Design

Jony Ive talks Apple design process, copycats and more in new interview

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Jony Ive, Apple's senior vice president of design, gave an onstage interview last night at Vanity Fair's New Establishment Summit in San Francisco. The executive was among several Silicon Valley elite to participate in the conference, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, and Astro Teller from Google X.

Although Ive has participated in several interviews over the years, his appearance on stage is a rare one—rumor has it that he doesn't like speaking in front of large crowds. The discussion covered a number of interesting topics, including how Apple goes about designing its new products, life lessons from Steve Jobs, and more.

Apple’s design czar Jony Ive talks Apple Watch development and more in Vogue interview

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 1, 2014

Jony Ive, Apple's Senior Vice President of all Design across the company, sat down for an interview with Robert Sullivan of the fashion magazine Vogue.

Published today, the interview offers a rare look at “the man behind the Apple Watch” and covers a number of topics, including Ive's long-running friendship with fellow industrial designer Marc Newson, who himself recently joined Apple's design team.

Ive touches on a number of other topics as well, such as his passion for handcrafted objects and the design process behind Apple Watch development.

iPhone 6 design: seamlessly thinner, elegantly bigger

Timothy Reavis ∙ Updated April 17, 2018

After months of rumors, speculation, and opinions from the community, Apple finally introduced their latest iteration in the iPhone line – the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus. The new, larger smartphones have a completely refined design, making the recently current iPhone 5s already look small and outdated beside it.

Resulting from concern over losing the ability to use an iPhone with one hand, Apple has worked to make special accommodations for their larger devices, both in hardware and software advancements, which seem to do an excellent job helping to make the iPhone 6 and, particularly the iPhone 6 Plus, more easily managed with only one hand.

Renowned designer Marc Newson joining Apple’s design team

Cody Lee ∙ September 5, 2014

Vanity Fair is reporting this afternoon that world-famous designer Marc Newson will be joining Apple's design team. His exact role is unknown at this time, but he will be working closely with long-time friend Jony Ive, and his design team, to help shape future products.

The outlet says that Newson will continue to be based out of the United Kingdom, but he will frequently travel to Cupertino. The designer has in the past collaborated with Ive on design work for Apple, but today's announcement makes his input and participation official.

China Telecom says single iPhone 6 will support China’s major wireless standards

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 22, 2014

China Telecom has made the claim in a Weibo post which was accompanied by a pair of images based on the familiar iPhone 6 renderings created by Tomas Moyano and Nicolàs Aichino and posted on Bēhance.

The post apparently advertises that an iPhone 6 flavor it plans on selling in the 1.33 billion people market will support all of China's cellular network standards.

Have a look at the images included after the break and meet us in comments.

Jony Ive and Tim Cook on Apple’s design process, new materials, revamping software and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 14, 2018

Apple's design guru Jonathan Ive rarely gave any interviews under the Steve Jobs regime. But this are different now, this is Tim Cook's Apple. In another sign of much-welcomed openness signaling that the Cupertino firm has changed its ways when it comes to public relations, it's increasingly making its key executives available to media.

The New York Times just published a must-read interview with Ive, following its extensive profile of Tim Cook yesterday.

The fascinating read touches upon a number of interesting topics dealing with Apple's design process, giving us valuable insight into what it was like to brainstorm products with Steve Jobs watching over your back, especially contrasted to Tim Cook's more relaxed approach which delegates much of Jobs's multi-faceted work to Ive and several new executives...

New part photos contrast supposed iPhone 6 design to iPhone 5s

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 30, 2016

Judging by the growing number of part leaks coming our way, production of Apple's iPhone 6 should be moving full steam ahead. Coming straight out of China from a pretty reliable source, past two weeks have brought us purported iPhone 6 back cover parts, as well as the inner shell.

Now the same source has posted additional shots depicting what appears to be a front as well as back iPhone part, photographed next to an iPhone 5s for a nice design comparison...

Apple’s design guru Jony Ive and U2’s Bono to talk (RED) charity partnership at Cannes Lions festival

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 2, 2017

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity said today that Jonathan Ive, Apple's SVP of Design, will be in attendance of the Cannes Lions festival, due later this month in Cannes, France.

In addition, the rock band U2's lead singer Bono will be honored with his first ever LionHeart Award. The two men are scheduled to sit down for an interesting 45-minute chat to talk working together on (RED) campaigns that raise funds to help fight AIDS.

Apple recently donated a cool $500,000 to a San Francisco anti-poverty charity. Besides, a charitable auction for a lunch with CEO Tim Cook has raised over $330,000...

Designer’s book ‘Keep it Simple’ highlights early Apple phone and tablet prototypes

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 17, 2018

In a follow-up to his 2012 book 'Design Forward,' industrial designer Hartmut Esslinger released 'Keep it Simple' late last year. The book talks about the collaboration between Esslinger and Steve Jobs during the mid-80s, which led to the creation of several iconic Apple products.

For a little context, Esslinger founded the design firm 'Frog' in 1969, which was contracted by Apple in 1982. Most notably, the firm developed the 'Snow White' design language for Cupertino company, but it was also responsible for designer a number of lesser known prototypes...

Apple releases iBooks version of its ‘iOS Human Interface Guidelines’

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 17, 2018

Last night, Apple published an iBooks version of its 'iOS Human Interface Guidelines.' The move is notable because until now you could only access the user interface guidelines for iOS 7 via the developer portal, which required a $99-per-year membership.

For those unfamiliar with the document, the guidelines are essentially Apple's suggestions to developers for designing their iOS applications. The goal is to ensure that all 3rd party apps share similar UI principles, so that they're both cohesive and intuitive...

Design comparison: final iPhone 6 mockup vs iPhone 5s vs fifth-gen iPod touch

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 12, 2014

With everyone and their brother 3D printing iPhone 6 mockups, virtually every single day brings another iPhone 6 "leak" that wants to go viral. There's just too much stuff proliferating out there so iDownloadBlog usually only covers the material we specifically deem newsworthy.

This would typically entail photos and footage that bring something new to the conversation, be it a never-before-seen angle, an interesting design choice or other curious detail.

Today's video is no different.

Created by an Italian enthusiast blog, it pits an unusually detailed physical iPhone 6 mockup against the iPhone 5s and the fifth-generation iPod touch, showing the supposed design differences from various angles...

San Francisco museum to honor Jony Ive with lifetime achievement award

Cody Lee ∙ Updated May 17, 2018

According to a new report by MediaBistro, Jony Ive will be presented with this year's Bay Area Treasure Award on October 30. The award is granted annually by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in recognition of artists and creative leaders who have redefined visual art.

Ive will be the 15th recipient of the award, joining the likes of Star Wars filmmaker George Lucas and famed landscape architect Lawrence Halprin. And he's being honored for his long history of designing innovative products for Apple, which include the iMac, iPhone and iPad...