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Steve Jobs Organized Apple to Give Jony Ive Complete Operational Freedom

Good. Ives has always been an integral component of apple... we might even see more of his influence now, which wouldn't be a bad thing.
 
gmcalpin said:
Sometimes the best way to lead is to hire smart people and just let them do their… er, jobs.
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It's usually the BEST way to do things but had Jobs not had that foresight, Ive would be handcuffed by the suits and likely off to find Creative Process with another co.

Corporate Process and Creative Process are often at odds.

Corporate Process is $ focus and Management overlay.

Creative Process is all about the product/end result.

For a while, Apple had the best of both worlds at the top of the Corporate decision chain. Jobs may have been enough of a visionary to set things in place like this to maintain beyond his years.
 
This doesn't surprise me as I've always viewed Apple as a design-centered company. Sure, there software works better than windows or Android, but it's the design that brought the iMac back years back and the design and functionality that made iPod the MP3 player (remember when they were called that?)
 
Well if you ever worked in a company with a person in charge of designs that sucked, you know how awful that can be. The same can be said about working in a company where a bunch of inexperienced "higher-ups" get to add/demand their input to screw up a product.

Apple found the right mixture to get this to work, and many of us in the creative field can only dream of such a scenario.
 
Piggie said:
Sorry but this is not correct.

It would be like me saying I can rest my hand on the table and with a light touch from my fingers I can slide something the same size and shape as a matchbox around the table with my finger tips.

This does not make a matchbox an ergonomic design.
The problem is, ergonomic designs, that are made to fit you hand, ideally in a comfortable relaxed state often don't look "Cool"

Matching the design of a device to the human form often means lumps and bumps and shapes that are superb to use, but we currently don't think they look very modern.

It's only a current style issue and as we know from looking at antiques, styles and what is liked or not changes over the years.
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Honestly, the Apple mice and some flat Logitechs are the only ones that keep me pain free. And hey have done since the beige era, which I would count for antique in the world of computers. I've tried multiple "ergonomic" solutions but they are just so counter their intended function. To me at least. Being able to rest the forearm and part of the hand on the table while the mouse sits like a light skiddish pebble in between your fingers is just right. Ergonomic mice seem to be ergonomics for the hand only. As the hand is elevated the weight of the arm leans on the wrist which in turn ends up in a horrible bend and the whole arm all the way up to the shoulders needs to do all the work to move the mouse.

But we all use mice differently so I'm not going into an argument about what's better for everyone :) Just that it's not a current style issue – Apple has had the same simple principle since day one and ergonomic mice do not look dull and utility for a reason – they sell on looks too.
 
Brilliant, suck on that Scott Forstall.

It would be good for other industrial designers in the team to get some credit though. I'm sure Ive didn't pen everything.
 
Belly-laughs said:
Honestly, the Apple mice and some flat Logitechs are the only ones that keep me pain free. And hey have done since the beige era, which I would count for antique in the world of computers. I've tried multiple "ergonomic" solutions but they are just so counter their intended function. To me at least. Being able to rest the forearm and part of the hand on the table while the mouse sits like a light skiddish pebble in between your fingers is just right. Ergonomic mice seem to be ergonomics for the hand only. As the hand is elevated the weight of the arm leans on the wrist which in turn ends up in a horrible bend and the whole arm all the way up to the shoulders needs to do all the work to move the mouse.
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That's why arm-stable input devices like trackpads and trackballs are the only truly ergonomic devices. This isn't news or anything. Your fingers are designed to move frequently, not your elbow.
 
He called Jonathan Ive, Apple's design chief, his "spiritual partner" at Apple. He told Isaacson that Ive had "more operation power" at Apple than anyone besides Jobs himself -- that there's no one at the company who can tell Ive what to do. That, says Jobs, is "the way I set it up."
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If nobody can tell Ive what he needs to do then Apple Design reports directly to the CEO. They are not reporting directly to either R&D or directly to Marketing. They will have their own budgets and (advanced)programmes along side production programmes. It is not unique, some automotive set-ups are the same. This set-up works also very well in a non-corporate businesses. CEO's/Owners of SME's without industrial design expertise often hire in design expertise under their direct control.

