Jonathan Ive Talks Design, Failure, and More in Appearance at London's Design Museum

[MellowFuzz]

Quote:
The eighteen-person team hasn't seen a single member leave for fifteen years

All jokes aside. I think it is a bad idea to have a design team that has been so static for almost a generation.

Their marketing must be as static, which would explain why Apple thinks U2 is cool.

 

[KdParker]

Since it's obviously been working to wild success for Apple, maybe it's not such a bad idea??

Not really, they didn't get where they are now by sticking with the status quo.

Can't fail if you don't take any new chances.

 

[melendezest]

Ah, Jonathan Ive.

The cause of both some of my greatest computing pleasures:

iMac G4 (20" table lamp)
Cube
17" MBP
27" iMac
New Mac Pro (it is sexy, just not a suitable replacement for the old one)

and my greatest disappointments:

iOS 7/8
Yosemite
Soldered/"sealed" Macs
New Mac Pro
The death of Apple and OS X (in my eyes)
Having to migrate (back) to Windows and Android

 

[KdParker]

And yet I think an honest assessment would be that there team has done better than ANY other comparable team anywhere in the world today, perhaps in all history. Which suggests that maybe naive "add some fresh blood" thinking is, just that, naive...

Microsoft had their infamous "stack ranking" system that resulted in pretty rapid turnover --- how's that helped their design (or, for that matter, the rest of the company?)

----------

Not talking about rapid turnover, just not to be so stagnant over 15 years. A new perspective once in a while can only help.

 

[melendezest]

So give us the xMac already and see if it makes it or fails!

Even if it fails I'd at least have a Mac like I really want since it would be the only Apple product I'd camp outside a Apple Store for.

Before Yosemite, I would have agreed with you.

Now? Nope. They have NOTHING (new) I want.

I see Apple as a dead end now. I either get old hardware (the cMBPs are still the best, most flexible laptops out there), or migrate fully to the PC side.

Yosemite/iOS and Windows X are making that easy for me to decide.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm looking forward to it!

 

[giantfan1224]

Not really, they didn't get where they are now by sticking with the status quo.

Can't fail if you don't take any new chances.

So they should mix it up just because not doing so would be the status quo?

 

[Antares]

Is a static design team a good thing?

Agreed. I'm sick of it on every freaking thread. Move on people please.

But Samsung won't move on...

 

[giantfan1224]

Absolutely true. We are all taught from a very early age to avoid failure at all costs, "Failure is not an option!" is practically the slogan of the "American way". Pathetic!

I think the point of a "Failure is not an option" slogan is when failure leads to quitting and giving up.

 

[KdParker]

So they should mix it up just because not doing so would be the status quo?

Why not.

Perspectives change every 10 - 20 years and a new look at old solutions is the never a bad idea.

Apple has done that quite alot over their years. I am just thinking that hitting the 15 year mark with out a change on the design team is probably about the limit before you need a new perspective.

 

[giantfan1224]

Why not.

Perspectives change every 10 - 20 years and a new look at old solutions is the never a bad idea.

Apple has done that quite alot over their years. I am just thinking that hitting the 15 year mark with out a change on the design team is probably about the limit before you need a new perspective.

But you're looking at it from a perspective where you have very little knowledge about how that 18 person team functions. From my viewpoint, the tangible results we see in record profits, all-time stock price and market cap highs and wildly successful industry-leading products tells me that however that 18 person design team operates, it is working just splendidly. You're saying they should change it up just because it's 15 years without a change and that's it. Ridiculous.

 

[thekeyring]

It almost sounds as if they believe whatever product comes through this tough process will succeed. However, I still have doubts about the watch. I'm not sure a touch-screen watch (with marketing and pricing as an upscale "timepiece") fills a need in a world where touch-screen phones exist.

There's a difference between a project coming into the design department and making sure it leaves with a good design....and a project actually created in the design department. Not sure this type of design department (without Jobs) is really in touch with the user experience.

I get the feeling that the desire for a new product at Apple outweighed the actual need for a new product. Or rather that the watch should not have been that next product. The core needs of a timepiece were sacrificed in favor of the existing phone experience.

