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Jony Ive Discusses Apple's Creative Design Processes
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But Sir Jony said otherwise. Wonder if Steve's reality distortion field has invaded Jony's brain.
A diagram of a player that was never made really doesn't strike me as all that impressive, even if it was drawn up years before the iPod.
As for the iAudio Cowon, I'm not familiar with their products. What were they making late 2001, early 2002? The Archos players at that time were much larger than the iPod (and as you point out, not nearly as nice looking or with as good user interface).
No matter what Ive says (or doesn't) - his designs are awesome. I rank no tech designers higher than Ive and Dieter Rams. With Dieter being #1.
Media Consumption devices
It seems that Apple's method is to make media consumption devices.
It started with Music, then Movies, TV, iOS Software (Games mostly), Photos and Videos, Books, News and Magazines, Greeting Cards and now Text Books. Their devices seem to make sure that they will have a constant stream of revenue from people's lifestyle habits and leisure time consumption through iTunes.
If they could make a device to prepare our food and charge us for every meal, I think they would!
It seems that Apple's method is to make media consumption devices.
It started with Music, then Movies, TV, iOS Software (Games mostly), Photos and Videos, Books, News and Magazines, Greeting Cards and now Text Books. Their devices seem to make sure that they will have a constant stream of revenue from people's lifestyle habits and leisure time consumption through iTunes.
If they could make a device to prepare our food and charge us for every meal, I think they would!
Probably.But Sir Jony said otherwise. Wonder if Steve's reality distortion field has invaded Jony's brain.
But Jony's not the only one to refer to the iPad as creating a new category. Phill Schiller and Tim Cook have said the same. They all drink the kool-aid at Apple. With Steve gone Jony is probably the best evangelist for Apple now.
One might argue that Apple is a hardware company that happens to be really good at software, and that's where the changes really take hold.
The iPod was a hit because of... what? Certainly there were hard drive-based music players before the iPad, and they probably had similar hardware, battery life and audio quality. It was the interface, really. The size and shape was friendly and the user interface was new and easy to use.
When you compare the iPad to the pre-iPad tablet devices, at heart you find that Apple was pushing a proprietary non-desktop operating system (iOS) while most other tablets were trying to figure out some way to run Windows without a keyboard.
Sometimes the software changes are so fundamental that it becomes the basis for a new product category. Tablets are not phones nor are they laptops, but something in the middle, and the real basis for that is the software.
Apple's not even the first to play that game, remember Palm PDAs? Simple hardware, even technically inferior to the competing Windows CE devices, but Palm's proprietary little OS was so much simpler and friendlier than "Windows-shrunken-down" that it became an instant hit.
Nothing has been "created"
Technically, no. They may have not "created" anything, but if you look at it that way, no one really "creates" anything anymore. Microsoft didn't create the OS, Google didn't create the search engine. And Ford did not create the car, he just found a way to make travel quicker and more efficient than via a carriage. Pretty much EVERYTHING that exists today is just an improvement over something that exists already. So even though Apple hasn't invented any of those products, you have to admit that over the last 20 years they have innovated and revolutionized many the things we use today.
Technically, no. They may have not "created" anything, but if you look at it that way, no one really "creates" anything anymore. Microsoft didn't create the OS, Google didn't create the search engine. And Ford did not create the car, he just found a way to make travel quicker and more efficient than via a carriage. Pretty much EVERYTHING that exists today is just an improvement over something that exists already. So even though Apple hasn't invented any of those products, you have to admit that over the last 20 years they have innovated and revolutionized many the things we use today.
Whatever that new category is not the point. As long as you continue to think inside the box, you'll never understand or even imagine the possibilities that Apple will come up with.
Which is It?
Jony Ive: "Most of our competitors are interested in doing something different, or want to appear new - I think those are completely the wrong goals."
Apple lawyers: "Most of our competitors are interested in doing something similar, or want to appear the same - we think those are completely the wrong goals."
Jony Ive: "Most of our competitors are interested in doing something different, or want to appear new - I think those are completely the wrong goals."
Apple lawyers: "Most of our competitors are interested in doing something similar, or want to appear the same - we think those are completely the wrong goals."
*looks at Johnny Ive*
*looks at iPod Nano*
*looks at Johnny Ive*
*looks at iPod Nano*
*looks at Johnny Ive*
Liar.
Ives is not in dreamland so I'd have to go for "totally dense"... the comment you refer to is made by MacRumors. Ives comment says nothing like that.
Interestingly a few people have taken the Steve Jobs type comments about what Apple does and applied it to Jony's comments to get a new meaning. Is this the reality distortion field affecting posters?
Reading the full article on the Evening Post link is interesting.
In my mind Apple design products and a user experience. Many companies design a product then get a designer to skin it.
Design seems to be about the product as opposed to the look. To me this is the key to great design. Ives final look and feel is incredible. The products always seem to provide a great human experience. At all levels. We know his is true because people often love their Apple products.
I am in awe of Apple for their ability to do this so thoroughly.
