to obtain that, the artists have to fully master the art technics of displaying only the simplicity and naturalness. Both Da Vinci’s and Shakespeare’s characters are extremely complex and they require an exaggerated amount of refinement and detail.
For an artist, creating simplicity and naturalness may be the hardest tasks ever. If he screws up just a little bit, the output is perceived as false, kitsch or even repulsive. That’s where Apple’s exaggerated attention to details comes from. These guys are building technology with artistic technics, which is the opposite of both industry and art methods. Apple chose to build only one phone, one tablet, one desktop computer and now it seems they have chosen to build one laptop. Every category has only one item. This item though, concentrates the attributes of its entire category it belongs to, like a fractal. The bad news is Apple cannot be copied by engineers only, nor can it be copied by artists only. In order to compete with Apple, you have to be an engineer guiding himself by artistic procedures. That is the secret of building anything that can stand a chance against Apple’s products.
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