The Infamous Apple “Syntax” Poster However,...

However, [Jobs] did not fully understand how the colors worked, even though Raskin explained it to him several times. According to Raskin, Jobs was not as much interested in how the poster was supposed to work, rather, he thought it was unattractive – particularly if it was going to be used for promotional activities…Without telling anyone, Jobs independently hired an artist, San Francisco’s Tom Kamifuji, a hot, up-and-coming artist in the late 70’s / early 80’s, to redo Raskin’s poster…Jobs gave Kamifuji free reign to make it more artistic and presentable, though Jobs failed to explain to the artist that the original color schemes were necessary for making the chart easy and useful for programmers.

I’m as much of an Apple fanboy fanboy as anyone, but the more Steve Jobs idolatry spreads through the business world, the more I’m tempted to remind people of stories like this, where the headstrong founder’s bull-headed sensibilities and refusal to listen stymied the efforts of his frequently brilliant staff. I suspect today’s Apple CEO is a far more measured and mature leader, but I still think it’s important to consider stories like this as the dark side of the “great man” narrative of Silicon Valley history.