Jonathan Ive interview and fan site

As a shamelessly mediocre, self-taught, self-indulgent product designer myself, I truly admire the work of Jonathan Ive. Try dissecting the overall design of the iPod. Not perfection, but very close to it. Yes, I am a Jonathan Ive fanboy (surprise). So it was quite pleasant to read an excellent story on Ive at the prestigious Times. It's a bit of a fluff piece, but with some very interesting points for budding designers everywhere. Oh and yes, he's merely the leader of a team.

Some things struck me in this piece, all quotes. The first is from designer Richard Seymour, when Ive won the President's Award for design: "It doesn't start with objects, it starts with people." Sounds like a core principle of Apple, doesn't it? Ive and team go over every detail of every product, this much we know. I'm inches away from two G5's every day and constantly admire their simplicity. They'd make a great coffee table/render farm with a big piece of glass on them. But Ive doesn't use committees or focus groups to make these things. He explains, "Focus-group testing is a surrogate for making a decision." And then a little quote that reminds me how old I am (which is just enough to feel the same way), "I wish I'd had the computer I've got now when I was at college – man, what I could have done!"

Now the fansite... I don't really know how big a fan this designer is of Mr. Ive, but the look and feel of this website is definitely an homage to the guy.