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

[dysamoria]

Please remove that man from having any influence over UI design. He has no idea what he's doing and neither does the print marketing team he gave iOS to to redesign.

"[Complain complain] iOS 6 looks old [complain complain]..."

[Shakes head] Clearly an expert on user interface design, over there. When you get something right, you don't change it for the sake of change. You keep it right and other products in the same category follow along because it's the right way to go. User interface design isn't about being "daring and bold"; it isn't about following popular fads. It's about functionality, intuitiveness, readability, and -

-never mind. No one cares. People will buy hard to read and hard to intuit garbage as long as the branding is right. Until someone else that actually cares about usability comes along and reminds people that this matters, no words about proper UI design will matter to tech geeks and brand believers. Without competition to compare against, people are clueless about UI usability.

Like politics, the whole market is divided between two parties that everyone obsesses over. "Mine's better than yours" and no one realizes how similar they really are at this point.

 

[peterdevries]

stalling new useful features.

Do you have some examples of this?

 

[jcmeyer5]

Yeah because it makes total sense for Apple to create a new C-level position for someone who's retiring.

Sorry, don't like where he has taken the product line. Not that he hasn't done good things, but at the same time, he is getting stale. Time for some newer blood into the mix.

 

[TMRJIJ]

Finally Tim fired Jony for wasting 2 years skinning iOS and OSX, introducing bugs and stalling new useful features.

iOS is now the slowest iOS yet, and OSX Vista is like 2005 all over again.

It get worst before it gets better, hold on tight for WWDC in a few weeks.

Hate and bullying never works Jony, never.

So promotion is British for firing? You didn't read the article did you
Clearly you are confused because Jony is leading iOS and OS X 'design' not functionality.
And we have gotten a lot of useful features over the past few years. Where were you? Worshiping Steve Jobs?
Also OS X and iOS are not anywhere near as buggy as Windows Vista. You have some personal issues going on with your devices, my friend.

 

[Crzyrio]

Please remove that man from having any influence over UI design. He has no idea what he's doing and neither does the print marketing team he gave iOS to to redesign.

"[Complain complain] iOS 6 looks old [complain complain]..."

[Shakes head] Clearly an expert on user interface design, over there. When you get something right, you don't change it for the sake of change. You keep it right and other products in the same category follow along because it's the right way to go. User interface design isn't about being "daring and bold"; it isn't about following popular fads. It's about functionality, intuitiveness, readability, and -

-never mind. No one cares. People will buy hard to read and hard to intuit garbage as long as the branding is right. Until someone else that actually cares about usability comes along and reminds people that this matters, no words about proper UI design will matter to tech geeks and brand believers. Without competition to compare against, people are clueless about UI usability.

Like politics, the whole market is divided between two parties that everyone obsesses over. "Mine's better than yours" and no one realizes how similar they really are at this point.

So we should stick with Windows 2000 UI elements and just improve on functionality?

 

[Rogifan]

Sorry, don't like where he has taken the product line. Not that he hasn't done good things, but at the same time, he is getting stale. Time for some newer blood into the mix.

Doesn't matter whether you like it or not. He's got a C-level title now and people currently working for him got promoted. So Cook and the board obviously don't agree with you.

 

[peterdevries]

So we should stick with Windows 2000 UI elements and just improve on functionality?

What he conventiently forgets is that the whole world was on Apple's case for the system-wide skeuomorphism and that the basic design was out of date. At the time Android and Windows Phone were already flattening their designs.

Actually Apple was late in changing its design and should have done it sooner. Especially with phones, the general consumer also looks at how the OS "looks" and therefore a redesign was needed.

 

[Benjamin Frost]

Yep, well spotted eagle-eye. He's a complete failure.

I think that's going too far.

Ive has been very successful at Apple. It's just a shame about the iPhone 6, the Apple Watch and the MacBook.

 

[peterdevries]

I think that's going too far.

Ive has been very successful at Apple. It's just a shame about the iPhone 6, the Apple Watch and the MacBook.

Besides the (less ugly than I personally expected) antenna bands, what is wrong with the iPhone 6? In my opinion it is definitely the best designed Apple Phone ever.

