Apple senior vice president of industrial design Jonathan “Jony” Ive believes that Apple’s best work has yet to see the light of day. Ive is responsible for designing many of Apple’s most successful products, including but not limited to the iMac, iPod, MacBook Air, iPhone and the iPad.
Ive was in England this week where he was knighted for “services to design and enterprise.” During the Brit’s visit, he spoke with The Telegraph in a lengthy interview where he was asked if he had to be remembered for just one product, which one would it be.
After a long pause, Ive told the reporter that what Apple is working on right now feels like the most important and the best work they have done. Of course, he can’t reveal what said product is so it’s a sheer guessing game at this point. Possible products could include the new iPhone, the next iPad or even the long-rumored Apple TV.
Ive further elaborates that a large number of products ultimately remain hidden away behind Apple’s walls. He says that it’s often unclear during a project if they will be able to overcome hurdles and create something that lives up to Apple standards. Challenges of this nature happened with the iPod, iPhone and the iPad.
But one of the toughest aspects of his job is not in the design phase but knowing when to walk away from a prototype.
"And there have been times when we've been working on a program and when we are at a very mature stage and we do have solutions and you have that sinking feeling because you're trying to articulate the values to yourself and to others just a little bit too loudly,” Ive said. “And you have that sinking feeling that the fact that you are having to articulate the value and persuade other people is probably indicative of the fact that actually it's not good enough. On a number of occasions we've actually all been honest with ourselves and said 'you know, this isn't good enough, we need to stop'. And that's very difficult."
Photo: Rebecca Naden/AFP/GettyImages
