Hartmut Esslinger

Hartmut Esslinger (born June 5, 1944) is a German-American industrial designer and the founder of Frog Design. He worked on the industrial design of computers for Apple Computer and NeXT.

Work with Apple and NeXT
Esslinger first met Steve Jobs in January 1982 and expressed that the existing computers of the Apple II series were "incredibly ugly and wasteful in production". After winning a design competition, Esslinger was awarded a contract to develop Apple's design strategy for $1 million per year. The first computer released with his industrial design was the Apple IIc in 1984. When Jobs left Apple in 1985 to start NeXT, Esslinger also gradually phased out his contract with Apple and designed the NeXTcube.

Books

 * A Fine Line by Hartmut Esslinger, Jossey-Bass. 2009-06-29.