Apple Dropping Product Design Chief Role, Team to Report to COO Jeff Williams

[mdriftmeyer]

Apple has now fully moved into the post-Jobs era.

Design is not an operations activity. It's a strategic asset. It's product planning beyond what the finance forecasters are comfortable seeing. Product roadmaps. Looking to where technology is headed, and designing solutions before we get there.

This is really terrible news for Apple. They will be relegated to "follower" status and no longer leaders. Having no vision means you're blind to opportunity.

We never had large design teams at NeXT nor later at Apple. That team was post iPod/iPhone/iPad introduction years when Steve was becoming more ill.

They created the SVP role to keep Ives around. The team that does the work will now report more directly with Engineering as it used to do.

 

[Realityck]

Design team has no leader. Product development meetings must be fun

Every design team has a leader, this just gets rid of the position that previously Jony Ive held that that Evans Hankey got later. Now you can have multiple design team managers working and reporting to COO Jeff Willams as needed. Does Apple need a design chief position still, no IMHO.

 

[ghanwani]

Specifically, how does it show? TIA for verifiable facts on your comment.

In my view, the current machines lack harmony of design. They look patched together, as if everything doesn't quite fit together in terms of proportions. If it's design by committee, this would be the result. If it's by an individual, then they have poor design skills.

 

[richinaus]

Errr, no. As far as we know, products such as the previous MBPs (e.g. unreliable keyboards with basically no travel) and the trash can Mac (poor cooling) had design flaws due to limitations caused by aesthetic design decisions. Function really needs to come before form. Think latest generation MBPs. They may look pretty dull but that keyboard is leagues ahead of the previous one.

I get a little tired of hearing people go on about some negative aspects rather than all the positivity that was brought by the design.

Also engineering is as much to blame about the keyboards, cooling etc. Its not just aesthetics.

 

[applepotato666]

In my view, the current machines lack harmony of design. They look patched together, as if everything doesn't quite fit together in terms of proportions. If it's design by committee, this would be the result. If it's by a single person, then they have poor design skills.

As a product designer I agree. The sense of proportion and symmetry was lost some time ago but it's obvious it's to make space for internals. The iPhone 13 Pro (possibly even 14 Pro but I haven't seen that irl, live in Europe, nobody is buying them here) has this really ugly mismatch between the radius of the frame and the camera housing glass that really irks me and you used to only see that with the Chinese manufacturers. Literally the reason I bought the normal 13 instead of the Pro because OCD.

 

[vartanarsen]

Was Hankey the one who brought the iPhone 4 shape back to 12 and beyond?

 

[Mr Todhunter]

I am thankful for the return to sanity with the MacBook Pro line.

And all with a notch? Nah…

 

[UWF404]

Where key product decisions will be driven by bean counters. Good times ya'll!

 

[satchmo]

Looks at talented people.
Still looks more at that gorgeous desk....

What about that flesh coloured pencil she’s using? Is it common to use this for sketching? Any product designers?

 

[ss2cire]

My question is: why am I not seeing any Apple pencils?

It's because the picture is from 2014, I don't think an Apple Pencil was even introduced back then...

Also is this literally 2 people in the background "sucking face"?

 

[Realityck]

In my view, the current machines lack harmony of design.

If each design is good enough to stand alone, its not like consumers need to collect them all.

 

[raindogg]

Apple hasn't really changed its design language all that much since Ive.

 

[nsklaus]

will apple now go back to sane design ?

- properly tested products and softwares before releases ?
- remove the horrible touchbar ?
- restore macos good looks (pre-big-sur era) ?
- remove the horrible notch ?
- airpod max will now stops getting condensation, and no more ridiculous case, and gain a power button ?
- remove the useless dog ears on epubs preview in macos finder ? (as it is done correctly in ios) ?
- allow mounting ios partition on macs as a normal volume to allow easier file transfer ?
- give app store proper search functionalities ?
- macbook pro M2 has more power than M1 yet M2 has less performant cooling system than M1. (apple, why ?)

overall apple products quality has been degrading more and more these last years.
"stable" software release often feels like half cooked betas. hardware failing after 2years (right after warranty).
then there's the questionable new "features". like lack of power button on airpod max, and the notch on the macs, the touchbar and so on. it was all bad.
now on the good side: it's great that you brought back magsafe. now please bring back macos good look too. and do proper quality testing before releases. hire skilled devs, and go do a mass bug hunting please !