I would rather have seen a real Apple TV or Apple home phone or other accessories.

The design department at Apple does more than make a product look good.

At the very least, the watch will be interesting because it will show if Apple can take an invention and turn it into a blockbuster device that people love, without Steve Jobs.

 

[rsocal]

I think the point of a "Failure is not an option" slogan is when failure leads to quitting and giving up.

Yep!

"When failure leads to quitting and giving up", I've understood it this way since childhood! I sure would hate to find out I was wrong, but it's worked for me so far!

Mistakes and failures are a part of true success, it's how we respond to the failure, give up or keep moving forward!

 

[KPJLK]

Ive sounds like a motivational speaker more than a designer.

He is clearly constrained from saying anything that would give genuine insight into the design processes, so just utters platitudes. Apple doesn't discuss future OR past products! I guess i will have to wait many years to know what the problem was with the white iPhone 4, or the rationale for proceeding to production with the black/slate iPhone 5 when they must have known about the poor durability of the finish.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Sadly, "failure" is the apparently the only thing that might convince Johnny Five that his UI design sucks. Don't adopt is the best policy. I'm sticking with Mavericks for now.

 

[notrack]

Ah, Jonathan Ive.

The cause of both some of my greatest computing pleasures:

iMac G4 (20" table lamp)
Cube
17" MBP
27" iMac
New Mac Pro (it is sexy, just not a suitable replacement for the old one)

and my greatest disappointments:

iOS 7/8
Yosemite
Soldered/"sealed" Macs
New Mac Pro
The death of Apple and OS X (in my eyes)
Having to migrate (back) to Windows and Android

The table lamp iMac. My all-time favourite Apple product!

 

[bawbac]

Every team needs new people to generate fresh ideas. I don't think it's good for the design process to have the same people working year after year.

And that's why you have the Apple of today, stagnant on any innovation, product refresh or anything that has wow'd the public since the iPad/iPhone.

 

[nick42983]

Enough Ive already. Get out of the spotlight and hit the gym, you'd think a world renowned designer would have more respect for his own body.

 

[powers74]

"There is only 18 of us on the design team. Nobody has ever left."

Gah! It's like the High Priesthood of Consumer Electronics Design. I applied for one of their ID openings once... Oh well.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Enough Ive already. Get out of the spotlight and hit the gym, you'd think a world renowned designer would have more respect for his own body.

God, that was random....

More to the point, WHO CARES what he looks like? This isn't Playgirl, after all.

 

[jyen]

Every team needs new people to generate fresh ideas. I don't think it's good for the design process to have the same people working year after year.

Well, they did get rid of Scott Forstall.

 

[numlock]

God, that was random....

More to the point, WHO CARES what he looks like? This isn't Playgirl, after all.

maybe he wonders about the connection between designs getting worse and ive getting fat.

i certainly think its time for some fresh less complacent faces (can take schiller and cue as well)

Sadly, "failure" is the apparently the only thing that might convince Johnny Five that his UI design sucks. Don't adopt is the best policy. I'm sticking with Mavericks for now.

with the rapid releases its harder and harded not to upgrade.

 

[akb]

Quote:
The eighteen-person team hasn't seen a single member leave for fifteen years

All jokes aside. I think it is a bad idea to have a design team that has been so static for almost a generation.

Says a guy on an Internet messageboard. About the greatest design team of its generation.

 

[Hustler1337]

Jeez, am I the only person who thinks Jony Ive looks fat in that pic? He's sure gaining weight lately.

 

[numlock]

Says a guy on an Internet messageboard. About the greatest design team of its generation.

so your philosophy is to only offer opinion on those "beneath" you or?

not everyone is a fan of complacency

 

[autrefois]

The eighteen-person team hasn't seen a single member leave for fifteen years. "I like to work in a small team," Ive told Sudjic. "There is only 18 of us on the design team. Nobody has ever left."

If it's always the same team, I guess this means the odds of them getting over their obsession with making things thinner and thinner (at the expense of battery life, performance, etc.) are slim and none.

(Sorry for the accidental pun! )