Jony Ive Named Chief Design Officer at Apple, Alan Dye and Richard Howarth Take Over Day-to-Day Design Management

[MacRumors]

Apple today announced the appointment of Jony Ive to a newly created position of Chief Design Officer, allowing him to continue overseeing design aspects of numerous projects within the company while turning over the day-to-day management of the design teams to Richard Howarth and Alan Dye, who have both been elevated to vice president positions. Apple CEO Tim Cook announced the changes today in a company-wide email.

Alan Dye, Jony Ive, and Richard Howarth (Gabriela Hasbun for The Telegraph)​

Team,

I have exciting news to share with you today. I am happy to announce that Jony Ive is being promoted to the newly created position of Chief Design Officer at Apple.

Jony is one of the most talented and accomplished designers of his generation, with an astonishing 5000 design and utility patents to his name. His new role is a reflection of the scope of work he has been doing at Apple for some time. Jony's design responsibilities have expanded from hardware and, more recently, software UI to the look and feel of Apple retail stores, our new campus in Cupertino, product packaging and many other parts of our company.

Design is one of the most important ways we communicate with our customers, and our reputation for world-class design differentiates Apple from every other company in the world. As Chief Design Officer, Jony will remain responsible for all of our design, focusing entirely on current design projects, new ideas and future initiatives. On July 1, he will hand off his day-to-day managerial responsibilities of ID and UI to Richard Howarth, our new vice president of Industrial Design, and Alan Dye, our new vice president of User Interface Design.

Richard, Alan and Jony have been working together as colleagues and friends for many years. Richard has been a member of the Design team for two decades, and in that time he has been a key contributor to the design of each generation of iPhone, Mac, and practically every other Apple product. Alan started at Apple nine years ago on the Marcom team, and helped Jony build the UI team which collaborated with ID, Software Engineering and countless other groups on groundbreaking projects like iOS 7, iOS 8 and Apple Watch.

Please join me in congratulating these three exceptionally talented designers on their new roles at Apple.

Tim

Alongside the announcement, Stephen Fry has published an exclusive interview with Cook and Ive at The Telegraph that addresses the legacy of Steve Jobs at Apple and Ive's continually expanding role with the company, among other topics. That expansion of Ive's duties, which has seen him add user interface design and increase emphasis on retail store and Campus 2 design leadership to his previous position as head of industrial design over the last several years, has led to today's restructuring that will free up some of Ive's time.

Stephen Fry, Tim Cook, and Jony Ive at Apple Campus 2 (Gabriela Hasbun for The Telegraph)​

When I catch up with Ive alone, I ask him why he has seemingly relinquished the two departments that had been so successfully under his control. "Well, I'm still in charge of both," he says, "I am called Chief Design Officer. Having Alan and Richard in place frees me up from some of the administrative and management work which isn't ... which isn't ..."

"Which isn't what you were put on this planet to do?"

"Exactly. Those two are as good as it gets.

Apple's design team is a small, tight-knit group, many of whom have been working at Apple for many years. Last October, it was revealed Ive's close friend Marc Newson had been officially hired part-time for the design team at Apple, but Newson is not publicly taking on any expanded role in the latest shuffling of responsibilities.

Article Link: Jony Ive Named Chief Design Officer at Apple, Alan Dye and Richard Howarth Take Over Day-to-Day Design Management

 

[farewelwilliams]

he just wanted a title with letters O C and D in it.

 

[furi0usbee]

Meaning he now can go back to England and work from home.

 

[JCrz]

"...Please join me in congratulating these three exceptionally talented designers on their new roles at Apple.

Tim
—Sent from my Surface Pro 3"

 

[farewelwilliams]

pretty sure this is a start of an retirement strategy. he's tired, he wants to spend more time with family.

 

[easteraries]

Man…Tim's really gotten big! Must be all that time working out with the watch. Oh, wait – that's just a caption error…

 

[FieldingMellish]

I don't get how that's better than having been knighted. Apple should have made him Design King.

