“As Apple Computer’s vice-president of design, Jonathan Ive plays a critical role: keeper of Apple’s unique culture of craft. It starts with Ive’s team of a dozen or so designers, a close-knit group that has been resisting advances from recruiters for years. But what sets them apart isn’t just talent, but the way they work with Apple’s engineers and marketers, not to mention the manufacturing partners who actually build the products,” Peter Burrows writes for BusinessWeek.
Burrows writes, “Rather than just draw pretty pictures, they’re leading innovators in the use of new materials and pioneering production processes—say, the ability to put a layer of clear plastic over the white or black core of your iPod, giving it a depth of quality that most consumers don’t even realize they appreciate.”
“Born in a middle-class London neighborhood, Ive was consumed with the mystery of how things are made by his early teens. After enrolling in the design program at Newcastle Polytechnic University, his talent and drive quickly became obvious, and he became the only student ever to win two best design awards from the Royal Society of the Arts,” Burrows writes.
Burrows presents a slideshow with text of some of the creations that Ive has been responsible for over the years, including:
• Vertical Fax Machine
• Apple Newton MessagePad 110
• iMac G3
• Apple Cinema Display
• Power Mac G4 Cube
• iPod
• Titanium Powerbook
• iMac G4 “desk lamp”
• Mac mini
• iMac G5 / Core Duo / Core 2 Duo
• 1G iPod nano
• Apple Remote
• MacBook
• iPod Hi-Fi
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “CharlieBing” for the heads up.]
Keep up the good work jonathan.
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The Newton software became known for being far ahead of its time—and for disastrously mediocre voice-recognition software.
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Er, first, that should be “handwriting-recognition” software…
Second, the recognition is near 100% for those that print letters semi-neatly and take the 2 minutes necessary to play with the recognition timing and letter spacing options.
Unfortunately, the media/Doonesbury comic strip focussed on scribbling messy-doctor style handwriting and expecting anything other than gibberish.
As a result, it never overcame the bad PR and an entire generation succumbed to lesser also-ran devices, particularly the inferior Palm Pilot and successors.
Rather than writing neatly and getting ~100% recognition, these hordes decided learning an entirely new script system (Graffiti) which is as arcane as the Thai alphabet was somehow better!
This even got to the point where business people write in Graffiti on paper and whiteboards…
Argh.
That was a fun ride, watching/reading the slide show. As long as Apple doesn’t trip up, things are looking delicious.
hey jonathan if you read MDN then let me say the next time i see you i will pay for your tank of gas and buy you a free meal at the fast food location of your choice.
SALUTE. YOU THE MAN!!!!
It’s amazing the kind of work this man has done for Apple and by extension fans of Apple and the Macintosh. Looking at the way Macs looked before Ives got in there… Okay so the Pismo Powerbook was pretty nice, but the desktop systems were barely more interesting to look at than PC systems.
I think it would be difficult to over estimate the effect this man has had on Apple’s resurgence.
re: HEY JONATHAN
Heck if you’re going to score him a tank of gas, you might as well buy him a nice meal, in an actual restaurant where they bring you food. Since you’ll still be paying more for the tank of gas than the meal!
What really makes his creative efforts so significant, is that even if he left, his creative ideas would continue. It can’t be understated how iconic his designs are and how intregal they are to Apple’s identity. His minimalist designs married to simple shapes and intuitive functionality. Pure genius. It’s the standard by which everything else is measured. Apple designers after Johnathan will be influenced by his approach and seek to build on it. Lets hope he continues with Apple for a long time.
We Brits are very proud of Jonathan’s major contribution to Apple’s rebirth.
Didn’t he also design the colourful ibook G3?
re: twighlight@mac.com
I thought about it and you are absolutely correct. I will buy Jonathan a great meal and instead of the gas I’ll buy him a new bike chain and wd40.
re: Brits
Brits are great. I drank with a bunch of Royal navy sailors back when I was in norfolk while docked. We played rugby and you kicked our ass but then we ran circles around you in football not futebol.
Long live the Brits!!!!!!!!!!!
…won a best design award from the Royal Society of the Arts too. But just the one.
Ive has been just as important as Jobs for Apple’s comeback. Before Ives, Macs were beige boxes.
