Now revealed: Apple's secret testing room for packaging designs
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According to the book, the testing room for package design is located in a walled-off section inside Apple's main marketing building. Access requires a special badge and once inside, you will find designers testing hundreds of boxes in order to find the one perfect unboxing experience. In his book, Lashinsky makes a very interesting point. He notes that for Apple, the cheap box gets as much attention as the expensive electronic gadget that goes inside the box. A passage from the book captures the intensity and obsessiveness of Apple's package designers. "One after another, the designer created and tested an endless series of arrows, colors, and tapes for a tiny tab designed to show the consumer where to pull back the invisible, full-bleed sticker adhered to the top of the clear iPod box. Getting it just right was this particular designer’s obsession. What’s more, it wasn’t just about one box. The tabs were placed so that when Apple’s factory packed multiple boxes for shipping to retail stores, there was a natural negative space between the boxes that protected and preserved the tab."
This search for the perfect customer experience, even when it comes to just opening a box, comes from the late Steve Jobs who allegedly went through 2,000 shades of beige before finding the perfect one for the Apple II. And even though customers don't usually get to see the inside of Apple's devices, Jobs wanted the innards to look perfect. In Walter Issacson's biography on Steve Jobs, Apple's top designer Jonathan Ive was quoted as saying, "I love the process of unpacking something. You design a ritual of unpacking to make the product feel special. Packaging can be theater, it can create a story."
The video below was made internally by Microsoft as a joke. It shows what the Apple iPod packaging would look like if it were designed by the gang at Redmond.
source: MacRumors
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18 Comments
1. andro. posted on 24 Jan 2012, 19:35 11
This has to be the most ridiculous and unnecessary apple 'news' story article yet and is soley made to try keep apple hype going.
However the room is for testing how to get the box made with as cheap as possible materials while also being able to fool ifans into thinking the new boxing changes everything again and paying more for it for the 'experience'.
The box also is being tested in different formats to see which design would be harder for ifans to use and thus would increase the possibility of an ifan dropping an iphone by mistake apon taking the iphone out of the box,forcing them to by yet another iphone.
7. stealthd posted on 24 Jan 2012, 21:44 3
Thanks for contributing to the ad clicks. Thanks to you these "ridiculous and unnecessary" articles are a huge success.
13. andro. posted on 25 Jan 2012, 06:37 2
I actually didn't click on the video it would have been a waste of time,I'll let ifans like yourself click and watch the same apple videos constantly over and over again to drive up the apple 'views'!
16. TheLibertine posted on 25 Jan 2012, 10:20 0
Cant agree. I think, its interesting what is going on in the mind of such a company. I also do not think Apple is in need such PR...
2. aztaxia12295 posted on 24 Jan 2012, 19:46 1
after reading the article
i thought
WTF do htc phones have to do with this?
3. buggerrer posted on 24 Jan 2012, 20:21 1
i getting sick of this " copying " sh!t with all apple iSh33p kids ! grow up ppl!
4. -box- posted on 24 Jan 2012, 20:30 1
That's beyond OCD: that's CDO
(it's a joke, putting it in alphabetical order)
5. remixfa posted on 24 Jan 2012, 20:39 1
honestly.. who really goes bonkers over boxing. seriously. if your that into it. buy me an SGS3 and ill let you keep the box. lol
that video was cute though. it shows MS's funnier side since its them making fun of them, and the sad fact is, thats what most MS boxes look like. lolol
9. ilia1986 posted on 24 Jan 2012, 23:58 0
Hell - I'll let you even keep the user manual!
And the plastic wraps which protect the screen and the phone.
Just give the SGS3 to meeeeeee :P
18. iKingTrust (banned) posted on 25 Jan 2012, 16:21 0
I do. I love the Apple boxes. I save all of them
6. thelegend6657 posted on 24 Jan 2012, 20:41 0
I care about the product , not the box . Apple
8. biophone posted on 24 Jan 2012, 21:45 1
Its cool opening up an iPhone. It just feels special and different. Like they really put a lot effort in it. I know its not a big deal but I wouldn't expect anything less from apple. It just seems how it should be.
10. wumberpeb posted on 25 Jan 2012, 01:45 2
Opening an iPhone box is akin to watching molasses come out of a jar. Hold the top and wait for the bottom to slide out on its own into the table. 15 seconds later and wow! Wait, did I get a 4 or a 4S? I can't tell, the phone looks exactly the same. I waited for this? Dammit!
14. andro. posted on 25 Jan 2012, 06:41 2
careful now,leave that iphone drop out the wrong way and it'll easily shatter apon impact with the table,they're fragile
17. EclipseGSX posted on 25 Jan 2012, 16:07 0
just carry around the box and show your friends, its the only thing that says its an "s" LOL
