Jonathan Ive is again on everyone's lips. His recent alliance with Openai to create what Sam Altman describes as “the coolest technological piece that the world has ever seen” has emphasized the designer who defined for two decades the aesthetics of Apple. He speaks like a divinity of design. The man who, with Steve Jobs, changed technology forever.
But here there is something that is not counted as much: that Apple must have rectified some of his decisions after the release of IVE. It was even behind the cancellation of Apple's autonomous car. This is why since 2019, They began to return the characteristics he had eliminated in the name of minimalism extreme. There may be a genius, but it is also human. And the MacBook Pro is the perfect test.
Ports that have never had to leave
Imagine for a moment the frustration of a video editor (I include myself) in the middle of 2016 or 2017. You buy a “professional” MacBook of more than a thousand dollars and discover that, to connect your monitor, you need an adapter. To read the SD cards of your camera, another adapter. To make a presentation with HDMI, another. All this experience of Mac Delgado and Minimalist, tarnished by cables and adapters throughout the table.
Under the direction of IVE, Apple opted for maximum slimming and extreme simplicity, which led to eliminating most traditional ports in favor only from USB-C, even in models intended for professionals. And almost the worst, we said goodbye to Puerto Magsafe. Something that has “saved” many Macs from a fall on the ground. From the 2016 MacBook Pro, you had to load your Mac for a USB-C cable. A rigid port and which, in the face of any movement, risked breaking it.
MacBook Pro of 2016 with its only way to load: by USB-C
With the redesign of the MacBook Pro in 2021 Everything that was most anticipated by a professional laptop has returned. Hello HDMI again, the card reader and, yes, in the Magsafe, which also reached more models such as MacBook Air in its renewal of the year 2022.
Port difference between a MacBook Pro and MacBook Air
The butterfly keyboard: when the obsession of thinness turned against us
If there is a symbol of the period during which design was not controlled, it is the butterfly keyboard. The butterfly mechanism was pure beauty in theory: Fewer keys to the keys, more stability, more compact design. In practice, it was a disaster: Keys that have glued, double writing, constant failures. Professional users who depended on these work teams have become involuntary beta testers of a failed design experience.
The scope of the butterfly keyboard which He was thrown into the Oscars. During the press conference, he joked by saying that for the writers, it was impossible to write with these Macs. “I even made you want to go back to a PC.”
Years of frustration, requests and the need to create a specific repair program. Millions of Macs have been affected which, over the years, had to resume technical service. Apple finally abandoned this conception and He returned to the traditional scissor mechanism in 2020.
The Touch Bar Experiment: Innovation that has not convinced
You cannot talk about the MacBook Pro designed under the Jony IVE stick without mentioning the touch bar. This OLED touch band arrived in 2016 He promised to revolutionize the interaction with the laptop, by replacing the traditional function keys with a configurable screen.
The idea was good in the concept: Offer dynamic direct access, contextual tools and even greater integration with the Apple applications ecosystem. But in practice, the touchbar was more an obstacle than aid for most users.
The key bar has eliminated the physical and exhaust keys
The professionals complained that the function keys had disappeared, losing the basic access and the tactile sensation which appreciate those which use the keyboard shortcuts daily. With the renovation of the MacBook Pro in 2021, Apple killed the key bar and The physical function keys are returned.
In particular, I appreciated the touch bar and I think they could have combined both. A physical function key and, just above, the touch bar. More or less useful, It was a very differentiating element of the Mac. This “Wow moment” which is so sought after in Apple. Who knows if one day something similar will come back, as has happened with the HomePod. Although rumors are already talking about a completely tactile folding macbook, not just a bar.
The list continues beyond the MacBook Pro
But the MacBook was not the only example. The Mac Pro 2013, known as “Mac Pro Papelera”, was perhaps the most clear symbol of How aesthetic obsession can overshadow real needs. This team was greeted for its compact and elegant design, but it turned out to be a failure in terms of functionality for the professional public.
The design prioritized integration and form, but Modularity and update capacity sacrificedTwo essential aspects for advanced users. Beautiful, compact, revolutionary in their form … and useless for professionals who needed expansion and update. Apple had to apologize publicly and rethink the product from zero.
Betrayal to the foundations of a good design
Jony Ive has always recognized the influence of Dieter's Rams, the legendary designer of Braun. Just take a look at one of the designs In Apple to see how they are inspired by Dieter's creations.
However, some Apple decisions under 4th seemed to contradict these fundamental principles that Rams to dietetics have defended:
A good design is not only a question of appearance, but also of functionality
The design must adapt to the environment in which it is used
Aesthetics should not sacrifice the design functionality
Design must improve people's lives
An exercise that I like to do in my work, and also when I analyze Apple products, it is to formulate these four previous sentences. If he meets them, there is a good job behind. And, given what was seen, after the march of IVE, certain things have been changed so that they were done as it had always done.
MacBook Pro with Magsafe connection
The post-so did not signify the abandonment of design care in Apple. It was a return to balance. The new MacBook Pro are always beautiful, but now This beauty does not come at the expense of functionality. Minimalism persists, but is wiser, more flexible. It allows exceptions when the functionality requires it. Recognize that a HDMI port does not ruin the aesthetics if it solves real problems.
The return of the SD and HDMI card reader to MacBook Pro
And that Apple has rectified does not mean that Jony Ive was wrong in everything. Its inheritance is always present on each iPhone, on each iPadin the very philosophy of the brand. Typography, software … We cannot forget that Jonathan Ive was also under the design of iOS 7. Language that follows until today, to the detriment of what iOS 19 can bring us.
Meanwhile, Jony Ive has found new horizons. After having designed emblems for the British royal house and created luxury jackets, he is now immersed in what he describes himself as “The best work that our team has ever done”: A secret project with Openai which promises to revolutionize interaction with artificial intelligence. Design? A mystery. Rumors suggest that it will be similar to an iPod shuffle and hang on the neck.
A young Jonathan Ive with two iMac G3
Jonathan Ive has an impressive trajectory behind him: He created the iMac who saved Apple from bankruptcy or designed the iPhone that has changed the world. Consequently, expectations concerning his new project with OPENAI are more than justified. But as we have seen, even the geniuses of design as he makes questionable decisions.
The butterfly keyboard, the touch bar, the Mac Pro “Popelera”, the elimination of basic ports: these are not decisions that affected millions of users. Apple had to rectify, apologize and rebuild whole products. And this is proof that even the brightest minds can be lost in their own vision.
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