News:Apple‘s reclusive head designer Jonathan Ive says the technological age in still in its infancy in his first in-depth interview in almost 20 years.
“We are at the beginning of a remarkable time, when a remarkable number of products will be developed,” said Ive in an interview with John Arlidge of The Sunday Times.
“When you think about technology and what it has enabled us to do so far, and what it will enable us to do in future, we’re not even close to any kind of limit,” he said. “It’s still so, so new.”
During the interview, Ive revealed more details about the design process at the core of the Apple operation.
A team of 15 to 20 designers work on new projects in an all-white open-plan studio behind opaque glass. A large wooden bench hosts new products and one end is taken up with CNC machines used to create prototypes.
“Objects and their manufacture are inseparable,” he said. “You understand a product if you understand how it’s made.”
“I want to know what things are for, how they work, what they can or should be made of, before I even begin to think what they should look like. More and more people do. There is a resurgence of the idea of craft.”
Apple devices provoke such a strong response because they represent something rare, according to Ive who describes them as not just products but “a demonstration against thoughtlessness and carelessness”.
And he described the widespread referencing and copying of Apple designs as straight “theft”.
“What’s copied isn’t just a design, it’s thousands and thousands of hours of struggle,” he told the paper. “It’s only when you’ve achieved what you set out to do that you can say, ‘This was worth pursuing.’ It takes years of investment, years of pain.”
Ive also spoke publicly about his relationship with Apple’s visionary leader Steve Jobs for the first time since his death.
“So much has been written about Steve, and I don’t recognise my friend in much of it,” said Ive.
“Yes, he had a surgically precise opinion. Yes, it could sting. Yes, he constantly questioned. ‘Is this good enough? Is this right?’ but he was so clever. His ideas were bold and magnificent. They could suck the air from the room. And when the ideas didn’t come, he decided to believe we would eventually make something great. And, oh, the joy of getting there!”
News:Jony Ive is now more important to Apple than Steve Jobs was when he died and the company “would be in trouble if he left”, according to the author of a new biography of the computer giant’s chief designer (+ interview).
“But in a way it is a testament to Jobs,” Kayney told Dezeen. “What he did in the last 12 years was build a company that could survive without him.”
Since Jobs’ death in 2011 Ive, Apple‘s senior vice president of industrial design, has become perhaps the most important figure at the company. Last year Ive was given responsibility for software design on top of his role as chief of hardware design.
He added: “It’s not clear whether Ive has created a design department that could survive without him. I think that Ive is so central to what Apple does that it would be in trouble if he left.”
Kahney, editor and published of Cult of Mac, has spent the last twelve years writing about Apple. His latest book tells the story of how Jonathan “Jony” Ive went from being “a scruffy British teenager” to the most famous and successful designer in the world.
The key episode in the Ive story is the way he helped returning Apple CEO Steve Jobs save the company with a string of revolutionary products starting with the iMac in 1997.
“The company was going to go out of business,” said Kahney. “If it had failed they would have definitely gone out of business. It was a big success and made Ive a famous designer.”
In his interview with Dezeen, Kahney explains how Jobs and Ive created a unique design-led culture at Apple that has driven the company’s phenomenal success. “At Apple, nobody can say no to the design department, said Kahney.
He added: “I don’t think any designer has ever, in the history of industry, ever had such resources at his disposal. It’s mind-boggling.”
Leander Kahney, author of Jony Ive – The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products
Following dozens of interviews with former Apple employees, Kahney speculated on the future direction Apple will take under Ive’s design leadership.
“They’re looking at technology-enhanced clothing,” he said. “People are talking about watches but I don’t think they’re going to make a watch. I don’t think it would make any sense. A lot of people don’t wear watches.”
He added: “They’re working with all the world’s major automotive companies to bring iOS to cars. That could be a huge deal. Thats where most people listen to music.”
Here’s an edited transcript of the interview with Kahney:
Rose Etherington: What’s the book about?
Leander Kahney: It’s a biography that traces [Ive’s] background, his education, his early career in London, then his recruitment to Apple. And then at Apple, about all the major products that he worked on.
Rose Etherington: What has been Ive’s most important moment at Apple?
Leander Kahney: Well I guess the turning point was the iMac back in ’97 with Steve Jobs. It changed Apple. Jobs forced Apple’s internal culture to switch from an engineering-led one to a design-led one. That forged the relationship between Jobs and Ive, which led to the other successful products.
The iMac was the product that saved Apple. The company was going to go out of business. If it had failed they would have definitely gone out of business. It was a big success and made Ive a famous designer.
Rose Etherington: So the iMac was more important than the iPod, the iPhone or the iPad?
Leander Kahney: Well I guess without the iMac they wouldn’t still be here; there would have been no subsequent products. It’s difficult to say that there’s only one important product. They had other successful computers but they couldn’t compete against Microsoft and the iPod really changed that. It turned Apple from a niche computer maker into a much broader consumer electronics company.
Of course the iPhone and the iPad are probably the most important products because they are changing the entire status of computing. It’s the biggest change in 30 years. There’s certain computer devices and it’s switched from desktops to mobile devices.
Rose Etherington: What enabled Ive to make such a big impact as a designer?
Leander Kahney: Probably Steve Jobs. Ive was at Apple for five years before Jobs returned but he struggled to get his designs made by the company. But then when Steve Jobs came back, [Ive] was one of the most important voices at the table. He empowered him. Over the next ten years, Ive became more and more important and more central to what Apple does. Jobs said: you’re going to do it his way or the highway.
Rose Etherington: Would Ive have had the same success at a different company?
