There is something very similar in the approach that Steve Jobs and Elon Musk have. They both focus on the human aspect and the aesthetics of their technology. Think about what a TESLA looks like. Sleek, minimalistic, user experience focused. Think about an iPhone. It is also sleek, minimalistic, user experience focused.
Steve Jobs and the revision of the Apple Logo
During Steve Jobs’s absence from Apple, the company slowly lost its way. Steve Jobs, however, busily worked on other ventures such as NeXT computers which became known for technologically advanced capabilities. Steve Jobs carefully designed even the brand image of the NeXT company. Jobs hired the famous graphic designer Paul Rand to create a brand identity. Eventually Apple purchased NeXT in 1997 for $429 million returned Steve Jobs as Apple CEO.
Under Steve Jobs leadership, Apple products stood apart from other computer products through their user friendly nature, form fitting design, and attractive appearance. Other computer manufacturers appeared to focus on specs and sales ads. Apple tried to make the appearance of its devices minimalistic, sleek, attractive, and recognizable. The devices stood out so much that people could recognize an iPhone or an iMac as contemporary pop art.
After Jobs returned to Apple, he simplified even the logo. The prior rainbow apple logo went away, and Jobs ushered in a newer, more minimalistic logo for the company. In a corporate identity guideline, Apple shared the approach it took:
“Like our products and our customers, the Apple brand continues to evolve. To reflect this, we’ve made some important changes to the Apple logo and how we use it, and how we expect our channel to use it, too. Don’t worry: We haven’t replaced the logo, just updated it. We’ll continue to reflect who we are and what we stand for as a company in the same timeless symbol: an apple with a bite taken out of it. We’ve reduced some of the clutter in the original design, however, and updated the way we use color and light. In other words, we’ve taken the same standards of style and innovation that make our products and our design unmistakable and applied them to the company logo. Instead of rainbow stripes, solid colors. Instead of just one solid color, a palette of logo colors to suit a variety of uses. Solid colors emphasize the timeless shape of the Apple logo”.
Apple comment on logo change
Elon Musk also cared about brand image.
Elon Musk included aspects of each company’s intention in the logo’s design. For example, the T in Tesla is like a cross section of an electric motor and the X in SpaceX follows a rocket trajectory. Even though simple, the design of the logos themselves provide some subtle meaning and feelings towards the company.
How do we know that Elon cares about the image? Both the SpaceX and Tesla logos designs originated from RO-Studio, a design firm based in New Jersey. The firm also introduced Musk to Franz von Holzhausen, who went on to become the Chief Designer at Tesla. When Tesla and SpaceX entered the markets, their respective markets were already saturated. Musk, like Jobs faced fierce competition. No new major players had emerged in either the space launch or car market in years. Many companies over the years tried to enter the space launch market. Just a few years after entering the market, Tesla now ranks in Consumer Reports’ 2020 as one of the best cars for consumers.
Elon Musk gave Franz von Holzhausen a clean sheet to design a new kind of car. Franz von Holzhausen took up the challenge and redefined electric cars from boxy golf carts to moving art. If you look back to sci-fi movies from the years before, you can almost see the future that was predicted in the concepts that Franz von Holzhausen helped bring to life. Sleek, simple designs focused on human experience and performance.
Why did this work?
Aside from Steve Jobs’ approach to provide a stable quality product, the design of Apple products pulled in key aspects of graphic design. I read a great article published on the New York Film Academy, where they described this approach:
“A minimalist design is a design that only uses the most essential elements, including basic shapes and limited color palettes, to create something that’s very simple yet memorable.”
The best minimalist designs do not clutter. The design focus is on the product. The designer uses essential elements only, eliminating needless graphical elements that may distract the user and affect both usability and readability. The simplicity of the design allows the user to focus on the function and output.
The less things to bombard the viewer, the more likely user can focus on the product or idea that is important. Negative space is crucial in the design. This means using limited layouts and color palettes while still making available only the most useful tools, such as intuitive and easy-to-find navigational elements.
To the example of the iPhone, the phone’s simple and sleek design with a minimalist Apple logo on the back and a blank space with a single button on the front capture the essence of the approach. The user of an iPhone can focus on what is important, the user experience.
Simplification.
Apple got rid of the keyboard and over the years just about all of the connections when other phone makers were still focused on making better keyboards. Apple made a better screen to replace the keyboard. You know Apple had something right, since all the other brands essentially now are making themselves look like an iPhone. Just pick up and look at the latest Huawei, Oppo, or Xiaomi.
In a similar fashion, a Tesla owner can enjoy what they set out to do. Drive. Or in some cases, sit back and let the car drive for you. If you think about the inside of a Tesla, it resembles an iPhone in many ways.
Tesla’s 17-inch portrait touchscreen dominates the dashboard, replacing all but a handful of physical buttons. The screen handles just about everything for you. Climate control, audio, navigation, hands-free phone, headlights, and even the sunroof. Tesla, like Apple, offers frequent software upgrades allowing the user experience and performance to improve over time. With a traditional design, once a physical button is designed in, it’s there for good.
There are still some key buttons and features that can also be controlled directly from the steering wheel, but the idea is simple. Simplification.
NASA looked at simplification as well.
