Apple’s Top Designer Explains Design

Most of you probably know Jonathan Ive even if you don’t recognise the name—he’s Apple’s head of design (otherwise known as the company’s Senior Vice President of Industrial Design). And he’s chiefly credited for designs of the iMac, iPod and iPhone. In an interview with The Independent, he shared some of his philosophies on designing for Apple, and just how Apple “does it.”

We have a very clear focus that all the development teams at Apple share, a focus around trying to make really great products.That can sound ridiculously simplistic, almost naive, but it’s very unique for the product to be what consumes you completely.

Later in the piece, Ive talks about Apple’s place as a cultural icon.

I’m not driven by making a cultural impact. That’s just a consequence of taking a remarkably powerful technology and making it relevant. My goal is simply to try to make products that really are meaningful to people.

We could easily pull the entire interview and paste it here for you to read, but you should really hit up the original article instead. There’s plenty more interesting stuff left. [The Independent via psfk]