Taking a Bite Out of the Apple

Book excerpt: How do you brand a revolution? In his engaging new book, Taking a Bite out of the Apple: A Graphic Designer's Tale, Rob Janoff - designer of the world-famous Apple logo - shares what it was like to live through the heady days of the home computer revolution. From his fateful meeting with Steve Jobs in Silicon Valley as a young art director in 1977, to his current position heading up an international branding company with his Australian business partner, Rob's career continues with its focus on distilling a client's business personality into a memorable icon. Taking a Bite out of the Apple is an intimate view into how Rob's design for a young, start-up company became a defining moment in a long career. After working on national brands like Apple, IBM, Intel, Kraft and Kleenex at top US agencies, Rob now enjoys working with a diversity of companies from Japan, Italy, Australia, China and the UK. Telling the true tale of how the globally loved icon came to be, Rob offers insight and inspiration to young people considering the field of graphic design - and to the young at heart who share his love of memorable graphics. Reviewed By Jack Magnus for Readers' Favorite Taking a Bite Out of the Apple: A Graphic Designer's Tale (Hearing Others' Voices) is a nonfiction memoir for young adults written by Rob Janoff. While he had gone to college to study industrial design, Janoff was more intrigued by the creative possibilities that graphic design seemed to offer. Indeed, his whole outlook on the world seemed to point him in that direction. He had had some success in designing logos for new tech companies when he went to work for the Regis McKenna Agency in Silicon Valley. That tech experience led his boss, Regis McKenna, to offer him a somewhat off-the-wall assignment. Janoff's mind was far away as his boss discussed the assignment, but eventually the words "apple" and "computers" broke through his distraction. Janoff even knew of Steve Jobs, the iconic inventor who, with his partner, had turned a garage into the birthplace of the personal computer. But how to render Steve's concepts into a logo? Janoff's mind kept toying with the idea, his hand quickly sketching and erasing ideas as they paraded through his imagination. Then he hit on it. Rob Janoff's nonfiction memoir for young adults, Taking a Bite Out of the Apple: A Graphic Designer's Tale, is a beautifully written and fascinating account by the designer of the world-famous Apple logo. Anyone who loves computers and has an interest in how the personal computer came to be will have as much fun reading this book as I did. But there's more to this memoir than tech history. Janoff's description of how he tackled the project, working feverishly with a bowl of apples as inspiration is a joy to read. Any creative person should find Janoff's story inspiring, and his smooth conversational style makes following along as he works towards that one perfect image a grand and entertaining experience. Taking a Bite Out of the Apple: A Graphic Designer's Tale is most highly recommended.