iADE

Audiovisuais e Produção de Multimédia

Designed in California
* By Jonathan Ive

Joaquim António da Conceição Inverno

20110363

2ºC2

2012/2013
 Inspiration

“Today you find only a few companies that take design seriously, as I see it. And at the moment it is an
American company. It is Apple.” - Dieter Rams , Objectified (2009)

Name Objectified
Year 2009
Duration 75 min.
Type Documentary
Language US English
Directed by Gary Hustwit

Name Art & Copy

Year 2009
Duration 88 min.
Type Documentary
Language US English
Directed by Dough Pray
 Introduction

This essay, Designed in California *By Jonathan Ive, focus on the professional life and achievements
of Jonathan Ive, Apple’s senior vice president of industrial design, or simply the man behind the design of
products such as the iPod, iPhone, iPad and the Macs.

Since he became responsible for product design at Apple, the company went from being on the brink
of bankruptcy to becoming one of the top 20 companies in the world and arguably one of the prime
companies from a design standpoint.

Obviously Jony isn’t single handed responsible for the success of Apple, there is more to an iPod
than how it looks and how it feels, there is hardware and software, production, advertising, distribution...
there is so much to take into consideration but the fact that he’s still at the helm of product design after
seventeen years in an industry where what’s hot stays and what’s yesterday goes, proves that this man Is
more than just a good designer, he’s someone to look up to.

I believe that when someone watches a documentary or even walks down the street, the way they
perceive and react to information is based on who they are, while watching Art & Copy and Objectified,
because I’m an Apple fan and also because I’m a Jony fan, I became more interested and started paying
close attention to the similarities between how Ive defines design and the concept for the iPod ads.

I
 Jonathan “Jony” Ive

“There is a beauty when something works and it works intuitively”

- Jonathan Ive

Jonathan Paul Ive, Apple’s Senior Vice-President of Industrial Design, was born in Chingford,
London on February 27, 1967.

Ive’s father was a silversmith who taught at a local college, while studying at northumbria university,
it was clear that he had learned some craftsmanship skills from him.

As it’s common with extremely talented individuals, Jonathan became very interested in “drawing
and making stuff” at an early age. Even though he eventually choose to pursue product design, he also
showed interest in furniture, jewellery, boats and car design among other options.

Jonathan first became aware of the Mac during his college years, he felt that the user experience on
an Apple computer was far superior because of its operating system, which was better design than any other
OS at the time, something that is still arguably true after more than two decades. “I remember the first time I
saw an Apple product, I remember it so clearly, because it was the first time I realised, when I saw this
product I got a very clear sense of the people who designed and made it.” Jonathan Ive, Objectified (2009).

After college, Ive co-founded a design company, Tangerine, in London.

It was in 1992 that he started working for Apple as a consultant. Four years later he was appointed
head of Industrial Design by Steve Jobs, who had returned to the company he co-founded just a few months
earlier, at the same time Ive got this promotion, the company was being restructured and many of its product
lines were being terminated and new products were developed in their place.

1
 Essentially Apple was being restructured/re-branded and design became one of its main selling
points, more so than before. The newly appointed CEO believed design was paramount, this simple belief
has had an remarkable impact in product design, at the time design wasn’t as important as it is now, and the
hardware (not outer design) was more important, this still holds true to some extent to other companies,
even In 2013.

As Apple’s lead industrial designer, in 1997, Jony’s first

assignment was to work on the iMac 3G, an all-in-one computer.
Although its design does not resemble the current iMac line or any
other Apple product, it was revolutionary for being one of the first
products that made Apple a design oriented company.
The iMac was completely different from any other computer
sold at the time, it was designed with a colourful translucent back
panel which initially came in Blue but later was updated to thirteen
different colours or “flavors” as Apple marketed it.

Apple has always distinguished itself from other tech companies because of its commitment to
creating products that are, simply put, beautiful, but from the moment Jonathan became responsible for
product design, alongside Steve as CEO, they kickstarted Apple.

“When I joined Apple the company was in decline. It seemed to have lost what had once been a very
clear sense of identity and purpose. Apple had started trying to compete to an agenda set by an industry that
had never shared its goals. While as a designer I was certainly closer to where the decisions were being
made, but I was only marginally more effective or influential than I had been as a consultant. This only
changed when Steve Jobs (co-founder of Apple) returned to the company. By re-establishing the core values
he had established at the beginning, Apple again pursued a direction which was clear and different from any
other companies. Design and innovation formed an important part of this new direction.” - Jonathan Ive.

