2019 was a flourishing year for Today at Apple, the program of creative sessions held every day at every Apple Store. New and upgraded stores brought the best Today at Apple experience to more customers than ever before. Artist collaborations and immersive new sessions drove awareness of Apple’s best free resource. And at the heart of it all was a team of Creative Pros inspiring a global community of creators.
Just over four years ago, Apple began rolling out a new generation of retail stores across the world. The idea was straightforward but challenging: Apple Stores should be spaces conducive to creative experiences — spaces for communities to gather. Over 200 redesigned stores later, Apple has learned how to express its values through architecture. Each new space builds on the last with refined ideas, designs, materials, and fixtures.
Apple has spent the past year fine-tuning its fleet of retail stores across the world. A massive upgrade project brought the latest experience to dozens of locations. Creative sessions tightened focus and deepened their goals. New initiatives sought to amplify the unique strengths only Apple Stores can offer.
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“We have these crystals that we had photographed a bunch of times in a bunch of different ways. And then this girl picks it up and she shoots down the barrel of the crystal and creates this beautiful kaleidoscope image, and I’m just like, ‘That’s gorgeous. I never saw it that way.’”
Apple’s isn’t ready to premiere its first retail store in Downtown Los Angeles just yet, but the stage is set. Broadway’s Tower Theatre is undergoing the largest transformation in its 92-year history. Apple’s restoration of the building will save an important part of Los Angeles culture and draw new energy to downtown’s core. Here’s a look at what’s been done so far.
How do you improve on an icon? That’s the challenge Apple tackled to complete its most extensive store renovation to date. Apple Fifth Avenue and its 32-foot glass cube entrance have returned to New York City. Ahead of the famous store’s reopening, timed to coincide with the release of the iPhone 11, 11 Pro, and Apple Watch Series 5, Apple gave us a sneak peek inside.
Along Florida’s southern shores, a cool coastal pavilion punctures the tropical humidity. Customers today celebrated the grand reopening of Apple Aventura just outside of Miami. An all-new location and all-new design are just part of the story behind what is undoubtedly the most noteworthy — and the most chill — Apple Store in the Southeastern United States.
The iconic wood tables that fill every Apple Store have long been globally admired as symbols of tasteful interior design. Fewer people are aware that recent top Apple Stores contain a hidden space called the Boardroom. Each Boardroom is decorated with a collection of premium furniture and accessories from some of the most respected designers in the world. We tracked down these hard-to-find items to create a directory for those with a discerning eye for design.
Apple is evolving its in-store shopping experience with signage and display fixtures that remove ambiguity and encourage increased hands-on interaction with products. New designs that have been spotted in multiple locations reflect the changing requirements of busy stores and appear to address common customer needs.
It’s impossible to talk about Apple retail in 2019 without mentioning Today at Apple. The program of creative sessions has become a primary force driving the philosophy, architecture, and organization of all Apple Stores since it was rolled out globally two years ago this week. Those two years have been marked by a maturing session curriculum that has sharpened Today at Apple’s focus and expanded its reach. The program has evolved so much, in fact, that it is beginning to outgrow the stores it was designed for.
Science. Poetry. History. These three words set the tone as you pass through the doors of Apple Carnegie Library, the latest in a careful collection of global flagship stores. It’s been over 116 years since each art was carved into marble and hung above the library’s entrance, but the studies remain as relevant to Apple today as they were when the building was built. Apple Carnegie Library is far more than a store — it’s the clearest public expression of Apple’s values.
Apple’s latest retail store opened today. No, it’s not in the heart of a historic Italian plaza or nestled among a bamboo forest in Macau. It’s in Dallas, Texas, just steps from Interstate 635 and a 15 minute drive from downtown when traffic is clear. But with a history unlike any of the other 503 stores Apple operates worldwide, Apple Galleria Dallas is unique in its own way.
“Welcome to Plano, home of the first Apple store in Texas. Twenty miles north of Dallas and located in the Shops at Willow Bend, the new Apple store gives you first-hand access to the latest Apple hardware and hundreds of popular Macintosh software applications. All Macs on display have Internet access and cool accessories plugged in, so you can try them out for yourself.”
