There are still those who believe that Jonathan Ive is still behind all Apple product designs, since his figure has become something eternal for the brand’s image. But the reality is what it is, the British designer has been separated from the brand for years and other people have taken over his position.
One of those people, his immediate replacement, was Evans Hankey.. She sat in a very large chair, because she had to replace the person who revolutionized the design of consumer computing, changing it forever. His passing through the Apple Park offices is worth mentioning.
From starting his career at Apple to taking care of all industrial designs
Evans was not new to Apple when we learned about the departure of Jonathan Ive. She is a professional designer licensed by Stanford University. started in the year 2000 at the apple company, first as a product designer under Ive’s orders.
No one has managed to specify which devices Evans and his team have worked on during this time, but 22 years of history at Apple give them a lot of influence. Due to his father’s experience in geology, it is known that Evans was inspired by the colors of the rocks in his house to design the products. It was revealed in GQ Magazine that Evans was key to the redesign of the MacBook Air M2, a design that many people have praised.
Hankey did not tackle all of Jony Ive’s tasks: the designer’s job was split in two and shared with Alan Dye
Technically Hankey was not the direct replacement for Jonathan Ive, since Tim Cook divided his original position in two. Hankey was left with the industrial design part while Alan Dye was responsible for human interface design. We went from a legendary designer who took care of everything to a successor duo working under Jeff Williams.
Has this formula worked? In the long term, no. Hankey decided to leave Apple for good three years into his new position, for reasons that were not specified. Apple thanked him for his effort and for staying a few months to organize the transition, but there are no more details about it.
Who is the successor to Jonathan Ive?
Months later came Apple’s corporate decision: there was no one capable of replacing Jonathan Ive. So the position of him was removed, so that no one can literally succeed him. If you check the company’s management positions website, there is no leading position in the design division.
So who is responsible for product design at Apple? Well, the designers who didn’t accompany Jony Ive to LoveFrom in what was quite a major exodus acquired the important roles of the company, but all obey direct orders from COO Jeff Williams. It must not be very relaxing to supervise the design work as well as control all the operations and logistics of the company, I would not want to be in the shoes of Williams.
Perhaps in the future, if the right person comes along, Apple will resurrect the role of the company’s director of industrial design. But if the last few years and what happened with Jonathan Ive have taught anything, it is that Replacing a designer who has made history is not easy.
In Applesphere | Life at Apple without Jonathan Ive: this is how the company has been changing its approach after the designer’s goodbye
In Applesphere | Jonathan Ive and Steve Jobs: the best data from their time together at Apple