Jony Ive Featured on WSJ. Magazine Cover, Talks Work at Apple and Design Philosophy

[MacRumors]

Former Apple design chief Sir Jony Ive will be featured on the cover of WSJ. Magazine later this month, reflecting on his work at Apple and design philosophy in a wide-ranging interview.

Image by Alasdair McLellan for WSJ. Magazine.​

The interview spans topics including Ive's youth, first meeting with Steve Jobs and work at Apple, and recent work at his design company LoveFrom. Reflecting on his beginnings at Apple, Ive said:

"I wanted to be a part of this crazy California company," Ive says now. Corporation is a word he reviles. "A group of people who are truly united in a shared sense of purpose" is what he prefers, and that's initially what he hoped to find at Apple. Instead, soon after he joined, the company began to drift. The Newton tablet he designed in 1992 was praised by critics but largely ignored by consumers. Apple started to atrophy into an acquisition target. "The most important lessons you would never choose to learn because they are so painful," Ive says. "The death of a company is so ugly."

Image by Alasdair McLellan for WSJ. Magazine.​

Ive on meeting Steve Jobs upon his return to Apple in 1997:

Ive, then 30, assumed Jobs would hire a more renowned designer to replace him, but something unexpected happened at their first meeting. "I clicked with Steve in a way that I had never before done with someone and never have since."

On his purpose, Ive remarked:

"I love making things that are profoundly useful," he adds. "I'm a very practical craftsperson."

Some of Jony Ive's own Apple devices. Image by Alasdair McLellan for WSJ. Magazine.​

He also discussed the importance of language and creativity, the downside of disruption, and curiosity:

"Success is the enemy of curiosity," "I am terrified and disgusted when people are absolutely without curiosity," he says. "It's at the root of so much social dysfunction and conflict.... Part of why I get so furious when people dismiss creativity is that [when] it's an activity practiced in its most noble and collaborative form, it means a bunch of people who come together in an empathic and selfless way. What I have come to realize is that the process of creating with large groups of people is really hard and is also unbelievably powerful."

Ive will be featured in November's "Innovators Issue," out on newsstands on Saturday, November 12. Ive is one of eight covers representing each of this year's award recipients. See the full interview on The Wall Street Journal's website.

Article Link: Jony Ive Featured on WSJ. Magazine Cover, Talks Work at Apple and Design Philosophy

 

[Ryan H]

We need Jony back, on the basis he has no say over I/O 😂

 

[Mockletoy]

This issue is no doubt a special edition that consists of only the cover page.

You know, to keep it appropriately thin.

 

[BreakingKayfabe]

He’s gotten pretty bulky for a guy obsessed with thinness.

 

[antiprotest]

Who came up with the name LoveFrom?

I feel like that's copying my companies BestRegards and YoursCordially. 😡

 

[Dezlboy]

Mr Ives, "The death of a company is so ugly."

OUCH! Are he and Mr Cookon speaking terms?

 

[WiiDSmoker]

On one hand I miss him. On the other I don’t. He definitely pushed design but took it too far with the thinness.

 

[Unggoy Murderer]

Mr Ives, "The death of a company is so ugly."

OUCH! Are he and Mr Cookon speaking terms?

Read it a bit more closely, he's referring to Apple in 1992, which very much was on the brink of death.

 

[BreakingKayfabe]

On one hand I miss him. On the other I don’t. He definitely pushed design but took it too far with the thinness.

I was over him by the time the 2016 MacBook with one port came out.

 

[winxmac]

I think I am the only one that prefers iPhone 5c over iPhone 5/5s/SE 2016

It felt more solid than its more premium counterpart...

I guess I just want to hear him narrate/be in another Apple video just like before...

 

[WiiDSmoker]

I was over him by the time the 2016 MacBook with one port came out.

Yeah that’s absolutely absurd

 

[Mockletoy]

"I love making things that are profoundly useful," he adds. "I'm a very practical craftsperson."

Said without irony by the guy who gave us the butterfly keyboard.

 

[CarAnalogy]

Am I the only one that thinks these are terrible pictures of him? Why does it look like he wants to eat my skin?

 

[CarAnalogy]

Mr Ives, "The death of a company is so ugly."

OUCH! Are he and Mr Cookon speaking terms?

He was talking about the Jobs interim. When they declined in the 90s.



But also no, probably not.

 

[xnu]

There is a Wall Street Journal Magazine? I always enjoy his insights.

 

[RMo]

"The death of a company is so ugly."

OUCH! Are he and Mr Cookon speaking terms?

Not sure if you're joking, but you're aware that this quote is in the context of the mid-90s decline and near-death of Apple, right? (This being quite early in Ive's career at Apple.) I don't think he meant it as an underhand evaluation of the company at this moment...

 

[boswald]

I always admired his designs: simple, clean, professional. Just enough visual flair to love your purchase without being distracted.

 

[chenks]

probably in the vast minority, but "Ive" is the most overrated overhyped person in the last few decades.

his designs are almost always form over function, usually always to the point that the function becomes disrupted.

lets also remember that Ive was at apple during the barren period before it had re-invent itself.
in the re-invented apple he's the classic case of someone having way too much power.

 

[dcny]

Everyday I look at my Magic Mouse and think… what kind of ****** designer can design something horrible like this..

Cough, ******
Jony

 

[usagora]

I was over him by the time the 2016 MacBook with one port came out.

 

[NMBob]

This issue is no doubt a special edition that consists of only the cover page.

You know, to keep it appropriately thin.

The whole article is on the back of the page in lettering so small you can barely read it and written in this color.

 

[Jim Lahey]

Jobs and Ive were the halcyon days of Apple. Days gone. Never perfect but always exciting. A rough diamond of passion to today’s pumice stone of mediocrity.

 

[MakeAppleAwesomeAgain]

The most important man to Apple besides Jobs. He gets the blame for the thinness era and dropping ports, but I'm sure there was much more to it, and those weren't decisions he made solely on his own. His influence is still evident in the current lineup and will be for years. The man is a legend.

 

[usagora]

Jobs and Ive were the halcyon days of Apple. Days gone. Never perfect but always exciting. A rough diamond of passion to today’s pumice stone of mediocrity.

Sounds like a good quote for the back of a book about the duo 😂 I personally disagree with your evaluation of "today's" designs, but it was beautifully stated 😉

 

[sw1tcher]

Said without irony by the guy who gave us the butterfly keyboard.

and hockey puck mouse (Horrible ergonomics), Magic Mouse 2 (Charging port on the bottom? Really?), trashcan Mac Pro (hard to upgrade and poor cooling),...