Apple's Industrial Design Team Loses Three Employees

[Jerus]

The design team including I’ve seems to have spent a lot of time the last years designing every single aspect of the new Campus. Tables, windows etc.
Maybe that inspired some parts of the team to move on and try new things.

Let’s hope the rest go back to design new kick ass products.

Some of the products released the last decade has not been great, so don’t get to carried away about the decade thing.

 

[Gasu E.]

24 people and three have gone? Two refusing to say why... this doesn’t look very good..

No true professional would answer the question "why did you leave" with anything but a banal answer. Because no future employer would look kindly at bad-mouthing your previous employer in public.

 

[Roger67]

This doesn't make sense. When designs aren't cutting it anymore in the market it's the head designer that's let go first. Something had to be done and a replacement for Ives hadn't been chosen yet, so cut him at the knees and also bide time by throwing a few of his direct reports under the bus. A great designer would have moved on by now to pursue their other ideas but Ives isn't close to being a great designer.

 

[fastasleep]

Combining years of service isn’t meaningful. There’s no doubt they contributed greatly, but the look and feel of the iPhone was set long before it debuted.

You mean this one? Daniele De Iuliis is one of several credited with this prototype (circa PowerBook 500, 1992)

[doublepost=1556250332][/doublepost]

If they were responsible for keyboard, display cable and other issues, it's good that they are gone.

Keyboards would be the Input Design Lab. Display cable would've been hardware engineering.

 

[B4U]

Yes, it would be awesome to lose one of the best designers in the world, the one responsible for all Apple products you use and presumably care about because you’re here. The one all other companies try to compete against

Best?
I beg to differ.
The wart-like camera bump is a good design by what measure?

 

[fastasleep]

Best?
I beg to differ.
The wart-like camera bump is a good design by what measure?

Ive referred to the first iPhone camera bump as “a really very pragmatic optimization.” There are practical matters to be included in design decisions, like physics that require a complex lens assembly to take up as much space as it does. Of course he would've preferred it to be flat, but again, physics.

 

[MrBat]

Maybe this is the start of the purge that is needed?

This pursue of thinness must stop. Function over Form, or at least make it balanced. No one gives a damn on a 0.2mm thinner MacBook Pro. What matters is macOS, a reliable keyboard, ports and optional emoji bar (or just kill that thing?)

 

[Gasu E.]

The Galaxy Fold represents a new paradigm in pocket computer man-machine interface. This isn’t a home run. It’s a whole new sport. And only Samsung could have envisioned, designed, engineered, and ship such a product. Apple on the other hand are incapable of creating such a device. Samsung focuses on novelty. Apple focuses on pragmatic design. Frankly, no one cares for 99% of Apple’s first-party apps. The vast majority of people have crApple folders of all the useless Apple apps: Reminders, News, Podcasts, Books, Stocks, Health, Home, Wallet, Measure, TV, iMovie, GarageBand, Music Memos, Clips, Pages, Keynote, Numbers.

Apple needs to focus on important design aspects: Kill the TrueDepth housing. Kill it. No one cares about FaceID. Kill the camera bump. It is superfluous. You might ask what natural law exists that says “smartphones” need to have a flat back. Well. There is none. But it’s ugly. For example. Look at the safety mechanism on the trigger on a Glock. It’s hideous. Yeah, okay, they claim it’s additional safety. Who cares? It is ugly. A trigger on a gun should be one smooth piece. That is good design. Trust me, I’ve designed a great layout for my Twitch page so you can say that I have an “eye for design."

LOL, this is hysterical. You almost had me until that last line. Although the Glock part was a pretty great lead in. All that's left is for you to tell us how you paint using human blood.

 

[0947347]

Yeah the iphone is getting uglier and uglier. I'm guessing all the 'fresh talent' is working for the competition, probably good to clean out some of the old and hire some people with fresh design shops. Gold watches for rich guys is not going to cut it long term.

“What is design?”