 

[Deepshade]

They seems to have droped them a while back, an replaced them with a team based around recycling and useless entry point products.

 

[Xand&Roby]

The Apple design team has gotten very small. I wonder if half of these people still working at Apple today?

Here's the first group picture of Apple's new Industrial Design team

CUPERTINO, Calif. — This is the first group photo of Apple's new Industrial Design team -- the men and women behind the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and

www.cultofmac.com

The answer is No.
This is why certain nonsense like the DI and the overturning of the UX logic of iOS 16 are among us, and the inexorable decline in UXs and hardware solutions, including the materials chosen by Apple.
We have the engineers, those who think they are smart, and in fact the results are seen, just look at a graph of the performance of the batteries of the devices (all, from iOS to MacOS) and the incremental number of errors and missed backward compatibility.
We have (or rather, management has it) the money though, and that's the only aspect that matters.

 

[Xand&Roby]

I loved Jony Ive’s work at his peak. Back when he held to the tenant that design is not just how it looks but how it works. That gave us the brilliance of a home button integrated with touch ID and the iPod click wheel and pinch to zoom touch screens.

But Jony Ive seemed to forget that in his later years at Apple in a quest to remove every port on every device, sacrifice everything for the sake of thinness and pursue high-end fashion to the point of prices that excluded 99% of the first world population.

There was a great statement by John Gruber years ago where he commented that billionaire Bill Gates refused to use an iPhone and that an ordinary guy like Gruber could afford to own a better smartphone than a billionaire was using.

Sure there were third parties doing gold-plated diamond-studded iPhones for insane prices, but Apple was not selling those.

Apple has always had high prices for the highest performance macs. But the first couple of years of Apple Watch Edition were just pretentious — and functionally equivalent to Apple Watch Sport. That was all Ive losing touch with the masses.

And there is a place for nearly port-less MacBook that is ultra-thin but that MacBook should never carry the “Pro” moniker — sacrificing basic functionality like a decent keyboard for the sake of thinness.

I don’t miss the Jony Ive that left Apple or the like-minded designers who have either left Apple with him or complained since his departure. I miss the Jony Ive who believed like Steve Jobs that design is about something works from the inside out.

The fact that you don't understand why the Apple Watch Edition was ceramic, or why the MacBook Retina was designed that way says a lot about you (and those like you) and also why Apple didn't need Ive anymore.
Now you have a ridiculous Apple Watch Hermes that costs twice as much as a Ceramic Edition, and it's a trivial Steel Watch, and an iPad Pro that costs three times as much as a portable Mac, weighs twice as much, and still remains a tablet without MacOS.
But you are too smart to understand it.

That's why Apple has increased its income tenfold and is careful not to make a watch that is worth something (no really, say that the Ultra is worth something) or putting macOS on an iPad.
I recommend, keep buying, Apple investors are happy about it.

 

[Rogifan]

This whole rumor is stupid anyway because after Ive left his design team reported into Jeff Williams. Would you rather they report up through hardware engineering (which is where they would be at any other company). And whether they’re reporting to Tim Cook or Jeff Williams does it matter? I’d argue Williams probably cares more about it than Cook. He’s actually been responsible for products like Apple Watch. Cook hasn’t.

 

[atomic.flip]

I became a product designer because of Johnny Ive.

I really don't think this is a good idea, you need someone with product expertise to oversee operations. Another C-Suite exec focused on general operations isn't going to cut it.

Makes me concerned for where their design strategy may be headed.