Leander Kahney: He would have absolutely failed at another company. At the same time we shouldn’t give too much credit to Jobs. Jobs got all the credit for the products, but Ive is a singular designer, an extremely talented designer and design leader. A team of ten people would have been there before Jobs came back and are still there now. Apple became a unique design-centric corporate culture.
Rose Etherington: You’ve titled the book The Genius behind Apple’s Greatest Products. Is Ive really a genius?
Leander Kahney: He was a design prodigy. He showed exceptional skill and intelligence as a teenager. And of course his relationship with his dad is, I guess, quite similar to his relationship with Steve Jobs in that his dad nurtured his talent and set him down a path. He received a great education at Newcastle Polytechnic. The genius I think of both Jobs and Ive was a very humanistic approach to products. They were focused very much on solving real world problems. They always wanted to do something that was a little bit hard to define.
When they were doing the iPhone, the brief for the product was to make a phone that people can love. People were like how does that translate into anything? But they did the same thing to the iPod, make a music player that people could love. I think that setting goals like this immediately sets you apart from other designers. It’s not like how can we make a cheap MP3 player or undercut the competition? They were setting goalposts in a completely different part of the playing field.
Rose Etherington: So his success is down to sheer talent and hard work?
Leander Kahney: I wish it was. That contributed but he made his own luck. I think the key was really Steve Jobs. Ive said himself, if he took this to another company, he would not be as successful. He’s quoted as saying that.
Rose Etherington: Did you uncover anything that you think didn’t fit with Ive’s famously shy and modest personality?
Leander Kahney: I did. Obviously didn’t put them in for libel reasons. I’ve not mentioned that. His story is basically, he’s brilliant as a kid, he’s brilliant as a student, in his early career and at Apple. He’s very much the opposite of Jobs, there was no crazy screaming, no fruitarian diet, Buddhist retreats, no out-of-wedlock children. He’s very much what he appears to be. Polite, conscientious, hardworking. It doesn’t make for drama in a book really.
It’s just interesting how important he is to Apple. Jobs was almost lionised after his death and became known as the world’s greatest CEO ever, but I think the world thought the main narrative is that Apple is now doomed because Jobs is dead, without him they’re going to be lost. The point for me is how central was Jony Ive to the product creation process, the creativity of the companies. Jobs enabled the culture, but Ive and his design team came up with the products.
Rose Etherington: How do the rest of the design team feel about Ive’s celebrity?
Leander Kahney: No one really has acknowledged their work. I think there was some jealousy there because Jobs was so secretive. He kept such a tight grip on what information came out of the company, that he was given credit for everything.
Rose Etherington: Why has the design-led culture been so successful for Apple?
Leander Kahney: They created this R&D lab inside the company that has the freedom and resources to investigate all these new products almost at leisure. They are able to work on products behind the scenes until they’re ready. Often they find that they go down a path and they find that the path leads to a dead end. They restart the product again in a different direction. They’ve done this with almost every product. The iPhone is a good example: it took two and a half years of huge investment in time and resources to develop that thing behind the scenes.
Other companies have much more pressure about markets and timetables, and all these external factors that get them to rush products to the market. Samsung is sort of the opposite of Apple. First of all it copied what Apple has done. Also, they tend to do a range of products. They take a range to the market and see what’s successful.
Whereas Apple does the opposite, they work behind the scenes and do a range of phones that no one sees then they’ll release the one that their designers deem the best one.
Rose Etherington: So Apple’s designers are allowed to try things out as many times as they need to, until they get it right?
Leander Kahney: Exactly. This is what leads to major breakthroughs. When the iPod was successful, they were looking for some way to meld the iPod and a phone. They made a bunch of different devices including one that used the scroll wheel, which they actually made but it didn’t work very well. So they tried something else. They ended up making about six different prototypes before they found one that they were happy enough with. And then when [the iPhone] came out, it was fundamentally different from everything that has come before.
Jobs did this his whole career, starting with the Apple 2 and the Mackintosh. Then with Pixar, where they completely reinvented computer animation. Then back at Apple with the iMac, the iPhone, the iPad. People think that Jobs was the genius that dreamt up these products but what he really did was create companies that had this process, that invested in this process, that leads to breakthroughs.
It’s the design-driven process. The investment in the design leads to breakthroughs. If we go back to the original Mackintosh in 1984, it was very similar. He had a very small group of engineers and programmers who worked for three years to invent this radically different machine. Those days, products were made in 18 months; this was twice as long. They had hundreds and thousands of problems.
They other thing about the designers is that a lot of people think designers are the people who make the outsides of things look good, but what these guys are the sort of primary inventors. They take care of a product from its conception all the way through to its manufacture, working out how these things can be made. In other companies, in other cultures, it’s the designers who make the product and the engineers who deal with manufacturing. These guys are in charge of the product from dawn to dusk.
Rose Etherington: And there are no other companies that are doing this at the moment?
Leander Kahney: There’re a few, but they’re not as big as Apple. No one has the size and influence of Apple. A lot of companies outsource their design but there are quite a few design-driven companies like, I would say, Tesla the car company and Sonos, which makes music components.
Rose Etherington: Is there anyone else working in the way that Ive does at Apple?
Leander Kahney: That’s a good question and I haven’t really researched it. There’s not many examples to be honest. The problem with a lot of companies is they copy the object, the product; they copy what’s already been produced. But they don’t copy the culture. It’s really hard to copy the culture because it requires such large-scale changes. It took Steve Jobs 12 years to create this culture with Apple.
Rose Etherington: It was more of a struggle than a single turning point?