Back in the 1980s, NASA’s logo was the sleek WORM logotype. (Read the full story of the history of the logo here) NASA opted to make a change in the Logo in the 1970s. NASA wanted to provide a more contemporary look along with the simplification of the printing. 1970s printing technology had difficulties reproducing the colors of the meatball in the printing process. The NASA logotype or “The Worm” simplified both the design and ability to reproduce. It featured a simple, red unique type style of the word NASA. The iconic NASA logotype was created by the firm of Danne & Blackburn. In 1984, President Reagan honored “the Worm” for its simplistic, yet innovative design.
Not everyone adored the new NASA logotype. Inside, there were mixed feelings. There were concerns for costs to change over and replace the older logo. Many people still liked the older logo better. In time, “the Worm” was cast aside.
On April 1, 1992, the new NASA administrator appointed by President George H. W. Bush, Daniel S. Goldin retired the logo and brought back “the meatball.”
NASA was able to thrive with multiple graphic designs. There was a place for both the meatball and the worm. However, in 1992, the 1970s brand was retired — except on clothing and other souvenir items — in favor of the original late 1950s graphic. But that wasn’t the end.
April 3, 2020, Jim Bridenstine NASA Administrator announced the return of the iconic NASA logotype. On the Falcon 9 rocket that will carry two American astronauts to the ISS for the first time since 2011 will be “the Worm” NASA logotype.
“I grew up inspired by @NASA missions during the era of the NASA worm. In fact, I was born in 1975, the year the NASA worm logo was first introduced. In the 80s, I had a NASA X-29 (my favorite plane) poster hanging in my room. It sported the NASA worm on its tail.”
— Jim Bridenstine NASA Administrator
Not only will NASA’s rocket, the car too!
NASA astronauts will be riding in style as they make the trip over to the launch pad. For the upcoming launch activities for the agency’s SpaceX Demo-2 test flight with NASA astronauts, Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley will be suited up in a sleek new SpaceX suit and ride in a Tesla with NASA logos adorning it.
Their trip to the International Space Station will be on the Crew Dragon vehicle which SpaceX developed as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Crew Dragon provides NASA with the ability to launch U.S. astronauts on American rockets and spacecraft from American soil for the first time since 2011.
Crew Dragon is to SpaceX as the iPhone is to Apple.
Just looking at Crew Dragon, you can see a massive simplification from the complexity of the Space Shuttle. SpaceX’s spacecraft differs greatly from any other previously designed capsule or even Boeing’s Starliner. Crew Dragon, like a Tesla, includes a touchscreen for the astronauts to operate. Older space vehicles included levers, buttons, switches, and more. The inside of the Space Shuttle cockpit, the astronauts got barraged with a plethora of choices.
Just like getting your first iPhone smartphone or Tesla, the SpaceX Crew Dragon takes some getting used to. During a May interview, Astronaut Hurley said during the teleconference:
“Growing up as a pilot my whole career, having a certain way to control the vehicles, this is currently different, but you know we went into it with a very open mind. The difference is that you’ve got to be very deliberate when you’re putting an input with a touchscreen relative to what you would do with a stick because when you’re flying an airplane, for example, by pushing [the controls] forward, it’s going to go down, I actually have to make a concerted effort to do that with a touchscreen.”
NASA and SpaceX are targeting 4:32 p.m. EDT Wednesday, May 27, for the launch of the Demo-2 flight, which will be the first time a commercially built and operated American rocket and spacecraft will carry humans to the space station. The launch, as well as other activities leading up to the launch, will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.
About The Author
Bill D’Zio
Co-Founder at WestEastSpace.com
Bill founded WestEastSpace.com after returning to China in 2019 to be supportive of his wife’s career. Moving to China meant leaving the US rocket/launch industry behind, as the USA and China don’t see eye to eye on cooperation in space. Bill has an engineering degree and is an experienced leader of international cross-functional teams with experience in evaluating, optimizing and awarding sub-contracts for complex systems. Bill has worked with ASME Components, Instrumentation and Controls (I&C) for use in launch vehicles, satellites, aerospace nuclear, and industrial applications.
Bill provides consulting services for engineering, supply chain, and project management.
From a Jobs obit I wrote for BusinessWeek:
Jobs was the master architect of Apple design. Often criticized for bouts of micromanagement and aesthetic activism, Steve’s spartan sensibilities accelerated the transition from hardware to software. By dematerializing the user interface well ahead of what others thought possible, Apple was able to shift the clutter of buttons and hardware to the flexible and much more lucrative domain of software and services. The physical thing was minimized to a mere vessel for code.
Again, this came naturally to Jobs, as it is how he lived his life, from sparse furnishings at home, to sartorial simplicity, to his war on buttons, from the mouse to the keyboard to the phone. Jobs felt a visceral agitation from the visual noise of imperfection. — https://flic.kr/p/ccdkPb or https://flic.kr/p/atvnG7
Hi Steve, thank you for taking the time to read and share your firsthand observations of both Steve Jobs & Elon Musk on Flickr, https://www.westeastspace.com, and Facebook. I appreciate the affirmation from you of my comparison of the minimalistic design approach taken by both Steve Jobs and Elon Musk took, since you had the firsthand experience with both. I feel this approach has greatly contributed to their success as architects and leaders revolutionizing the products they touch. The successful launch of the Crew Dragon will serve as a testimony to this design approach infused into SpaceX by Elon. Anxiously awaiting the launch while I observe from outside the US.
Thank you again and best regards, Bill