Jony Ive talks Apple Watch and more in new Vogue feature
In line with Apple's efforts to position the Apple Watch as a bonafide fashion accessory, the latest issue of Vogue features an in-depth profile on Jony Ive, Apple's famed mastermind of design.
The feature treads across familiar territory: Growing up in Northeast London, Ive became enamored with design, immersed himself in the field while attending Newcastle Polytechnic, and was eventually recruited to Apple in 1992. There, Ive famously grew frustrated and contemplated leaving the company altogether until Steve Jobs returned in 1997 whereupon the two "just clicked."
And of course, there's also quite a bit on Ive's obsessive design sense, his exceedingly intense attention to detail, his friendship with famed designer Marc Newson and a whole lot more. It's all interesting stuff and certainly worth a read for anyone not terribly familiar with the man who helped design some of the more iconic products of our time.
There are, however, a few new nuggets of new information worth passing along. For instance, Ive reportedly pores over design blogs and keeps a close eye on the Apple "leaks and rumors" that permeate through the blogosphere. (Hey Jony!)
Also interesting is that Ive let Vogue writer Robert Sullivan take a look at the Apple Watch weeks before it was officially unveiled on September 9. Based on Sullivan's retelling, it's clear that Ive is as excited about the Apple Watch as he's been about any other product to come out of the hallowed halls of 1 Infinite Loop.
On my second visit to Cupertino, Ive has finally handed it over: the new Apple Watch. It is more watch than the computer geeks would ever have imagined, has more embedded software than in a Rolex wearer's wildest dreams. When Ive shows it to me-weeks before the product's exhaustive launch, hosted by new CEO Tim Cook-in a situation room that has us surrounded by guards, it feels like a matter of national security. Yet despite all the pressure, he really just wants you to touch it, to feel it, to experience it as a thing. And if you comment on, say, the weight of it, he nods. "Because it's real materials," he says proudly. Then he wants you to feel the connections, the magnets in the strap, the buckle, to witness the soft but solid snap, which he just loves as an interaction with design, a pure, tactile idea. "Isn't that fantastic?"
There's much more in the full article that's well worth a read, including why Jony Ive believes the Apple Watch may fundamentally change the way we communicate. Hint: he's a big fan of the "send a friend your heartbeat" feature.
