Jonathan Ive - Apple's Design Magician 211
conq writes "BusinessWeek takes an in-depth look at the man behind the Apple magic. The article features a slideshow with all his designs (including one before he was with Apple)." From the article: "During an internship with design consultancy Roberts Weaver Group, he created a pen that had a ball and clip mechanism on top, for no purpose other than to give the owner something to fiddle with. 'It immediately became the owner's prize possession, something you always wanted to play with,' recalls Grinyer, a Roberts Weaver staffer at the time. 'We began to call it having Jony-ness, an extra something that would tap into the product's underlying emotion.'"
Amazing creativity.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh, but as to the pen... (Score:3, Interesting)
C'mon guys, get it together. Now I have to go do a search on it...
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http://hatchedeggs.blogspot.com/ [blogspot.com]
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Hurry, it's your only chance of getting a +5 Informative
I'm only being a little facetious... I want to know what the hell they're talking about too :-)
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btw, no such luck finding the pen so far.
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Re:Oh, but as to the pen... (Score:4, Funny)
Here's a tip for you. Don't do a GIS for "ball clip."
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Er, thanks though... I'll stay well away from that search.
Re:They didn't show the Apple Remote either (Score:2)
They also don't mention the best part about the design: the fact that it magnetically sticks to the side of an iMac. It's always there when you want it and easily transforms the iMac from a computer to media center.
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Apple have an extraordinary ID team, which obviously includes many talented individuals who simply don't get the credit. It's obviously in Apple's interests to build up the mystique of their 'genius' ID guru, but to the nameless ID's who executed these designs: I salute you!
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And isn't that always the way of things. Hardly anything great is done solo, and yet so much of the time the rest of the team remains hidden in the background.
I'm surprised that Jonathan Ive lets a guy run a web site in his name. Not that its such a bad thing, but the guy has done such a poor job of it.
"Apple" is only one person. (Score:2)
Click on the Apple section and read another article. From the comments, you'd think Steve Jobs writes every single line of code in iTunes and OS X, and hand-solders every circuit on the motherboard of every Mac.
The interesting thing is, in the early days, it really was one guy (woz) doing most of the heavy lifting.
Re:Amazing creativity.. (Score:4, Interesting)
Overall, I think occasional design flops are excusable if Apple's boldness/riskiness results in nice products like the iPod.
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(Likewise I preferred the puck above the later optical mouse, thought it fitted my hand better, but I guess I'm weird that way...)
I can relate.. (Score:4, Funny)
Sometimes I fiddle with my balls too, does that mean I have the same sort of creative energy?
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The importance of balls in vancouver realestate [vancouvercondo.info]
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Sometimes I fiddle with my balls too, does that mean I have the same sort of creative energy?
No. no. no. You and the owner of the company are the useless people who play with the balls. Mr. Ives and whoever created your balls are the ones with creative energy.
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Rappers play with their balls all the time as well, and "some" people consider them talented and creative. You're golden, mang.
Give credit where credit is due. (Score:3, Insightful)
How is he not responsible? (Score:2)
Don't get me wrong, the man's a genuis, but he isn't responsible for half this stuff.
I'm not sure what you're saying here. Ive leads a team of designers, so of course every rounded corner or concealed latch isn't his doing. But he is responsible for ensuring that when the hardware ships, the design is top notch. His work is as much about deciding what contributions to refuse as much as it is deciding which to accept. So ultimately he is responsible for all of it.
I'm also unclear on what you mean by "o
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Business Week Dufuses (Score:3, Informative)
Also, I KNOW that Jonathan Ive designed the eMate 300 which they don't show. I was not aware that he did design the 110 - which may not in fact be true. Possibly they are crediting him with the design of the wrong device. In any case, they look like idiots with a slide of the Newton 110 and a picture of the OMP (Original MessagePad).
I would have emailed them to point out the problem, but was unable to find an email address in their "contact us" section.
Re:Business Week Dufuses (Score:4, Funny)
No kidding! I screamed myself hoarse at my Newton, but it never listened.
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Actually, they composed that page on a MessagePad. They wrote "comically unreliable handwriting processing system", and got "disastrously mediocre voice-recognition software." Somehow, it still ended up as parsable English, so the editors missed it.
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I guess if it had the same case, then Ives must have designed that too? Just a slip up in the ID of the item in the photo then. True, it's not smart to do that in a major national publication!
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Same can't be said for BusinessWeek. Let's start the fuck-ups shall we?
Slide 3. The Newton didn't have voice recognition software. The picture is of a Newton 100 / Origonal Newton. Either they meant 100 - or they used the wrong picture. (both previously caught - but I'm trying to be complete here)
Slide 4.
