[HN Gopher] Jony Ive's first major design since leaving Apple
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       Jony Ive's first major design since leaving Apple
        
       Author : quyleanh
       Score  : 113 points
       Date   : 2021-11-06 10:58 UTC (2 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.fastcompany.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.fastcompany.com)
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | seltzered_ wrote:
       | It's odd to hear about LoveFrom's association with Terra Carta
       | alongside their involvement with Ferrari:
       | https://corporate.ferrari.com/en/exor-ferrari-and-lovefrom-a... .
        
         | cududa wrote:
         | The lead designer of the Apple Car joined LoveFrom earlier this
         | year. Ferrari has a hybrid car. Apple's ID team doesn't just
         | design the objects they design the manufacturing machines too -
         | and have been able to reduce a lot of materials waste. Would
         | expect their relationship to extend into things like electric
         | vehicles and manufacturing techniques.
        
       | abrowne wrote:
       | I'm seeing it score 1 out of 2 on the dead butterfly scale.
       | 
       | https://www.emilydamstra.com/please-enough-dead-butterflies/
        
         | c54 wrote:
         | Website isn't loading for me, what's the dead butterfly scale?
        
           | thatguy0900 wrote:
           | Basically just that 95% of butterflies are drawn in unnatural
           | stretched out death poses used by collectors to take better
           | pictures for books. But that has become the reference
           | material so they are drawn in poses that they can't do in
           | life.
        
             | jhgb wrote:
             | > they are drawn in poses that they can't do in life
             | 
             | So just like school photos, then.
        
             | mc32 wrote:
             | Butterflies feeding in the sun may fold their wings up to
             | look like a sail, but other times you see them with wings
             | stretched out.
             | 
             | Now, it's true when you see a group of butterflies they are
             | not uniformly in one position. But some of their positions
             | coincide with those of pinned butterflies. It's also true
             | some pinned butterflies spread out their wings in extreme
             | positions but not all are pinned like that --at least not
             | by amateurs.
        
               | Talanes wrote:
               | You're refuting with no evidence an article with very
               | compelling photographic evidence.
        
               | FpUser wrote:
               | We have swarms of butterflies here every end of the
               | summer and I can confirm that it is true. Plenty of those
               | sitting with spread out wings, folded wings and all kind
               | of in-betweens.
        
               | mc32 wrote:
               | I've gone to places that exhibit live butterflies and I
               | watch live butterflies feeding in their natural
               | environment. It's anecdotal.
        
           | dmitshur wrote:
           | https://web.archive.org/web/20210804100927/https://www.emily.
           | .. may help access it.
        
         | 1986 wrote:
         | Hugged to death, it seems - Wayback Machine link:
         | https://web.archive.org/web/20210728185604/https://www.emily...
        
           | SilasX wrote:
           | Off topic, but I _just_ looked that up to get around the
           | resource limit being reached without even stopping to think
           | that someone might have already posted it lol
        
         | silicon2401 wrote:
         | not the intended take, but I'd love to see fewer dead
         | butterflies regardless of the posing. while the patterns on
         | their wings are beautiful, butterflies are a particularly
         | unpleasant insect to look at for me. I'd enjoy looking at
         | beetles or flies more; something about the proportions of
         | butterflies makes them rather awful
        
         | dang wrote:
         | _Please, enough with the dead butterflies (2017)_ -
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27948008 - July 2021 (210
         | comments)
         | 
         |  _Enough with the Dead Butterflies (2017)_ -
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21788356 - Dec 2019 (28
         | comments)
         | 
         |  _Enough with the dead butterflies_ -
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14460013 - June 2017 (163
         | comments)
        
         | libria wrote:
         | It's an icon, like the most popular save icon depicts a dead
         | format https://www.google.com/search?q=save+icon
         | 
         | Earlier discussion here:
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14460013
        
         | ModernMech wrote:
         | You need to warn people before posting this. I saw it when it
         | popped up on HN and now I'm like Haley Joel Osment in the Sixth
         | Sense: I see dead butterflies, all the time. It changes a
         | person.
        
           | abrowne wrote:
           | Yeah, I think my partner is tired of me me mentioning it when
           | we read our 15-month son picture books. (Some of the best
           | that I remember are in the book _Little You_.)
        
           | ajford wrote:
           | I sent the article to my spouse some time back and she's mad
           | at me for ruining butterflies for her. She made the exact
           | same Sixth Sense reference too!
           | 
           | We've now made it a challenge to spot "live" butterfly
           | depictions everywhere.
        