Leander Kahney: Exactly, it was more of a struggle. The engineers were pushing back, and saying this doesn’t make any sense, saying it’s quicker to do it this way, the way we’ve been doing it. And it took 10-12 years of pushing back against that to come up with a much more design-centric way of making products.
These same compromises still exist. But Apple now has amazing resources. One of the biggest breakthroughs in design in the last few years is what they call the unibody process which is where they take a big hunk of metal and they remove material to make a structure and a case for a computer for an iPhone or an iPad. Before what they used to do is take lots of components and screws and glue them together. That was an additive process. By changing it to a subtractive process where they take material away, they are able to make really really thin and light cases.
To do this, they had to buy the world’s supply of computer milling machines. They’ve been spending about two billion dollars a years since 2009 to make these incredibly sophisticated factories. By comparison, when a company like Intel makes a new factory to make chips, they spend about 3 billion dollars. They do that once every five or ten years. Apple’s been spending about three times that amount every year for about 14 years now.
Rose Etherington: So resources come into it a lot then?
Leander Kahney: I don’t think any designer has ever, in the history of industry, ever had such resources at his disposal. It’s mind-boggling.
Rose Etherington: What is it like to work in the design department at Apple?
Leander Kahney: It’s a very nice, very privileged life. They’re very collaborative. Everything they do is as a group. They have two or three brainstorming sessions a week, 3 hour meetings, Tuesdays and Thursdays. The whole design group gets together around a kitchen table and they hash out whatever they’re working on. Sometimes it’s a model presentation or details of a speaker grill.
There’s only one private office in the design studio and that’s Jony Ive’s. All the other designers work in a big open-plan space. They are very well compensated, they all have lots of shares in Apple. They tend to work sane hours. The engineers they work with work insane hours – nearly 120-hour weeks – and spend months on end in distant factories in China. [Being a designer is] the best job in Apple for sure.
Rose Etherington: What sets it apart from other design departments in other companies? What’s really unique about it?
Leander Kahney: Well, the power they have. Other companies get pushed back by the executives or the factory. But at Apple, nobody can say no to the design department. You have to find a way to make it work. You can’t say no. You say okay, we’ll find a way of doing this. And I heard a lot of that from the engineers and operations people.
Rose Etherington: How did this culture come about?
Leander Kahney: I think it became obvious that that’s what they needed to do. I don’t think [Jobs] had this idea or manifesto. I think Jony Ive said they wanted to start machining products. But machining products is so expensive. Each machine can be up to three million dollars. If you’re doing this on an industrial scale, that’s a huge investment in machines. Most people use the standard techniques for mass production, moulding, casting, stamping.
Jony Ive wanted to start machining products and usually you only machine prototypes, unless you’re someone like NASA. It’s not used in mass-produced consumer goods. But he would push for this. They started very small with the G4 Cube but slowly, product by product, they used more and more of these techniques. And Jobs pushed for that so that culture developed.
Rose Etherington: Why haven’t other companies been able to emulate this culture?
Leander Kahney: Well I don’t think it’s well understood. Apple regards this as an industrial trade secret and they do not talk about it. They don’t want their competitors copying them. It’s one of the secrets of their success. Also a lot of companies, it’s such a hugh fundamental change. Apple in the late 90s were going to die [so they had to] do something really radical. The manifestation was the iMac but the real thing was what they did internally. It was an experience that allowed them to completely refashion their company. Not a lot of companies do that: change the entire way that they do things. You have to have a company like Apple who were about to go out of business.
Rose Etherington: So Samsung and Mircosoft just aren’t in enough trouble?
Leander Kahney: You have to be really on the ropes to do something as radical as that.
Rose Etherington: Do you think Apple is too comfortable now to make those huge shifts that they have done in the past?
Leander Kahney: I have heard this a lot and of course they haven’t come out with anything epoch-defining since Jobs died. They’ve been in this kind of maintenance mode where they’ve released new iPhones and iPads [which are] very much like what they were before. There’s not much that has really surprised people.
This was true when Jobs was still alive as well. There was a long period where they had nothing that was completely revolutionary. They have a bunch of stuff in the lab but of course what they’re working on is secret so no one really has the details but there’s lots of clues that they’re looking at three major areas. One is TV and entertainment and living rooms. They call it Apple TV. I think that’s kind of misleading; I think its going to be a more ambitious product.
The other thing is wearables, they’re looking at technology enhanced clothing. People are talking about watches but I don’t think they’re going to make a watch. I don’t think it would make any sense. A lot of people don’t wear watches. What do you need a watch for? There’s some really interesting bio-sensors coming on the market that can track your heart rate and not just that, they can track your depth of breathing, the blood-glucose levels. You might need some real-time help, monitoring. That might have a more universal impact.
The other thing is getting into automobiles. They’re working with all the world’s major automotive companies to bring iOS to cars. That could be a huge deal. Thats where most people listen to music.
Rose Etherington: There’s a sense that Apple is doing fine without Steve Jobs, but what would it be like with Ive?
Leander Kahney: Ive is now more important to Apple than Jobs was when he died, which I think it a hugely controversial statement. But in a way it is a testament to Jobs. What he did in the last 12 years was build a company that could survive without him.
It’s not clear whether Ive has created a design department that could survive without him. I think that Ive is so central to what Apple does that it would be in trouble if he left. Jobs was the CEO but he wasn’t really the CEO – Tim Cook was the CEO. Cook ran Apple day to day whilst Jobs hung out with Jony Ive and created new products. Jony Ive has now got the same job that Jobs had.
Rose Etherington: What’s next for Apple? Can you go much further with a flat glass screen?
