Apple Ends Partnership With Former Design Chief Jony Ive

[JW5566]

It's hard to like him today because of the ridiculous sums of money Apple were paying him, but he did design/inspire some amazing things in the past.

It will be interesting to see in what direction Apple goes now with design, whether Apple's employment of more corporate and less visionary/radical staff will result in products that just "fit in" rather than break new ground.

Most corporations mature to this stage, where personalities are replaced by sheep.

And if the bland, soulless box that is the Mac Studio is anything to go by, we're doomed.

 

[fontman]

Since former Apple design chief Jony Ive left Apple in 2019, he has continued to work for the company as a consultant through his LoveFrom design firm, but the partnership between Apple and Ive is now over, according to The New York Times.

Apple and Ive have agreed to stop working together, ending a more than 30-year relationship. Ive has been responsible for some of Apple's biggest products, designing the iPhone, Apple Watch, Macs, Apple retail stores, and more.

Ive announced his departure from Apple in June 2019, with the goal of creating his own design firm. At the time, Ive said that Apple would be one of his primary clients, with Ive continuing to do design work. Since then, Ive has worked on the 24-inch iMac and other products, plus he has provided guidance on the Apple Car design.

When Ive left Apple, Apple signed a multiyear contract with him that was valued at more than $100 million. Under the terms, Apple was LoveFrom's primary client, but the deal restricted Ive from working on projects that Apple felt were competitive.

Ive and Apple were set to renew the contract, but they decided not to extend it. Apple executives reportedly questioned how much Apple was paying Ive, and were also said to be frustrated that Apple designers were leaving for LoveFrom. Ive, meanwhile, wanted the freedom to choose his own clients without clearing his work with Apple.

Rumors have indicated that Ive left Apple because he became dispirited after the launch of the Apple Watch, with Ive reportedly feeling discontent as Apple was becoming less design focused and more focused on operations. Ive is said to have felt that Cook had little interest in the product development process, and he was allegedly frustrated that Apple's board was populated with directors with backgrounds in finance and operations rather than technology.

Since Ive's departure, Jeff Williams has been overseeing the Apple design teams, and will continue to do so. Industrial design continues to be led by Evans Hankey, and software design is led by Alan Dye. Apple marketing chief Greg Joswiak is also said to have a central role in product design choices.

Article Link: Apple Ends Partnership With Former Design Chief Jony Ive

He was very good at repurposing old designs and making them look new but keeping the nostalgia for the Macintosh design.

 

[svish]

Controversial designs and functionality under Jony. But still sad to see Apple not having any association with him.

 

[laptech]

I wonder if it was the other way round in that Ive ends the partnership with Apple because said partnership prevented him from working with potential clients that had competing products to Apple and as a result he could've be making more money than the contract with Apple.

 

[otozuz]

Good riddance. He made products and software that looked nice but was terrible to use.

While I agree that he went to the extreme of the form over function in industrial design which resulted in worse products for a few years after Steve Jobs passed away, before that he had been a fundamental figure of Apple's best products for 15 years, which is what made Apple the Apple we know today.

 

[Tozovac]

I'm a little sad that thin isn't in anymore for tech products. Because thin also equaled lighter which is what I miss most at least with the portable devices. Either I'm getting old or iphones just keep getting heavier.

Or we are expecting too much from our phones, as hardware/features keep getting added.

 

[russell_314]

I don’t have anything personal against him but absolutely hated the thin and light over function…. The 13” MacBook Pro turned into trash under him. I’m glad he‘s gone and don’t want to see him return

 

[840quadra]

Ive is a legend with some awesome and equally dreadful design choices over the years. Will be different knowing he is not there anymore, however I feel designs have been good overall.

Hopefully the company does remain focused on design with function. The reintroduction of some ports is a welcome change!

 

[Premium1]

Good!

 

[Premium1]

Wow! shocking news. This article actually makes me very sad. Love him or Hate him, he is behind Apple's success.

He's also behind some of the worst project designs they had (butterfly keyboard among them). He favored thin over functionality.

 

[DailySlow]

Since former Apple design chief Jony Ive left Apple in 2019, he has continued to work for the company as a consultant through his LoveFrom design firm, but the partnership between Apple and Ive is now over, according to The New York Times.

Apple and Ive have agreed to stop working together, ending a more than 30-year relationship. Ive has been responsible for some of Apple's biggest products, designing the iPhone, Apple Watch, Macs, Apple retail stores, and more.

