Week 13

Research Assignment: Design biography

Jonathan Ive

Jonathan Ive is a product designer and currently the senior vice-president of design at Apple. Also known as Jony, Ive was born on February 1967 in Chingford London. Ive studied Industrial Design at the Newcastle Polytechnic (now known as Northumbria University) starting in 1985. At school, he was already very well recognized, and won two awards for design from the Royal Society of Arts. Another designer, Clive Grinyer, remembers Ive's "sheer focus to get it perfect," when visiting his flat and found "it filled to the rafters with hundreds of foam models of Ive's final project."  After graduating, Jonathan Ives joined Grinyer in a London design consultancy called Tangerine. Ive states that while he learned he wasn't good at building a business, he learned much by designing a wide range of products "from hair combs and ceramics, to power tools and televisions" and by finding out that he was really only interested in design. From there Ive received an offer to join Apple in California. Apple's values and history appealed to Ive and he assumed he would be working independently, so Ive decided to accept a full-time position there.

Ive is most known for his work at Apple. However, Ive's first few years of Apple were frustrating (before Steve Jobs came back to Apple). Apple was in a state of decline and Ive felt that Apple "seemed to have lost what had once been a very clear sense of identity and purpose." While Ive had a bit more control over the design process, he felt he was "only marginally more effective or influential than" when he was a consultant. This also applies to designers everywhere. Many times designers end up being used only as a tool, especially at companies that are in competing industries and have lost a sense of identity. If a company only thinks about costs, than the company is already losing their target market. Design is no longer important.  However this changed for Ive when Steve Jobs returned to Apple. Jobs was able to steer Apple on its own path different from other companies. This can be seen in Ive and the Apple design team's work.

First is the 2008 iMac. This was a revolutionary change to the computer industry, because computers never before had been so brightly colored, let alone transparent. There is also the G4 Cube. Because the computer core is held up in between plastic, air will naturally cool the computer through the bottom without any fans. Ive however is most known for designing the iPod and the iPhone. The iPod redefined the digital music player and is now a standard other companies compare themselves to, design-wise and quality-wise.

Ive and his design team have also embraced new technology in order to produce products like the iPod. The iPod is completely sealed by twin-shot plastic, a technology almost only exclusive seen with iPod and iPhone products. However, not much of the iPod or iPhone is really applicable to sustainable design. In order to create such a densely packed piece of technology, there really is no thought to how it would affect the environment or how it can be recycled. However again, the iPod is something that is easily thrown away either.

Jonathan Ive has won many awards for his designs, including receiving a Commander of the order of the British Empire (CBE), winning Design Museum's inaugural Designer of the Year award in 2002 and 2003, awarded the MDA Personal Achievement Award for the iPhone, and other awards.

sources:
http://designmuseum.org/design/jonathan-ive
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Ive
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_39/b4002414.htm