Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Michael Darius
Mission College Retiree
Press enter or click to view image in full size
How 9/11 Became a Direct Attack on Composite History and Skeuomorphic Understanding
Hermeneutical Insight & Composite Analysis The tragedy is that blockchain's covenantal potential - to enshrine testimony beyond erasure - has been inverted. The curators of amnesia turned it into: Like Jeremiah's broken cisterns, blockchain is presented as unbreakable, yet it leaks by design when controlled by curators of amnesia. Routine-centered analysis - The ritual of the vessel remains; the water's gone.
Paid email newsletters made simple
Dhisana AI — Cursor for Sales Teams Cursor for Sales Teams Previous Substack Launches View all Substack launches Substack is praised for its ease of use and supportive community, making it a favorite among writers and readers alike. Users appreciate its mobile app experience and the ability to build and monetize a community around their content. Maker reviews from Smart Updates and From Spark to Startup highlight its effectiveness in engaging users and managing content.
The Defense Brief of a Morally Unfit Designer
Recent branding of Steve Jobs as “ideologically impure” and “morally unfit” is not merely character critique — it is a deliberate act of moral delegitimization. This tactic seeks to retroactively discredit the design philosophy he embedded in Apple and, by extension, the teams who operationalized it. Historical Precedent at Risk Jobs’ rejection of manipulative, limbic-capitalist design was a measurable advantage for Apple, enabling innovation that prioritized human dignity.
Make Design Education Beautiful Again
When you host a designer to make your developer's conference more human-centered, your only job is to make sure that person's design knowledge is preserved and is able to follow up with awareness raising about displaced design educators around the world who are systematically silenced and spiritually policed by regime strategists.
When the Human Pattern Vanishes: The Quiet Purge of Designers from Developer Stages
In the early computing era, design was seen as the bridge between abstract computation and human comprehension. Conferences like SIGGRAPH and CHI were dominated by discussions of human factors, ergonomics, and visual metaphor. Designers weren’t just “aesthetic decorators” — they were humanists translating code into meaningful, life-serving tools.
Now a part of the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative
Happy to announce that the skeuomorphic design newsletter is now a part of the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative. Morally Unfit Design is a diaspora-focused accelerator for Iranian & Israeli innovation. We design evidence-based, limbic-capitalism free product & service experiences—built for human dignity, not ideological compliance. Combating subversive & direct attacks on design educators is not a "political luxury". Steve Jobs would be “morally unfit” to lead Apple in 2025.
IDSA 60th Anniversary - International Design Conference & Education Symposium
Apple has advanced the interests of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) by modeling industrial design as a discipline where test-validation, measurable performance, and human-centered research are inseparable from the creative process. At Apple, every design decision—whether about materials, ergonomics, or interface—undergoes iterative prototyping, stress testing, and validation against clearly defined performance metrics.
The history of skeuomorphism is the history of visual metaphor research in symbolic form, glyphic and iconographic history so if you are just tuning in, there will be many topics I cover that defy the sterilisation of meaning from the field of interaction design as I dive deeper into early religious iconography and tell real stories of how we came to be a human family through rich narrative tradition. This isn't academic history, these are hermeneutics for design inputs.
memory ≠ bias
They call it empathy. It’s really just emotional censorship in disguise. Limbic capitalists aren’t innovators—they’re predictable manipulators who trade in moral confusion, not moral clarity.
The Rise of the Spiritually Vacant Designer
In every meaningful design process, there comes a moment of tension. You’re not just arranging information. You’re making interpretive decisions: What does this object mean to the person using it? What are they remembering when they reach for it? What legacy does this form carry? These questions are increasingly discouraged. Not because they’re wrong—but because they introduce specificity, memory, and cultural weight. In today’s climate, these are treated as liabilities.
