Early on in my advertising career, I slowly began to understand the power of simplicity.
It happened when I went to work at Apple's ad agency, Chiat/Day, in LA. Not that I had anything to do with Apple's award-winning ads - I was a glorified file clerk. But I was struck by the simplicity in Apple's advertising, and that inspired me to try my hand at writing. I never imagined that years later I would return to the same agency (then called TBWA\Chiat\Day) as creative director on the Apple account - and Steve Jobs would become my client.
Working with Steve was an adventure, but it was also an education. I could see that simplicity had the power to transform a business in the most profound ways.
The year was 1997. Steve had just returned to Apple after 11 years in exile, and Apple was teetering near bankruptcy. With the world eager to see what Steve would do, we created a brand campaign to lay the foundation for things to come.
Steve was not your typical ad agency client. He hated advertising that sounded like advertising and demanded something that was authentic and that captured the essence of Apple. The result was "Think different". Those two words described what the company had always been about, all the way back to its first days in the Jobs' family garage.
The ads featured nothing more than a single image of a person who had changed the world for the better accompanied by the words "Think different". And the Apple logo, of course. It was stark and simple, and became the inflection point from which the reignited Apple would emerge.
After six months of the ads, the first new computer to follow this campaign would also have to be proof that the slogan wasn't just hype. We needed a name for this computer, and Steve already had one that he loved: MacMan. Unless we could come up with something better, that would be it, he said. This was a terrifying prospect. We were determined to save the world from MacMan.
When I went to work on it, the name iMac actually came quickly. That's because the concept of that machine was "the easy way to the internet" - at a time when non-techy people were unsure how to get there. It was simple logic: internet + Macintosh = iMac.
However perfect the agency believed it to be, Steve didn't like it at all. A week later, we shared new names, and tried to bring back iMac once again. But Steve would still have no part of it. It was only after he'd shared a mock-up with his inner circle, that the positive reactions changed his mind.
Given his minimalist sense of design, Steve came to love how the name looked on the machine. It was concise and tasteful, and didn't distract from the shockingly different shape and colour of that first iMac.
He appreciated that the i-format created a simple naming framework for future products - even though none of us imagined what lay ahead for that little character. For one simple letter, it sure did a ton of work.
As Apple continued its recovery in the following months, Steve's love of simplicity became more visible in hardware and software design, packaging, and even the design of Apple's retail stores. Simplicity was a powerful competitive advantage.
Ben & Jerry's co-founder talked about how the company maintained simplicity as it went global. The CEO of Whole Foods talked about culture as the most powerful simplifier. But simplicity isn't simple. It takes commitment and energy - and complexity will creep in at any moment.
Apple, in particular, knows this. Despite its history, the critical voices among its customers are growing louder. Some people feel that the company's product choices are becoming less distinct, its software has become more complicated (Apple Music), even the product naming feels less simple (iPhone 6S, 6S Plus and SE).
Because Jobs led Apple to such success, some people have a knee-jerk reaction when they perceive that something is different. The truth is, Apple experienced a number of similar moments in Steve's time. The revolutionary iPod, for example, expanded into a line of four products. The company's early cloud service, MobileMe, was plagued with problems.
Personally, I don't worry that Apple has "lost its way". Simplicity is in the company's DNA. Both Tim Cook and design chief Jony Ive speak of it often.
The simple fact is that today's Apple faces challenges that Jobs's Apple did not. Its audience has matured and diversified. It must expand its product line accordingly or lose customers to competitors. (Just as it lost customers to Samsung for a couple of years by not having a large-screen iPhone.)
As Apple continues to grow, what it needs most is a "Simplicity Czar". It became the most valuable company in the world by building products people can fall in love with. When that is the goal, simplicity is one place where there can be no compromise.
Ken Segall worked with Steve Jobs as his ad agency creative director for 12 years, and he created the now-ubiquitous Apple i-prefix. He is the author of "THINK SIMPLE: How Smart Leaders Defeat Complexity" (Portfolio Penguin)
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
