Perhaps this would have happened under Ive, but Evans Hankey, who now heads the industrial design team, has overseen plenty of other tweaks that seem to indicate a change of philosophy. Gone is the so-called “butterfly” keyboard, which rendered the device thinner but whose clunky mechanics made typing more difficult farewell too to the Touch Bar, a touch sensitive strip display along the top of the keyboard which could show functions for the web browser one moment and mixing tools for music apps the next, but was almost impossible to use without looking back are HDMI ports, which let you plug the computer into high-definition displays without using an adapter. Headline features released five years ago under Ive’s aegis have been scrapped. Monday’s unveiling of a new Macbook Pro lineup of laptops provides evidence of the shift. From the iPhone to Apple TV to the Macbook, gone are the days of “The user be damned, we think this looks cool.” Since he stepped down as chief designer at the end of 2019, Apple seems to have reemphasized function. There was a sense that, without the moderating influence of the late Steve Jobs, perhaps Ive started to prioritize aesthetics a little too much. It does not store any personal data.Steve Jobs’ design-first approach to Apple product development was considered pioneering, but after Jobs, with Jony Ive in charge of design, there were, at times, questions as to whether a device’s appearance took precedence over its ease of use. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. “The senior design team has strong leaders with decades of experience, and Evans Hankey plans to stay on as we work through the transition, and we want to thank her for her leadership and contributions.” “Apple’s design team brings together expert creatives from around the world and across many disciplines to create undeniably great Apple products,” an Apple spokeswoman said last month in response to Evans Hankey’s planned departure. Apple said Evans Hankey plans to stay on during the transition. The report goes on to talk about potential successors to lead Apple’s design team, from senior industrial designer Richard Howarth to software design chief Alan Dye to outside hires. There was more pressure and outside distractions.” After Steve’s death, it wasn’t easy to maintain - things started to get more complicated. “The strength of the team was that we were a core that was tied together by an incredible environment and a fairly unconventional way of doing things,” said one longtime Apple designer, speaking on condition of anonymity. Evans Hankey has been Apple’s de facto design chief since Jony Ive left, reporting to Apple’s head of operations Jeff Williams.Įven before Jony Ive’s departure, Apple’s operations department had begun to exert more influence over the design team, resulting in an increased “focus on cost” rather than “purely on looks and functionality,” according to the report. Only a “small number” of senior designers from the Jony Ive era are said to be still around.Īpple confirmed that its vice president of industrial design Evans Hankey plans to leave the company next year, though the report said she has no plans to join LoveFrom at this time. Apple has lost most of the senior designers who worked under Jony Ive, many of whom jumped ship to his new design firm LoveFrom, which Jony Ive started after leaving Apple in 2019, the report said.Īt least 15 senior Apple designers have left the company since Jony Ive went part-time in 2015, with even less turnover between 20, according to the report. Bloomberg – Apple’s product design team has seen an increase in turnover over the past few years, hampering efforts to replace its former design director Jony Ive, according to a report by Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman.
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