A day like any other, a few weeks ago. It was the first meeting before starting work, and probably this moment was repeated in the same way throughout all the years. Apple and Disney employees worldwide. “We have something for you”: a box, not very big, and the name of each employee written on it. What was inside was not sold in any store.
In mid-April, we came across the curious news of the online publication of a book about Steve Jobs that could be free download. The story went further: the study of Jony Ive himself was behind the design. It wasn’t just another book about genius.
That box contained only one thing. It opened easily, from the side, it was very reminiscent of how the company’s products are sent by mail and after a fine sheet of parchment paper to protect the cover, a book with a snapshot of steve jobs as a young man and a title.
“Make Something Wonderful”.
Something unique, exclusive and careful
This book cannot be officially purchased anywhere. Is about a special and exclusive edition that has been given to employees of Apple and Disney, and there is no other edition or physical copy beyond these. We can always download it online (also for free and read it with a good coffee, because it is an absolute wonder), but the physical edition says more than his words.
I have been able to access to this exclusive physical edition for Apple employees. I must say that it is one of the most careful, delicate, respectful and well-designed physical book prints that I have ever seen. Everything we have already read in the version on-line takes shape in this edition.
Steve Jobs biography (left), “Make Something Wonderful” (right)
First let’s talk about your measurements. It weighs 458 grams and is approximately the size of a medium notebook – 13.5 cm wide and 21 cm high. The thickness, about 2 cm: nothing to do, to compare it with something similar, to the physical edition of Jobs’s biography by Walter Isaacson – much bigger and more voluminous.
“The best way to know a person is to listen to them. And the best way to know Steve is to listen and read what he has said throughout his life”. This is how Jobs’s widow begins her preface, Laurene Powell Jobs. The value of this book increases even more, since the person who knew him best throughout his life is the one who opens the doors of it for us.
Designed by Ive, presented by Laurene Powell Jobs and given as a gift by Apple to each and every employee around the world. Is a sign of respect, of affection towards the genius and also an opportunity to create something beautiful with your words, your speeches and the important moments of your life.
The occasion deserved this exclusive edition will be taken care of to the maximum. Apple has rarely spoken out about the various books or movies that have appeared about Jobs – Pirates of Silicon Valley being the best for me – so creating a physical edition exclusively to hand out to your people is a gesture of something more. They wanted Jobs himself to tell his story.
An exquisite physical edition
The 253 pages contained in Make Something Wonderful are a A must read for any fan of Apple and technology in general.. It contains some of the best moments that have driven revolutions that we have in our lives today. This physical edition has what all printed books still have: that little ritual of reading and touch that bring us even closer to letters.
The cover is hardcover, about 4mm thick, with a classic book design. The opening of the cover is marked on the cover and the binding allows you to reach each part of the pages without having to force the book too much.
It is not necessary to open the book to know that we are before something created with love and respect. The letters of the book, screen printed on the cardboard, use Ive’s own studio typographythe LoveFrom Serif: a classic, forceful stroke, almost seems to have been written by calligraphy artisans. Something to which Jobs gave a lot of importance just before creating Apple.
Perfectly centered on the cover, a snapshot of steve jobs from the days before the Macintosh. Bow tie, suit and that familiar look that accompanied us for so many years. The outline of the photo is also die-cut in a smooth way, and in very good quality. It’s the perfect cover to welcome us on this little journey into your life.
The back cover and the first protection pages of the sheets are in a vibrant blue colorwhich can even be seen with the book closed, giving it some color and showiness when you open it – taking it away from the classic gray of the cover.
The first thing we find when entering the content of the book is the quote from which the title of the book is extracted, pronounced by him in 2007. It is a paragraph where he expresses the philosophy and DNA of Apple, of leave the world better than we found it. It was very important to him to hold on to those ideals.
I had heard those words before, ten years later, in the opening of the Steve Jobs Theater in Apple Park. It was the first thing we heard on that impressive stage, now so familiar due to the company’s presentations. It was him, out loud, reading the same text that opens the book. Fortunately, I was able to hold the iPhone and record just that moment, from my seat:
Apple also delivers, along with the book, a small bookmark laminated with these words, translated into Spanish. At the top, a curious logo of the company but with the shadow of Jobs in the hole of the apple bite.
The book is edited by writer and historian Leslie Berlin, director of the “Steve Jobs Archive” foundation, from which all contents are extracted. The idea of this archive is to preserve, and preserve, the acts and works of Jobs throughout his career, just as they occurred. As if she were a captain’s log.
The leaves have a somewhat dense grammage but light that gives them a certain consistency and they are somewhat soft, with little texture. Comfortable to pass and well anchored to the binding, it does not allow the book to be read without forcing its spine, in a comfortable way.
There are many parts of the book that contain, as you know, images and photographs to accompany the text. Some have great documentary value because they had not been seen before. Others, we already know, especially those of us who are fans of the brand or lived through Steve’s era.
The impression is very good also in the reproduction of these images, with some brightness in many of them that I personally reminds me of old photo albums that many of us still have at home. I don’t doubt that perhaps this is the feeling he wants to convey with it – and he succeeds very well.
The typography, comfortable, light to read and with blue to mark certain passages or moments in the book, separates that feeling of a classic book with a few more modern touches. He plays with colors, typography and some italics to almost give voice to the letters, which we will often hear with his in our heads when reading it.
Have the opportunity of read this edition in physical format it is a complete luxury. Returning the book to the person who lent it to me gave me the feeling that I had participated in some way in a personal journey to many of the things that Jobs achieved or did during his life – and perhaps that is the reason to give it away exclusively to those who are part of it. of the company.
And not, not officially sold (although perhaps in the second-hand market you can find it, at exorbitant prices, yes). If it were put up for sale, I wouldn’t hesitate to get a copy and save, among the few physical books I already have at home, those important moments of a genius like Jobs, Apple and technology. At the end of the day, those of us who lived through it during those years, it is also to a certain extent part of our history – and of our life.
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