Hasta La Ideas

We’re certain Sir Jonathan Ive is a materials geek, and we’ve long dreamt of landing an industrial-design-centric interview with him where we can discuss design and materials to a depth that would excite our readers while boring the crap out of your average civilian. But Ive is a tough man to get access to, so our dream will have to wait.

In the meantime, this morning we were pleasantly surprised to see Ive recently submitted to an interview with the London Evening Standard, and while the design talk is limited to civilian understanding, we nevertheless found it interesting. An excerpt:

Q: What makes design different at Apple?
A: We struggle with the right words to describe the design process at Apple but it is very much about designing and prototyping and making. When you separate those, I think the final result suffers. If something is going to be better, it is new, and if it’s new you are confronting problems and challenges you don’t have references for. To solve and address those requires a remarkable focus. There’s a sense of being inquisitive and optimistic, and you don’t see those in combination very often.

Q: How does a new product come about at Apple?
A: What I love about the creative process, and this may sound naive, is this idea that one day there is no idea, and no solution, but then the next day there is an idea. Where you see the most dramatic shift is when you transition from an abstract idea to a slightly more material conversation. But when you make a 3D model, however crude, you bring form to a nebulous idea and everything changes — the entire process shifts. It galvanises and brings focus from a broad group of people. It’s a remarkable process.

Read the rest here.

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