In 1999, Ive was named one of the top 100 innovators in the world under the age of 35, by the MIT
Technology Review.

Throughout the years Ive and his team of designers have been responsible for the design of
products such as the iPhone, iPad, iPod and the company’s computers, the iMac, Mac pro, Mac mini,
MacBook pro, MacBook air and also the Apple Tv, a digital media receiver.

As mentioned in the documentary Objectified (2009), Ive’s work is influenced by Ram’s ten principles
of “Good design” and according to Dieter Rams himself, Apple is one of the few companies that currently
takes design seriously.

2
 Apple’s design team approach to successful design differs from other brands because they
think about how people work, instead of how the product works, this way using an Apple phone or mp3 is
almost intuitive, that’s why their products are so well designed, because of the human factor, a good
example of this is how adding half an inch to the iPhone 5 allowed for more information to be displayed
without compromising the ability to handle it with only one hand. Instead of adding extras for the sake of
adding design. It’s not about changing the product, it’s about how people use the product.

When contemplating issues related with designing, Jony asks “How do you connect to the
products?”, in the documentary Art and Copy, we watch the creative process of the “iPod people” campaign
in which the concept was very simple, shapes of people dance with an iPod in their hands, showing one way
of connecting with that particular product, and somewhat also showing some of its design, the basic lines
and other aspects such as its size and overall shape. moreover in other campaigns, the design and usability
is always the most prominent feature.

Jony has a “top secret” laboratory, where most Apple employees aren’t allowed entrance, at the
company headquarters in Cupertino, California. “He has more operational power than anyone else at Apple
expect me” Steve Jobs on Ive’s importance at the company, Steve Jobs (2011)

In 2006, Ive was appointed Commander of the Order of the British

Empire, for his contribute to the design industry, later in 2012 he was elevated to
Knight Commander of the Order, he described both these experiences as
“Absolutely thrilling” and “both humbled and sincerely grateful”.

Ive was listed as the inventor or co-inventor of 596 design and utility
patents back in 2011, with more patents being added every year.

In October, 2012, Jonathan gained a new responsibility, as he was also

asked to provide leadership and direction for Human Interface, which means he will also work on the
operating systems iOS and OS X, for both Apple’s iDevices (iPod, iPad and iPhone) and also its Macs (iMac,
Mac mini, Mac pro MacBook pro and also the MacBook air).

The iOS operating system has been somewhat heavily criticized for having many Skeuomorphism
elements, this type of design can be defined as a physical ornament or design of an object
that is made to resemble a material or technique, this basically means that some iOS apps copy real life
materials such as wood, paper and also objects. Therefore Apple chose to address this issue by having Jony
contribute as somewhat of a consultant to try to diminish the gap between software and hardware design.

At Apple there is a very cohesive way of doing things from almost every standpoint, including
business aspects such as pricing and release schedules for their products, as a mature company it is widely
insightful and has delivered some of the most iconic and minimalistic products of the past and current
decade.

3
 Although most tech companies compromise on product design in order to keep profit margins high
and also lower the price of their offerings, Apple believes in their products and chooses to distinguish itself by
keeping some of the best profit margins in the industry

Companies are just like people, Apple has its own culture,
its own ideologies and its own way of doing things,
especially since it went through a phase of employee and
product streamline back in the late 90’s after Steve’s much
needed return to the company which was going through
something that can be best described as an “identity crisis”,
the “new” Apple that came out of it values design, nowadays
this is more than a known fact, but for most tech companies
good design hasn’t been a top priority until very recently.
Apple has had an undeniable impact in the tech Industry,
with far less relevant companies like Samsung not only
learning the importance of good design from their success but
also learning how good it is to get inspired by products designed by Ive and his team, to the point where they
get sued over it and end up losing.

“So many companies are competing against each other with similar agendas. Being superficially
different is the goal of so many of the products we see. A preoccupation with differentiation is the concern of
many corporations rather than trying to innovate and genuinely taking the time, investing the resources and
caring enough to try and make something better.” - Jonathan Ive
 4
Bibliography

Documentaries

Art and Copy (2009)

Objectify (2009)

Internet

https://www.apple.com/pr/bios/jonathan-ive.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Ive
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc._advertising
http://www.macworld.com/article/2025988/the-secret-of-apples-design-success-the-humane-interface.html
http://designmuseum.org/design/jonathan-ive

Books

Steve Jobs (2009)

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