Jony Ive
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Apple's iPhone designer is leaving to work with Jony Ive and Sam Altman on AI hardware
Apple's designer exodus continues as product design chief Tang Tan is leaving the company and joining Jony Ive's design firm LoveFrom,.
Jony Ive's first post-Apple hardware project is a $60,000 turntable
Jony Ive's design agency LoveFrom helped refine Linn’s Sondek LP12 for a 50th anniversary edition. The turntable will set you back quite a bit, though: it costs $60,000.
A Jony Ive-designed Leica camera prototype is going up for auction
The final prototype version of a Leica M camera designed by Jony Ive is going up for auction in June.
Jony Ive will help design 'the future of Airbnb'
Airbnb has brought Jony Ive onboard to help the company design new products and services over the next few years. The company’s co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky has announced Airbnb’s multi—year deal with Ive’s new design firm LoveFrom, calling it “a special collaboration” between them. Chesky says Ive will also help the rental marketplace develop its internal design team.
Jonathan Ive removed from Apple's leadership page
Famed designer Sir Jonathan Ive announced earlier this year he would be leaving Apple, the company where he made his name. Now, it's official -- his name and image have been removed from Apple's executive leadership page.
Tim Cook: WSJ report on Jony Ive is 'absurd'
A lengthy Wall Street Journal article described design chief Jony Ive leaving Apple as a process that started long before it was announced last week, and specifically linked it to issues with CEO Tim Cook. The article claimed Ive was "dispirited" by Cook's lack of interest in design -- particularly in comparison to Steve Jobs -- and now Cook has responded in an email to NBC News reporter Dylan Byers.
Jony Ive reportedly felt that Tim Cook wasn’t interested in design
Jony Ive's departure was made official last week, but may have begun years ago because of Apple's shift in focus from design to operations, according to the WSJ and Bloomberg. Citing multiple unnamed sources, the reports stated that Ive was "dispirited" by Tim Cook's lack of interest in design, especially considering the close synergy he shared with former Apple CEO Steve Jobs. At the same time, Ive was coming into Apple's offices much less often than before, "straining the cohesion central to product development," the WSJ stated.
After Math: Jony Bye-ve
This has was a big week for mobility, especially the employment kind. Jony Ive is leaving Apple to start his own design studio next year, Latinx drama One Day at a Time is making the switch from "cancelled by Netflix" to "picked up on basic cable," and NASA is sending Titan a robopanion by the mid-2030s. Let's take a look.
Jony Ive helped make Apple what it is today
On Thursday, Apple confirmed that Jony Ive is leaving after nearly 30 years at the company. He's starting his own creative business called LoveFrom, with Apple being his first client. The news reverberated through the tech and business world like a shockwave, sending journalists and Apple pundits into a titter while the company's stock price slumped. And it's no wonder; Jony Ive was no ordinary employee. Ive has been behind some of the most iconic designs in Apple's history, helping transform a Silicon Valley has-been into one of the most successful companies in the world.
Famed Apple designer Jony Ive is leaving to start his own firm
In an interview with the Financial Times, Jony Ive announced that after more than two decades of making Apple products look and feel the way they do, he's leaving the company. His new venture is called LoveFrom, and it will have Apple as its first client. His role with Apple has shifted slightly over the last few years, although as recently as 2017 Apple stated that his focus remained "purely on design." Ive's impact can be seen on everything from the company's new "spaceship" Apple Park campus, to individual devices (iPod, Mac, iPhone -- everything) since he was promoted after Steve Jobs' return in 1997. As much as you know him through the experience of using the devices, he's also become familiar to us for his voiceovers whenever Apple launches a new product, describing the design process and attention to detail. As far as why he's leaving now, he told FT that "There were some significant projects that I feel like I've completed. For example Apple Park — this was a project that started in 2004 . . . A couple of weeks ago we had our official opening of the Park." At LoveFrom -- he linked the name to a quote from Steve Jobs about making things with love and care for people you'll never meet -- he'll continue to work with Australian designer Marc Newson, as well as a collection of creatives "from around the world that come from quite diverse areas of expertise."
Daily Roundup: Robot love, the state of VR and more!
