Skip to main content

Jony Ive

Chief Design Officer

See All Stories

Often known as Jony Ive, Sir Jonathan Ive joined Apple in 1992 and was made Senior Vice President of Industrial Design under Steve Jobs in 1997. Rumors suggest he almost left Apple shortly before his new appointment. Ive and Jobs were known to be very close and Ive was granted free reign to work and innovate as he saw fit. His title was recently updated from Senior Vice President to Chief Design Officer in July 2015.

In 1989, Ive earned a first class Bachelor of Arts degree from Newcastle Polytechnic (now Northumbria University). He is famous for his unique and popular (although controversial at the time) design of the iMac line, which started in 1998. This success led to his other design accomplishments with the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. Ive has shared that iconic designer Dieter Rams has been a major influence for him, and Rams has mentioned that he believes Apple to be one of the few companies that designs around his ‘ten principles of good design.’

 

Jony Ive delivers moving speech during California College of the Arts commencement [Video]

In 2019, Jony Ive departed Apple after more than 20 years to form his own independent design firm called LoveFrom. Since then, we have not heard much from Apple’s storied design executive, but he recently delivered a speech to the California College of the Arts as part of the university’s virtual commencement proceedings.

Expand Expanding Close
AAPL Jony Ive Tim Cook

Upcoming book to explore Apple’s pivots and product launches under Tim Cook

The Wall Street Journal’s Tripp Mickle is working on a book that will focus on the last decade at Apple without Steve Jobs. It will dive into how some of the products like Apple Watch and more came to be that have launched under Tim Cook and Jony Ive’s leadership and the company’s shift to Services.


Expand
Expanding
Close

Opinion: What Apple’s restructure means for the company and for Tim Cook

What Apple's restructure means for Apple and Cook

Apple’s restructure to accommodate the departure of Jony Ive led to some concern that Apple wasn’t giving design quite as high a profile in the past – amid claims and counter-claims about the run-up to it.

There is no direct replacement for Ive as head of design, and instead of the hardware and software leads reporting directly to CEO Tim Cook, they are reporting into COO Jeff Williams.

But this shouldn’t be cause for concern; quite the opposite …


Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple Watch and the legacy of Jony Ive: making health mainstream through design

Much has been reported about Jony Ive’s departure from Apple and his decision to form his own design firm. The timeline of that decision may date back to the launch of the Apple Watch, with reduced input from Ive on newer projects in recent years.

Apple Watch is arguably the most Jony Ive product in Apple’s project portfolio, and with it comes an impact on health that could outlive any object shaped by Ive. Apple is hardly the first company to bring a smartwatch to market, but its mainstream appeal is very much a result of Jony Ive’s vision.


Expand
Expanding
Close

WSJ: Jony Ive intimately involved with Apple Watch development, drifted away and missed meetings

Jony Ive

The Wall Street Journal has published new reporting on the backstory of Jony Ive’s gradual departure from the Apple. The report says Ive pushed for the company to make the Apple Watch, despite disagreement from other executives, and dived into watch development meetings with the design team almost every day before it launched.

However, after the watch shipped, the report describes how Jony Ive began to drift away from Apple, stalling processes and sometimes not turning up to meetings, frustrating the teams who had worked hard to get materials ready for approval.


Expand
Expanding
Close

Opinion: Jony Ive leaving won’t doom Apple, and may even be a positive

Jony Ive leaving Apple isn't a disaster

Apple’s announcement yesterday about Jony Ive leaving the company was something of a bombshell even though we’d seen it coming for awhile. Ive’s iconic designs are fundamental to Apple’s success, so to see the two parting ways came as a shock to many.

The NASDAQ hasn’t yet opened, but pre-market trading suggests that AAPL investors are not overly concerned …


Expand
Expanding
Close

Bloomberg: Jony Ive had been stepping back from Apple responsibilities for four years

Last night, Apple’s announcement of Jony Ive’s departure from the company was a shock to the outside world. But a Bloomberg report indicates that, internally, Ive has been reducing his workload ever since the launch of the Apple Watch.

Bloomberg says Ive design team meetings were taking place in San Francisco, to reduce Ive’s commute times. Ive was only coming to Apple headquarters a few times a week.


Expand
Expanding
Close

Mystery of rainbow stage at center of Apple Park campus is solved, as Jony Ive explains to staff

Apple Park rainbow stage mystery is solved

New drone footage of the Apple Park campus created a mystery earlier this week, when it revealed a rainbow stage at the centre of the spaceship ring.

Arranged like a concert stage, it was clearly for an event of some kind – and it turns out it’s for a pretty special one, to be held on May 17 …


Expand
Expanding
Close

Jony Ive and Dior designer Kim Jones discuss the environmental cost of design, challenges of working for the future, more

Jony Ive interview

The upcoming spring/summer 2019 edition of Document Journal includes a fascinating new conversation between Apple’s Chief Design Officer Jony Ive and Kim Jones, Creative Director for fashion brand Dior Men since 2018. Ahead of the magazine’s release in May, the full interview has been published online and is filled with observations from the two designers.


Expand
Expanding
Close

Jony Ive and celebrated designer Naoto Fukasawa discuss Apple Park, design values, more in new interview

A new interview between Jony Ive and Japanese designer Naoto Fukasawa offers a rare look into the minds of two design icons. Sitting down in Japan to chat last month, the longtime friends shared thoughts on the future of industrial design, Apple Park’s design challenges, and Fukasawa’s influence on Ive and Apple. The interview was published in the February 2019 edition of Japanese design magazine AXIS.


Expand
Expanding
Close

Jony Ive discusses the importance and absurdity between leveraging ‘curiosity’ and the focus to ‘solve problems’

The Cambridge Union Society announced that Jony Ive had won its Stephen Hawking Fellowship award earlier this year. As part of the accolade, Ive recently delivered a lecture at Cambridge University’s Union hall. Ive shared a variety of interesting ideas, but one in particular was the absurdity and importance of switching back and forth between a creative mindset and a problem solving perspective.


Expand
Expanding
Close

Jony Ive on Apple Watch Series 4: ‘Every bone in my body tells me this is very significant’

Following the introduction of the Apple Watch Series 4 yesterday at Steve Jobs Theater, Apple’s Chief Design Officer Jony Ive offered his thoughts on the future of wearable technology and what drives him and the entire design team to continue pushing the Apple Watch ahead. Ive seldom comments publicly on Apple’s design decisions, but has established his particular fondness for the Apple Watch several times before.


Expand
Expanding
Close