Ive announced his departure from Apple in June 2019, with the goal of creating his own design firm. At the time, Ive said that Apple would be one of his primary clients, with Ive continuing to do design work. Since then, Ive has worked on the 24-inch iMac and other products, plus he has provided guidance on the Apple Car design.

When Ive left Apple, Apple signed a multiyear contract with him that was valued at more than $100 million. Under the terms, Apple was LoveFrom's primary client, but the deal restricted Ive from working on projects that Apple felt were competitive.

Ive and Apple were set to renew the contract, but they decided not to extend it. Apple executives reportedly questioned how much Apple was paying Ive, and were also said to be frustrated that Apple designers were leaving for LoveFrom. Ive, meanwhile, wanted the freedom to choose his own clients without clearing his work with Apple.

Rumors have indicated that Ive left Apple because he became dispirited after the launch of the Apple Watch, with Ive reportedly feeling discontent as Apple was becoming less design focused and more focused on operations. Ive is said to have felt that Cook had little interest in the product development process, and he was allegedly frustrated that Apple's board was populated with directors with backgrounds in finance and operations rather than technology.

Since Ive's departure, Jeff Williams has been overseeing the Apple design teams, and will continue to do so. Industrial design continues to be led by Evans Hankey, and software design is led by Alan Dye. Apple marketing chief Greg Joswiak is also said to have a central role in product design choices.

Article Link: Apple Ends Partnership With Former Design Chief Jony Ive

The last vestige of Analog human input is kicked under the bus. Enter the age of the machines.

 

[sherwinzadeh]

Since former Apple design chief Jony Ive left Apple in 2019, he has continued to work for the company as a consultant through his LoveFrom design firm, but the partnership between Apple and Ive is now over, according to The New York Times.

Apple and Ive have agreed to stop working together, ending a more than 30-year relationship. Ive has been responsible for some of Apple's biggest products, designing the iPhone, Apple Watch, Macs, Apple retail stores, and more.

Ive announced his departure from Apple in June 2019, with the goal of creating his own design firm. At the time, Ive said that Apple would be one of his primary clients, with Ive continuing to do design work. Since then, Ive has worked on the 24-inch iMac and other products, plus he has provided guidance on the Apple Car design.

When Ive left Apple, Apple signed a multiyear contract with him that was valued at more than $100 million. Under the terms, Apple was LoveFrom's primary client, but the deal restricted Ive from working on projects that Apple felt were competitive.

Ive and Apple were set to renew the contract, but they decided not to extend it. Apple executives reportedly questioned how much Apple was paying Ive, and were also said to be frustrated that Apple designers were leaving for LoveFrom. Ive, meanwhile, wanted the freedom to choose his own clients without clearing his work with Apple.

Rumors have indicated that Ive left Apple because he became dispirited after the launch of the Apple Watch, with Ive reportedly feeling discontent as Apple was becoming less design focused and more focused on operations. Ive is said to have felt that Cook had little interest in the product development process, and he was allegedly frustrated that Apple's board was populated with directors with backgrounds in finance and operations rather than technology.

Since Ive's departure, Jeff Williams has been overseeing the Apple design teams, and will continue to do so. Industrial design continues to be led by Evans Hankey, and software design is led by Alan Dye. Apple marketing chief Greg Joswiak is also said to have a central role in product design choices.

Article Link: Apple Ends Partnership With Former Design Chief Jony Ive

Bring back Frog Design!

 

[Satjiv's one click]

Good Riddance

I'm going to measure my sadness with his 500$ Hermès leather measure tape

 

[darngooddesign]

No one knows how involved Ive was during the butterfly keyboard years. Reports say that he was mostly involved with the Apple HQ project and was spending most of his time managing the different design teams rather than actually doing product design.

Here's the thing, Jobs and Ive loved redesigning the laptops every couple of years, or to mark a noticeable technology shift (like going all USB-C) so the fact that the USB-C MBPs weren't visually different sounds more like design teams extrapolating Ive's previous designs because he had no time to commit to new redesigns.

That being said I agree that Ive was at his best when Jobs acted as a counterbalance, but to claim he was a bad designer just because of a four year stretch of laptops, which were also hampered by Intel releasing really hot-running, **** processors is silly. Remember than his focus on thinness also gave us an iPod the size of a deck of cards, a slim phone thinner than anything other smartphone on the market, the great wedge MacBook Air design which everyone loves, and by 2015 they had knocked a quarter of an inch off the 15" MBP's thickness while still using the same design.