Leander Kahney: I think that’s true. If you look at the iPhone, it’s really like the original iPhone. It’s faster, it’s more capable but it’s a slab of glass. Software is definitely where the opportunities lie. I think we’re going to see different sizes of phones. I think Apple is going to come with bigger plans for next year but the basic functionality isn’t going to change so much.
A lot of the internal improvements are easy to overlook but if you look closely, it makes a huge difference in the experience of the product. I think that’s overlooked. It’s much better than it used to be. You used to have to plug your phone in all the time. Sometimes it wouldn’t even last a whole day and now it’s two or three days. Sometimes longer if you don’t use it that much. There’s still rumours about adding different sensors to it. It would be nice adding some intelligence to the camera: robot vision. I think there’s definitely a lot of room for change.
Voice control and Siri are also really important. It’s full of opportunities really. We’re just getting started with huge changes in computing. We add sensors to everything and everything is connected to the internet. It’s just beginning really and I think Apple is going to be central player in that. There will be all kinds of devices with all kinds of interfaces. Some will be finger-based, some will be voice-based.
Leander Kahey: He’s also interested in software. He wasn’t in control of that; now he is so his experience, going all the way back to his college days, was always about the interaction. There aren’y many companies that control both the hardware and the software, there aren’t many companies that are as innovative as Apple. Most of their competitors use Android software from Google so they’ve outsourced software. So I think that they are always at an advantage.
The latest in a string of products designed by Jonathan Ive and Marc Newson for the (RED) charity auction is this one-off aluminium desk.
Australian designer Marc Newson and Apple‘s Jonathan Ive covered the surface of the thin desk with a pattern of 185 interlocking cells.
The blade-like legs and top were machined from solid pieces of aluminium by Californian company Neal Feay Studio. The unique piece is inscribed: “Designed by Jony Ive & Marc Newson for (RED) 2013 edition 01/01”.
The auction will take place at Sotheby’s auction house in New York on 23 November and the proceeds will go towards helping to fight malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS.
On this model buttons and dials sit in recessions on the top of the camera so they lie flush with the surface, and the shell is perforated to create a fine mesh.
“Leica represents the confluence of precision engineering, world-class lens technology and design principles which elevate both function and form,” said Ive. “Designing this very special camera for the (RED) Auction has been a privilege for myself and Marc, and its sale on 23 November will generate funds so critical to the fight to end AIDS.”
“With nearly 1000 prototype parts and more than 725 hours of manufacturing time, the winning bidder will own a piece of exquisite imaging history,” added Newson. “The attention to each and every detail of this camera – from its outer shell to the magnificent optics – will delight a collector who appreciates the absolute pinnacle of craftsmanship.”
Here’s some more information sent to us by Sotheby’s:
Leica Digital Rangefinder Camera Designed by Jony Ive and Marc Newson to Join More than 40 Rare and Exceptional Objects in (RED) Auction at Sotheby’s New York
Money raised through the (Red) Auction will go Towards the fight against Aids in Africa.
A truly unique Leica Digital Rangefinder Camera designed by Jony Ive and Marc Newson will join more than 40 other rare and diverse items in the (RED) Auction on November 23rd 2013. Based on the Leica M, the camera will be auctioned to raise money for The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
Hundreds of models and prototypes were made in the development of The Leica M for (RED). The body and lens ultimately being machined from a custom engineered alloy. Presented with a perfectly textured anodised aluminium outer shell, the traditional leather waist, synonymous with Leica, has been replaced with a laser machined aluminium body. More than 21,000 hemispheres create a new and extraordinary aesthetic, while a total of 561 models and nearly 1000 prototype parts were made during the 85 days it took to create of this incredibly special camera.  Delivering an uncompromised photography experience, the camera features a full-format CMOS sensor, high performance processor and new Leica APO-Summicron –M 50mm f/2 ASPH lens.
Jony Ive said, “Leica represents the confluence of precision engineering, world-class lens technology and design principles which elevate both function and form. Designing this very special camera for the (RED) Auction has been a privilege for myself and Marc, and its sale on November 23rd will generate funds so critical to the fight to end AIDS.”
“With nearly 1000 prototype parts and more than 725 hours of manufacturing time, the winning bidder will own a piece of exquisite imaging history. The attention to each and every detail of this camera – from its outer shell to the magnificent optics – will delight a collector who appreciates the absolute pinnacle of craftsmanship,” said Marc Newson.
Dr. Andreas Kaufman, Chairman, Leica, said: “We loved the collaboration with Jony and Marc. Their design sets a new and unprecedented standard in modern photography. As the only one ever to be produced, and boasting their unrivalled aesthetic, this Leica camera will truly create its own historic category when it goes under the hammer this winter.”
The fundraising auction comes as the war against AIDS faces a critical battle: to deliver the first AIDS Free Generation since HIV was diagnosed 32 years ago. In 2003, new childhood HIV infections peaked with more than 1,500 babies born with HIV every day. For only 40 cents a day, mothers can be treated to prevent transmission to their unborn children, and just over 900 babies are now born daily with the virus. By 2015, that number can be almost zero.  Highlights from the sale will travel to London in advance of the sale before the entire collection goes on public exhibition in New York beginning 18 November. Learn more about the second (RED) Auction through our Twitter hashtag #REDatSothebys. Additional highlights and details to be revealed over the next several months.
News: designers Jonathan Ive and Marc Newson have collaborated with U2 frontman Bono to design and curate items for his (RED) charity auction, including a pair of solid rose gold Apple EarPods (pictured).
