A-Lew-Min-E-Um
Jony Ive’s designs were how it worked…
During my time as a tech reporter covering Apple, Jony Ive was the one key executive I never met. That list includes no less than Steve Jobs. But Ive was elusive.¹ An enigma. Almost like the Wizard of Oz, behind the curtains — beautifully designed curtains — except that by all accounts, he’s the real deal.
But that’s where my head went today when I saw the news that Ive would be leaving his post at Apple after almost 30 years (!) on the job. Make no mistake, this is a big deal. But perhaps more symbolically than operationally.
I happened to be in an Apple Store when the news hit — true story, I’m trying to fix some faulty AirPods. Looking around, it was sort of a surreal experience as every single thing on display in that store was either directly or indirectly designed by Jony Ive. And then my mind wandered back to all the products he designed that I had lived with for so long.
It’s a weird thing to think about. On one hand, Apple has a huge design team, and Ive certainly isn’t the sole creator of every Apple product. On the other, he was given such oversight of Apple’s products by Jobs (and later, Tim Cook), that it’s hard to come up with another person who is so solely responsible for the way we interact with one company’s products. Dieter Rams comes to mind, of course. Which is fitting, of course.
I’ve told this story many times at this point, but unlike many Apple enthusiasts, my first Apple product was not an OG Macintosh. Sure, I used them in school when I was a kid, but the first Apple product I owned was an iPod. And that led to a MacBook. Which led to an iMac. Which led to an iPhone. An iPad. And so on. All Ive designs, all the time, everywhere.
In fact, my favorite Ive design may have been a product I didn’t even own — the iMac G4. You know, the “desk lamp” or “potted plant” one. I had one at work in my Hollywood days.² I loved using that machine. The way you could tilt the monitor towards you or away. That neck hinge was a design of pure elegance and beauty.³ It was the most inviting PC I had ever seen, and actually, I think it still holds that title.⁴
At the same time, it seems pretty clear that Ive had taken one, if not several, steps back throughout the recent years. I’m probably reading too much into it, but the fact that they didn’t show an Ive-narrated video at this year’s WWDC (even though they made one!⁵) had me thinking the end of his era was nigh.
So this is bittersweet news. It’s not profoundly sad in the way that the passing of Steve Jobs was, of course. But it’s still a meaningful moment, one worthy of reflection. He still may work with Apple, but Jony Ive will no longer work at Apple. Which is wild.⁶ “A-lew-min-e-um” will never be the same.
¹ The closest I came to meeting Ive back in those days was actually leaving a meeting at the Four Seasons in San Francisco when an extremely garish car (it looked like a Lamborghini, but I’m not sure) pulled up in the parking lot…
² Boy, that sounds much more glamorous than it was!
³ And sure enough, it was apparently impossible to fix.
⁴ I tried to buy one a few years later once Apple and Ive had moved on from the design, but it was out of my price range. In a way, the new Apple Pro Display XDR stand hinge is the closest thing Apple has done to that old hinge in a while. But that is really out of my price range :).
⁵ And maybe I’m reading far too much into it, but Ive almost sounds subdued in his narration here. Less “alive” with excitement as we’ve heard him in the past? I’m sure that’s just in my head. Or am I?…
⁶ After all, he pre-dates Jobs there (his second term, that is).
