It's hard to talk about Apple design without mentioning Jony Ive. But in the years since Ive left Apple, much of his former team has left, too. Did it matter?
Jony Ive's Declining Influence at Apple
Jony Ive joined Apple in 1992 and became the head of the company's industrial design team just five years later. Ive and his team created many of the iconic designs that Apple is known for today, including the following products:
- iMac
- iPod
- iPhone
- MacBook Air
- iPad
- AirPods
- Apple Watch
Ive was responsible for design during the last few decades of Apple's explosive growth, until he announced in 2019 that he was leaving the company.
Five years have passed since then, and the vast majority of Ive's former team has also left Apple.
Mark Gurman recently wrote:
Almost all of the Apple designers who reported to [Ive] have either retired or found other jobs, many to LoveFrom. Those who have left include Ive's replacement at Apple, Evans Hankey, and Tan Tan, the former head of iPhone product design in the hardware group.
Hankey's departure was announced two years ago, and she was out for about 18 months. Tan passed away just in February.
Notably, Alan Dye still leads Apple's user interface design team. But his expertise is more software-centric than hardware-centric.
Apple's Design Since Ive's Departure
So what has all this reshuffling of the industrial design team changed?
In some ways, it's hard to tell in advance.
Ive left some time ago, but his lieutenants did not.
Product design is typically developed for years before it is released to the public. So while Ive's direct leadership likely no longer influences modern products, the leadership of Hankey, Tan, and others certainly does.
But let's look at some of the trends we've seen in the years since Ive's departure.
At one point during Ive’s tenure, Apple was focused on making its products thinner and lighter, with fewer ports. One of the fruits of this was the infamous butterfly keyboard and the reduction of ports on MacBooks and MacBook Pros in particular.
Then in 2021, there was a U-turn. Two years after Ive left, we got a new MacBook Pro design that famously wasn’t ashamed of its size, weight, and port count. Around the same time, the iPhone’s weight and heaviness began to increase as battery life became a priority over thinness and lightness.
And of course, there’s also the Vision Pro, a product that many criticized for being too heavy and bulky.
Ive was involved in the design of the Vision Pro, but it’s notable that the product was released years after he left. This makes it very difficult to understand how much the final product does or does not reflect his work.
Shifting Trends: Back to Thin and Light
Oddly enough, we've started to see another shift over the past year.
Apple's design team is once again prioritizing thinness and lightness — and it looks like it will continue to do so.
Last year's flagship iPhone 15 Pro was significantly lighter than previous models.
Earlier this year, the M4 iPad Pro debuted as Apple's thinnest product yet, and it's also incredibly light.
The Apple Watch Series 10 is also significantly thinner than previous models.
Next year's iPhone 17 Air is expected to take thinness and lightness to a radical new level, with similar changes reportedly coming to other Apple products.
So what's going on?
On the one hand, improvements in both hardware and software have allowed Apple to create thinner, lighter devices with fewer compromises than before.
But it also feels like Apple's current design team, very few of whom worked under Ive, are nonetheless following his playbook once again. It's as if the next generation of Apple designers are eager to carry the torch and stay true to his influence.
At least, that's how it looks from the outside. But only those on the inside can share what's really going on.
Apple Design: An Overview
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The latest products seem to strike a better balance between engineering and design than during Ive's sole reign (without Jobs). Overall, they're better products that let the technical possibilities shine while still maintaining pleasing shapes.
They're no longer boundary-pushing designs, so there's probably room for improvement. But they've laid a solid foundation.
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Ive and his team leaving Apple certainly matters. It would be foolish to think otherwise.
But it's also clear, based on Apple's recent design trends, that the former security guard's influence is still guiding the future.
Ive's design DNA looks set to continue guiding the Apple team for years to come.
Do you think the departure of Ive and his team has changed Apple much? Let us know in the comments.