Steinway & Sons unique “Red Pops For (Red)” Parlor Grand Model
Apple senior vice president of design Jonathan Ive and Australian designer Marc Newson designed and selected a series of one-off or customised pieces for the (RED) Auction. The event at Sotheby’s New York on 23 November 2013 has been organised by Bono to raise money to tackle AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni “Snoopy” Lamp produced by FLOS
Ive and Newson worked together to create unique products including a Leica Digital Rangefinder Camera and an aluminium desk. The pair has customised a Steinway & Sons Parlour Grand Piano and a 2012 Range Rover as well.
Dom Pérignon Oenotheque 1996 Magnum
Also up for auction are two Damien Hirst Spin Chairs designed by Jasper Morrison, plus Dom Pérignon champagne and accessories. Highlights of items in the auction will travel to London and Hong Kong before being going on public display in New York from 18 September.
Two of the world’s foremost design pioneers, Sir Jonathan Ive, KBE and Marc Newson, CBE, have collaborated with musician and philanthropist Bono to organise a (RED) auction celebrating the very best of design and innovation to be held at Sotheby’s New York on 23 November 2013. Jony and Marc have spent the past year and a half curating the collection, which comprises objects from disciplines as diverse as space travel and lighting design to contemporary art and rare automobiles, all unified and distinguished by their excellence and innovation. Proceeds from the sale will benefit The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
From left to right: Marc Newson, Bono and Jonathan Ive
Leading the auction are two items designed in their entirety by Jony and Marc – a unique Leica Digital Rangefinder Camera, a feat of extraordinary engineering, and a unique aluminium desk produced by Neal Feay Studios. Joining these editions labelled 01/01 and personally curated by the two for the (RED) auction are: a Steinway & Sons Parlor Grand Piano and a 2012 Range Rover, both customised by Jony and Marc; a unique version of Hermès’ iconic Cavale saddle created in red leather and custom red stitching; a one-of-a-kind pair of classic Apple EarPods in solid rose gold; a Russian cosmonaut suit; a pair of Damien Hirst Spin Chairs designed by Jasper Morrison; a custom Jaeger-LeCoultre Atmos 561 Clock with unique red accents created for the auction; and Dom Pérignon Œnothèque 1966 Magnum with custom red foil label, red ice bucket cooler and limited edition protective case.
Highlights from the sale will travel to London and Hong Kong in advance of the sale before the entire collection goes on public exhibition in New York beginning 18 November. Learn more about the second (RED) Auction through our Twitter hashtag #REDatSothebys. Additional highlights and details to be revealed over the next several months.
As expected, the new operating system unveiled today at Apple‘s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco features uncluttered interfaces and marks a distinct shift away from imitating physical materials like leather and wood, bringing the brand’s software more in line with the pure and minimal style that Ive famously developed for its hardware. “We see iOS 7 as defining a important new direction, and in a way a new beginning,” said Ive in a movie shown at the launch.
“I think there is a profound and enduring beauty in simplicity, in clarity, in efficiency,” he continued. “True simplicity is derived from so much more than just the absence of clutter and ornamentation; it’s about bringing order to complexity.”
The team redesigned all the icons, stripped back typography and implemented a new colour palette
Distinct translucent layers of content are meant to help users maintain a sense of context while moving through the interface and a new “multitasking” feature means users can scroll between application windows without going back to the home screen.
“These planes combined with new approaches to animation and motion create a sense of depth and vitality,” says Ive, adding that just changing the desktop picture affects the look and feel across the entire system.
Transparent layers “create a sense of depth,” says Ive
The team has redesigned all the icons, refined and pared back the typography, and implemented a new colour palette. “In many ways we tried to create an interface that is unobtrusive and deferential, one where the design recedes and in doing so actually elevates your content,” Ive concluded.
Anticipation over the visual overhaul has been mounting since Ive was appointed head of the new Human Interface team at Apple in October, and experts have been predicting a move towards cleaner edges and flat surfaces over the textures and faux materials that came to characterise Apple’s software design.
Apple’s previous calendar design had particularly been under fire for its stitched leather look
“Obviously they didn’t go there with the hardware so why did they go there with the software? It’s a really good question,” he said. “There’s now many companies looking at it in a way that’s quite interesting and Apple actually is a little bit behind in that area.”
“Developing a grid system allowed us to achieve a much more harmonious relationship between individual elements,” said Ive of the new icons
News: Apple’s senior vice president of industrial design Jonathan Ive has given his support to the growing campaign against the UK government’s plans to remove design and other creative subjects from the school curriculum.
Ive and British fashion designer Stella McCartney are the latest names to pledge their support for the #IncludeDesign campaign, which is calling on the creative industries to rally against the Department of Education’s proposed reforms to the curriculum before consultation closes on Monday 10 December.
In a letter to education secretary Michael Gove, the group urges education secretary Michael Gove to reconsider plans to exclude arts and design subjects from the newly introduced English Baccalaureate (EBacc). At present the EBacc only includes the five compulsory subjects of maths, English, sciences, humanities (either history or geography) and a language.
“The UK creative industries are the envy of the world, we set the bar in excellence, innovation and entrepreneurship,” reads the letter. “The development of an English Baccalaureate affords the Government an opportunity to enhance one of the strongest areas of our economy. It is an opportunity to create a generation that will stand the best chance of improving our global competitiveness and contribute to our future economic growth. In its proposed form however, we believe the English Baccalaureate will starve our world leading creative sector of its future pioneers.”
The move comes as a group of leading art and design schools wrote an open letter to Gove that was published in newspaper The Times this morning. Signed by representatives of the Royal College of Art, University of the Arts London and the Royal Academy of Arts, the letter highlights concerns across the industry that art and design is already being withdrawn from schools to place greater emphasis on the EBacc curriculum.
