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Apple Announces Upcoming Departure of Lead Product Designer Evans Hankey

Karma*Police said:
She clearly hasn’t contributed much as a leader. It’s easy when you have a genius with a vision telling you what to do. It’s another thing entirely when you’re given the reins but lack the talent and vision to lead. Hence, my comment about Jony being able to contribute as an outsider (new iMac) while the rest of the lineup is just a rehash of Jony’s old designs during her tenure.
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To be fair, most of Jony's designs are also iterations on his own old designs. For example, MacBooks basically had the same look and feel with the unibody designs since 2008 for MPB and 2010 for MBA with minor iterations in thickness and dimensions until we started seeing the more rounded design language in the Apple Silicon Macs. Once a design language is established and gains popularity it's not always necessary to introduce new looks every generation.
 
Maybe staying for 6 months to finalize iPhone 15.

Hopefully there will be more exciting designs in the next couple of years.
 
Protonic Reversal said:
If you are a really creative person it would be hard to stay on the design team right now. Every current product Apple has is basically reduced to its final physical form. Other than shrinking bezels and making them thinner what's left? We are down to single slabs of glass and aluminum. Foldables don't seem to be a winner yet either given so many trade-offs just for a pro of a larger screen.
At least the camera design, chip design and engineering teams can explore new technologies. The design team, again at least with current products, have got to be incredibly bored.
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I think this. And I bet she's leaving to work with Ive.

And I suspect also, that Apple has now tipped over into 'product design by spreadsheet'.

What I mean by this, is that products are likely overwhelmingly designed by operation with a view to profit margin above all, which must be dispiriting to work on if you're a creative person.

How can we explain the new basic iPad - and the existing pad lineup - otherwise.

I'm wary of making a 'what would Steve do?' statement, but I'm not sure if he'd leave old products hanging around for so long as much as TC does.
 
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Probably a forced departure, staying that much longer in that capacity kind of spells it out that way, finish this project and be done thing. Since she's not an EVP, none of that stuff will be public in an SEC filing kind of thing.
 
szw-mapple fan said:
I don't ever want to see a finger touch input Mac because usability-wise it's not great on a mouse interface but I do think Pencil only support would be nice for people who want to draw. I'd love to see a modern version of the sun flower iMac that can do this.
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Agreed. If I want touch input, I'll buy an iPad. For a desktop machine, I'm happy with a mouse/trackpad/stylus input.

I don't want a big gorgeous screen that I have to leave fingerprints on all the time. Also a large monitor like on an iMac or other desktop displays are meant to be viewed from a distance that would make finger touch input really problematic.
 
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technole said:
Probably a forced departure, staying that much longer in that capacity kind of spells it out that way, finish this project and be done thing. Since she's not an EVP, none of that stuff will be public in an SEC filing kind of thing.
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If it was forced, I don't think she would be sticking around for six more months. She'd be gone already
 
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smulji said:
If it was forced, I don't think she would be sticking around for six more months. She'd be gone already
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I would say it's more soft forced. Could have RSUs or vesting options in the latter of 6 month span, along with something like iPhone 15 that is usually has a preliminary roadmap design done years in advance which that work would be done. Many intangibles how negotated exit can work out for both parties depending on what is in their employment contract.
 
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Karma*Police said:
And if she was leaving of her own accord, the likelihood of her giving 6 months’ notice is highly unusual.
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Disagree with this because reality. If her bosses were kicking her to the curb, it's highly unlikely that they'd keep her around for six months, while everyone involved is unhappy.

On the contrary, it sounds like the kind of thing that a person in this position does when they and their bosses are happy to keep them around as project work continues and the company searches for their replacement. She may even be part of the search committee - her input would be valuable on what kind of a person is suited for the job - or not. We don't know that, of course.

Either way, giving six months' notice indicates that she is leaving on her own.
 
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I don't know who is ultimately responsible, but there are many puzzling questions and lack of thought in some recent Apple hardware designs, including:

1. Apple Studio Display: sits too high, only one size, the so-called height adjustable stand ONLY allows it to go even higher (can't go down), hole for cables is visible from the front (because monitor sits too high), webcam quality issues, 60Hz refresh rate, does not support Thunderbolt 4 etc. Nice product - but too many unthought issues that have not been refined.

2. New M2 MacBook Air: the rigid square higher front is ergonomically inferior to the usual MacBook Air tapered wedge shape -- not as nice for your hands. And the cut-out for the camera is an ugly fix to trying to make the display 'full-screen'

3. iPhone 14: where's the mini?? May not be a big seller in the US oversized market, but popular in the rest of the world.

4. Mac Studio's are super powerful tech houses: but lack the visual panache we normally see in Apple products. Still hoping to see a mini Mac Pro one day.
 
canonical said:
I don't know who is ultimately responsible, but there are many puzzling questions and lack of thought in some recent Apple hardware designs, including:

1. Apple Studio Display: sits too high, only one size, the so-called height adjustable stand ONLY allows it to go even higher (can't go down), hole for cables is visible from the front (because monitor sits too high), webcam quality issues, 60Hz refresh rate, does not support Thunderbolt 4 etc. Nice product - but too many unthought issues that have not been refined.