           | roughly wrote:
           | That was my immediate reaction, too - "well there's something
           | I'll never unsee"
        
       | 323 wrote:
       | Pretty, but kind of exemplifies the problem the world is facing.
       | 
       | Exquisitely beautiful marketing and that's it, nothing behind it.
       | 
       | We all know the beautiful environmental ads the worst polluter
       | companies are making (like oil companies).
       | 
       | Or luxury companies creating "come to us with your damaged bag
       | and we'll repair it for you instead of throwing it out, because
       | we care about the environment" programs, but at the same time
       | having a policy of slashing and throwing away unsold merchandise
       | (https://www.newsweek.com/coach-accused-deliberately-slashing...)
        
         | ajkjk wrote:
         | Fuck, it is beautiful though.
        
         | Talanes wrote:
         | >Or luxury companies creating "come to us with your damaged bag
         | and we'll repair it for you instead of throwing it out, because
         | we care about the environment" programs, but at the same time
         | having a policy of slashing and throwing away unsold
         | merchandise
         | 
         | Very cynically, the first program would also help stamp out any
         | market for repairing their bags outside of their control. Which
         | just further reduces the value of slashed merchandise without
         | proof of purchase.
        
         | draw_down wrote:
         | Yes. Indeed it is pretty but this is just rich people jacking
         | each other off.
        
       | wly_cdgr wrote:
       | Yawn
        
       | Grakel wrote:
       | It's a logo for Prince Charles' organization that awards
       | companies making environmental efforts.
        
         | pipnonsense wrote:
         | Not a logo, but a "seal". The distinction makes sense, since
         | the intricate design would not work well as logo I think. I
         | found it beautiful, but obviously it's only "news" because of
         | who created it.
        
           | lotsofpulp wrote:
           | What is the distinction of a seal and logo in practice?
        
             | femto wrote:
             | A seal is supposed to be difficult to counterfeit:
             | 
             | https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/4xqfs0/how_
             | w...
             | 
             | As such, there is an argument that a seal refers to a
             | physical object with physical imperfections, which are hard
             | to reproduce. Note that the article is about the "design"
             | for the seal, as distinct from the seal itself. Maybe the
             | plan is to manufacture a physical seal off the design
             | (complete with manufacturing imperfections) then use that
             | to make impressions?
        
             | jaywalk wrote:
             | Logo has to work in many more contexts. You probably aren't
             | going to be embroidering a seal on a polo shirt, for
             | example. A seal will go on your website and marketing
             | pamphlets, but that's about it.
        
               | lotsofpulp wrote:
               | My next question would be is there an economic value of a
               | seal? I would think slapping a logo on everything works
               | all the same. Or am I wrong to think most (everyone
               | except the creator?) people would not know or care about
               | seeing a seal vs a logo.
        
               | jaywalk wrote:
               | A seal conveys a specific certification/endorsement while
               | a logo is identifying a company/product/service/etc. For
               | example, if you're a Microsoft Certified Solutions
               | Engineer, slapping a Microsoft logo on your website
               | doesn't convey that (and surely won't be appreciated by
               | Microsoft).
        
       | jimmyed wrote:
       | This is better described as a Seal.
       | 
       | Another great seal to savor is Mughal Emperor Alamgir's
       | https://mobile.twitter.com/mkapoorofficial/status/1095588089...
        
         | noneeeed wrote:
         | The article actually calls it a seal, it just appears to be the
         | subheading that calls it a logo mark.
        
       | bmitc wrote:
       | Well this is only his second design after a rounded aluminum
       | cutout, so I think we should withhold judgement.
        
       | amelius wrote:
       | That blue butterfly reminds me of:
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14460013
        
       | quadrifoliate wrote:
       | A bit offtopic, but I am disappointed that the the initial
       | "winners" of this seal [1] seem to be almost all companies that
       | are terrible for the environment and society.
       | 
       | ----------------------------------------
       | 
       | [1] https://www.sustainable-markets.org/terra-carta-
       | seal/winners...
        
         | meragrin_ wrote:
         | If they are terrible for the environment and they are making a
         | serious, credible commitments on improving, shouldn't that make
         | you happy?
        
           | lapetitejort wrote:
           | If PepsiCo (one of the companies listed) ceased production of
           | plastic bottles immediately I would be happy. That is a
           | serious, credible commitment to improve.
        
             | koboll wrote:
             | They'd still be responsible for killing millions and
             | sickening billions of people via sugar addiction.
             | 
             | I guess human bodies are exempt from being considered part
             | of the natural world.
        
               | timeon wrote:
               | > I guess human bodies are exempt from being considered
               | part of the natural world.
               | 
               | Still this seems to be like moving the goalposts.
        