The Islamic Regime Doesn’t Obstruct the Global Innovation Economy with a Soldier at Every Door but with a Whisper Network at Every Gate
In Iran, you don’t need to be arrested to know the boundary. You hear it in what goes unsaid. A name left out. A topic skipped over. A friend whose enthusiasm fades after one too many questions. These absences are more effective than checkpoints. They condition behavior long before any formal punishment arrives. This is not just law. It’s atmosphere. The regime doesn’t need to announce its presence. It builds systems that make people disappear—legally, medically, and socially—without spectacle.
How to protect your Alumni Network in 2025
Alumni networks operate on shared professional and cultural bonds, making them vulnerable to infiltration and manipulation. Attacks on Jewish heritage within professional contexts represent a particularly insidious form of harassment that combines antisemitism with professional sabotage. In closed social media groups, performative victimization can be particularly effective because it operates within established trust networks.
The antizionist obsession with destruction and moral collapse only proves WHY ZIONISM MUST EXIST and why people who donât know how to build need better tools, not better protests. How Steve Jobs Protected Appleâs Soul from Manipulative Systems There is a reason Steve Jobs refused to let Apple become a propaganda machine. In a world increasingly ruled by psychological warfare, outrage algorithms, and ideological grooming, Jobs didnât just build productsâhe built shields.
The Monk of Silicon Valley: How Steve Jobs Anti-Vice Spirituality Protected Apple from Limbic Capitalism
In a world spinning faster by the second, where every vibration and ping was designed to hijack your nervous system, Steve Jobs stood like a Zen sentinel. While others chased clicks, dopamine spikes, and outrage metrics, he quietly taught his company to respect the soul of the user. This is the untold story of how Steve Jobs protected Apple from limbic capitalism—the dark art of monetizing fear, addiction, and overstimulation.
Political safety in the design community (Part 3)
Terrorists and extremist movements have increasingly weaponized medical concerns and health narratives as tools of psychological manipulation, recruitment, and control. This form of information warfare—sometimes called “biological terrorism of fear” or “health-based propaganda”—targets public trust in medical systems to sow chaos and advance extremist agendas.
Political safety in the design community (Part 2)
In part two of this series on political safety in the design community, I delve into the spiritual and cultural dynamics that have historically trivialized empathy—especially toward Jewish suffering—by deconstructing the Jewish identity of Yeshua (Jesus).
It's time to have a conversation about the political safety of our design community.
"Influencers" deserve EVERYTHING that is about to happen to them for escalating radicalism while shielding themselves from consequences using dog whistles. 🧨 From Whisper to War: How Dog Whistles Recruit for Extremist Violence In the information age, extremism doesn’t begin with a manifesto—it begins with a meme. The process by which individuals become radicalized rarely starts with overt hate speech or direct calls to violence.
Fireside Chat with James Dempsey and Michael Darius
Everything we ever built at Apple always came with an element of surprise, it’s the surprise unveiling moment that always made product launches feel like making history together. This year at the One More Thing Conference for WWDC25, I had a chance to sit down with James Dempsey whose history keeping music alive in the developers community made him the ideal person to give a retrospective and moment of silence for Bill Atkinson.
Remembering Bill Atkinson (March 17, 1951 - June 5, 2025)
Before the digital world was beautiful, it was Bill who taught the machine how to draw. With MacPaint, QuickDraw, and HyperCard, he didn’t just code, he made the screen feel human. He gave early software a soul. So much of what we now call skeuomorphism…the warmth, the tactility, the metaphors that made the unfamiliar feel like home was seeded by his genius and hard work. If you’ve ever used a lasso tool, or felt something real on a screen, you’ve touched his legacy. Let’s pause together.
The Sacred Art of Developing (One More Thing)
In most conversations about software, development is reduced to tools and tasks. Codebases, frameworks, version control. But for those who have truly lived inside the act of creating, development is not merely technical. It is devotional. A quiet, often invisible practice that shapes not just the products we release into the world, but the people we become while building them.
Last Updated: 4.14.2025 It’s an exciting time in Silicon Valley and SF right now. Much of the venture capital that was once being poured into the type of crypto scams that bankrupted Silicon Valley Bank is carefully being put back into projects with actual use cases. The weekly SF AI Events Calendar says it all.