 

[ck2875]

Jony's first words as Chief Design Officer: "Make it thinner."

 

[Teste]

Funny how in the interview we read the same speech issues he shows in his video. Well, I guess we will be stuck with the same flaws the current Apple has for a long time

 

[NovemberWhiskey]

Super awkward pose, Ive.

 

[anthorumor]

he just wanted a title with letters O C and D in it.

Official Chief Designer?

"Oh, and make it thinner with added aluminium."

 

[spyguy10709]

Whatever this means - whatever Jony has planned, I think some thanks are in order.

Thank you Jony for all the years of dedication to your craft. Through your passion for industrial design, the world of technology has become a more connected, prettier, and well thought out place.

You've even challenged those who never cared about design into stepping up their own game - and have you have won, Jony. Every tech firm cares about design now - it's their top priority!


Thank you, on behalf of all of the Apple Fan community

 

[Arcady]

If all else fails, they can always melt down unsold gold watches to pay his salary.

 

[jonblatho]

Whatever this means - whatever Jony has planned, I think some thanks are in order.

Thank you Jony for all the years of dedication to your craft. Through your passion for industrial design, the world of technology has become a more connected, prettier, and well thought out place.

You've even challenged those who never cared about design into stepping up their own game - and have you have won, Jony.


Thank you, on behalf of all of the Apple Fan community

Calm down; he's not leaving!

 

[kmj2318]

I see this as showing Tim and Jony as equals. Jony now has his own SVPs like Tim does. Although Jony still does report to Tim. There is too much under the name of design to just have an SVP of it. Now the various aspects of design are broken out to other people. I couldn't imagine the increase in responsibility Jony got after Scott left.

 

[JCrz]

Nothing is becoming thinner faster than Jony's hair.

 

[Watabou]

I always love reading Stephen Fry's posts. Why have they still not knighted him?!

Although, I don't know how I really feel about this article itself. To me, it seems like maybe they have given Jony a less involved role to ease the announcement of his eventual (soon?) retirement...

I hope I'm wrong, but I'm not too worried. We've seen Alan Dye's work on iOS 7 and while I didn't enjoy the design language of it at first, the previous versions of iOS starting with iOS 6 are starting to look a bit old.

 

[budselectjr]

The next card in the house to fall.

 

[ck2875]

Super awkward pose, Ive.

More awkward than Howarth's pose where he's holding onto his groin?

I think it was a conscious decision on Ive's part— It brings focus to his arms, and then you'll potentially notice his watch.

__

Side note: Is Ive's band colour-matched to his shirt?

 

[Brookzy]

Can anyone make out from these awful resolution images what watches they're wearing?

I'm hazarding a guess at Cook wearing a SS with blue leather loop, and Ive the Edition with classic buckle.

 

[Slix]

Well, I wouldn't be able to see anyone else taking this newly created role of "Chief Design Officer" besides Jony Ive. So good luck, and good luck to Alan Dye and Richard Howarth!

 

[macs4nw]

As good as he is, it's worrisome Jony has that much power at Apple. Maybe he was getting bored with the tedious mundane day-to-day things and told Tim he wanted more in order to remain excited and stimulated in his role at Apple.

Either way, for Jony to be too irreplaceable is not a good thing for Apple; Tim just cannot afford to lose him.

 

[ChinaRye]

This seems like a BS title to me; it's not like he has been "promoted".

 

[LordQ]

So they're going to split UI and hardware design again? Not sure if I like the sound of that.

 

[ThunderSkunk]

Companies creating new, higher & higher titles and promoting people to them reminds me of when companies were creating VP positions for everything under the sun. Everyone you'd meet was a VP of something. VP of Inside Sales! VP of Scheduling! VP of Fire Drills!

VP of Design would probably be fitting for Jony.
Or maybe even just VP.


Even if everything he's done to the UI makes me miserable.