2. New M2 MacBook Air: the rigid square higher front is ergonomically inferior to the usual MacBook Air tapered wedge shape -- not as nice for your hands. And the cut-out for the camera is an ugly fix to trying to make the display 'full-screen'

3. iPhone 14: where's the mini?? May not be a big seller in the US oversized market, but popular in the rest of the world.

4. Mac Studio's are super powerful tech houses: but lack the visual panache we normally see in Apple products. Still hoping to see a mini Mac Pro one day.
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Nope, Pro models sell more in China. Should have killed off the mini sooner and diverted more capacity to Pro models.
 
ProfessionalFan said:
If anything, it proves she did leave on her own accord even more
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No, it proves nothing since a lot of execs are given 6 months to pack up so as to not sound the alarm bells for investors and so that they can leave with their reputation intact.

But seriously, who cares and why is that so important? What matters is that she didn’t contribute as a leader and Apple has a chance to find the next Jony Ive. But looking at Tim’s horrible track record, that’s highly unlikely and Apple will continue to sink deeper into mediocrity.
 
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Jumpthesnark said:
Disagree with this because reality. If her bosses were kicking her to the curb, it's highly unlikely that they'd keep her around for six months, while everyone involved is unhappy.

On the contrary, it sounds like the kind of thing that a person in this position does when they and their bosses are happy to keep them around as project work continues and the company searches for their replacement. She may even be part of the search committee - her input would be valuable on what kind of a person is suited for the job - or not. We don't know that, of course.

Either way, giving six months' notice indicates that she is leaving on her own.
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As I just pointed out to another poster, many execs are given ample time to pack up so as to not alarm investors and to allow the exec to leave with their reputation intact. That’s a very common practice. Letting go of an exec is not handled the same way as a regular employee. The exec would have to have done something egregious to be let go in an abrupt manner. Also, when someone leaves of their own accord, it’s usually because they have something else lined up, and when they do, they generally (almost never) give 6 months’ notice… even execs. Do I know if that’s the case here? No, and I don’t really care.

What matters is her lack of contribution as a leader. Apple has an opportunity to find someone like Jony Ive now, but with Tim’s horrible track record, I’m willing to bet that Apple sinks deeper into mediocrity than they are to find another Ive.
 
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szw-mapple fan said:
To be fair, most of Jony's designs are also iterations on his own old designs. For example, MacBooks basically had the same look and feel with the unibody designs since 2008 for MPB and 2010 for MBA with minor iterations in thickness and dimensions until we started seeing the more rounded design language in the Apple Silicon Macs. Once a design language is established and gains popularity it's not always necessary to introduce new looks every generation.
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I agree that design doesn’t need rapid change. Good design should age well and it lends itself well to branding. But great design oftentimes push the envelope, sometimes inconspicuously. Remember, Steve often talked about how design is not just about looks. Take the 12” MB for instance. While not a commercial success, many of the breakthrough innovations that it introduced are now standard in today’s MB’s; force touch trackpad, thinner display panel, fanless design, terraced batteries, USB-C, etc.

As for the more rounded design language, I’m guessing you weren’t around 15+ years ago when that exact same design was introduced. In fact, I’d argue the last gen MBP was the biggest change to aesthetics since the original unibody design. That’s why for those of us who were around then, the M1 MBPs look dated and clunky.
 
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Karma*Police said:
but with Tim’s horrible track record, I’m willing to bet that Apple sinks deeper into mediocrity than they are to find another Ive.
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To be fair, the head of the Industrial Design team now reports directly to Jeff Williams. And I'm not aware of his track record with respect to hiring for such important positions.
 
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Karma*Police said:
Apple has a chance to find the next Jony Ive. But looking at Tim’s horrible track record, that’s highly unlikely and Apple will continue to sink deeper into mediocrity.
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Tim Cook needs to go. But it’s not likely to happen soon because he’s good, so far, at delivering the one thing the board really cares about above all else: ever increasing profits!

But the profit train won’t last forever. And when it starts to run out of steam, the pressure will be on for a new CEO.
 
Is she the one that came up with all these inconsistent product line up?

iPhone 5c
iPhone SE
iPhone 8 Plus
iPhone XS Max
iPhone XR
iPhone SE 2nd
iPhone 12 mini
iPhone SE 3rd
iPhone 14 Plus
iPhone 14 Pro Max

iPad 9th
iPad 10th
iPad Air
iPad Mini
iPad Pro 11
iPad Pro 13
 
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Reason077 said:
Tim Cook has slowly transitioned Apple from a design-led company to an operations-led company. Jony Ive’s departure was pretty much the fulfilment of that effort.
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Sort of true. It's probably a little more complicated than that. When Jonathan P. Ive departed, they did not replace his Chief Design Officer seat in the executive suite. Her, as a replacement would report to Jeff, COO at a lower VP level. Does that give the top Apple executives more control? Absolutely.
 
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