Sir Jony Ive has been a valuable asset to Apple, which is an understatement considering he designed the iPhone, iMac and iPod, all spectacular contributions to the Apple Corporation. He played a strong part in reviving Apple with ground-breaking innovations.
He has left Apple on good terms to start a California-based firm of his own, called LoveFrom, with Apple as its first client.
His departure from Apple will be a grave loss for the stalwart enterprise, since he has shaped the face of Apple over the past two decades with his innovations. He started off in 1992, ten years after which he was promoted to Senior Vice President of design.
Contributions and achievements
Sir Jonathan Paul, or Jony, as he is lovingly called, is known for having designed the iMac, Macbook, iPhone and iPad, along with the iPod, parts of the iOS and the Power Mac G4 Cube, many of which anyone would recognize as some of the best user-friendly technology available in the market.
He single-handedly paved the way for how well-known Apple is today. He has also created the Apple Earpods, and then later the AirPods, both of which are widely used today. Some of his achievements include:
- The man boasts of a whopping 5,000 patents and has been awarded with several design awards, like the the ‘Design and Art Direction’ (D&AD) award ‘London’s first Designer of the Year’ (2003), the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum’s Product Design Award (2007) and the ‘President’s Award’ (2005).
- He has received several awards throughout his career from Tangerine to apple. In 2004, he was anointed the “Most Influential Person on British Culture” in a BBC poll of cultural writers, and has lived up that name in a big way, as we have seen from what he has contributed to the tech industry.
- In the United Kingdom, he was appointed as Royal Designer for Industry, an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, and a Knight Commander of the same Order in 2012.
He has made significant achievements in the academic field, such as when he was made an honorary doctor of the Royal College of Art. Ive was conferred the title of ‘Doctor of Science’ degree at Cambridge as well as the Oxford University.
His relationship with Steve Jobs
The late Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, considered Sir Jony to be his spiritual partner. They worked so well together that they brought Apple to where it is today. Being as like-minded as they were, they could be considered the most creative partners in the recent business history.
Ive was still a junior staff when Steve Jobs came back to Apple for its revival. Initially, Ive had tried to convince Jobs to be more forgiving of the design team, but uncaring as to whether his employees liked him or not, he established Apple as a company that does not seek monetary gains, but rather concentrating on innovation and the best products.
They fundamentally agreed on what they wanted from their devices: to have it look and feel as well as it worked. Ive stated that when they were looking at objects together, what their eyes physically saw and what they perceived were exactly similar. Jobs and Ive also shared the same interest and curiosity about several things. Together they had made the smash-hit iMac, a gorgeous computer with user-friendly interface, followed closely by the globally popular iPhone, iPod and eventually the Apple iWatch.
John Ive, the man
Ive had almost quit Apple on multiple occasions due to the lack of commercial success it was experiencing during the early 1990s. His boss John Rubinstein convinced him to stay on as he saw a bright future with Apple. Since then he has been responsible for the most shining achievements in Apple’s legacy. He has put tons of love and care into his work appreciated by many of Apple’s big figures, like Tim Cook, Evans Hankey, and the late Steve Jobs himself.
Ive is widely known to the public for his minimalist sense of fashion and presentation of self. A rioting factor in his image is his “almost shaved head along with a tightly trimmed and neat beard“, which he adorned after being promoted to vice president of industrial design at Apple. His signature look and fashion has been a fan-favourite of the masses.
Ive’s well-known voice was used in almost all of Apple’s marketing and promotional videos since 1994, a smooth delivery of voice and tone, lulling one into a sense of comfort and conviction at the product being sold. Because of its nature, it has been parodied lovingly by many online content creators.
From a man who had his career start off by designing toilets and toothbrushes had made his name in history as one of the world’s greatest innovators.
Why is he leaving?
“This just seems like a natural and gentle time to make this change,” the man himself was quoted. Sir Jony Ive, although not completely isolated from his former place of work, chose to leave to pursue other projects, having created a massive and significant portfolio for himself in Apple alone.
After a span of 30 years and innumerable projects, the man is proud of the work he and his team has done to create a processes, design excellence, and culture at Apple that happens to be unparalleled. The team is stronger, more talented, and more vibrant than at any point in the company’s history. He hoped that the team at Apple will thrive and grow under the outstanding leadership of Alan, Jeff, and Evans who have been amongst his closest aides and collaborators. He has utmost confidence in his designer colleagues, who will remain his closest buddies too. Sir Ive concluded that he looks forward to an association with them for numerous years from now.
Moving forward
Sir Jony Ive is planning to pursue personal projects while still working closely with Apple. He has created a firm called LoveFrom, of which not much is known other than it is based in California, and will be specializing in wearable technology.
Apple is already its first client. In the article, Sir Jonathan has confirmed that Marc Newson, a friend and collaborator at Apple, was also going to join the new firm. In his new firm, there would be “a collection of creatives spanning several different disciplines beyond design,” as he puts it.
