Tone & Color in Industrial Design

TONE - "the most important and necessary element in the visual experience...tone is, in fact, light or the absense of light" (Dondis, pg 21).

The use of TONE (on many levels) - was a very important element in Apple's line of iMacs and iBooks beginning in 1998.   

• At the very basic level, Apple's translucent design creates the illusion of changing tone, (depending on what angle it is viewed at), from solid tone to sheer.

• According to Jane Veeder's lecture notes - "Tone is related to questions of survival at barest minimum."  It could be said that when Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1996 he needed to wow consumers to bring them back, otherwise the company, which he founded, would never survive.  He did just that, when he introduced his line of brightly colored iMacs in 1998.

• The use of TONE: Communication - Abstract: the power to create mood.  Apple was changing the perception that a PC was only for business.  With an iMac or iBook having a computer was FUN, Stylish ... an Educational and/or Entertainment device that could be used by the entire family.

• Additionally Apple set the TONE for future products that other industries would design, using the same brightly colored, translucent plastics.

TONE interacting with ONE of the other visual design elements.  

Not only had Apple set the TONE for color in the design of these new computers, they set a new TONE for Shape! While other computer companies were still producing dull colored, box shaped PC's - Apple broke the "square" mold, by producing an organically curved computer.

COLOR is operating in Apple's use of translucent candy/fruit-colored plastics which inspired (set the tone for) similar designs in other consumer devices. Apple continued its trend of using transparent colored plastics for the shell, releasing others product in multiple colors.  It should be noted that Apple wanted to create a product that would have market appeal for everyone, keeping a more subdued design (less curves, shaded black/silver) for business professionals.

Apple's whole marketing campaign for iMac/iBook was all about the COLOR < click here

The original “Bondi blue” color, used on the very first iMac, was a blue-green hue named after Australia’s Bondi Beach shoreline. The five colors of the iBook Clamshell Series. (Top row: "Tangerine" and "Blueberry" Bottom row: "Graphite", "Indigo" and "Key Lime")

"Since perception of color is the single most strongly emotional part to the visual process, it has great force and can be utilized to express and reinforce visual information to great advantage. Color not only has universally shared meaning through experience, but also has separate worth informationally through symbolically attached meaning." (Dondis pg 55). Just as the Bondi Blue, symbolically brings to mind the beach shoreline in Australia, three of the colors above are symbolically representative of the fruits they were named after.

COLOR is interacting with ONE of the other visual design ELEMENTS. The most interesting relationship to color with these particular Apple products are the sleek lines and curves that they are composed of.  The Color is not Stark or Cold, it is bright, warm and friendly.  Likewise, the line and shape of the design is not Sharp or Harsh, it gentle and smooth and very inviting.

Photo resources used for the images included in this blog:

http://sasasekulic.info/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/ibook-flavors.jpg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggcmYdPfVVtXrPG5pFzb5dmQMmbY9fkP3sOd0uK8MP4YTNgA4M-nQMIvJWCbTZnihk2_0SRFb3pWA5UtB-IKvJbW8wZdu6OL5DB2B6j8z3dmu37GyzJLjenexAOTyEuhFjp9l-MV-KRkOV/s400/imac-g3-combo.jpg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8E_ThBke075sTYtT3-QcrAwwCPVS6BkNJyzDx71B5hr5fpXNciLLIEsTcHE54HAHLl5W-cOE-ub3WsG9fTmWNDX3GE-tJK0adnfacrdyTFMWlk-KvDYIjKxNbWME62hbEgHPQn9nZHCZV/s1600/apple_logo_rainbow.gif

http://wallpapers-diq.org/wallpapers/30/Apple_Logo_on_the_Move.jpg