Tabletops: Apple Jamsil opens

Sep 26, 2022

Apple Jamsil

South Korea's fourth Apple Store opened on Saturday, marking the one year anniversary of the Apple Pickup-centric store design it brings to Seoul. We need a new name for the New Store Design, which isn't so new anymore.

Apple Jamsil is a fairly modest mall store, but it does feature the great new iPhone case bay that debuted this summer in London. Hopefully it'll roll out globally soon.

The most notable aspect of this store is its center of gravity. My first thought was that someone selected the entire floor plan and pressed the "align left" icon in Pages. It's unprecedented. Seriously — I can't find any other Apple Store that doesn't feel center-weighted on balance. Maybe Apple Zhujiang New Town? The video wall is on the far left there.

This isn't a bad thing. The design makes sense given the layout and traffic flow of the mall. It also highlights the flexibility of the Pickup-centric store design. You could never comfortably fit a Forum in the corner like that.

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And now, a rare sour note from me. It's past time to stop using this Apple logo:

To be clear, there's nothing wrong with the design. It's actually a great logo, and I really loved it when I first saw it used nearly a year ago at Apple The Grove in Los Angeles. And I didn't really mind when it was used again for Apple Yas Mall in January. It became a little tiresome at Apple Ginza, but whatever, I thought, it's just a temporary store. And now it's being used at Apple Jamsil.

In contrast, take a look at this distinctive branding. Put these logos on flashcards, and I'll ace the test:

For fans — and most importantly, for the community in which each store opens — the commemorative logo and gift Apple prepares for a grand opening become inseparably bound to the store's identity. People keep their shirts and tote bags forever. That's my Apple Store.

This isn't just pedantic, it's a big part of the reason people have been lining up for NSOs for more than twenty years. It's why you're reading this newsletter! Apple Stores are special because of the care and attention to detail put into each one. Apple knows this.

Reusing the same logo over and over feels... cheap. It becomes clip art. "Now Michael," you're saying, "Apple can't realistically put the marketing resources of a flagship store into every single opening." No problem! Apple already solved this problem. It looks like this:

For several years, midnight blue or white vinyl and metallic text signaled the arrival of most "standard" Apple Stores. It wasn't very creative, but it always felt a bit mysterious and exciting in its understated simplicity. It also set expectations appropriately: "this is a mall store." Because there was no specific branding attached to these announcements, the style became somewhat timeless in its anonymity. It's ok to have no logo.

I'm reminded of the words of a famous supervillain: "When everyone's super... no one will be."

Fall updates

There's a lot happening along the Avenues at Apple Park Visitor Center. Several bays were updated during the iPhone and Apple Watch launches.

Apple Watch Ultra is featured with a dimensional display. Three watches are suspended between braided climbing ropes. The background mountain scene matches the Ultra packaging.

A set of four Apple Park posters ($120) illustrated by Michael Schwab joins the exclusive merchandise lineup. The matching t-shirts that launched at WWDC are still available.