 

[kildraik]

LOL, this is hysterical. You almost had me until that last line. Although the Glock part was a pretty great lead in. All that's left is for you to tell us how you paint using human blood.

I was sipping water when I read this and started laughing/coughing as water got into the wrong pipe for a solid minute. You win the best response of the day.

 

[e-coli]

I guess this means they’re not doing a car anytime soon. Julian Hönig Would likely have lead that effort from a design standpoint.

That’s a lot of talent to leave at once. Although Apple’s work seems extremely iterative of late.

 

[macduke]

Honestly they are probably bored out of their mind.

Everything has had pretty much the same design for many years, aside from making some bezels smaller and displays rounded on the corners for a few products. Even Apple’s best new product in years—the AirPods—are essentially EarPods with the cords snipped off. Apple used to update the iPhone design every two years, but now it’s every three. The HomePod is the big new product and it’s just a rounded cylinder that isn’t even selling that well.

That hideous square camera bump on the back of the next iPhone may have been the straw that broke their back.

 

[M2M]

If they finally would get rid of the Lens(es) sticking out. Just make the damn phone thicker then.

 

[JoEw]

Maybe we can get a reliable keyboard out of it

 

[M2M]

Engineering hasn't won an argument at Apple in years.

So the camera sticking out is a design decision?

 

[Solomani]

This group is all-powerful in Apple," said Neil Cybart, who runs Above Avalon, a site dedicated to Apple analysis. "Industrial designers have the final say over the user experience found with Apple devices, and they really do work like a family in a way. No one would argue, though, that new blood is a bad thing."

Why is new blood necessarily a bad thing? Creativity and innovation requires new ideas… which comes from people who have new ideas to offer. Out with the old. They have made Apple stagnant.

 

[Not-Sure]

Maybe this is the start of the purge that is needed?

The only one who needs to get lost is Tim Cook.

 

[Jimmy James]

They told Ive they’ve gone too thin. Boom. Gone.

 

[thomas040]

The day J. Ive leaves is going to be the end of an era.
[doublepost=1556256892][/doublepost]

wouldnt really say have been designing much lately. more like slight modifications.

I'm sure what they are designing 'lately' isn't slated to come out until 2022, and what they had been designing lately in 2016 just came out now. I guess I'm not sure what you mean by 'lately'

 

[iZac]

In other news, The Mac Pro design team is down to one intern.

If we're being realistic, the same design has been used in 12 different iPhone models now (6/6 Plus, 6S/6S Plus, 7/7 Plus, 8/8 Plus, X, XR, XS/XS Max. The X series is the same exact design, except for the vertical camera and the notch. I don't get why everyone treats it as if it's different.

Credit where credit is due - the 6 / 7 / 8 / X have all had different camera bump profiles. massive changes.

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

No tears are wasted if these 3 happened to work on the butterfly keyboards.

He says as he types flawlessly on Internet forums using said keyboard.

 

[0947347]

Must've been an awesome time for them at Apple. Riding the iPhone 6 design for 4 years, good job!

That’s not nice to say. They did wonders adding additional colours. And when I say colours, I mean RED. And managed to fix their own mistake and made 6s series more durable. But then repeated the same mistake on iPad Pro 2018. I am the same way, always forget some little detail.

 

[NickName99]

The last truly groundbreaking product from Apple was the iPhone. And before that the iPod, preceded by the candy iMacs. It's been a long time of simply adding features to existing products. Stagnancy of invention and you become a seller of consumer widgets, and then media subscriptions? How boring.

The iPhone X was truly groundbreaking, and that was just over a year ago. Apple is fine.

 

[Mike MA]

People leave companies, new people with new ideas will follow.

 

[Classie]

Damn! I can’t believe the amount of negative comments in here.
The design team at Apple has made some incredible products during the last years - I personally think they are beautiful and far ahead of what others are doing.
Is this how you guys go about your life; bashing and pissing on other peoples accomplishments and decisions.
...ok, need to calm my self...