Regarding Studio Ghibli, Breaking the Rules (and Making History)
There's truth in the old adage that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. The reality I've observed is that great artists don't merely copy—they steal, they internalise, and through blood, sweat and real tears the best designers I've ever known get comfortable bending the rules; they excel at breaking them entirely to push boundaries and redefine what's possible.
The Parts They Don't Want You to Remember About Apple's Greatest Turnaround
There’s a version of the Apple turnaround story that gets told at keynotes and in clean little coffee table books. The official version. The one with the rainbow iMacs, the “Think Different” campaign, and the triumphant return of Steve Jobs in ’97. But there’s another version—less polished, more personal—that rarely gets told. Not because it isn’t important. But because some people would rather it stay buried. I joined Apple in 1999. Not during the chaos—but right after it.
The digital music revolution was supposed to benefit artists
When the iTunes Music Store launched in 2003, it revolutionized the way music was consumed and monetized in the digital era. At a time when artists were suffering massive financial losses due to piracy and illegal file-sharing platforms like Napster and LimeWire, Apple's digital marketplace provided a legal and profitable alternative.
The Design Chair: Beyond Titles at Apple
SVP of design was Jony Ive's title as the highest ranking official officer of design but none of us ever took titles very seriously. There is a role with more design authority than SVP of design at Apple and it's the designer who gets to sit in the 'design chair'. This is a person whose badge works interdepartmentally with more special projects security clearances than anyone in the company. They are exclusively trusted to design hiring language with a full knowledge of each special projects team.
Apple Designers as International Design Dignitaries & Custodians of Art Process Intelligence
Apple designers hold a distinctive role as custodians of a unique form of intelligence that revolves around the deep understanding of global art processes. This specialized intelligence is not merely about securing and analyzing data but involves a comprehensive grasp of the cultural, historical, and aesthetic nuances that inform art creation in different countries.
From Neglect to Nightmare: The Rise of ADA Lawsuits in the Digital Age
I spent over a year on the streets researching physical accessibility problems in underserved communities to better understand ways that digital accessibility is affecting people with impairments. I'll be writing a lot about this in the coming months.
Apple’s Apology and the Rejection of Creative Destruction
It’s such a privilege to get to tell this story. The idea that you can’t learn from how wonders of the world were actually built is one of the biggest viruses plaguing every design team. In order for me to provide a service to the people in my life who I’ve built things with, I have a moral responsibility to be condescending of those who don’t want the public to believe that wonders of the world that were built in 2004 are still being built today in 2024.
"Just a few taps"
During yesterday’s #WWDC24 keynote address, the Mail.app demo script failed @2stepcompliance You can recategorize all of your marketing email: “With just a few taps.” A few = 3 or more Either the keynote script was out of @compliance or the documentation and management that got us there is @wrong. Nothing we ever build is ever more than @2steps (clicks, taps, swipes, pulls, glances or gestures) away.
Designers on Strike (Part 2)
Below are a list of linkedin special interest (SIG) groups I belong to who would be directly affected by me personally falling off the face of the planet or going on strike. Which special interest groups would be affected by you going on strike?
Apple.com exceeding SAR limits with products for sale in the United States
Based on the 1.6 W/kg SAR limit placed on devices in the United States, a large number of devices being sold on Apple.com are out of FCC compliance to be sold in the United States. Should the U.S. lower it's standard to the EU, Japan and Australia so Apple isn't required to meet FCC requirements?
The right to be seen as a designer
Apple is the only company in the world where your right to be seen as a designer doesn’t exclude you from your right to be seen as an inventor. At Apple, design is not just about creating visually appealing products; it's about revolutionizing the way we live, work, and interact with technology. Apple stands out as the only company in the world where being a designer also means being an inventor.
Apple.com has been hijacked by @fakedesigners
Another glaringly clear indicator that Apple.com has been hijacked by @fakedesigners. Illustrated art is COMPLETELY out of @compliance. SJ wouldn't have even taken the time to ask you if you knew what @company you worked for before firing you. At the 11:45 mark in response to a question about the iPad, @tim_cook says “our objective isn’t to be first but to be best.” what he means is..