What's it like to fall in love with a robot? We share our impressions after spending some time with Nao, a cute toddler-sized robot. Meanwhile, Sony brought an updated version of Project Morpheus to GDC and some of tech's biggest companies joined up to argue in favor of marriage equality. Get all the details on today's top stories in the Daily Roundup.
Jony Ive isn't too concerned about your iPhone battery life issues
Tired of recharging your iPhone several times a day? That's just because the iPhone's thin and light design is encouraging you to use it more, according to Apple's design guru Jony Ive. In an interview with the Financial Times today, Ive dove deep into the design process of the Apple Watch, but when asked about the need to recharge iPhones often he didn't see much of an issue. Instead, he noted that stuffing in a bigger battery would make it heavier and less "compelling." Never mind that battery life remains the single biggest concern for most smartphone users, according to a survey by Cat. If this interview had occurred a year ago, Ive would seem even less sympathetic. Now, at least, Apple has the iPhone 6 Plus available, which offers a significantly bigger battery thanks to its larger 5.5-inch frame.
Video: The Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh Experience CD
On January 7, 1997, Apple announced a completely revolutionary -- for the time -- Mac called the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh (TAM). The US$7,499 TAM celebrated the 20th anniversary of Apple's founding and was the first desktop Mac to use features that we now consider commonplace like an all-in-one design, a flat screen display, a trackpad, and a number of multimedia features. Australian artist and filmmaker Max Piantoni (@maxpiantoni) found one of the rare Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh Experience CDs that accompanied the computer and created the video you see below to show how the CD was used to educate buyers about the remarkable device they had purchased. While the Experience CD was primarily used to show how the many features (built-in TV and radio, external brightness controls), it's also notable for a long interview with none other than current Apple design senior vice president Jony Ive. It's fun to see a younger Ive -- with hair! -- outside of his usual featureless white box, talking about the design features of the TAM. Enjoy the video!
Jony Ive talks about the link between design and engineering, the need for failure, and more
While Jony Ive used to be Apple's quiet man behind the scenes, occasionally popping up in Apple-produced videos shown at Apple media events, it's now hard to keep tabs on Ive's numerous appearances and speaking engagements. One second he's conducting an interview with BusinessWeek, and the next week he's being profiled in Vogue, and the next minute he's sitting down for a 30 minute interview with Vanity Fair. The latest stop on Ive's recent publicity train was the Design Museum of London where the Apple design chief sat down for an illuminating conversation with Deyan Sudjic, the museum's director. Hibbert Harwood, a design consulting group, was in attendance and thankfully helped recap the wide ranging discussion. The entire summary is worth checking out, but this particular excerpt on the close link between design and engineering is worth highlighting. Jony said it is vital to Apple that they work very closely with their manufacturers and they are always visiting the manufacturers to see how things are working and how a material is behaving so they can fully understand how something works and use this to lead their design. When they discovered that the milled aluminium shell of the iPhone would blunt the CNC cutters very quickly, instead of doing things a different way, they worked with the manufacturers and designed a cutter line to combine with the CNC and produce one seamless process. At Apple [they] spend a large amount of their time on designing the inside of the phones when 99% of people will never actually see the inside. This is because Jony believes this care and attention to detail can be sensed by the customer and is what makes a great product and I can't disagree with him. The museum has said that it has no plans to release video of the interview, but Joseph Shaffery managed to write down a few choice quotes from Ive's interview.. On the constant need for iteration and experimentation, Ive said: ... if we are not failing we are not pushing. 80% in the studio is not going to work. If something is not good enough, stop doing it. Regarding companies who use Apple designs as "inspiration" (ahem, Xiaomi), Ive, again, doesn't view this as a flattering compliment. Eight years of work can be copied in six months. It wasn't inevitable that it was going to work. A stolen design is stolen time. Is it flattering?... No A few weeks ago, Ive expanded on the topic during his sit-down interview with Vanity Fair. There is a danger...I don't see it as flattery. I see it as theft. When you're doing something for the first time and you don't know it's going to work. I have to be honest the last thing I think is "Oh, that is flattering. All those weekends I could've been home with my family...I think it's theft and lazy. I don't think it's OK at all.
