Case Study 2. Apples Design Team1

In a surprise notice issued late on Thursday, June 20, 2019, Apple announced that its chief design officer, Jonathan Jony Ive, would be leaving the company later in the year. Ive was the man behind the design team that created Apples most iconic productsthe iMac, the MacBook, the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad, and the Apple Watch. Working side by side with Apples founder, Steve Jobs, Ive led what was arguably the most successful design team in the history of business, and the inspiration for a whole new generation of consumer electronics. It was not an exaggeration to say that the work of his design team had rescued Apple from the edge of the abyss, and made it one of the most highly valued companies in the world. And now Ive was moving on.

Apples Renaissance

Apples storied history is fairly well known. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple Computer in 1976. After disrupting the industry and setting a new course for personal computing, the company struggled, and Jobs and Wozniak left the company in 1985. Jobs returned to Apple in 1997 and put the company on a different trajectory, increasing Apples emphasis on innovation and design.

Jobs began searching for talent, and he wanted A+ players he could use to build his design team. Up until that time, the company had partnered with firms outside of Apple to design its products. But Jobs wanted to bring the work in-house. Jobs and Ive had a remarkable first meeting; the two just clicked. I cant really remember that happening really ever before, Ive said. It was the most bizarre thing, where we were both perhaps a littlea little bit odd. We werent used to clicking.

The iMac was Jobss and Ives first big hit in 1998. Both men knew they were redesigning not just Apples flagship computer, but the company itself. As Steven Levy put it, the iMac was the beginning of a

succession of products that changed the expectations not just of technology design but the role of design in consumer products.

Jobs and Ive had complementary styles and complementary strengths. Ive could translate futuristic concepts into physical objects with simplicity and sophistication. . . . Jobs was the inspiration and the editor needed to bring these ideas to life. Ive was generally reserved, while Jobs was famously charismatic. His reputation was one of almost maniacal micro-management when it came to creating a new product and of almost Barnum-like mastery of hoopla and razzmatazz when it came to selling.

But Jobs and Ive were alike in their design philosophies: both put beauty before everything else. As Ive described it, We think alike about how products should be made to look pure and seamless. For both, less was more. In so many ways, were trying to get the object out of the way, Ive said. Both Jobs and Ive were equally passionate about big ideas and small details. They didnt just care about how a product looked from the outside; they were focused on the complete picture, inside and out.

Their offices were right next to each other, and they often ate lunch and took walks together, discussing new projects and plans. Ive recalled, Steve used to say to meand he used to say this a lotHey, Jony, heres a dopey idea. And sometimes they were: really dopey. Sometimes they were truly dreadful. But sometimes they took the air from the room, and they left us both completely silent. Bold, crazy, magnificent ideas. Or quiet, simple ones which, in their subtlety, their detail, they were utterly profound. Matt Rogers, who developed software for the iPhone and iPad between 2007 and 2010, said, Most of the greatest debates at Apple happened between those two as they walked together.

The Design Team

Ives 20-person design team was the epicenter of Apples great run of iconic products. An eclectic group, the team members included Eugene Whang, who moonlighted as a DJ; Julian Hnig, who previously had designed Lamborghinis; Jody Akana, who specialized in color; and Bart Andr, who had more design patents than any other Apple employee.

Although the group expanded somewhat over the years, it remained very loyal. In almost two decades, only two designers had ever left the studio. Given that special mix of talent, losing an individual designer

was a big loss. Three recruiters were specifically assigned to identify and recruit new designers; they were uber-selective, onboarding only about one new member per year.

As a rule, the design team worked apart from the rest of the company: it was fairly insular from others, even secretive. Team members were not allowed to discuss their work with friends, but shared virtually everything with each other. Although each designer had a specialty, and each project had a team leader, they cross-pollinated continuously, and everyone contributed to one anothers work, sharing the credit. The team typically worked long 12-hour days, obsessing over elements of designthe shape of curves, the angle of displays, even the color palette of package materials. The team described itself as a family, socialized together after work, and created a work hard, play hard culture that continued for years.

