This is why Ive is the best

[KingCrimson]

How did a British polytechnic graduate become the design genius behind £200billion Apple?

Ive endlessly seeks crucial knowledge that can help him to make the thinnest computing devices in the world, so it surprised no one at Apple that their obsessive design genius would take a 14-hour flight for a meeting with one of Japan’s leading makers of katana.
Afterwards Ive, shaven-headed, heavily muscled, in his trademark T-shirt and jeans, watched intently as the man went about his nocturnal labour.

As soon as Ive had the budget, he bought advanced machine-tools for model-making in Apple's design studio. This is what he spends time doing: a continuous process of testing, testing, testing.
With the MacBook Air, he told me it's, metallurgically speaking, about as far as you can actually go with aluminium before you start disrupting molecules. A calm and engaging personal manner becomes almost excitable when he describes the outer limits of transforming stainless steel. This Zen-like obsession with materials, with getting to what he calls the 'local maximum', is what gives Apple products their extreme appearance.
If, Ive argues, you understand how something is made, you understand everything about it. And he does. When Apple's founder, the exigent Steve Jobs, decided he did not like exposed screwheads, Ive's engineering knowledge (with an added dash of intuitive genius) found a way to avoid them: Apple uses magnets to hold components together.

Tell me one other tech company that has a designer with THAT fanatical attitude towards perfection. There isn't any. I'd give Ive credit for 90% of Apple's current cash hoard. To me it would be so fair if Jobs simply paid Ive $10 billion in cash as a "thank you".

 

[And1ss]

Good ole Ive and his godly designing skills.

I'm sure some designers in the fashion world have same or near degree of perfectionism.

 

[KingCrimson]

Good ole Ive and his godly designing skills.

I'm sure some designers in the fashion world have same or near degree of perfectionism.

I have no doubt there are perfectionist designers in other fields. The question is how can the VAST tech industry have only one super genius designer in it? Or do other companies have them but stifle them under doofuses like Ballmer?

 

[Tucom]

Speaking of British genius designers, Sir James Dyson made what is arguably the best vacuum cleaner - home cleaning MACHINE - out there, and having used one and a $2,000 Kirby, Dysons really are, the best.


Another one for British engineers, haha.

 

[Abstract]

I'd give Ive credit for 90% of Apple's current cash hoard. To me it would be so fair if Jobs simply paid Ive $10 billion in cash as a "thank you".

This.


The technical side of Apple is not what made Macs so popular. The superior design and attention to detail exudes quality, inspires confidence, and sells sells sells.

 

[Heilage]

I think he's a douche. But damnit, he's good.

 

[arkitect]

I think he's a douche. But damnit, he's good.

I'd agree.

He is a great designer — though not all of the designs have been successful.

But he does have an air about him… poseur…
This quote:
"With the MacBook Air, he told me it's, metallurgically speaking, about as far as you can actually go with aluminium before you start disrupting molecules."

Sure that stuff impresses Stevo, but really?

 

[jackc]

He doesn't look that "heavily muscled" -- not that I'm, uh, checking the dude out

 

[KingCrimson]

The thing is it's always those perfectionists who are not in it for the money who end up making the company historic amounts of money.

 

[aristobrat]

He doesn't look that "heavily muscled" -- not that I'm, uh, checking the dude out

I am. I wouldn't say "heavily muscled" from what I've seen in the press either, but it definitely works.

 

[paolo-]

Ive is good, but I don't think he's 90% of Apple. The fact that Apple doesn't have a problem with investing in design and makes higher quality computers have much more to do with the corporate culture (small crews working on small projects instead of having things lost in a sea of management) and the market they are going after. If you're a designer working for say Dell, your choices are much more driven by the cost than the user experience. For most companies, replacing screws with magnets isn't cost effective .

 

[KingCrimson]

Ive is good, but I don't think he's 90% of Apple. The fact that Apple doesn't have a problem with investing in design and makes higher quality computers have much more to do with the corporate culture (small crews working on small projects instead of having things lost in a sea of management) and the market they are going after. If you're a designer working for say Dell, your choices are much more driven by the cost than the user experience. For most companies, replacing screws with magnets isn't cost effective .