               | ViViDboarder wrote:
               | Don't we generally define natural as not human made?
               | Makes sense then that less humans improves the natural
               | world.
        
               | tcskeptic wrote:
               | Is your position really that no one should be allowed to
               | produce products that are unhealthy? This seems
               | incredibly invasive.
        
               | wahnfrieden wrote:
               | no one mentioned banning and the OP is about recognition
               | not enforcement
        
           | wrycoder wrote:
           | Talking about serious, credible commitments isn't actual
           | action accomplished with tangible results.
        
         | vineyardmike wrote:
         | > The following global corporations have been awarded the 2021
         | inaugural Terra Carta Seal in recognition of their commitment
         | to, and momentum towards, the creation of genuinely sustainable
         | markets. These firms have credible transition roadmaps in
         | place, underpinned by globally recognised, scientific metrics
         | for achieving net zero by 2050 or sooner.
         | 
         | 1) Seems like they're all companies that have noble
         | commitments.
         | 
         | 2) They don't seem that bad (tech and banks mostly)
         | 
         | 3) Bad companies have the biggest potential for growth i
         | suppose.
        
       | uxcolumbo wrote:
       | Not sure.
       | 
       | I get what they are trying to achieve.
       | 
       | But the branches interweaving the letters makes it harder to read
       | and it feels jarring.
        
       | gidam wrote:
       | I will say only one thing: the touch bar.
        
       | exotree wrote:
       | I think it's quite whimsical and appropriately dainty without
       | ignoring the institution's rigid, demanding formality.
        
       | nikau wrote:
       | Looks like a generic logo you would see on some Aldi organic oat
       | packet.
        
         | bastardoperator wrote:
         | I think it' too busy, I have no idea what I'm looking at or
         | what this is supposed to convey from a design perspective.
        
         | Fezzik wrote:
         | A complete tangent, but the design reminded me of one of the
         | most beautifully illustrated children's books I have ever read:
         | Trouble for Trumpets. It was written in 1982 and still looks
         | futuristic. Even at 40 I can leaf through it joyfully.
         | 
         | https://petercrossart.com/books/trumpets/trouble-for-trumpet...
        
           | teruakohatu wrote:
           | Thank you for reminding me about this book. It captived me as
           | a young child. I must have seen it in a library.
           | Unfortunately it seems impossible to aquire now, for less
           | than a few hundred pounds.
        
         | scrumper wrote:
         | I think it's better than that. The interlocking circles aspect
         | was clever, surprising, and enjoyable when I spotted it.
        
           | pbhjpbhj wrote:
           | That aspect reminds me of the biohazard symbol.
           | 
           | Not a fan, seems derivative and low effort, the foliage
           | diapering surely obscures the text too much to make a good
           | seal (I guess with a proper depth mask it could work). The
           | circumferential motto is standard seal/coin design, of
           | course.
           | 
           | It's relatively good on austerity, mainly carried by the
           | strong display type, or would be in the right colouring --
           | but not as a [wax] seal.
           | 
           | Should be more emblematic IMO. That doesn't mean it can't be
           | intricate fwiw.
           | 
           | Just one dead butterfly would have done! /s
        
             | imnotrick wrote:
             | > seems derivative and low effort
             | 
             | that's pretty harsh and rude. I don't get that vibe at all
             | when looking at the design
        
         | Apocryphon wrote:
         | Any examples?
        
       | TheOtherHobbes wrote:
       | More than a nod to William Morris. But on white.
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Morris
        
       | stevebmark wrote:
       | From the outside, it looks like Jony Ive was only able to get
       | away with the damaging push to flat design after Steve Jobs died,
       | and since Ive has left Apple, beautiful skeuomorphic gradients,
       | lighting, embosses, drop shadows, and photo-real elements, have
       | started to return. His legacy is a deep stain on the design
       | industry that we are only now beginning to recover from. The loss
       | of accessibility and beauty from only using flat design has set
       | us back a long way.
        
         | simonklitj wrote:
         | I disagree with you, I think it was a much needed reboot to the
         | concept of design, and the future will be all the brighter for
         | it. Accessibility is more on everyone's mind today than ever
         | before, and I think skeumorphism's accessibility was more of a
         | side effect than an intended effect.
         | 
         | I'll gladly be proven wrong though, but design wise I'd
         | absolutely hate to go back to pre 2012.
        
           | mc32 wrote:
           | But often times flat design lacks hints or affordances which
           | is the opposite of accessibility.
        
