In anticipation of receiving an honorary doctorate from the London based Royal College of Arts, Jonathan Ive, Apple’s senior vice president of industrial design, opined on the design process during an interview with Royal College Professor Sir Christopher Frayling. Below are some of the more notable tidbits.
I can’t imagine designing without making [physical products]. I love making prototypes. We go right from idea to prototypes. I just love making objects. Prototypes create this dramatic shift in the conversation – suddenly it becomes tangible and the silence goes away.
On Apple’s notoriously slim product line:
When you do everything to make the very best product, it also means you’re very focused on just a few products.
On Apple’s even more notorious aversion to focus groups:
We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products.
via Macworld UK
June 30th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
Sorry to nit-pick, but it’s ‘Royal College of ART’ [singular] and I see it was MacWorld who made the original (slight) error.
The honorary doctorate is well-deserved, but I do wonder if the Royal College (of which I am a graduate) missed-out on Ive in the first place ~ maybe he didn’t apply after finishing his undergraduate degree; maybe he did, and the RCA thought they had nothing more to teach him, or maybe he did, and the College simply failed to spot a future alumnus? It does happen.
Anyways… congratulations Jonathan!