“With English Baccalaureate Certificates set to replace GCSEs in 2015, the situation can only get worse,” it reads. “It is inevitable that more and more schools will feel they have little choice but to downgrade or completely withdraw arts and design based subjects.”
A report from the Department of Education reveals that 183 schools have already withdrawn art GCSE, while 247 have dropped drama and 151 have stopped teaching design technology.
Jay Osgerby commented: “It’s hugely disappointing to see design being relegated to the periphery of our National Curriculum. If we do not support and invest in design education now we risk a brain drain of our best talent in the near future. We should be upping our game, not demoting design to the side lines.”
Terence Conran added: “We should be encouraging creativity and innovation in our young, not stifling it. I am depressed enough that as a country we make so few things, imagine if we no longer designed them as well?”
Here’s the letter signed by Ive, McCartney and others:
Dear Secretary of State
We write to you on behalf of the UK design industry.
We believe that the omission of subjects such as Design & Technology and Art & Design from the English Baccalaureate will damage the future prosperity of our industry and the wider creative economy. It will fail to provide students with the skills that UK employers need and its impact on the UK’s economy will be catastrophic.
The UK creative industries are the envy of the world, we set the bar in excellence, innovation and entrepreneurship. The development of an English Baccalaureate affords the Government an opportunity to enhance one of the strongest areas of our economy. It is an opportunity to create a generation that will stand the best chance of improving our global competitiveness and contribute to our future economic growth. In its proposed form however, we believe the English Baccalaureate will starve our world leading creative sector of its future pioneers.
Collectively we champion good design which shapes society and improves the way people live. The UK’s design industry is the largest in Europe and one of the strongest globally – NESTA estimates £23bn is spent on design, while Imperial College put the figure at £33.5bn in 2011. Design Council research demonstrates that despite the recession the industry grew by 29 per cent between 2005 and 2010. Design is the lynchpin that connects our creative industries together and is fundamental to a broad range of disciplines from advertising to architecture, from furniture to fashion.
The innovation that fuels UK growth relies on knowledge, the skilled use of materials and the command of ideas. Design and the arts are vital components of an accessible and varied education system that can provide these skills.
The prospect of future generations growing up considering these subjects as unimportant is simply incomprehensible. We therefore urge you to rethink the Government’s proposal to exclude Design and the arts from the English Baccalaureate and to add a sixth pillar option for these subjects into the EBacc.
Sir Jonathan Ive Stella McCartney Edward Barber, RDI Jay Osgerby, RDI Sir Terence Conran Design Council D&AD British Interactive Media Association IDEO Interbrand Seymour Powell Landor Hemingway Design Sapient Mother ustwo Landor Wieden + Kennedy WolffOlins Fjord Fitch Method Albion All of Us BERG The Brand Union Critical Mass DBA (Design Business Association) The Design and Technology Association Design Museum Design Week Engine Joseph Joseph LBi LiveWork Made by Many Moving Brands Native OneDotZero Poke Think Wunderman Zolmo Computer Arts Contagious Magazine Its Nice That Vice Digital Arts Hyper Island University of Reading Goldsmiths, University of London University of the Arts London Aqueduct Toaster Codegent The New Black Nation Mylo Design Somewhat Analog Folk Glug Anthony Dickens Numiko Black+Blum Kin Figtree SomeOne Viadynamics Design Laboratory Mosley& Hedgehog Lab Not Tom Dalton Maag Typo Deadgood MayNinth Digital Doughnut WeAreExperience Weapon7 Mark Thomson Design 383 Project Monokoto CDD Northern Digitals BLAB Graphical House Signal-Noise Bibliotheque Design Studio 1977 Design Mat Dolphin Cog Design Multiadaptor Mobext Flamingo Magazine Creative Mediani Ubiquitous Planning Unit Irving & Co. Felt Create Forty Eight Blue Leaf Kemistry 999 Design Alienation Digital Bethan Gray Brokenantler Canonical Cream Design Cyber Duck Designintuition Digital White Emperor Design Farnbeyond Flat 33 Glad Hometown Huw David design Hyper Kit Karoshi KK Outlet Lambie Nairn Leopold No Sugar Studio Not Just Design Obsessionistas Philosophy Design Piratalondon Plot Red front Redberry Digital Rocket Rosie Lees Sociates Stereo Creative Vincent and Bell Visceral Business WDC We Are Human Wickedweb Design Jam Playgroup Spov Sidekick Studios Insider Trends The Loft Great Fridays Alive Agency Campbell Rowley
And here’s the letter from the art and design schools:
Dear Sir,
We are deeply concerned about the long-term consequences of excluding arts and design subjects from the English Baccalaureate.
A survey commissioned by the Department for Education itself confirms the extent to which schools are ceasing to teach arts and design following the introduction of the EBacc as a performance measure in 2010. In a report that makes disturbing reading, 27% of the English secondary school teachers polled said that a subject or course has been withdrawn from their school in 2012 as a result of the EBacc – with creative subjects hardest hit. 23% report that drama and performing arts have been withdrawn, 17% are no longer teaching art, 14% have lost design or design technology and 11% have lost textiles.
With English Baccalaureate Certificates set to replace GCSEs in 2015, the situation can only get worse. EBacc teaching will take up 80% of teaching time, leaving only one day a week for all other subjects. It is inevitable that more and more schools will feel they have little choice but to downgrade or completely withdraw arts and design based subjects if they are to maximise their EBacc performance.
