Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Ive Got the Power


The Independent gets a rare sit-down with Jonathan Ive, Chief Baller on Apple's killer design squad. Apple has always tried to control their consumer experience end-to-end, from their software to their hardware to their marketing, from the iTunes store to their physical stores (MLers hang there excessively). That immersive Apple experience, Ive says, starts with their product design & development:

Asking him what good design really is seems like a good place to start. "Oh, that's a tough question," he groans. "The word design is everything and nothing. We think of design as not just the product's appearance, it's what the product is, how it works. The design and the product itself are inseparable."

Apple is unique, Ive says, by being in the hardware and the software games; design permeates through everything. "We have a very clear focus that all the development teams at Apple share, a focus around trying to make really great products.

"That can sound ridiculously simplistic, almost naive, but it's very unique for the product to be what consumes you completely. And when I say the product I mean the product in its total sense, the hardware and the software, the complete experience that people will have. We push each other, we're very self-critical and we'll take the time to get the product right."

For many people working in the creative industries, the bedrock of Mac believers, Ive is a hero, a creative genius: the man who transformed computers from grey boxes to objects of desire, design statements. (via Core77 & The Independent)


PS Ive helped out on Pixar's Wall-E, too. Check out the little cutie he did, Eve. That pod looks like an i, no?

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