This image really struck me tonight:
In case you can’t tell what it is, here it is a little larger (thank you Retina display Macbook Pro):
And if you aren’t sure where it is from, here’s a clue:
And if that isn’t obvious (it wouldn’t be to most people), here is the answer:
I doubt that many people actually use the Cover Flow view when looking at the root of their system. And Apple could have chosen a million images, and certainly could have suppressed the detail from the label on that hard drive. But what they did is set an example, a reference implementation for the rest of us. An ideal to strive towards when doing our own artwork or interfaces. I really liked the attention to detail, and was delighted by it when I saw it.
And delighting your users is a very, very good thing.