Ive described his role as lying between two extremes of design leadership: he was not the source of all creativity, nor did he merely assess the proposals of colleagues. The big ideas were often his, and he had an opinion about every detail. Team meetings were held two or three times a week, and Ive encouraged candor. We put the product ahead of anything else, he said.

Reflecting Ives style, the design team members worked quietly and brilliantly, and rarely gained public recognition. By all accounts, they liked it that way. They liked the creative work, not the hype. As designer Richard Howarth described it, Its not like the weight of the worlds on our shoulders. Jony set it up so that its a littleits freer than you might imagine.

However, the design team enjoyed a level of influence at Apple unimaginable at other firms. At most tech companies, engineering dictates product development. At Apple, it was the other way around. Ive often gave concepts to Apples engineering department, telling them to make the product design possible. Designers reigned supreme.

Ive also changed the process by which design was created. As Brunner put it, design had been a vertical stripe in the [value] chain of events in a products creation. But at Apple, Ive shaped it to become a long horizontal stripe, where design is part of every conversation.

The team obsessed over the designs, understanding the importance of iteration. Everything we make I could describe as being partially wrong, because its not perfect. . . . We get to do it again. Thats one of the things Steve and I used to talk about: Isnt this fantastic? Everything we arent happy about, with this, we can try and fix.

The End of an Era

Steve Jobs died in October 2011, succumbing to a rare form of pancreatic cancer. Ive was by his side when he passed away. Ive remained the creative soul of Apple, and in the absence of Jobs, he had more responsibility. Ives role expanded from strictly physical industrial design to digital user interface as well. In other words, he was in charge of both hardware and software design. He had a much bigger team reporting to him, and his impact was immense.

But something had changed within Apple, and within Ive himself. The pace of work, and the cadence within the design studio, slowed. Ive acknowledged the change, too. To regain momentum, Ive began pushing to make a watch, intrigued by miniaturization of the iPhones powerful technology. He met with the team almost daily and immersed in detail, helping dream up the distinctive, hexagonal grid of apps that morphed as people scrolled.

After the Apple Watch launched in 2015, Ive met with his team. He thanked them for their work, and said 2014 had been one of his most challenging years at Apple. In an interview with The New Yorker, Ive confessed to being deeply tired. The staff beneath him had ballooned to hundreds of people. He wanted time and space to think.

In the summer of 2015, Tim Cook, Apples new CEO, promoted Ive to chief design officer, in recognition of his expanded design responsibilities, including hardware, human interface, packaging, retail stores, and the companys new spaceship-inspired campus in Cupertino, California. Day-to-day responsibilities were assumed by two veterans from Ives team.

Apple said little publicly about the change. But internally, it proved disruptive. As part of the deal, Cook agreed that Ive would be less present at the company. He traveled to headquarters only a day or two per week, and he often set up meetings closer to his homes. People noticed. The team craved being around him, said a person close to Apple leadership. Hes engaging. [His] being around less was disappointing. Indeed, designers viewed approval from their new leaders as merely tentative; they had looked forward to Ives promised monthly design weeks, but Ive rarely showed up.

When the company was preparing for the 10th anniversary of the iPhone, the designers gathered in a San Francisco penthouse chosen specifically for its proximity to Ives home, so that they could demonstrate planned features of the new iPhone to Ive. For nearly three hours, the team waited for Ive to show up.

After he finally arrived, he listened to the presentations, but left without answering their key questions. The team was frustrated. Many of us were thinking: How did it come to this? said a person at the meeting. There was a sense that Jony was gone but reluctant to hand over the reins.

For his part, Tim Cook worked to keep Ive engaged and committed to the organization, in part with a pay package that far exceeded that of other top Apple executivesa point of friction for others on the executive team. And cracks started to show in his design team as well. Several members left over the next few years. Their departures heralded a new era.

The Announcement

On June 20, 2019, Ive gathered his design team in their new headquarters at Apple Park. He explained that he was leaving the company, and answered their questions. Just like old times, the gathering felt like family, and it was a fitting way for the design chief to say goodbye.

Compare Ive's TDR before and after he was promoted to Chief Design Officer (CDO). What are the same and what are different? Assess how he did his new job as CDO.