         | voldacar wrote:
         | There is something deeply antihuman about flat design. It's
         | hard to describe exactly how, because it sounds silly when it
         | comes out of your mouth, but I really believe this is true on
         | some deep, pre-verbal level. They make me feel mentally and
         | spiritually harmed somehow.
        
         | hn_throwaway_99 wrote:
         | I mean, in fairness, the design outlined in TFA is an
         | intricate, 3D, embossed design, so maybe Ive himself is off the
         | "simple and flat" train -\\_(tsu)_/-
        
         | applgo443 wrote:
         | What's the problem with flat design? I love that!
        
           | baq wrote:
           | It's ok if you have two eyes, two hands and/or a well lit
           | room.
           | 
           | Apple TV remote is possibly the worst remote ever made.
        
             | ibero wrote:
             | just to clear it up:
             | 
             | "flat design" is a reference or common term to a graphical
             | design style that followed skeuomorphism, not a term used
             | for the industrial design aspect.
        
             | dtgriscom wrote:
             | This. I forever struggle to persuade my remote to do what I
             | want it to. That touch-sensitive panel is a complete PIA,
             | and just navigating across a rectangular array of icons is
             | fraught with detours.
             | 
             | If I were paranoid, I'd say it was designed to force people
             | to use the voice-recognition system, which gives better
             | user data.
        
           | secondcoming wrote:
           | Eliminating the 3.5mm jack was a step too far!
        
           | tomxor wrote:
           | You may love the way it looks... but no one being honest with
           | themselves loves the way it functions, UI is visually
           | functional, a functionality that happens in your brain, like
           | legibility - flat UI has very poor "legibility" if compared
           | to something like 3d embossed win95 UI where every
           | identification and anticipation is painfully obvious to the
           | point that it's effortless. It's familiarity is also learned
           | in a very short space of time; whereas flat UI continues to
           | elude even advanced users and remains ambiguous with high
           | cognitive load - you might not realise why, but it will feel
           | slow, and uncomfortable for each new front end you encounter.
           | 
           | Designers don't like this fact because that embossed 3d look
           | is considered ugly, but it's intuitively and obviously true.
        
         | ChrisClark wrote:
         | A deep stain? No, I wish everything remained flat, it is
         | exactly what design of software should be. (I can also state my
         | opinion as fact)
         | 
         | But seriously, I do really love flat design. Though I do agree
         | with some of the arguments against it.
         | 
         | A more varied design landscape is always better though.
        
         | Osmium wrote:
         | > His legacy is a deep stain on the design industry
         | 
         | This is a rather extreme statement. A person's career can be
         | long and complex, involve many projects, not all of which will
         | be successful. We all learn.
         | 
         | From the outside, it seems that Jony Ive was successful in a
         | lot of endeavors, was successful in creating a disciplined
         | design culture, and yes, sometimes, went too far (it seems) but
         | even that kind of exploration can be useful for how it informs
         | future work.
        
       | lordleft wrote:
       | I think it's gorgeous.
        
         | cududa wrote:
         | When people, particularly designers, say something is "too
         | intricate" or whatever, it's usually just a signal they
         | wouldn't have the skills to make something like it.
         | 
         | Late 2000's/ early 2010's there was a rush of college students
         | wanting to pursue app/ web design. Colleges had no faculty to
         | fill that, so they just took print design professors and they
         | shoehorned print philosophy into interaction design and we
         | ended up with a generation of designers who don't have the
         | first idea about depth hierarchy, affordance, etc and
         | everything looks like a scrollable poster now.
        
       | michaelcampbell wrote:
       | I expected it to be smug and pretentious. Wasn't disappointed.
        
       | ehutch79 wrote:
       | It's a book, but he's removed the unsightly ink that has
       | blemished the exquisitely produced paper?
       | 
       | A tshirt, but he's limited the unsightly holes at the top and
       | bottom for an uninterrupted design aesthetic?
       | 
       | I prefer macs, but some of their worst laptops were from Ive's
       | push for absolute minimalism and thinness
        
         | mattmoose21 wrote:
         | I see Ive getting blamed for how the macs were designed but
         | isn't that to be expected when you put a designer at that level
         | of decision making? Why not blame Tim Apple for letting him go
         | that far.
        
           | ehutch79 wrote:
           | Well, he's not there any more?
           | 
           | Give his seniority, and the realities of office politics, i
           | doubt it's that simple
        
         | dlsa wrote:
         | Nothing says "we love the planet" more than a mountain of old
         | dongles, broken and cracked iphone charger cables, and
         | unrepairable consumer electronics.
         | 
         | All of which could have had much longer useful lifetimes
         | through the most basic engineering practices. Apple cables are
         | perfect examples of style over substance. Insufficient
         | reinforcement for a daily use item. Poor design.
        