Michael Gove has stated that it is not intended to remove these vital subjects from the curriculum but that is what his Department’s own survey tells us is happening. According to the CBI, the creative and cultural sector contributes 6% of the UK’s GDP, making it our second biggest industry after the financial sector. It employs around 1.5 million people in 106,700 registered businesses and accounts for more than 10% of the UK’s total export of services. Squeezing out arts and design from the school curriculum will cut off the vital pipeline that feeds this major success. It is something no Government concerned with economic recovery should contemplate and it can be avoided by adding the choice of a creative subject to the list of EBacc subjects.
We urge Mr Gove to think again and give creativity its rightful place at the centre of the school curriculum.
Yours sincerely,
Nigel Carrington, Vice-Chancellor, University of the Arts London Dr Paul Thompson, Rector, Royal College of Art Christopher Le Brun, President, Royal Academy of Arts Pat Loughrey, Warden, Goldsmiths, University of London Edward Kemp, Director, RADA, and Joint Principal, Conservatoire for Dance and Drama Professor Michael Earley, Principal and Chief Executive, Rose Bruford College of Theatre Professor John Last, Principal, Norwich University College of the Arts Professor Anne Carlisle, Rector and Chief Executive, University College Falmouth Professor Stuart Bartholomew, Principal, The Arts University College at Bournemouth Richard Heatly, Principal, Hereford College of Arts
In addition to his role as senior vice president of industrial design, Jonathan Ive (above) will now head up a human interface department. Ive’s design team was named best design studio of the past 50 years by D&AD in September and Apple’s statement yesterday said “his incredible design aesthetic has been the driving force behind the look and feel of Apple’s products for more than a decade.”
His promotion follows Yves Behar saying in our interview at Dezeen Live last month that he has set up a user interface group at his San Francisco design studio Fuseproject to explore how to bring the disciplines of hardware and software design together. “Designing these two things as one at the same time is really a completely new, really fascinating exercise for me as a designer,” Behar told Dezeen editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs. “The opportunities are there and the fact that we are not taking these opportunities as designers I think is lazy.”
In the same interview, Behar rejected the “skeuomorphic” approach adopted by companies including Apple, which has led to the grainy leather-effect Calendar with torn-off pages (below) and wood-effect bookshelf applications in its products, saying that “there’s now many companies looking at it in a way that’s quite interesting and Apple actually is a little bit behind in that area.”
Apple also announced the departure of senior vice president of iOS software Scott Forstall, who was said to be a proponent of the skeuomorphic approach within Apple. He’s to serve as adviser to CEO Tim Cook in the interim before leaving next year.
The news comes as part of a wider reshuffle of Apple’s management intended to “encourage even more collaboration between the company’s world-class hardware, software and services teams.”
Senior vice president of internet software and services Eddy Cue – whose team is already responsible for the iTunes Store, the App Store, the iBookstore and iCloud – will take on the additional responsibility of Siri and Maps. Senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi will lead development of both the iOS and OS X operating platforms, previously run by separate teams, and Bob Mansfield will lead a new department combining all the company’s teams working on wireless technologies.
News:Apple was named best design studio and best brand of the past 50 years at a special ceremony marking the 50th birthday of D&AD this week and Apple’s entire design team, including senior vice president of industrial design Jonathan Ive (above), flew to London to collect the awards. D&AD’s 50th Birthday Celebration on Tuesday featured presentations of special awards to companies that have won the most “Pencils” – the trophies given for creative excellence at the London-based design charity’s annual awards programme – since its foundation in 1962.
Apple was commended by D&AD for its “ability to sustain itself in our hearts and minds” and the “passion and utmost care that the design team puts into the development process”, and its design team (above) was presented with two awards, for best design studio and brand.
Other winners on the night included graphic designer Derek Birdsall, who picked up the 50th Birthday Honorary President’s Award, and the now defunct advertising agency Collett Dickenson Pearce & Partners.
D&AD announces the All Time Pencil Winners, President’s Awards and (one) Black Pencil
50th Birthday Celebration will mark the biggest names in design and advertising
On 18 September 2012, D&AD staged a huge party and awards ceremony to celebrate its 50th Birthday. At the event, the top ranked agencies, studios and people of the last 50 years of D&AD were recognised with a one-off Award. The 2012 Black Pencil and President’s Awards were also announced.
D&AD delved into its archive of design and advertising to uncover the businesses and people that have collected the most Pencils. The winning names were honoured with eight special awards: Most Awarded Ad Agency / Design Studio / Production Company / Brand / Art Director / Copywriter / Designer / Director. The winners in each category are listed below.
During its 50 year history, D&AD has set the standard for excellence in design and advertising, championing the best work at its Awards shows and in the famous Annual, and nurturing future generations of creatives through its education programmes. Winning a Yellow or Black Pencil is the crowning achievement of many careers.
D&AD CEO Tim Lindsay said: “The people, companies and brands celebrated tonight are the true visionaries of the past 50 years of commercial creativity. Their work has changed the way we live our lives, the way we communicate and the way we perceive businesses and each other.
D&AD is the hardest award in the world to win, so those that have made this list really do represent the pinnacle of achievement in the creative industry. D&AD was set up in 1962 to promote the value of design and creative business communication. Some of the biggest talents in the world have since won Pencils and been educated through D&AD’s programmes. Our business is predicated on talent, and the people and agencies listed here have contributed to a legacy of economic and creative success that is often overlooked.”
D&AD/50 Birthday Dinner: The top all time D&AD Pencil winners
Collett Dickenson Pearce & Partners (CDP) emerged from the 1960s as Britain’s most influential advertising agencies. It was a nursery for the careers of many who were to become internationally famous, including Sir Frank Lowe, Lord David Puttnam and Sir Alan Parker. Under creative Director Colin Millward, CDP flourished in the 70s, winning Pencils for work including Heineken, Harvey’s Bristol Cream, Bird’s Eye, Hovis, Benson & Hedges and Hamlet cigars.
