Sir Jonathan Ive: the man on stage

Photo © by Evening Standard

Sir Jonathan Ive, in a circle of friends - Johnny, without a doubt, one of the most prominent Londoners. He is 45 years old, was born in Chingford, a suburb of London, went to the same school as David Beckham. Heather Peg Jonathan met his future wife in high school. They married in 1987, they now live in San Francisco and have two sons.

As senior vice president of industrial design, Sir Jonathan Ive is the driving force behind the creation of the company's products - from Macs to iPods, iPhones and, most recently, iPads. He gave an exclusive interview to the Evening Standard, while at the company's headquarters in Cupertino.
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Q: You recently received a knight’s title for design merits - are you proud?

A: I was delighted and at the same time absolutely depressed. I am well aware that I am a product of English education, the traditions of design and production, primarily industrial England.

Special attention, the value of ideas and original thinking are the natural attributes of British culture, which largely characterizes the traditions of design.

Q: Is London still a significant city in the design world?

A: I left London in 1992, but I like to go there three or four times a year. In the design world, this is a very significant city. London makes a significant contribution to the design, to the creation of something truly new.

Q: What is the difference between London and Silicon Valley?

A: The closeness of various creative industries and London is simply striking and, in many ways, unique. I think this is what strongly distinguishes him in sensations from Silicon Valley.

Q: Why did you decide to move to California?

A: What I like here is a striking optimism and a dominant desire to try and learn something new without fear of failure. A very simple and pragmatic atmosphere reigns here, when a couple of people with an idea can simply establish a company in such a way that this idea can be realized. I really like this simple and straightforward approach.

There is no feeling of thirst for profit, only a desire to realize what is in your head. I think this is exactly what characterizes this area.

Q: What makes Apple design so special?

A: It’s difficult for us to choose the right words to describe the design process at Apple. In a nutshell - this is design, prototyping and production. If we separate these components, then, in my opinion, the final result inevitably suffers. If you improve something - this is innovation, and for any innovation you face problems and obstacles that no one else has dealt with. To solve such problems, extreme concentration is necessary. Apple has an atmosphere of curiosity and optimism, and this combination is not so often to be found.

Q: How do you get new products at Apple?

A: What I particularly like about the creative process, even though it may sound naive, is that right now you have neither an idea nor a solution, but tomorrow it all suddenly appears. I think this is just awesome.

Creativity, the process of the emergence of ideas surprisingly inspire. The idea itself is transient and elusive, it has no definite form. Finding itself, it generates a dialogue, but it remains very fragile.

The moment when the most striking change is felt is the moment of transition from an abstract idea to a more “tangible” dialogue. As soon as you create a three-dimensional model, however crude, you give a form to a vague idea - and everything changes, a certain shift occurs. It charges and concentrates people around. A truly amazing process.

Q: What qualities are necessary for a good designer?

A: It is extremely important to be flexible and dynamic, inquisitive and to be ready to challenge your own right. It is necessary not only to defiantly perplex yourself with the questions “What if ...”, but also to have the ability for incredible concentration and insight, immersing you in the whole context. This is extremely important, this is exactly what helps to overcome obstacles.

Q: What are your main goals when creating a new product?

A: Our goals are pretty simple - design and create the best products. If we cannot create something better, we will not create it.

Q: Why is it so difficult for competitors to Apple?

A: This is rather strange, most of our competitors want to create something different, to look in a new way - these are, in my opinion, completely wrong goals. The product must really be the best. This requires real discipline, and this is what drives us - a sincere unquenchable thirst for creating something better. The committees simply do not work, because it’s not the price, the plans or the eccentric marketing goal to look different - these are all ordinary corporate goals that have nothing to do with the people who use the product.

Q: When did you first realize the importance of designers?

A: The feeling of a group of people who created something overtook me when I first used Mac - I went through college in the 80s using a computer, and it was a terrible experience. Then I discovered Mack. It was such an exciting moment that I clearly remember it so far - you could really feel the spirit of the people who created it.