A Canvas of Pixels: Steve Jobs’ Unforgettable Demo for Warhol and Haring
It was October 9, 1984, and Steve Jobs was going to a nine-year-old's birthday party. He'd been invited just a few hours earlier by journalist David Scheff, who was wrapping up a profile of the Apple Computer wunderkind for Playboy. Jobs was far from the highest-profile guest, however. Walter Cronkite, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Louise Nevelson, John Cage, and singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson were also in attendance. And Yoko Ono, of course-it was her son's birthday, after all.
Apple is the largest standards body in the world
Below is a list of technical standards and standards bodies Apple designers are required to have security authorizations for. The list is not a complete list but is comprehensive enough to educate the public on just how much complexity an Apple designer is required to manage on a given day.
The Importance of Apple Global Security
A fact about Apple designers that many people don't know: We have TAKEN OATH to work in Apple Global Security for the rest of our lives. This means: We vow to protect the global value of designers in every country (including this one). We vow to protect the Application Security for the projects we have worked on that have contributed to the company's value offering. We vow to protect the device integrity and device security of the people in our life.
Subscriber cloud vs. Member cloud
I realized this morning that I have some really important people on my team. People who get just as insulted as I do when SJ's name or one of our designers name gets thrown under the bus. @kim_rushton was the first founding member of my newsletter and was just filled with admiration for our work building transformational experiences for the public. It's not often we get to hear about how our work directly touched someone's life.
Beyond the SEC: Apple’s Journey with the STC
One could say that Apple became exceptional by making sure engineers & designers at the company could write security exceptions that weren't defined by either the SEC or Microsoft. Apple Inc. (AAPL) has long been a titan on Wall Street, not just for its groundbreaking technology and innovation but also for its unique position in the financial world. One of the most intriguing aspects of Apple’s standing in the market is its classification as a ‘human futures’ trade.
Designing Safety: The herculean responsibilities of Apple designers
Apple designers are responsible for identifying security values and safety values for rules and behaviors that govern people's lives and designing them into accessible and meaningful solutions that can assist a person in their time of need. This is a responsibility that is more herculean than one might believe as most people are incapable of identifying security or safety values for their own life and need someone to do it for them.
Your right to design a @newcountry
We come complete with: • People who understand policydesign and development. • People who design governments. • People who understand their @population well enough to design and improve upon @legislation. • Population control experts who @police what we are willing to put up with when it comes what we consider @abuse of our @terms or service. • People who design new @laws when a new set of @features are going into effect.
Every developer's development environment at Apple
Skeuomorphic Design: Lessons from Apple's Golden Era Every developer's development environment at Apple
mute 'Designed by in California'
Below is an VERY incomplete list of software and applications that get designed everyday at Apple in Cupertino, CA. We include an @ before products we design to protect the @datasecurities around the amount of ✅ that gets ✅ in one Internet business day. Some software hasn't been worked on for @years because once something is @designedwell it requires very little @maintenance.
Designers on Strike
From: designersonstrike.com Design is the only profession in the world that doesn’t get to go on strike, because if we did, it would look something disastrous like this. (This is also what makes design the most under-appreciated field of work in the world.
A Life In Architecture, 1979
Architect Minoru Yamasaki and his team posing with a model of the World Trade Center that they designed, 1964. Minoru Yamasaki's design for the World Trade Center was unveiled to the public with an eight-foot architectural model.
A Manifesto on Essentialist Design
A child's construction of a derby car demonstrates essential design principles. Products should do a few things very well, instead of many things just adequately. Making a design easy for people to understand and interact with. It's not about minimalism, but about removing distractions and emphasizing what's essential. In this sense you can call me an 'essentialist', not a minimalist. I crafted the manifesto on essentialist design as a navigational tool that too often loses its way.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Michael
Contact Michael, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack