His goal was to make it simple to use and a joy to look at.
He succeeded. The result was the iPod. |
|
Briton behind Apple success story gives a rare interview to David
Derbyshire |
|
THERE are two things you need to | | speaks quietly and thoughtfully with |
know about Jonathan Ive, inventor of | | the slightest touch of a south eastern |
the iPod music player and the iMac | | English accent. Next to being the |
computer. First, he is the most | | world’s most influential designer he is |
important British industrial designer of | | also the senior vice president of one of |
our time. He changed the way millions | | the worId’s biggest computer |
listen to music and helped liberate | | companies. He obviously believes he |
computers from dull beige boxes. | | has the best job in the world. |
Second, he is rather shy. He may | | Ive talks down his key role in |
be one of Britain’s hottest exports, but | | ‘inventing’ the iPod and iMac, stressing |
he does not usually do interviews. | | the contribution of the manufacturing, |
| | software, hardware, and electronic |
| teams in his charge. “Our goals are |
| simple. We genuinely try to make the |
| very best product that we can. We |
| have a belief that we can solve our |
| problems and make products better |
| and better. It’s a simple goal to |
| articulate, but a difficult one to [id:57151] .” |
| Apple’s philosophy is that their |
| computers and music players should |
| be simple to use and beautiful to look |
| at. The fans say each product just |
| seems [id:57152] . The latest Apple range |
| included the ‘impossibly small’ iPod |
| Nano, the first video iPod and a new |
| iMac – a powerful computer and home |
| entertainment system crammed into |
| the casing of a flat screen television. |
| Put Ive in front of one of his iMac |
| babies and his [id:57153] is infectious. |
| “Look at this. When you put it to sleep |
| – suddenly there’s a small white light |
| that appears on the front. But you only |
| see that there’s a light there when it’s |
| switched on. If it’s not switched on, |
| there’s no need to see it. The aim,” he |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
“Don’t ask any personal questions,” the | | |
marketing man from Apple warned. | |
“He doesn’t like personal profiles. Talk | |
about design, but stay away from | |
questions about [id:57146]. ” | |
It is all a bit odd really. It is the sort | |
of instruction normally given before an | |
audience with the Pope, or even the | |
Prime Minister, rather than a chat with | |
a designer at a computer company. | |
But then Ive is no ordinary designer | |
and Apple is no ordinary company. The | |
Essex emigrant is responsible for | |
some of the most revolutionary | |
gadgets of the last decade. | |
In 1998, as head of design at | |
Apple in San Francisco, he | |
revolutionised computer design, and | |
helped reverse the company’s failing | |
fortunes, with the original iMac - a | | says, “is to create gadgets that can be |
computer placed inside a coloured | | used without looking at the instruction |
translucent television. It was followed | | book.” |
by increasingly clever updates - an | | So why is so much stuff out there |
iMac that looked like an angle poise | | so badly designed? Why is it so hard |
lamp and one that looked like a flat | | to programme a video or change the |
LCD television screen. | | clock on the microwave oven? “It’s sad |
And then came the iPod. At the | | and frustrating that we are surrounded |
turn of the millennium Ive and his team | | by products that seem to testify to a |
of designers realised they could fit a | | complete lack of care. That’s an |
computer hard drive into a box the size | | interesting thing about an object. One |
of a deck of playing cards and use it to | | object speaks volumes about the |
store thousands of songs. For the first | | company that produced it and its |
time it was possible to carry your | | values and priorities.” |
music collection in your pocket. Its | | Ive may not be a household name, |
success was not just down to clever | | but he is not quite the unsung hero of |
electronics. Critics said it looked | | British design. In the last few years he |
fantastic and was ridiculously easy to | | has won a host of awards. You can |
use. Much copied, but never bettered, | | sense that he is delighted – if a little |
there are 30million iPods out there | | bemused – by the plaudits and praise. |
today. | | But what gives him his greatest kick is |
[id:57150] all the pre-interview | | when people give him their iPod |
warnings, it is a bit of a shock to meet | | stories – when they tell him that his |
Jonathan Ive in the flesh. He is a | | invention has let them rediscover lost |
pleasant, charming and relaxed figure | | music of their youth, or when it has let |
in his late 30s (actually he is 38 but | | them fall in love with music again. |
don’t tell the Apple PR people) with | | |
cropped black hair, jeans and a quietly | | |
fashionable jacket and open shirt. He | | |