Not an 1998 iMac. That's a late-model 1999 one with the slot-loading CD-drive and the dark-blue case. The origonal was bondi-blue.
Slide 10.
re:"B
Design is never as easy as it looks ... (Score:5, Interesting)
Partly because it isn't a sequential process, partly because it shows up in many different guises, and partly because it just is plain hard! The hardest part is making the design just disappear, so that the program, device or object "just works". Some references are "Design for the real world" by Victor Papanek, and "Critical Path" by Buckminster Fuller.
Getting something to the point of "just working" takes time. The article mentions where a lot of the historical basis of the design elements come in. As an example, the Bauhaus school, which has rectilinear, minimialist lines, could not be confused with the Art Deco period, which has sweeping, organic lines modeled on natural plants. And either would not be confused with the organic shapes in a science fiction show, like Lexx. A designer knows the cultural associations, and cannily manipulates those to frame his message.
Further, they are semi-conscious to the observer. The art of design consists of either fading into the woodwork so that the elements are almost not noticed (save for a feeling of "rightness") or having one element out of place so as to attract attention, but avoiding the over the top kitch. Once these associations are made, they become part of the cultural backdrop, and therefore more grist for the mill. Such is the magic of postmodernism.
As an available example, the book is a cultural artifact; it is 2000 or more years old, and has a standard form that has been finessed for all those years. The design principles of typography are still a fertile area for exploration. O'Reilly has a colophon, how each book was made. For utilitatian subjects, they sure do put a lot of thought into presentation. A reference to typography is "Design Principles for Desktop Publishers" by Tom Lichty. He has a number of cited references inside that are worth checking out. Another one is "Desktop Publishing for Dummies". Your bookshelf has a number of other examples... ...
And that is just one artifact. When you add electronics
What I am impressed with is the obsession to detail that carries over not just from the look of the piece, but the ability to manufacture it easily as well. I guess that is what separates stellar performers from hack wanna-be's. But that implies that not only does Apple have great industrial designers, but they have a culture that seems to avoid the "fling it over the cube" mentality.
But the real interest comes in knowing how to make this cultural leap, the business design principles. Rest assured, the design principles that can get you a stellar organization are closely guarded strategic secrets. However, is it just me, but have they not been in the open all along? And perhaps lost in the corporatist instrumentalist model so lovingly rendered in Machiavelli's "the Prince" and "the Discourses"?
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Designers are not different then anyone else - but I think they are more aware of the internal processes in the act of design. I guess a book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" discusses it best. ( Though "Looking for Spinoza" is a good read, also)
When I start something like an assembler program, I find myself in an iterative, non-verbal mode. Only after I get a feeling of rightness can I wrestle the solution to the verbal level.
I use Tony Buzan's mind maps, and free phrase writing to capture the fl
Is he good - or just controversial? (Score:3, Interesting)
With the exception of the original iMac, I haven't been that wowed by Jonathan's minimalist approach - sometimes, because it seems he's shooting for minimal controls but not for minimal real estate. For example, consider the PowerBook 17" waste of keyboard space - why not tack on a numeric keypad and shift the speakers to left and right of the trackpad? Because it disturbs some sense of symmetry? I dunno....
Then the new iMac... ugh. That huge white space below the monitor (speakers???? anything???), and because of side placement of CD/DVD, inability of the unit to be placed within narrow enclosures... am I out-of-step here with the general design sensibilities of society? Do people genuinely love the iMac's design? If so - honestly, why?
sloth jr
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As for the
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Stupid question: Where would you put the CD/DVD drive?
Your options are basically the top, the bottom, or one of the sides. Which of those seems most practical? (Of course, if you did really want a design coup you could do something like sliding it underneath the keyboard and having the computer interface with it via the USB cable.
What the blank space on the iMac is for (Score:4, Funny)
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While I wouldn't mind a numeric keypad on my PowerBook either, I think you just demonstrated why you *aren't* a design genius, by putting the speakers directly under the user's wrists where they will be muffled, and where the grill is likely to accumulate dirt. I've used several laptops that place
Just Branding (Score:2)
The one Ives design I really like is the stalk iMac [businessweek.com]. Putting the display on a stalk allows the user to optimize its place — good ergonomics, minimized footprint, yada yada. Except it now seems obvious that the stalk iMac, like all of Ives creations, was about branding. All iMac models are identifiable by the fact that they're a single unit. In the early iMacs they just crammed the system hardware into the monitor box. In the recent iMacs, the system hardware has gotten small enough so they just have
Re:Why yes, yes I can.. (Score:5, Funny)
There's a good reason for your vexation at the iMac's uncluttered all-in-one design: You don't speak its language. Remember that the Mac was designed by artists [atspace.com], for artists [atspace.com], be they poets [atspace.com], musicians [atspace.com], or avant-garde mathematicians [atspace.com]. A shiny new Mac can introduce your frathouse hovel to a modicum of good taste, but it can't make Mac users out of dweebs [atspace.com] and squares [atspace.com] like you.
