in german designer hartmut esslinger’s new book ‘design forward’, the founder of frog design overviews ‘strategic design’,
and how innovative progression has sparked creative change in the consumer market, especially for one of the most successful
american companies ever built: apple.the official book launch happened at the opening event of an exhibition ‘german design standards – from bauhaus to globalisation’
on german design classics, during the BODW 2012 business of design week in hong kong. the exhibition has been a collaboration
between the hong kong design institute (HKDI), the neue sammlung - the international design museum munich - and the red dot
design museum in essen, germany.designboom met hartmut esslinger shortly before his presentation in hong kong and in that occasion we were given the first book copy.
he introduced us into the strategic planning of apple and his personal friendship with steven jobs. in this article, designboom takes a
look back at esslinger’s designs of the early 80’s, where the images document prototypes, concepts and explorations of apple’s computers,
laptops and tablets.