Apple's ex-chief designer Jony Ive misses the "innocent euphoria" in the Valley
Apple's former Chief Design Officer Jony Ive answered questions in San Francisco. Once again, he was not sparing with his critical tones.
Apple's former chief designer Jony Ive (left) made a guest appearance at the Stripe Sessions conference in San Francisco.
(Image: Stripe Sessions/Screenshot)
The days of the tinkerer's garage culture in Silicon Valley are well known to be over. However, Apple's former chief designer Jony Ive has also noticed a change of mindset among decision-makers at the big tech companies. Whereas in the early 1990s there was still an "innocent euphoria" of like-minded people who wanted to improve the world, today it is primarily about money and power, lamented Ive in a live stage talk at the Stripe Sessions in San Francisco. The event was aimed at the payment and financial technology scene.
Critical tones have also been heard from Ive on other occasions, most recently in February in a radio program on the British BBC. One point he mentioned there, the social consequences of technology, was addressed again in San Francisco. Creating innovations can have unintended consequences, he says. "Certain products that I've been very, very involved in have had some unintended consequences that have been anything but pleasant." On previous occasions, Ive hinted that he was probably referring to addictive behavior in people who constantly use their smartphones or who lose themselves in social media or use these channels to the detriment of others. The knowledge of this is a great burden for him, he says.
Ive would like to see more ethical discussions
Ive feels there is a lack of early ethical discussions about what technology does to people. Development is progressing too quickly to create an appropriate social framework, he says. As a result, discussions often come far too late.
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In addition to critical thoughts, viewers – the interview is also available on YouTube – gain an insight into the designer's work. Memories of Sundays on which he racked his brains to find the ideal way to wrap an accessory cable are just as much a part of it as preparing breakfast for each other in the design team and visiting each other's homes.
Ive's new project is still a secret
Without referring directly to the criticism, Ive once again explains the guidelines of his design philosophy. Critics accused him of unconditional minimalism when he designed devices to be ever thinner and with fewer connections. He, on the other hand, sees his work as working out simplicity in order to precisely express the purpose and role of an object.
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Ive, who left Apple a few years ago to set up his own design company, is said to be planning something new in the direction of artificial intelligence in collaboration with OpenAI, according to rumors. He himself remains silent on the matter. However, he admits that there are projects that he cannot talk about at the moment: "But I look forward to being able to talk about them at some point in the future."
(mki)