So don't force what doesn't come naturally. You'll be much happier if you stick to an OS that matches your personality. And you'll be doing the rest of us a favor, too; you leave Macs to Mac users, and we'll leave beige to you.
Re:Why yes, yes I can.. (Score:5, Funny)
My god you're good.
I hope the rest of you trolls out there are paying attention to this Arrogant Mac Guy. He really knows his stuff.
Read the parent post. No, really. It's totally worth it. Take a minute. I'll wait.
Done? Good. See how you sort of want to laugh out loud, but how you also just threw up a little bit in your mouth? See how you can't tell if he's serious, or trying to be funny; whether he's mocking arrogant Mac users or IS an arrogant Mac user?
Didn't you sort of feel like going to the Apple store and physically murdering one of those smug little Genius Bartenders? And then buying an iBook for $8000? THAT'S a good troll.
This guy, he is elevating the Slashdot troll from common verbal diarrhea to subliminal political treatise. He's breeding a little revolution.
I've been watching him. This thing has evolved. He's been honing it, polishing, like a fine little gem. He has posted something similar about 437 times, and no two are exactly the same. It is the snowflake of trolls.
It's not even a troll. It's a fauxtroll. A trollody. A trollsterpiece.
Arrogant Mac Guy. Awesome. Keep it up. Or cut it out. I love to hate you and hate to love you.
And I need a Sprite.
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You almost had me. I was right with you, enjoying ing your troll critique until I got to the very end, then BAM! "And I need a Sprite." No human drinks sprite. You must be here marketing it in an astroturf campaign, in collusion with the trolls. Well, I'd best go get an RC cola to help me forget all this.
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RECURRING TROLL (Score:2)
Re:Why yes, yes I can.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Sort of how Nintendo declares that while Sony and Microsoft see themselves as tech companies who make games, Nintendo sees itself as a game company that just happens to use tech.
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See, from my perspective, it's Micro
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Apple respects people's wishes, while you shovel your ego at them, proudly declaring "Believe me, this where you want to go today!" That makes you the fartsniffer, fartsniffer.
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I'll leave it to others to bite the hostility sure to follow from you.
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Let me use an analogy. What do you say to someone who says "I need a car?" Very few people want a car. Cars are expensive, they require expensive gasoline, regular maintainence, insurance, etc. No, what people want is to go places. If somebody invented cheap teleportation tomorrow, the sales of cars would drop to nothing, because almost nobody really wants a car.
So now, if
Re:Why yes, yes I can.. (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Why yes, yes I can.. (Score:4, Insightful)
Don't forget that Macs were supporting dual display setups (and triple, etc.) before Windows even knew what to do with one screen. Some say it still doesn't.
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OS/2 1.0
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Well, the Mac got multi monitor support at least as early as spring 1987. At that time, Windows was in version 1.03. It is certainly possible that it could drive multiple monitors; I don't know. But I have to say, I think it's a little unlikely. Feel free to prove me wrong.
Re:Why yes, yes I can.. (Score:5, Interesting)
Try that with windows or X. Both choke if you unplug the VGA connector and plug in a completely different resolution monitor or TV. My powerbook just blanks the screen and switches to the apporiate size.
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It's a neat feature that is amazingly hard to get right.
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Re:Why yes, yes I can.. (Score:4, Insightful)
Because that's called a laptop without a battery and is fuckin' pointless. Sure, it looks cool but once its outdated you throw it away. People don't like that with laptops but they put up with it because its portable.
Most people put up with it with laptops because they just don't care. Most people do exactly what you said, they buy a computer, and once it's outdated, they get a whole new computer.
Re:Why yes, yes I can.. (Score:5, Insightful)
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Sources? Your average PC buyer isn't just a home user. Businesses don't buy like you claim they do. Home users don't always buy like you say either, though some do.
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If every PC were purchased with a monitor there would be no market for KVM switches.
"In three years, monitors will be larger with higher resolutions for the same price we're p
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Maybe the 50+ world run-on sentence.
In any case, Apple has bigger issues with regards to having gamers switch than upgradability. The biggest being, of course, the fact that there are no games on OS X.
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In any case, there is no real gamer machine in the Apple lineup. The reason is likely because Apple doesn't think it can a
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Re:Why yes, yes I can.. (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't know a single person outside of the geek/IT realm who doesn't go to costco/best buy/etc and buy a whole new computer with a new monitor when the old one is outdated. Not one. The iMac is no different - your new computer comes with a new monitor. Monitors get outdated too ya know, or are you still using the same 14"CRT from 1997? The vast majority of people out there don't care that they won't be able to re-use the monitor as a second display with their shiny new computer - most don't even realize you can do that )or the thought of openeing their shiny new computer and adding a second video card is far too scary for them).
