With the Internet getting ready to explode due to Apple’s Tablet announcement today, I really got thinking about my Uncle Bob.

It was my Uncle who first introduced to the Macintosh and helped me purchase my first Mac: A Blue & White G3. The machine was like a gift from the gods. Moving from Windows to the G3 and the OS9 Operating System was an amazing day for me. I suddenly understood what computers could be. Since then, I’ve never gone back.

Bob and I used to hang out on the phone and discuss the Apple events in real time. I remember skipping out of University classes and looking for a stable internet connection. Bob and I would get on the phone and tune into Steve Jobs on stage. I remember our excitement with the launch of the iPod and then the G5. We had a blast discussing the future of Apple and what was to come.

I always get a little more excited on these days. Not only am I a true Apple nut, geek, fanboy, cult member as I’ve been using a mac for over 10 years now, but these days give me a chance to remember some amazing moments I had with Uncle Bob.

Bob passed away suddenly on July 27th, 2004 at the age of 51 of heart complications.

Bob’s favorite mac was the cube. He loved the simplicity of the cube’s design and hoped one day it would return. He never got to see the Mac Mini. I think that might have satisfied his hunger for something small and elegantly designed like the cube. He also used to frequently speak of the Newton Message Pad, Apple’s original “tablet.”

I can only imagine what he would have thought of the iPhone or today’s Tablet announcement! I’m sure I would have had at least three phone calls already this morning.

I searched the Internet Archive to look at Uncle Bob’s old website. I wanted to share something he wrote about typography and design before his passing.

We read the words on our pages without much thought as to how they got there. Only when these words are set correctly can they serve their purpose…to be read and to be read easily.

Such is the achievement of good typography–the arrangement of letters of various forms and words of various lengths. Serif or Sans Serif, leading, line length, kerning, tracking and overall colour are only some of the many considerations involved in typesetting.

Type can also be a strong graphical element in the world of design. We see a lot of the traditional methods of type design and its use being broken. It is therefore very useful “to know the rules before they can be broken”.

Trained in design on art boards, marker and mechanical pens, I’ve been using the Macintosh computer platform for design and production since 1989. Designing for corporations, associations and agencies for print and the internet provides me with a wide variety of interesting and challenging projects.

~ Bob Frier