Jony Ive honored as "San Francisco Treasure" at SFMOMA event
Saturday night (November 1, 2014), Apple design chief Jony Ive was feted at an exclusive event at the San Francisco Museum Of Modern Art (SFMOMA). The event was on the 15th floor of an office building in the city's financial district due to the renovation of the museum's main space, and it was packed to the rafters with museum patrons and Ives' friends in the tech business. Ives was honored as a "San Francisco Treasure" for his work at Apple as one of the world's most influential designers. Ive spent some time at the event talking about his latest project, the Apple Watch, explaining that working on the form factor of the device is harder since it already has so much of a history. Re/Code quotes Ive as saying about the Watch "There are cultural and historical implications and expectations. That's why it's been such a difficult and humbling program." Ive recounted a story from a person who is testing the Watch, who said "Wow, do you know what I just did? I set the alarm in the morning, and it woke just me by tapping my wrist. It didn't wake my wife or my baby. Isn't that fantastic?" That kind of "childlike awe and curiosity" is what Ive has set out to create with all of his product designs, and it appears that with the Apple Watch, he's achieved that goal.
Video of Jony Ive's full interview with Vanity Fair now available online
The full video of Jony Ive's recent 25-minute interview at Vanity Fair's New establishment Summit in San Francisco is now available online. The full video touches on a wide range of topics, providing a rare glimpse into the mind of Apple's famed design guru. Ive, who has been with Apple since 1992, doesn't often sit down for extensive interviews, let alone lengthy, casual, and open-ended video interviews on stage. While we previously highlighted a few of the topics Ive commented on, such as the brainstorming process of Apple's industrial design team and what it was like to work for Steve Jobs, the full interview below covers many more topics. Save for Apple produced product videos set in front of a white screen, Ive doesn't often appear on video, which makes the interview below well worth a watch.
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.
Tim Cook gives a brief history of Apple Watch's development
Business Week's new interview with Tim Cook offers a great deal of insight into the CEO's role at Apple and the development of the iPhone 6. What may be most interesting to Apple devotees however is the brief history of the Apple Watch's development that also lays within the article. Covering both the functionality and aesthetics of the design, Cook explains what sets their device apart from the competition. It's wasn't a matter of being first in his eyes, it was about being best. "We want to make the best product in the world," he says. "One of our competitors is on their fourth or fifth attempt, but nobody is wearing them." Cook also preaches patience. "We could have done the watch much earlier, honestly, but not at the fit and finish and quality and integration of these products," he says. "And so we are willing to wait." Calling the Apple Watch "one of the most difficult projects I have ever worked on," Cook describes a development process that took a team of watch historians along with Apple's tech and design departments to get right. The team looked at what made watches work, and used those classic design elements to influence development. In the end classic watch design became important to both the control and look of the device. In particular, the classic adjustment/winding knob on a standard watch the gave Apple Watch a new level of control: Ive's team first tried using the same pinch-to-zoom touchscreen they'd invented for the iPhone, but the screen was too small and their fingers obscured the display. A year into the project, the group started toying with what became the Apple Watch's defining physical feature: "the digital crown," a variation on the knob that's used to wind and set the time on a traditional wristwatch. By pressing or rotating the crown, Apple Watch users can return to the home screen, zoom in or out, and scroll through apps. There's far more to read in the Business Week article, including information about the three watch models, Apple's falling stock prices last summer, and Cook's longterm vision for the company. Head over to Business Week to read the complete story.
Marc Newson joins Apple as part of Jony Ive's design team
Vanity Fair is reporting that designer Marc Newson has been hired to join senior vice president of design Jony Ive's design team. Newson has had his work featured by the Museum of Modern Art, and done design for companies like Ford and Nike. Ive provided the following statement to Vanity Fair announcing the hiring. Marc is without question one of the most influential designers of this generation. He is extraordinarily talented. We are particularly excited to formalize our collaboration as we enjoy working together so much and have found our partnership so effective. Newson and Ive have previously worked together on 2013's (RED) auction event, which raised $26.2 million for the charity. You can read a statement from Newson over at Vanity Fair.