           | whywhywhywhy wrote:
           | >Apple cables are perfect examples of style over substance.
           | Insufficient reinforcement for a daily use item. Poor design.
           | 
           | They used to be fine though, it's when they changed the
           | rubber to whatever they use today that starts to fray and
           | fall apart.
           | 
           | My Titanium Powerbook cable is still intact and fine even
           | today, but every cable I've bought from around 2014 onwards
           | has frayed. I've heard they switched to a more "eco-friendly"
           | rubber at some point, but I don't see the value in that if I
           | have to buy 2-3 power cables over a laptops life.
        
           | subsubzero wrote:
           | agree, I thought Ive went off the deep end towards the end of
           | his tenure at apple, Tim Cook prb was afraid to rein him in
           | due to his seniority with apple and how close he was to Jobs.
           | 
           | You can see how things were "fixed" at apple now that Ive is
           | gone and the new M1 macs no longer have alot of the design
           | inputs he pushed for.
        
       | irthomasthomas wrote:
       | Awesome. Sometimes, when I'm waiting for a build to finish, I
       | doodle the Flower of life. And, if its a particularly big build,
       | it expands to a Metatrons Cube. Anyway, its nice to see Ive using
       | it in a refreshing way.
        
       | RicoElectrico wrote:
       | Graphic design at the top end is more akin to a Veblen good
       | (desirable, because expensive). Change my mind ;)
        
       | chaostheory wrote:
       | After his coffee book, I'm not surprised to see that he's burned
       | out on industrial design for now.
        
         | jillesvangurp wrote:
         | Not sure he's done yet. Good new fonts are a rare thing and he
         | might be on to something.
         | 
         | With hdpi now very common, typography for screens can evolve.
         | The stark minimalist typography of early computers was very
         | much driven by the necessity of having very limited resolution,
         | contrast, and dynamic range. Sans serif fonts like Helvetica,
         | and its many derivatives, with its straight lines & simple
         | curves were optimal for that type of screen. Serif fonts, with
         | their fiddly details are a lot harder to render in a pleasing
         | way on such screens.
         | 
         | However, with modern screens, those problems are addressed to
         | the point where there is little practical difference in
         | resolution between print and screen. So, making the most of
         | modern screens through design becomes a challenge. Serif fonts
         | are still popular for print for a good reason: they are
         | pleasing to the eye and it helps readability. If you work from
         | first principles to address such a challenge on a modern
         | screen, you'd start with a font and a serif font would be not
         | such a strange choice as it used to be.
         | 
         | Just my opinion, but both font and logo strike me as rather
         | beautiful.
        
           | lukebuehler wrote:
           | I cant wait for the serif revival. Soon we are going to
           | return to much more intricate, embellished, and ornate
           | design, just like the seal in the article. As you say, the
           | new displays are gonna make it feasible.
        
             | WesolyKubeczek wrote:
             | I changed my system font to IBM Plex Serif, my desktop
             | theme to the old revered Motif-like style, and my colors to
             | the pastel orange and teal palette of CDE. Never did it
             | look so pleasant before.
        
             | nemo44x wrote:
             | Google is going to have to change their logo again!
             | 
             | One thing I always respected about MongoDB is they use a
             | serif font for their logo in a time and age when virtually
             | no startup would use such a thing. And then a sans-serif
             | font for their products under it, so it really pops.
             | 
             | I think design in the early-90's has a chance of
             | reemerging. Just lots of fonts being aggressively used and
             | lots of serif fonts. Things that would make David Carson
             | proud.
        
           | stonogo wrote:
           | The fonts burned into CGA, EGA, and VGA bioses all had
           | serifs. The default UI fonts on many X Window systems UIs,
           | including CDE, were serif fonts. The 80-column card in the
           | Apple IIe had a serif font.
           | 
           | There was really only the first-generation home computer (and
           | arguably first-gen PDAs) that widely shipped strictly sans-
           | serif fonts; a blip in the history of personal computing.
        
             | jillesvangurp wrote:
             | Steve Jobs was into typography. Embracing Helvetica for the
             | Macintosh was not an accident in the early eighties.
             | 
             | Later pcs were about wysiwyg. Which given the primary
             | medium was still paper for dtp and wordprocessing software,
             | meant serif fonts.
        
       | bob229 wrote:
       | As always for Ive style over substance
        
       | yaacov wrote:
       | Flagged for clickbait title
        
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