4 ms·
I don't think they've lost their design skills -- a lot of their stuff still has good-to-great industrial design. I think their failing is that at some point in
by chipotle_coyote 6y ago
I don't think they've lost their design skills -- a lot of their stuff still has good-to-great industrial design. I think their failing is that at some point in the early 2000s, Jony Ive declared war on whimsy, relentlessly stamping out even the most minor bits of fun in the pursuit of the simplest forms possible.
I'm not sure how this changes now that Ive isn't present; while I'd like to be cautiously optimistic, current design head Alan Dye has been there since 2006 and may have internalized a lot of that anti-whimsy. Based on Big Sur's UX, he seems to unfortunately share Ive's "form over function" failing.
- TheOtherHobbes 6y agoLaptop design took over, and since key goals are strength, thinness, and lightness, and since the market is now global, and anything too weird would annoy at least some customers, there isn't much of an opportunity to do anything outstandingly creative. For example - you could anodise unique swirly coloured patterns into the aluminium. You could coat parts with a mirror chrome finish. You could make and sell your own Apple rubber bumpers in a series of interesting textures, including nice renewable materials like bamboo. But at least as many people would hate those as love them, which is why Apple will always play safe, and the bumpers will be left to after-market. Space Gray, Silver and Alu-Gold are timid design choices, and the muted blues/greens/etc on the new iPhones look pretty mediocre IMO. But they're cheap, practical, and relatively durable, so I doubt Tim Cook's Apple is going to move beyond them any time soon.