 

[crispApple]

You guys are brutal about Ive's body. Man.

 

[TMRJIJ]

Please remove that man from having any influence over UI design. He has no idea what he's doing and neither does the print marketing team he gave iOS to to redesign.

"[Complain complain] iOS 6 looks old [complain complain]..."

[Shakes head] Clearly an expert on user interface design, over there. When you get something right, you don't change it for the sake of change. You keep it right and other products in the same category follow along because it's the right way to go. User interface design isn't about being "daring and bold"; it isn't about following popular fads. It's about functionality, intuitiveness, readability, and -

-never mind. No one cares. People will buy hard to read and hard to intuit garbage as long as the branding is right. Until someone else that actually cares about usability comes along and reminds people that this matters, no words about proper UI design will matter to tech geeks and brand believers. Without competition to compare against, people are clueless about UI usability.

Like politics, the whole market is divided between two parties that everyone obsesses over. "Mine's better than yours" and no one realizes how similar they really are at this point.

Who are you to say Jony has no idea what he's doing? Everything you said is based on personal opinion.
IMO: I find my product way more useful, intuitive, and readable than Scott Forstall's junk. iOS 1-6 and OS X 10.5-10.9 had terrible designs. We don't need 3D bookshelves and faux leather-stitching. The font was terrible as well, almost as bad as Times New Roman. I often found it hard to read text. It shouldn't take me 5 seconds to tell the difference between the App Store, Safari, and Stocks app. I pushed my apps and content to the flat design long before it became a trend. I didn't buy my Apple Products because of the stupid logo and if they went back to the old design, I will contemplate jailbreaking them or burning in a fire grave. I'm tired of having to use the accessibility features all the time to actually use my expensive devices.

 

[Benjamin Frost]

You know he doesn't read this right? Your post is like yelling at the car in front of you on the road, telling them to go faster! They can't hear you.

How do you know that he doesn't read MacRumours? It probably gives him some amusement, if nothing else.

 

[TMRJIJ]

You guys are brutal about Ive's body. Man.

True but these jokes are still kinda funny

 

[uid15]

This, just in:

Stephen Fry is going to be tap dancing on stage at WWDC 2015.

 

[macduke]

Except Ive knocked down those rumors that he wanted to move back to the UK in that New Yorker profile. In 2012 he bought a $17M house in San Francisco which is still being renovated. He and his wife also became US citizens. I doubt he'd be doing any of that if he wanted to move back to the UK.

As far as the newly promoted VPs, both of them currently work for Ive and will continue to work for him. One would assume he'll still have the final say but won't have to be involved in day to day management stuff. HI and ID were never one; in fact for a period of time there were two HI teams -- the old team that previously reported to Forstall/Federighi and a new team that Ive was creating. Now they've been merged into one team under Alan Dye.

Good points about his home. Better points about the team structure. Although with that much money, you can have a really nice home in both countries. I still see him moving to more of a limited role, but I think it will be fairly gradual. I would be ecstatic if I'm wrong.

Excellent musing, if I may say so.

It must have been hard for Ive these past few years since the death of Steve Jobs. When you've worked with a man of his stature for so long, the absence must be particularly hard to bear; almost like losing a brother, I should think.

Thanks. Musing is a good way to put it as I'm just casually looking at the bigger picture just based on the information I already know. I don't claim to be an expert.

Steve's death probably did affect him significantly, but I think he's strong enough to push past that. However I think the lasting impact that relationship may have on him is showing him the importance of family and not working himself to death. Steve was stubborn and didn't keep up with his health like he should have, believing he was invincible and thinking some special diet would cure him in the early stages. His relationship with Lisa was also strained in the earlier days. I get the sense that Jony is more of a family man and after seeing death come early to a close friend, that could have realigned his priorities for the future of his career.

But nobody really knows for sure, hence my musing! That's what this site is all about. Speculation, rumors and commenting about it.

 

[uid15]

You guys are brutal about Ive's body. Man.

And yet, I wonder how many of these offensive cowards would be man enough to look him in the eyes and say it face to face? Not one.

