If you get past the title, you might wonder, “What is an “M” space, and what does it have to do with a manufacturing company’s strategy?”
In typography, the “M” space defines the largest area a letter can occupy. An “I” takes up much less space, and if you use the same spacing, it looks terrible. This concept was well-known to typesetters, including Benjamin Franklin. (This is a relevant reference for those of you watching the series on Apple TV.) However, in the 1970s, this idea was somewhat foreign to computer manufacturers, as computers were primarily seen as tools for computation.
Steve Jobs attended Reed Collect in 1972. He was a good student for the classes he would “drop into”. He was not a “dropout” but a “drop-in” student. Reed College has a deep history in Calligraphy, as noted in “The Calligraphy Heritage at Reed”. The letters’ proportional spacing and shape are critical for anyone who knows Type. Building this into the hardware at the time was complicated and expensive. All of this is, unfortunately, a lost art and a best practice we leave to our desktops.
Jobs insisted on including proportional spacing in characters, which proved immensely consequential. This innovation laid the foundation for desktop publishing, leading to the rapid obsolescence of entire publishing departments. The shift significantly reduced the cost and time required to move content from concept to publication. Additionally, it made printed material more aesthetically pleasing and easier to read.
This is a great example of how one Strategic Thread impacted a complex process and fully redefined the operational nature of publishing. The operational impact of this was a massive transformation. One might argue that it is similar to when we all moved from 2D to 3D designs. The 2D drafting table disappeared nearly overnight.
This relevance extends to the decisions we make today regarding digital transformation. What foundational and fundamental decisions are we making now? Steve Jobs understood the importance of proportionally spaced fonts as a non-negotiable strategic element. Do we have our own “non-negotiable” strategic threads in today’s manufacturing landscape?