Those were the words Apple chose back in 2001 to introduce customers to a new kind of store experience that would shape the company’s future and the future of retail stores around the world. Now, over 17 years later, Apple Willow Bend and its nearby neighbor in Frisco, Apple Stonebriar, have closed their doors. In their places comes a new store — Apple Galleria Dallas — that joins a network of more than 500 locations around the world sprung from that early success in Plano.
As intelligent speakers and voice assistants like the HomePod and Siri drive awareness of home automation, HomeKit has become a key part of Apple’s product ecosystem. Unless you know an enthusiast who has already made the investment in a full smart home, the best way to learn about HomeKit today is at Apple retail stores.
For creative professionals, the prospects of a new artistic tool are incredibly exciting. New tools mean new workflows, and new workflows mean new opportunities to work free from the constraints that hold back creativity. One of the most promising new artistic tools on the horizon is Adobe’s Project Gemini, a bold new drawing and painting app arriving on the iPad later this year.
Shaping the future of iPad creativity are the Gemini 10, a small group of artistic professionals given exclusive access by Adobe to work with and provide feedback on Project Gemini prior to release. We talked with illustrator and Gemini 10 member Tracie Ching to learn more about the new app and how the iPad has transformed her work.
Between work and hobbies, I spend a significant amount of my time online. While some of my most enriching discussions have begun over the internet, online life can also make it easy to fall into an exhausting echo chamber of negativity and homogenous thought. That’s one reason I’ve been such a vocal supporter of Today at Apple. The program of free creative sessions hosted at every Apple store worldwide helps me broaden my horizons through positive thinking and understand the perspectives of people I would’ve otherwise never met.
Architecture, creativity, and community. These are the themes that best summarize Apple retail in 2018. Over the past year, Apple has worked in new ways to expand its global and local reach. The company has challenged the traditional definition of brick-and-mortar stores during an uncertain time for many retailers. By opening increasingly ambitious and inviting locations supported by an engaging schedule of creative events, Apple hopes that its 500 million yearly visitors won’t just shop, but also discover a place to connect with like-minded individuals in their own communities.
No retailer wants to close a store — even temporarily. Closures mean lost sales, disruptions to service, and a negative customer experience. As Apple’s stores have steadily grown in popularity over the past 17 years, renovations and expansions to keep up with increased traffic have necessitated temporary closures from time to time. In locations without nearby alternatives or where construction work is estimated to be time-consuming, Apple has implemented temporary stores to ease the transition.
The new iPad Pro has ignited conversations about the future of computing and new possibilities for creative work. Paired with a second-generation Apple Pencil, the hardware unlocks potential that has driven many professionals to re-evaluate how iPads best fit in their lives. My own experience with the new iPad Pro has been a journey of discovery. To expand my horizons and help others get more out of their devices, I asked the creative professional community to share their own iPad workflows.
We take photos to capture moments. A great photo can fill in the blanks of our memory, instantly recalling forgotten details and conversations otherwise lost to time. But has looking at a photo ever raised more questions than it provided answers? Let’s look at reimagining the Photos app to better tell the stories of your memories.
Many of the most culturally significant metropolitan centers in the United States — like New York, Chicago, and San Francisco — are home to the latest prominent Apple retail stores. Los Angeles has long been an exception, lacking a downtown location of any kind. That’s set to change, as Apple has confirmed plans to establish a major presence at the Tower Theatre in L.A.’s Broadway Theater District. The new store will undoubtedly drive increased foot traffic and new development in the city’s historic core, transforming the culture around it. 9to5Mac visited the Broadway District to document the Tower Theatre’s condition before Apple’s renovation and the downtown community as it exists today.
On Monday, Adobe unveiled Photoshop CC for iPad, one of the most ambitious third-party software projects we’ve ever seen for iOS. With over 28 years of history on the Mac, moving to a new platform is no easy feat. Photoshop’s breadth of tools makes it essential to the workflows of many creative professionals. Even though it won’t ship until next year, there’s already considerable interest and numerous questions from curious iPad users and Photoshop fans about the upcoming app. 9to5Mac talked with Photoshop’s Senior Product Manager Jenny Lyell to learn more about Adobe’s goals for Photoshop on iPad and to clear up a few pressing questions.
The original Apple Watch is one of my favorite Apple products of all time. From the day it was introduced in September 2014 until launch day in April 2015, I eagerly awaited its arrival at my door. Week after week, I poured through every image and line of text on the Watch webpage, studying each band design and finish option.