I currently design in a corporate environment but having spent years working as a consultant I know that when you are able to spar directly with a CEO it can bring great and effective results. Many CEO's will be reading this book and they all need to understand that designers can often bring new insights and thinking that can complement their own. But designers need direct dialogue and guidance.

Don't forget though that in Apple's case it is not just Ive. Gifted as he must be I'm sure that Ive has built up a loyal team (however small) that does a lot of the hard work required to allow him the space and time to thrash things out in his head.
 
Normal from Steve

This is not uncommon to Steve's M.O. If people remember 1984, he "liberated" the entire Macintosh team from Main Apple's control.....
Nice video.....
 
you are wrong

SJThonn said:
Remember Steve Jobs' quote(It's actually Picasso's but he used it a lot)?

"Bad artists copy. Good artists steal."

And Steve called it stealing. That means he's jealous about Android. Steve seemed to be very selfish at times.
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The quote is: "Good artists copy, Great artists steal".
Google is copying apple. They arent stealing..

Google makes good products..
Apple makes great products..
 
AppleDroid said:
Like the wrist slicing edge to their unibody Macbook Pro! Honestly I LOVE their industrial design overall (I love shiny, pretty things) but there are issues.
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But you're supposed to ignore those issues. It's sharp enough to slit your wrist, but that's the way Steve wanted it.
 
FNi said:
As someone who has personally witnessed enough 'design by committee' to last a lifetime, this is very refreshing to hear.
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The dutch call it the "polder-model". It means that you have to come to a compromise between extremes (all of which are good solutions by itself), whereas the compromise is usually so twisted that it's useless.
 
rboerdijk said:
The dutch call it the "polder-model". It means that you have to come to a compromise between extremes (all of which are good solutions by itself), whereas the compromise is usually so twisted that it's useless.
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You walk along the road, and there is a manhole right in front of you with the cover removed. Do you walk past the right side, do you walk past the left side, or do you make a compromise and fall right into the hole?
 
gnasher729 said:
You walk along the road, and there is a manhole right in front of you with the cover removed. Do you walk past the right side, do you walk past the left side, or do you make a compromise and fall right into the hole?
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I jump over it for sport.
 
ljones said:
Well if you ever worked in a company with a person in charge of designs that sucked, you know how awful that can be. The same can be said about working in a company where a bunch of inexperienced "higher-ups" get to add/demand their input to screw up a product.
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There was a story that Daimler-Benz had a person reasonably high up in the food chain with unusually short upper arms. So whenever he sat in one of their cars he complained very loudly that the arm rests were too low. And he had enough power to make the design team move the arm rests higher to a position where they were too high for 99.9% of the population.
 
bommai said:
I noticed that too. I have always seen him in the product videos. Yikes
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You don't think the fact that the 4S is exactly the same physical design as the previous iPhone 4 meant that they thought perhaps Ive wouldn't have anything new to add and so got on without him?

Such conspiracy theorists round here!

I'm sure he was just busy perfecting the iPhone 5 that we can start getting all mental with anticipation about in 8 months or so :p
 
You all watch the Tribute Video?

You remember how it was said repeatedly, that Steve thought Apple was a team.

That means Bob, Bruce, Eddy, Jeff, Jony, Peter, Phil, Ron, Scott & Tim will continue to work on these great ideas.

Vision as Steve put it, shared amongst the team!
 
Alot of talented people from the U.K can be super cool. Even in music, they took it to another level whether The Beatles, Black Sabbath, or the British New Wave sound.

Jony Ive is probably my fav person not just in Apple, but in all of tech. Not just for his talent with amazing designs, but how he comes off in interviews. Seems like a very humble chap with a good sense of humor.

People should check out multiple interviews with him on YouTube like how a MacBook gets created from start to finish.
 
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Ive = Woz+Jobs hybrid
 
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