Q: When ideas like products like iPod come to your mind, are you trying to solve a problem?

A: It happens in different ways, sometimes things that annoy you, they themselves indicate a problem. This is a very pragmatic and least stimulating approach.

It is much more difficult when you are torn from the available opportunities.
It seems to me that this is what really develops the designer’s abilities.
This is not a problem about which you are aware, no one has mentioned a word about it. But you start asking yourself questions, but what if you do this, add something, can it be used? This creates opportunities that can replace whole categories of devices, instead of just solving a single problem. This is a real challenge, something that really captures.

Q: Has this led to the creation of new Apple products?

A: Examples of such products are the iPhone, iPod and iPad. It is fanatical attention to detail, constant contact with problems, decisiveness in decision making are crucial and determine the quality of daily interaction with products.

Q: How do you know that consumers will want your products?

A: We do not use focus groups. Such things should deal with the designer. It is wrong to give design to the care of people who do not feel the possibilities of tomorrow based on what is now.

Q: You have a very small team of designers. Maybe this is the key to success?

A: The complexity of the challenges we face at Apple leads to very close collaboration of specialists from various fields. Perhaps I like this the most. I work with chip designers, electronics engineers and mechanics. I think it would be difficult for you to understand which of us does what when we are together. We are sitting in the same office and we have a common goal - we are all busy creating great products.

One of the reasons why we succeed is that we have been doing this for many years together. There was a kind of collective confidence in moments of confrontation with seemingly insurmountable difficulties. There were many moments in the process of creating the iPhone and iPad, when we had to think about whether it would work, because we simply had nothing to look back on.

Q: Do small details easily distract from the main thing in the project?

A: When you are struggling with the solution of another problem for a new type of product, you concentrate on questions that may seem slightly detached from the main ones. Sometimes solving such problems may turn out to be a bit abstract, then losing sight of the whole picture is easy enough. I think this is exactly the case when years of experience help and instill confidence that by putting efforts in the right direction, you will achieve the goal.

Q: Can I lose control of obsession with parts?

A: It absorbs an incredibly long time, you can spend a month, and a month, and another month on some tiny detail, but if you do not deal with this little thing, then the release of the product is also impossible.

Often there is a feeling that some task cannot be solved, but you continue to believe in the opposite. Therefore, innovation is so complex - there is nothing to compare them with.

Q: Do you understand that you have achieved success?

A: Probably, it is strange to hear such things from the designer, but what really infuriates me in products is when I literally see how the designers wag the tail of my nose.

Our goal - simple objects that you just can not imagine differently. Simplicity is not just the absence of confusion. Understand this - and you will become closer to the object and focus on it.
For example, the iPhoto app we created for the new iPad absorbs the user so much that he forgets that he is using the iPad.

Q: What is the most difficult in continuous innovation?

A: For all the time that we are doing this, I have not ceased to wonder how difficult it is. But you know for sure when you hit the target - it may be the slightest shift that suddenly reincarnates an object without any tricks.

Some iPad solutions are so extraordinary that there is a temptation to tell everyone about it. However, the irony is that people do not think at all about the tricks that formed the basis for a successful solution of certain tasks. But this is our work, and I think everyone understands how much titanic effort is behind each finished product.

Q: Does the consumer really appreciate good design?

A: There is one thing that I have learned well over the past 20 years: although it’s hard for people to explain why they like this or that product, as consumers are all very perceptive. We feel where a lot of care was invested in the design, and where only cynicism and greed were invested. This is what inspires us very much.

Q: Users are incredibly attached to Apple products, almost obsessed with them, why?

A: It may sound trite, but I still remember my shock from the first acquaintance with Mac. And I still remember that then the understanding of the values ​​of the people who made it, Mac, came to me.

I think that the emotional connection with Apple products comes from the feeling of our care and all the work we have invested in creating our products.

PS The original interview can be found on the London Evening Standard website.