Design Studio Apple
Most people would argue that Apple’s phenomenal success has been design led. Apple founder Steve Jobs was known to obsess over the detail of product design – and under the inspirational leadership of Sir Jonathan Ive the design team at Apple has produced a seemingly endless stream of beautiful, functional products that have been celebrated at D&AD for decades.
Production Company Gorgeous Enterprises
Founded by Chris Palmer in 1996 and shortly after joined by partners Frank Budgen and Paul Rothwell in 1997, Gorgeous have collected some 15 ‘Production Company of the Year’ titles and – in no small part due to their numerous D&AD wins – topped the Gunn Report’s Consolidated League Table of Most Awarded Production Company in The World every year from 1999-2009. Their work includes Frank Budgen’s classic spots for Guinness and Levi’s and Chris Palmer’s recent work for T-Mobile.
Art Director Neil Godfrey
Neil Godfrey has been collecting D&AD Awards since 1967, when he worked at DDB. He continued to enjoy success when he moved to CDP with Tony Brignull during the 1970s. Godfrey worked on accounts for Remington, Bird’s Eye, Fiat, Dunn & Co, Albany and B&H. His pioneering print ad style remains hugely influential to this day.
Designer David Hillman
In the sixties, David Hillman art directed Nova magazine through it’s most successful period. In the early eighties, having become a partner at Pentagram, he executed the re-design of the Guardian that established the newspaper’s position at the forefront of UK publishing design. David’s Studio was formed by the award winning graphic designer in 2006
Director – Joint 1st Place Frank Budgen / Tony Kaye
Frank Budgen – After leaving Boase Massimi Pollitt advertising agency where he was a copywriter and creative director, Frank Budgen began directing commercials full-time in 1991 through the Paul Weiland Film Co. He soon established himself as one of the foremost commercials directors in the UK and in 1997 became a partner at Gorgeous.
Tony Kaye – Tony Kaye is a director of films, music videos, commercials, and documentaries. He’s won awards for his work for Dunlop, Volvo and Olympus amongst many others. Kaye made several well-known music videos, including ‘Runaway Train’ by Soul Asylum, ‘Dani California’ by Red Hot Chili Peppers, ‘What God Wants’ by Roger Walters and ‘Help Me’ and ‘God’s Gonna Cut You Down’ by Johnny Cash.
Copywriter Tony Brignull
Tony Brignull began his career as a trainee at JWT but spent the majority of his working life at Collett Dickenson Pearce with interludes at DDB. With Art Director Neil Godfrey, Tony formed probably the most successful creative partnership in the history of British Advertising. Their D&AD pencil count runs well into double figures. Creator of many memorable commercials for the likes of Clarks shoes and Fiat cars, Tony is probably best known for his print and poster work for I00 Pipers, Birds-Eye, Parker pens, Olympus, Whitbread and many others.
Brand Apple
Apple’s success at D&AD reflects the company’s ability to sustain itself in our hearts and minds. Design led innovation is at the heart of Apple where making the best products in the world is the ultimate goal. The passion and utmost care that the design team puts into the development process creates a range of award winning products that surprise and delight millions and millions of consumers around the world.
The 2012 President’s Award, presented by Rosie Arnold Dan Wieden
“Dan Wieden is one of the most inspirational advertising brains of our age. His spirit remains restless and free, and he continues to champion independent thinking and behaviour. His work and that of his now numerous agencies lead the way across all disciplines. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen a piece of work that has surprised and delighted me, and made me run up and down the corridors at work showing it to other creatives, only to discover it came from Wieden+ Kennedy. So when I asked myself if I should give Dan my President’s Award, I told myself, ‘Just Do It’.” Rosie Arnold, D&AD President
50th Birthday Honorary President’s Award Derek Birdsall
In its 50th year, D&AD has decided to honour a designer who was not only central to its foundation but who has also been producing consistently outstanding work throughout all five decades of the organisation’s existence.
Typographer Alan Kitching, a former colleague and contemporary of Birdsall, explains what makes Derek so special: “He is a very inventive designer with an exceedingly fertile mind, so therefore he brings to the solution of a design problem his own particular take, which makes him unique. He’s probably the best book designer in the world.”
2012 Black Pencil Just one Black Pencil has been awarded by the D&AD judges this year, to a remarkable campaign to demobilise guerrillas in Colombia.
FARC Guerrillas don’t use any of the traditional media in Columbia, so rivers have become their most important channels of communication and transportation. Every FARC base camp is built close to a river. The agency decided to use rivers as a means of delivering messages, letters and gifts at Christmas, which were sent inside waterproof capsules which lit up at night.
Terry Hunt, Direct jury foreman, said: ‘Apart from the poignancy of the idea and the simple dignity of the execution, what impressed the judges about Rivers of Light was that these were soundly based on direct response technique. The best direct work is about cause and effect; the deliberate design of a communication to achieve a quantifiable response. Rivers of Light used personalization, targeting, the most appropriate direct medium and a clear call to action to achieve its aims while creating an event of transcendant significance. Rivers of Light is one of the purest examples of direct response creativity I have seen in 30 years in the business.’
News: Apple‘s senior vice president of industrial design Jonathan Ive is to design a camera for German brand Leica, reports PetaPixel.
The camera will be a version of the new Leica M model (above), launched yesterday, but further details about the design are yet to be announced. Only one of the Ive-designed edition will be produced and auctioned for charity.
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