SpaceTM's Mark Gets to the Core of Apple

 

Have you ever wondered why Apple computers chose an apple as its company name and logo? It was nothing to do with how tasty they are, as SpaceTM's Mark discovers.

The Apple logo is the perfect symbol to represent the stylish computer giant, but not the most telling.

Initially created in 1977 by Rob Janoff, it is simple, yet loaded with relevant symbolism. The humble fruit's relationship with the pursuit of knowledge is, of course, largely as a result of its significance in the Garden of Eden story. But there's also scientist Sir Isaac Newton's famous Eureka moment, not to mention the possibility it references Alan Turing, the early computing pioneer, who died by eating an apple laced with cyanide. Computer buffs might also recognise a play on words, because "byte" is the technical term for a small unit of computer memory.

Initially it was striped with the colours of the rainbow – arranged in the wrong order – which itself is open for analysis. (Man re-orders nature and creates a new freedom with his computing power? Who knows – the theory and lore surrounding this logo are exhaustive but never confirmed or denied.)

Personally, I was glad it was stripped back to its current monochrome minimalism in 1997 (just in time for Apple to earn its style status thanks to sleek designs and society-altering music technologies).

Yet even major global corporations start from humble beginnings and, way before the multi-million dollar marketing takes over, every start-up business knows the importance of a logo. Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs and Ron Wayne were clearly no different.

The first logo for Apple, below, was created by Ron Wayne and only lasted a year. The curiously antiquated line-etching shows Newton under the tree with the apple poised to drop. Design-wise it is light years behind the lore-shrouded minimal classic, but I find it more telling.

Written on the frame is: "Newton. A mind forever voyaging through strange seas of thought... alone."

Even today, with computer hardware commonplace the complexities of it are beyond most people. How lonely must it have been harboring the initial vision? The image of Newton, alone with the thoughts in his head, gives a real insight into how difficult it must be to be a real pioneer.

They say it is lonely at the top but this gem of a logo hints that it is lonelier when building from the ground up.

If, like me, you enjoy indulging your inner-geek, download the original logo and the entire operating manual for the first Apple computer by clicking here.