It’s clearly a sign of Apple losing talent. But we’ve seen this across the board anyway. From software to hardware designs.

The new HomePod, inability to release a new SOC with greater performance than last generation due to ludicrous design conflicts, products being atrophied and others being abandoned entirely. To say the least about refinement.

It’s a genuinely sad state. I used to look to Apple as the pinnacle of design innovation. And now…. They’re just creating a mess of me too products and riding on the coat tails of geniuses that once worked there.

 

[anshuvorty]

It’s clearly a sign of Apple losing talent. But we’ve seen this across the board anyway. From software to hardware designs.

The new HomePod, inability to release a new SOC with greater performance than last generation due to ludicrous design conflicts, products being atrophied and others being abandoned entirely. To say the least about refinement.

It’s a genuinely sad state. I used to look to Apple as the pinnacle of design innovation. And now…. They’re just creating a mess of me too products and riding on the coat tails of geniuses that once worked there.

It was bound to happen, you know. Greatness doesn't last forever. It is why the word holds such a special meaning.

 

[threesixty360]

I worked in a place exactly as described by you, and the vocal people are not usually right or the best. It was a disaster. I left along with everyone else who was good. They are left with dross now.

Fair enough. That can also be true.
Apple generally hires some of the best designers in the world though.
So I doubt their opinions are will be dross..

 

[richinaus]

will apple now go back to sane design ?

- properly tested products and softwares before releases ?
- remove the horrible touchbar ?
- restore macos good looks (pre-big-sur era) ?
- remove the horrible notch ?
- airpod max will now stops getting condensation, and no more ridiculous case, and gain a power button ?
- remove the useless dog ears on epubs preview in macos finder ? (as it is done correctly in ios) ?
- allow mounting ios partition on macs as a normal volume to allow easier file transfer ?
- give app store proper search functionalities ?
- macbook pro M2 has more power than M1 yet M2 has less performant cooling system than M1. (apple, why ?)

overall apple products quality has been degrading more and more these last years.
"stable" software release often feels like half cooked betas. hardware failing after 2years (right after warranty).
then there's the questionable new "features". like lack of power button on airpod max, and the notch on the macs, the touchbar and so on. it was all bad.
now on the good side: it's great that you brought back magsafe. now please bring back macos good look too. and do proper quality testing before releases. hire skilled devs, and go do a mass bug hunting please !

and all of these are down to the product design team ?

 

[atomic.flip]

This whole rumor is stupid anyway because after Ive left his design team reported into Jeff Williams. Would you rather they report up through hardware engineering (which is where they would be at any other company). And whether they’re reporting to Tim Cook or Jeff Williams does it matter? I’d argue Williams probably cares more about it than Cook. He’s actually been responsible for products like Apple Watch. Cook hasn’t.

It’s not that part of the reporting structure that’s the problem. It’s the fact they specifically mention they will be delegating more responsibility to individual product leads. This sort of partitioning or siloed strategy will lead to products that are not exactly complementary to one another.

Apple’s greatest strength was its design consistency across product lines. It was a consistent experience no matter what you purchased. And the whole “it just works” tag phrase came from that design philosophy.

This isn’t just about looks. It is about how we interact with these devices and how they complement one another.

This is a bad move.

 

[atomic.flip]

Fair enough. That can also be true.
Apple generally hires some of the best designers in the world though.
So I doubt their opinions are will be dross..

Oh they do. But having a unified vision is critical.

 

[atomic.flip]

"Apple has placed more of an emphasis on function over form since Ive left the company"
Well as long as the final design functions, as well as others, did in the past, If not is just an elongated square with little purpose then just existance.....

Isn't there a saying? too many bosses and not enough helpers? ( rather not use some words reference because some might take it the wrong way.)

Too many “Cooks” in the kitchen is another one and potentially apropos. LOL

 

[richinaus]

Oh they do. But having a unified vision is critical.

exactly. It needs a person with the vision to cut the crap out and deliver excellence.