Ok I exaggerated. But it's definitely about a synergy between Jobs & Ive. Jobs is the marketing visionary guru who knows what he wants and Ive is the industrial designer genius who makes it all happen in his super-secret lab.

 

[KingCrimson]

Ive is good, but I don't think he's 90% of Apple. The fact that Apple doesn't have a problem with investing in design and makes higher quality computers have much more to do with the corporate culture (small crews working on small projects instead of having things lost in a sea of management) and the market they are going after. If you're a designer working for say Dell, your choices are much more driven by the cost than the user experience. For most companies, replacing screws with magnets isn't cost effective .

That ship has sailed. Even if Dell put together a small design team with the mission of doing things different, they'd just be accused of copying Ive. Frankly Ive's designs are so perfect that he's going to have trouble himself topping them. The unibody Macs are virtual perfection.

 

[TSE]

I find some of Sony's designs to be on par with Apple's.

The Sony designs I find to be on par with Apple's are the ones where they don't actually try to compete with other PC manufacturers meaning they need to keep the computer under a certain price.

I mean, check out the Sony X505 (that computer is basically a MacBook Air from 2004), the Sony Z series, etc.

I also find the Industrial Design of the Thinkpad to be up there. It isn't the prettiest design in the world, but it is the most timeless design out there. Let me explain.

Take a toilet iBook G3 design and try to sell it today. It wouldn't sell. Take a Powerbook Pismo design and try to sell it today. It wouldn't sell. Take a Alienware design from 7 years ago and try to sell it today. It wouldn't sell.

Thinkpad design is timeless. I still adore the design of the modern Lenovo lineup.

I'm getting a MacBook Air for college though.

 

[Mousse]

The technical side of Apple is not what made Macs so popular. The superior design and attention to detail exudes quality, inspires confidence, and sells sells sells.

Different people are drawn to different things. I'm pretty ho-hum regarding 's design. They're nice and all, but OS X is what gets me excited.

I like my tools to do its job. It doesn't have to be pretty, it just has to work.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I agree that different people are drawn to different things but good design - that incredible fusion of form and function - is wonderful to behold. Apple prioritises design and it is one (not the only one) of the main reasons I buy their products.

 

[rhett7660]

Different people are drawn to different things. I'm pretty ho-hum regarding 's design. They're nice and all, but OS X is what gets me excited.

I like my tools to do its job. It doesn't have to be pretty, it just has to work.

Me too. However having it look nice too is icing on the cake!

 

[KnightWRX]

To me it would be so fair if Jobs simply paid Ive $10 billion in cash as a "thank you".

He did, he paid him 10 billion $'s worth of makeover :

He's designed his new image the way he designs products. The guy is a fat jolly nerd at heart.

I find some of Sony's designs to be on par with Apple's.

Of course you do, that's where Apple gets a lot of their ideas. The chiclet keyboard is a direct rip off of the Vaio line-up.

Oh and Braun too.

 

[TheSideshow]

Does Ive have a lazy eye?

 

[kdarling]

Of course you do, that's where Apple gets a lot of their ideas. The chiclet keyboard is a direct rip off of the Vaio line-up.

Oh and Braun too.

You cannot bring up Apple and Ives' inspiration by Braun's Dieter Rams, without showing pics for the newcomers:



While we're at it, Apple took a huge clue from this Braun calculator. And Apple complains about Samsung? Perhaps it's just homage after all.

 

[couto27]

some of you remember the first unibody video when Ive say " i`ve being so fanatical to built a product......"

i think i watch that video about 50 times, showing all the machinery and a sample how all is made, just the video and Ive, sold million of macs that year.

 

[AppleScruff1]

I thought Steve invented, designed, and marketed every Apple product. You mean I've been lied to?

 

[anjinha]

He doesn't look that "heavily muscled" -- not that I'm, uh, checking the dude out

He's muscled for a nerd.

 

[maflynn]

You cannot bring up Apple and Ives' inspiration by Braun's Dieter Rams,

I love Dieter Rams designs, Many designers took a page out of his playbook, including Ive.

 

[sentinelsx]

I also agree that sony is one company that can hold its own in design against apple.

Just look at that Xperia Arc. I used for a week and I wished there was a way to install a non-android OS on it. The phone design is one of the best I have seen.