Specifically, why does this not "sound good?" TIA for the 411.
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Apple Dropping Product Design Chief Role, Team to Report to COO Jeff Williams
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Ives got lauded way too much. People want great products not oil paintings. You can date the hottest model around but after the honeymoon period, you may find they’re actually quite boring and not very stimulating, that exterior may lose its shine.
Really?! From pictures you've seen of Jeff Williams not looking like the design type? Fill us in, please.
How? with useable MacBooks that nearly everyone I know uses a Mac absolutely loves? Even people I know that left Apple due to the previous design's hampered versatility(limited ports and cooling issues) have returned and bought new M1 and M2 Mac's due to their newly returned versatility.
Specifically, how does it show? TIA for verifiable facts on your comment.
I think they may have decided not having an official named "head" of design may be better for their sanity. When Jonny Ive was in that role he had a lot of public attention focused on him that may not have always been productive. I could see Apple wanting to diffuse that somewhat and give the team a chance to shine without public pressure on any one person. It doesn't mean that internally there is not a team leader, but that is something the public doesn't really need to know or freak out about every time there is a change in that position.
I'm sure the headline is hyped up, and I find this decision full of hypothetical questions that will keep me enertained for awhile! Apple is way larger and more powerful than any company I've ever been a creative director for, so I would be foolish to think I know exactly how they operate, or the chain of command the COO is really responsible for.
This gives me two major thoughts:
1. Apple already has at least 1-2 years of future devices already design approved
2. They are restructuring the industrial design team to focus on products that only Apple internally knows about that will be in the pipeline 2+ years out.
I hypothesis in a 2 year window (Apple may/may not be faster than this) because as my experience has shown me; a COO, or at the very least a CMO/CD, would oversee the industrial design team in a time of transition, or "shift" in major design roles. This type of move usually comes AFTER "normal" or already approved pipeline products are stamped for design approval/tooling.
Get the popcorn ready. 🍿 I'm not feeling doom and gloom about this "report," but rather it makes me very curious about potential product design shifts that we could see blossom, or become stale. 🤔
This gives me two major thoughts:
1. Apple already has at least 1-2 years of future devices already design approved
2. They are restructuring the industrial design team to focus on products that only Apple internally knows about that will be in the pipeline 2+ years out.
I hypothesis in a 2 year window (Apple may/may not be faster than this) because as my experience has shown me; a COO, or at the very least a CMO/CD, would oversee the industrial design team in a time of transition, or "shift" in major design roles. This type of move usually comes AFTER "normal" or already approved pipeline products are stamped for design approval/tooling.
Get the popcorn ready. 🍿 I'm not feeling doom and gloom about this "report," but rather it makes me very curious about potential product design shifts that we could see blossom, or become stale. 🤔
The design team had very little to do with the innovation of products ie the interior brains of the computers and very often compromised the innovation.
Stability as of late hasn't been what it once was though. Many software bugs. I guess we can blame work from home for that. For now. 🤷♂️
Frankly, there has been virtually zero change in the design signature of Apple products for years now, even before Ive left. So unless they plan to change things up, there is really no reason for the role for now.
Same with their marketing. They have been using the same template for all their slogans, images, speeches, etc. No need for a major role unless they want a revamp.
Not saying good or bad, but it's just the way things have been.
Same with their marketing. They have been using the same template for all their slogans, images, speeches, etc. No need for a major role unless they want a revamp.
Not saying good or bad, but it's just the way things have been.
Jeff Williams does not dress like a design-type. No artistic flair, none. At least Jony Ive presents himself as a designer.
"From pictures I've seen of Jeff Williams he doesn't look like the design type."
LOL!
What does a "design type" look like? Consider Jony Ive, Andy Hertzfeld, Bill Atkinson, Alan Kay, Marvin Minsky, Jeff Hawkins, Jim Barton, Ada Lovelace, Susan Kare, Ana Arriola...
By the way, clothes do not make theman person -- or the designer. Nor do accents...
LOL!
What does a "design type" look like? Consider Jony Ive, Andy Hertzfeld, Bill Atkinson, Alan Kay, Marvin Minsky, Jeff Hawkins, Jim Barton, Ada Lovelace, Susan Kare, Ana Arriola...
By the way, clothes do not make the
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The rest are busy in engineering.
Today's corporate philosophy is to enact employee terminations that quickly obliterate the fat and then chop away at the bone. Those who remain are so afraid of losing their jobs that they are willing to take on the duties of the employees who have been fired. The corporate bigwigs win because the job is still getting done — although not necessarily to the quality it was — but good enough while simultaneously bringing the stockholders to a state of orgasmic delight due to the cost savings and greater profits.
He’s in charge of software design. I don’t think software has been as good as previously before he became head of software design. From my understanding, his design philosophy is minimalism and having things looking good, taking precedence over how things work and feel for the user.
Some of his ideas I like because the sacrifice of usability is minor, such as when they changed macOS app icons from an amalgam of shapes to the unified design we have now.
However, I see him responsible for really, really bad design choices such as hiding buttons for a “cleaner” look with a trade off of confusing design and adding unnecessary steps to what used to be simpler actions.
Without the outcry on Safari redesign, we’d still have a tiny floating button housing ALL of Safari’s functionality (check out the original design here).
Or this “clean” redesign of macOS Safari that was also dropped due to criticism.
He’s the same guy in charge of removing the page turn animations and hiding everything under buttons and sub menus in iOS and iPadOS 16 Books.
Also approved the System Preferences redesign in macOS.
"the new arrangement has still 'irked' some of the employees"
When has anything that anyone or any organization has done not irked some people?
When has anything that anyone or any organization has done not irked some people?
Now it makes perfect sense why the iPad line is such a hot mess! Be careful folks, I predict the same mess that happened with the iPad line, will hit the other product categories too - iPhone, Mac, Watch, etc.
This is what happens when you don't have a single leader leading a team. If it is just a collaboration, all ideas seem like good ideas and everything is greenlit. Hence, why the iPad lineup is such a mess!
This is what happens when you don't have a single leader leading a team. If it is just a collaboration, all ideas seem like good ideas and everything is greenlit. Hence, why the iPad lineup is such a mess!
Almost everything Apple sells at this point is mature technology, and there's only so much that can be done design-wise with a lot of their products. Laptops have had the same general layout since the mid-90's, they've simply gotten slimmer, sleeker, and sturdier (well the metal ones at least). I suppose it doesn't help that Apple has gone all-in on rounded rectangles as a staple of their design identity (even the paper stationary used at Apple corporate has rounded corners), so we won't be seeing a MBP with jaunty angles like the HP Spectre or an iPhone with a square cornered screen.
Considering how much Apple likes reusing old designs (seriously, what's the difference between the new HomePod and the one from 2018? Less drivers?), I guess Tim Cook decided the company doesn't need to prioritize designers that much, huh? 😅