An Apple is Born (and tiny dudes in your head)

via Creativebits, a fascinating interview with Rob Janoff, original designer of the Apple logo.  Here’s a taste:

CB: What does the bite in the apple represents? Is it a reference to a computing term byte? Is it a reference to the biblical event when Eve bit into the forbidden fruit? Is the fruit itself referencing the discovery of gravity by Newton when an apple fell on his head while sitting under the tree?

RJ: Well, I’m probably the least religious person, so Adam and Eve didn’t have anything to do with it. The bite of knowledge sounds fabulous, but that’s not it. And, there is a whole lot of other lure about it. Turing the famous supposed father of computer science who committed suicide in the early 50′s was british and was accused of being homosexual, which he was. He was facing a jail sentence so he committed suicide to avoid all that. So, I heard one of the legends being that the colored logo was an homage to him. People think I did the colored stripes because of the gay flag. And, that was something really thought for a long time. The other really cool part was that apparently he killed himself with a cyanide laced apple. And, then I found out Alan Turing’s favorite childhood story was Snow White where she falls asleep forever for eating a poisoned apple to be woken up by the handsome prince. Anyway, when I explain the real reason why I did the bite it’s kind of a let down. But I’ll tell you. I designed it with a bite for scale, so people get that it was an apple not a cherry. Also it was kind of iconic about taking a bite out of an apple. Something that everyone can experience. It goes across cultures. If anybody ever had an apple he probably bitten into it and that’s what you get. It was after I designed it, that my creative director told me: “Well you know, there is a computer term called byte”. And I was like: “You’re kidding!” So, it was like perfect, but it was coincidental that it was also a computer term. At the time I had to be told everything about basic computer terms.

It makes me so happy to know that even the designers of the most iconic logos still do some of their best work on accident.  It’s fantastic that even when we don’t know why we do the things we do, there’s a part of our brain chugging along in secret, determined to make us look good.  Each of us has a tiny think tank in our heads in a little cold war situation room with glow-in-the-dark paint all over the walls and a dozen crazy impulses battling to make the best of every situation.  To know that you always have backup in your own head for any creative challenge: that’s reassuring.

Check out the whole article.  Rob Janoff comes off as such a nice, cool guy, and you won’t be disappointed.