As far as any other types of upgrades go, you've got to be joking, right? Swapping video cards and CPUs? Not a chance - heck, by the time the average user feels a need to upgrade either, the interfaces are different and their mobo is obsolete. Hard drives? That's what externals are for. Have you seen the storage displays at the big bix stores lately? USB/FW drives are selling like crazy because people just want to plug them in without opening their cases...
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Actually, I *am* still using my 19" CRT from 1997. It does 1600x1200 at 76Hz, and has the sharpest text I've ever seen short of an LCD with digital inputs.
It's lasted through three computers and is still going strong.
Parent isn't the troll.. (Score:2)
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By tucking the electronic guts of the Mac right behind the LCD display, Ive's team essentially made the PC disappear. Can someone explain why this won't be the future of PC design for anyone other than gamers--or why the rest of the industry hasn't followed suit yet?
Perhaps not the rest of the industry didn't follow, but don't overlook these triumphs of industrial design [thejournal.com].
I had the pleasure of remotely supporting a half dozen of these fine machines. The only thing that held me together was my dream of
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You answered it yourself - because it looks cool.
Function is mostly solved; aside from gamers and developers, almost any computer will work for average Joe's desktop use. What's left? Form - looks, interface, size, etc.
$10 curtains block the light just as wel
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$10 curtains = Nerds who don't care or welfare recipients that can't afford better. The former has multiple PC's, all working, and of various ages. The latter has a mid-level PC that may or may not work.
$200 curtains = Normal and non-dirt-poor people who like nice things and like to keep up a certain level of appearance. These people are likely to be rather clueless about computers, but they usually have a high-end one. Non-clueless ones might have a Mac. Clueless ones will most certai
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Nope. Especially since I have a Powerbook along with my XP gaming box and Linux server. :)
I am saying that if you can choose between several different products, and they all present the same functionality, then other factors come into play, such as looks.
For example, any laptop would've worked for the web-surfing, email, and digital camera uploads that I need when I travel. My Powerbook is nice looking and easy to carry since it's so sma
While I disagree with what you are saying... (Score:2)
Jumpy, but there are a few items of note. (Score:2)
However, I think that as everything continues more "Average" users will gravitate towards power users position. Not so much asbe completely entralled by every last detail of a computer, but enough so that perhaps updating hardware without purchasing a whole new system will be a bit more common place.
So yeah, that design does work well for quite a few people right now. Later on in the future though when near
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So yeah, that design does work well for quite a few people right now. Later on in the future though when nearly everybody has grown up in a generation of computing being the de facto standard... then it might
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However, I think that as everything continues more "Average" users will gravitate towards power users position. Not so much asbe completely entralled by every last detail of a computer, but enough so that perhaps updating hardware without purchasing a whole new system will be a bit more common place.
I don't know-- I used to build my own computers and upgrade them piece-by-piece, but these days it generally seems like a lot of work for little in the way of returns. "Upgrades" often don't end up being all
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Do you really throw away your old computers? ? ? I sell them or give them away. I always thought most people did that. And an AIO design doesn't make doing those things any harder. All of the AIO computers I've ever owned are still chugging away on someone else's desk, several years later.
There are advantages to the AIO format (takes up less space, easy to install, easy to move) as well. Just because those aren't important to you doesn't mean the
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The industry had done it already, but many customers want their monitors and computers to be separate (particularly the business ones).
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And an all-in-one design can be enormously useful. We have an iMac in our study, and it fits the decor perfectly. A PC, with a box sitting on the floor and all the cables trailing off would've been an eye-sore in an otherwise beautiful room. And the design is also tremendously functional. With a tower, if you place it on your desk, you waste desk space. If you place it on the floor, you're constantly having to reach down to insert CDs, US
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Because:
1.) People don't upgrade as often as you imply they do. In fact, people more often than not just buy new PCs.
2.) People love the extra desk space the iMac gives.
3.) People love the integration--built-in WiFi, Bluetooth, IR sensor, and iSight. It's
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I've got three machines. One is a PC running Ubuntu/GNOME. The other two are a PowerMac and a MacBook. In the year or so that I've used Macs as my primary machines*, I've discovered that Apple pays a tremendous amount of attention to substance.
Let's use the Macbook as an example. On the outside, it's got a white polycarbonate shell. Sure, it looks pretty, but its also extremely durable. You can abuse it, and trust it not to crack, fracture, etc. You can grab it
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The time of CPU-intensive processing the geek fills with sex.
Yes, all of it.
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