Apple Is Dropping Industrial Design Chief Role in Post-Jony Ive Era

tech.hindustantimes.com:

Apple Inc. has decided against naming a new executive to replace its departing top product designer, marking a stark shift for a company long celebrated for the look and feel of its devices.

The iPhone maker's vice president of industrial design, Evans Hankey, won't be replaced when she leaves the company in the coming months, according to people with knowledge of the decision, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private. An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment.

Instead, the company's core group of about 20 industrial designers will report to Jeff Williams, Apple's chief operating officer. The company will also give larger roles to a group of Apple's longest-tenured designers. Hankey has reported to Williams since taking the job in 2019, when top designer Jony Ive left to start his own firm.

For decades, Apple's design czars were some of the highest-profile people at the company. Even before Ive became head of design in 1997 — around the time co-founder Steve Jobs returned to Apple — executives like Robert Brunner gained fame for molding the company's products.

Working with Jobs, Ive turned Apple's design aesthetic into something of a religion. They touted clean lines, simple interfaces and the occasional pop of color — such as the translucent cases on the original iMac.

But Apple's design group was broken up in 2015, and Ive stepped back from his day-to-day role at the company. The team was split into industrial design, which covers hardware, and a division handling user interfaces — the look of the company's software. Hankey has been in charge of industrial design, while Alan Dye continues to lead the other group.

Hankey's announcement last October that she was leaving — after only