Who is the president of design?
Long live Ive.
@ HEY JONATHAN
Never mind docking @ Norfolk, our Kiwi Navy boys would kick your ass in Rugby.(And yes NZ does have a Navy, Army and SAS-same as British SAS we just don’t have an Airforce) As for Ive’s designs, I am for ever drooling.
Forget Jonny influencing other people at Apple…he’s influenced every designer on the entire planet. No doubt about it.
It’s amazing that Jonathan was at Apple before Steve Jobs’ return. I guess that had Steve not returned to Apple Jonathan might by now have been working elsewhere. Though I doubt he is influenced so much by money to have EVER been persuaded to work at Microsoft.
Three cheers for Jonny boy Ives!
“Who is the president of design?”
I think Ive is the design lead, and a senior vice president. Reports directly
to the CEO.
http://www.apple.com/pr/bios/
I was just in the Apple Store last night looking at Johnathan Ives’ latest handiwork, the 24 inch iMac — I’m in love. I told my wife about it and suggested we both hop down soon to see it together. I hope she agrees that it would make a great ménage à trois partner. The Apple store guy saw my reaction and, with a wry smile, turned the iMac around so I could view the ports – oh yes!
MDN magic word: want.
winamacguy: @ HEY JONATHAN
Never mind docking @ Norfolk, our Kiwi Navy boys would kick your ass in Rugby.(And yes NZ does have a Navy, Army and SAS-same as British SAS we just don’t have an Airforce) As for Ive’s designs, I am for ever drooling.
What?
I thought New Zealand was part of Canada….
Newtonian…
While I agree about your Newton points…
Apple RUSHED the Newton to market. They should have WAITED until the handwriting recognition software actually worked. From what I remember, that would have been a matter of 6 months or so.
After years of computer use, who has neat handwriting any more, much less the ability to do so!
As for the negative comments about the Palm. You’re way off base. The Newton was an extremely ambitious device, whereas the Palm tried and succeeded in doing a few things very well. The Palm’s limitations are also it’s strengths. And there lies it’s popularity and success!
The Pocket PC devices TRIED to be Newtons on some level and fail, exactly because they’re too complex and of course, run Windows.
As for Palm’s graffiti, it’s very simple to learn. Although Graffiti version 1 is MUCH better than the latest version.
To the point, Ive and Apple showed many American companies that…
DESIGN does matter.
DESIGN does sell!.
DESIGN makes money.
Europeans have known that for centuries.
so if Steve need’s a successor, Ive is the ideal candidate!
Don’t agree gman.
Steve Jobs has great taste and is a supreme communicator, motivator and visionary, he was never a product designer.
Which characteristics from this list do you know that Jonny Ives has??
I know he is quite shy and reserved, hates public speaking and although he is worth his weight in gold, is not a future Steve Jobs.
Perhaps in 15 years he will step up for it and I’ll eat my hat!
Im not sure most people consider people from england as true europeans.
think about it Italy, Spain, Germany,….England?????
They’re more like their ugly cousins.
For this guy to guy to come from england proves that miracles do really happen.
First, it’s Jonathan Ive
I-V-E.
(No S.)
Second, with hindsight it may be hard to see, but the systems Apple made pre-iMac, while not as drastically different from other manufacturers, were not “just beige boxes.” Apple computers were *always* known for their great design. And the color of the plastic–which Apple called “platinum”–was much nicer than the ugly beige color of most other computers, and didn’t yellow as much over time.
Compare:
Nick; Ive designed the beige boxes too… He has been the design engineer at apple since the before the newton (which he designed)
The difference is having a leader who recognizes talented people and creates an environment that lets them do what they do best.
Ive was at the pre-jobsian-return Apple and was walking around with his resume in his shirt pocket (a euphemism for ready to walk) Steve saw his genius and offered him the world if he would stay and give “the new Apple” try. He did. The rest is history…
Steve’s greatest asset is recognizing (super) talent and motivating those individuals to achieve great things. (and creating a suitable environment) Jonathan is another in a long list (Bruce Horn, Bill Atkinson, Avie Tevanian…) that have shown a rare genius that few (or none) else saw.