 

[MrMojo1]

I don’t have anything personal against Ives but hate the style over function(ality) aspect and it's not just against Apple but applies also to any other (tech) company and their products.
A beautifully designed product is No excuse if/when the product does Not perform well for what it was designed to do and what people paid for.

 

[Feyl]

We couldn’t see this coming at all, right?

 

[btrach144]

Well that didn’t last long

 

[ian87w]

He's a designer. The keyboard was an engineering mishap.

Thanks to Jobs, Ive and his team was given the ultimate power in decision making, even if the engineering explicitly stated the design will be problematic. Take antennagate. The engineering team actually stated that there will be reception issues, but Ives went forward with the design and Jobs sided with Ive. I would think the same with the butterfly keyboard. Engineering team would've pointed out the potential issues, but the design team under Ive had the final say. I think that's why the engineering team tries multiple efforts to counter the issue, although they ultimately still failed. It would be unfair to put the blame on the engineering team if the design team always had the ultimate decision making power.

So I'm sure that position and power remained even after Jobs passed away. Thus we have seemingly an "uncontrolled" Ive in many of Apple's designs.

 

[darngooddesign]

Good Riddance

I'm going to measure my sadness with his 500$ Hermès leather measure tape

Like Hermes was going to release a $50 anything.

 

[Ray2]

For all those cheering this event: now perhaps cook & co can deliver laptops that look just like old Dells. Perhaps creaking as poorly fitted plastic seams rub against each other. But they will be cost effective, functional who knows, I'd rather type on an old Air than the new ones. But then, who uses a keyboard anymore.

 

[darngooddesign]

...Take antennagate. The engineering team actually stated that there will be reception issues, but Ives went forward with the design and Jobs sided with Ive.

The 4S actually proves that the iPhone 4 engineers were responsible for the reception issue. Ive didn't design the antenna gap location, so if the 4S engineers solved the issue by simply moving where the antennas met, why didn't the iPhone 4 engineers think of that.

Part of the problem was that to avoid leaks the iPhone 4 was usually tested in a case which obviously prevented the issue from occurring. In fact when the engineer lost a prototype phone used for reception testing, the one Gizmodo bought, it was in a case disguised to look like a 3GS.

 

[ian87w]

The 4S actually proves that the iPhone 4 engineers were responsible for the reception issue. Ive didn't design the antenna gap location, so if the 4S engineers solved the issue by simply moving where the antennas met, why didn't the iPhone 4 engineers think of that.

Part of the problem was that to avoid leaks the iPhone 4 was usually tested in a case which obviously prevented the issue from occurring. In fact when the engineer lost a prototype phone used for reception testing, the one Gizmodo bought, it was in a case disguised to look like a 3GS.

Actually, it was in Jobs' own biography where it was discussed that the engineering team did point out to Ive and Jobs about the antenna flaw, but Ive insisted on the design and Jobs sided with Ive. Obviously they had to fix it on the 4S since it costed Apple a lot of issues, as the engineering team had predicted.

 

[bmustaf]

Good riddance. Not to devalue his incredible work he has done, but in the latter part of his career he was solely responsible for completely neutering Apple hardware into low-performance junk because "thin" meant more than "thermally efficient" to him and iOS interfaces into oversimplified, completely neutered of any useful feature set for anyone but a complete luddite.


iOS 16, where a decade later, we are finally getting basic features and functions and finally the "Pro" is coming back into the "Pro" products.

 

[darngooddesign]

Actually, it was in Jobs' own biography where it was discussed that the engineering team did point out to Ive and Jobs about the antenna flaw, but Ive insisted on the design and Jobs sided with Ive. Obviously they had to fix it on the 4S since it costed Apple a lot of issues, as the engineering team had predicted.

So instead of simply moving the antenna gap like they did on the 4S the engineers just said it wouldn't work. Sounds like Jobs should have pushed the engineers as hard as he pushed Ive.

Sure, totally Ive's fault. /s

 

[hagjohn]

The combination of tech and look is what made Apple popular. Im betting people will be thinking differently about Ive, the further out we get from his design influence. None of the newest products are still influenced by him and you can tell they are not as polished.