Er, there's a difference between doing something different just for the sake of being different and new and actually doing something better. That was Ive's point. It's not all about how something aesthetically looks. Ive certainly isn't saying if a competitor releases a product that physically looks different than an Apple product it's the wrong goal. In fact in the past he's said companies that just try to copy Apple's values/goals are making a mistake as they need to create their own values/goals.
That was also da Vinci, that's a great quote.
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I don't think you want Ive for president or giving a keynote speech. He rambles and rambles and takes tangents. This is absolutely what's needed to be a great designer, but definitely NOT what you want a president or a speaker to be.
I actually liked Tim Cook's role in the keynote. He was a little stiff at first, but I got the impression he's actually a little bit warmer that I originally pegged him to be.
I'll highlight the relevant part for you since you obviously missed it.
thisislondon.co.uk said:
"Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it." - Michelangelo
And I think both avenues of design have their place. Do you think the Macintosh and the iPhone were created just through happenstance? No, surely Jobs saw defects in existing designs and knew in general terms what the product should be. Many companies have R&D prototyping departments, but very few of them come up with breakthrough ideas. It comes down to vision and tenacity, and a corporate culture that enables those two things to flourish.
And Open Source, when it fails, fails not because of the way they design products, but usually because a lack of focused leadership. And it seems a bit unfair to compare volunteer teams to the best design department on the planet.
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This is the difference between a design ethos centered around the love of design and one centered around quick profit, and basically this could be Apple's motto (except da Vinci left out the "then sue everybody" part):
"Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else. "
– Leonardo da Vinci
You are too harsh with Steve. If anyone is going to turn apple into 1984 it's going to be the scot forestals with all the ego but none of the foresight and flair of Steve. Don't forget in a candid moment in one of the keynotes Steve said Ive was one of his best friends in the world, and he meant it, and it was mutual.
This is a draft of an digital audio player (properly named DAP) that was filed for a patent application in 1981, which predates the (overwhelmingly overrated) holy grail iPod by about TWENTY YEARS.
Image
Then of course there were a boatload of other viable mp3 player options even before the iPod, and even more during the early 2000's some of which were far superior to iPods (check iAudio aka Cowon). To this day, since the existence of Cowon, iPods have been inferior, but like the stereotype goes, its true that people go for the brand/logo rather than the functionality. Apple's yet to release an iPod with real EQ settings, battery that lasts more than 40 hours, open source video codec support, a removable battery, decent sound quality (ipods have always scored worst) and my personal favourite; being forced/locked down to iTunes to transfer your own media to the device but not being allowed to take it back without the use of 3rd party applications.
As for almost all of Apple's products, theyve all been evolutionary. When you look past the media hype and the brainwashing thats been done from Steve Jobs' reality distortion field, theyve never really 'revolutionized' anything; they took GUI, the mouse and networking from Xerox, their mp3 player was just a rehashing of the old, almost none of their product's components are their own, the iPhone is simply an easy to use but reliable phone (nothing more).
But I'll give Apple credit where its due;
They really know how to make user interfaces.... DAMN WELL. Their products aesthetic design is amazing. Their software and advertising of their products is as reliable as they claim it to be (unlike Microsoft).
And OS X....
This is what bugs me most. Of all the platforms that Apple's been selling, OS X has been the slowest to take off. People went crazy over iPods. Theyre obsessed with iPhones. And now the insane loyalty and behaviour for the company has been furthered by the iPad (a product which I see as most useless in Apple's lineup).
But the BEST product Apple has had, OS X, nobody even bothers to say 'Yeah, I really like OS X over Windows' but rather you hear people saying 'I want <insert iOS product here> or a MacBook' without acknowleding the fact that OS X is the reason why Apple's *real* computers have been so good.
Interesting post, I switched to apple way back when because of OS X and I am sure a lot more people than you realize are sticking to apple because of os x, that's why we get so damn irritated when os x is turning into ios crap without any tangible technlogical improvement since sl, and not much of an interface improvement since leopard.
You make a few valid points on the ipod, but it's due to apple's competitors, and most of all the arch idiots at ms for not coming up with a good jukebox, then media app for all the good mp3 players to take off. I remember apple giving itunes for free on the pc back when I was using one, and I thought this is a really good piece of software, why not buy an ipod as well? Back then you had mediamatch jukebox, real player and some lame excuse of a player in ms.
As for the ipad, I find it very hard to understand how you still don't see its purpose and you seem like an intelligent person. It's the book format, the slate, the thing you hold up to your face that's it's major strength, coupled with an interface based on touch that's liberating in design and possibilities. It's THE innovation of the last few years.
Design!
But the article is only talking about the design rather than an entirely new product. That's exactly what Ive is talking about here his design perspective, it's different from normal devices out there. We all know that Apple didn't started all of this, but they revolutionize some of it. Don't be ridiculous.
But the article is only talking about the design rather than an entirely new product. That's exactly what Ive is talking about here his design perspective, it's different from normal devices out there. We all know that Apple didn't started all of this, but they revolutionize some of it. Don't be ridiculous.