I see very little effort to create a memorable logo. All these logos look very much alike and neither of them feel like they have any soul to convey.
There is a hint at minimalist design, however I’d argue that minimal is easy to learn, hard to master.
What do you feel when you look at it? I feel nothing. They are just printing out their name in different variations.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not somebody who thinks good design is easy. Never said that. I do however believe that a brand needs some kind of character and uniqueness to their brand and these illustrations feel extremely generic.
I would encourage you to find an old NeXT computer and see the logo in flesh. It adds a ton of personality to an otherwise unremarkable black box.
Keep in mind that this logo was done for a very physical medium. And you're viewing it through an entirely digital medium - something neither Jobs nor Rand could have envisioned back then.
I would like to think that if Rand was designing a logo for the digital age, his approach would be entirely different
Sure, but could you convince someone to pay you $100k for it?