Apple design teams get cozier as Jony Ive pushes toward a more ‘flat design’ that is starker, simpler

“Last October Apple Inc. announced a management shake-up designed to increase collaboration across its different divisions. Sure enough, some walls have come down, though many others remain,” Jessica E. Lessin reports for The Wall Street Journal. “One of the biggest areas of change has been design.”

“For years, even the esteemed designers of Apple’s mobile iOS operating system, were cut out of the loop on specifics related to new mobile devices their software would be running on, according to several people familiar with Apple’s process. Apple’s industrial design team, led by Jonathan Ive, tapped its own stealth group of software developers to help with prototypes,” Lessin reports. “That dynamic is changing, according to the people close to the company. The stealth software developers still exist. But now, Apple’s mobile software, or ‘human interface’ team, which has been led by executive Greg Christie, is being briefed about industrial prototypes earlier, these people said. The person described the change as ‘a thawing.'”

Lessin reports, “Ive, who is well-known for his sleek, iconic hardware designs, now sits in on the human interface team’s regular review sessions to vet new designs, these people said. Some suggested that in Apple’s next mobile operating system, Ive is pushing a more ‘flat design’ that is starker and simpler, according to developers who have spoken to Apple employees but didn’t have further details.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Starker and simpler? Yes, yes, yes – more, please, er… less!

Less is more. – Mies van der Rohe via Robert Browning

Go, Jony, go!

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