Apple’s chief designer Jony Ive discusses design process in rare video
Apple's Jony Ive has given some rare insight into the Apple design process.
In an interview at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit, which is available on YouTube, Apple's design guru talks about the excitement he feels for the design process.
Ive talked about the dangers of allowing a feature to taker precedent over a better product and said that Apple had rejected the idea of larger screens because they were too clunky in the past, "like many competitor products."
While no real secrets are revealed, the interview gives an interesting peek into how the world's most valuable company comes up with its market-defining products.
At one point, Ive admits that the touch-screen interface that dominates the market – and arguably first mastered by Apple – was nearly abandoned.
Perhaps the most interesting part is when Ive says that he sees other companies imitating Apple's style as theft rather than flattery.
You spend seven or eight years working on something and then it's copied. I have to be honest the first thing I think isn't 'that was flattering.' All those weekends I could have had at home with my lovely family but didn't, but the flattery made up for it.
I think it's really straight forward: it really is theft, and it's lazy, and I don't think it's ok at all.