 

[StoneJack]

Well, since inception of iOS7-8, Yosemite and so on, Apple sales have increased, they have record sales and profits. Whether we like or not, the market has approved the new design look of Apple.

So there is nothing wrong with either design or sales or anything else.

So why promote Ive?

I think there are three main reasons.

First, as many mentioned, Tim does same thing which Jobs did. He is training Ive to think of overall things in the company, though from the design point of view. A successor plan maybe. When Tim retires (10 years from now?), Ive will succeed.

Second, there is something with the new building. As one who visited Infinite Loop 1, I remember that Apple campus was nothing wrong, but also nothing special. Apple is building the spaceship campus and this is VERY special. It is so special that they want Ive to concentrate on that rather than Mac adaptors and other stuff. Whats so special with the building, to house Apple for next century? Everything should be controlled in that building and someone has to do Jobs' job. Ive is a best person to supervise millions of design decisions to make a coherent Apple HQ. And thats going to be very special HQ.

3. Apple branches into cars and homes. And there is need to design these two new things. CarPlay and HomeKit are just start of things. Like the first translucent iMac which transformed the PC company into unimaginably huge media, design, computer and arts giant. So, Ive will oversee it.

 

[Benjamin Frost]

Besides the (less ugly than I personally expected) antenna bands, what is wrong with the iPhone 6? In my opinion it is definitely the best designed Apple Phone ever.

It's much too big. The sleep button is opposite the volume, meaning that you can inadvertently turn it off whilst taking a photo or holding it in landscape. The protruding camera lens.

 

[atomic.flip]

Speaking as an Englishman this character is an embarrassment and the fact he was knighted is inexplicable and only serves to point up the outrageous misuses that have crept into the system. Apple has descended into an abyss of self-congratulation, myopic "vision" and insularity. Ive is just another maggot in the Apple.

I gotta say, as far as insults go, this one is simply bubbling with British wit!

 

[peterdevries]

And yet, I wonder how many of these offensive cowards would be man enough to look him in the eyes and say it face to face? Not one.

Oh come on. He is a public figure and of course he is going to be judged on his appearance. To be honest he looks like a normal 50-ish family father (both in European and American terms...).

What I question is more the way these guys dress. No need to dress in a suit all the time, but in what culture is a non-fitting t-shirt the proper dress-code for an interview with photos?

----------

It's much too big. The sleep button is opposite the volume, meaning that you can inadvertently turn it off whilst taking a photo or holding it in landscape. The protruding camera lens.

Well, it is all a matter of taste, isn't it?

I think this size is brilliant and the previous iPhones are too small. I have never inadvertently turned it off and the camera lens doesn't bother me at all, honestly. I only think those bands could have been handled in a different way.

 

[Benjamin Frost]

And yet, I wonder how many of these offensive cowards would be man enough to look him in the eyes and say it face to face? Not one.

And all those Germans who came face to face with Hitler didn't dare to confront his evil. I guess that makes them cowards, too.

 

[MacVista]

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

Ego trip promotion followed by a s-load of more cash.

 

[crispApple]

Oh come on. He is a public figure and of course he is going to be judged on his appearance. To be honest he looks like a normal 50-ish family father (both in European and American terms...).

What I question is more the way these guys dress. No need to dress in a suit all the time, but in what culture is a non-fitting t-shirt the proper dress-code for an interview with photos?

----------



Well, it is all a matter of taste, isn't it?

I think this size is brilliant and the previous iPhones are too small. I have never inadvertently turned it off and the camera lens doesn't bother me at all, honestly. I only think those bands could have been handled in a different way.

I agree. Though he's always wearing mostly a plain T shirt and pants.

 

[atomic.flip]

How do you know that he doesn't read MacRumours? It probably gives him some amusement, if nothing else.

As someone who's in the media business and has had forums like these write about me. I'd agree to the extent that it's not brought up by any of his direct reports or colleagues at Apple. If they do mention it then regardless of how dismissive he might seem it always burns to see the public's (largely uneducated) opinion of you.

 

[KdParker]

Calm down; he's not leaving!

Would it be earth shattering if he did?