First. Post. Ever.

Well, I was doing a little browsing/researching, and I came upon something called a “Xerox Alto.”  I was looking for widgets, and my search brought me upon this.  Apparently, back in the day of 1973, it was one of the first personal computers ever.  It wasn’t a commercial product, but several universities used it.  While reading this article on the Alto, I skimmed over the technological jargon to find that Apple was heavily influenced by the Alto, and that the Alto was one of the first to incorporate GUI widget-y workstations.  GUI = graphical user interface;  user interfaces that allow people to use stuff like computers, PDAs, iPods, etc.  So basically, every time you look at your screen, you’re staring at a GUI.  Doesn’t that just tickle you pink?  It did me.  You learn something everyday.

To progress my knowledge, I decided to look up interfaces of my favourite company ever, Apple, Inc.  http://toastytech.com/guis/indexapple.html lists old Apple products to the latest and displays the interfaces of those products.  I clicked on “My Apple Lisa Screen Shots” and was able to look over one of the first Apple products ever.  It’s so simple, so rudimentary.  I can’t imagine the thought and problem-solving that went into creating it from essentially nothing.  Then I clicked on Mac OS X 10.5 “Leopard”.  http://toastytech.com/guis/osx15.html  The change from “Lisa” to “Leopard” is interesting to watch.

It got me to thinking.  We take for granted the work and creativity that went into creating the earliest products.  We laugh at how simple and tiny the early products were, because when you’re staring in the face of a iMac G5 27 inch screen you tend to pass over how it got there.

And so, over the course of about 35 years the Apple has changed drastically into the sleek, sexy, interface we see today.  But like all artistic, creative things, there is a progression, a method, a problem-solving that must happen before the finished product appears.   From “Lisa” to “Leopard” you see the progression, and even though it’s over 35 years, as artists, we go through that progession ourselves in every project.

So that is my goal.  To make every project go from “Lisa” to “Leopard.”