David Briddock examines the secrets behind Apple’s product design
Industrial design (ID) is a blend of art, science and engineering, which has been successfully applied to furniture, buildings, automotive products and packaging, to name just a few. At its best it enhances a product’s aesthetics, ergonomics and usability. However, in the early days of the personal computing revolution, industrial design didn't really feature. For years, and regardless of brand, PCs were housed in square beige-coloured boxes, with beige-coloured keyboards and monitors.
Breaking The Mould
It was left to Apple to break the mould, a company that can attract and stimulate those rare individuals who can apply these separate disciplines in a homogenous manner. First came Hartmut Esslinger (whose Apple career spanned 1984-1990) and his 'Frog Design' era, which led to products like the Apple lie and a design language known as 'Snow White'. Next came Robert Brunner (1990-1995) who was responsible for the PowerBook laptop range.
Most recently there's Apple's latest design guru, Jonathan (Jony) Ive. He's become one of the best known industrial designers in the world, his work with Apple going back to the early (and now iconic) multicoloured, living-room-friendly iMacs. It was the beginning of a striking series of designs he continued with the MacBook, iPod, iPhone, iPad and most recently Apple Watch, so why is Apple seen as a leader in industrial design, how does it keep moving the technology goalposts, and how did Ive achieve 'guru' status?
Ive At Apple
Ive's career at Apple started in 1992 when, together with wife Heather, he left London and his previous company Tangerine Design. Despite the obvious attractions of Apple and California, he didn't jump at the first opportunity, but he was finally persuaded to join by Brunner, who had tried and failed to recruit him on two previous occasions. Just four years later, and aged just 29, he took Brunner's position as Apple's head of design when Brunner departed for new challenges at the London-based Pentagram, a prestigious international design firm. Apple apparently had reservations about promoting Ive at such a young age and only took a chance on him after a lengthy, but ultimately fruitless, search for alternative candidates.
During Jony's long Apple career he's been witness to three styles of management: before the exiled Steve Jobs returned to the company he started, during Jobs incredibly successful second rein, and under Tim Cook after Jobs' untimely death. There's no doubt Jony formed a strong bond with Jobs, a fact he demonstrated at the Cupertino campus memorial service for Jobs, where he gave a heartfelt and passionate tribute.
The Ive Formula
As you'd expect, Ive's childhood and educational background (see boxouts) had a seminal impact on the design of Apple products. The signature white plastic features of his early design days have appeared many times. His love of minimalism, sleek shapes, smooth contours, slim dimensions and lightness is ever present, as is the desire to use only the highest-quality materials and employ cutting-edge technology.
Some of his work is now seen as classic design: for example, the introduction of the iPod scroll wheel, when everyone else used basic directional buttons; the iMac's multi-coloured semi-transparent polycarbonate cases; the clam-shell iBook, complete with integrated handle. More recently, there's been the unibody casing, machined from a solid block of aluminium, for the MacBook Air, iPhone 5 and lately the iPad Air. A meticulous attention to detail is also something he shared with Jobs. Everything from the overall appearance down to the tiniest screw head appears to have been considered, designed and manufactured with equal focus and care. It didn't matter if the item in question would never be seen by its owner, it all had to be as perfect as possible.
iDg Studio
Robert Brunner, Ive's predecessor, originally set up Apple's industrial design studio, known as IDg in a separate building on Valley Green Drive, just a short walk from Apple's Infinite Loop campus. However, after Jony took over in 1996, space was made available on the ground floor of Apple's headquarters building.
Thus, opposite the main entrance is Jony's office - a glass cube about three metres square and the only private space in the studio. From here, seated in his Fred Scott designed leather and aluminium Supporto chair, he hand-sketches new ideas and hosts private design meetings, while keeping a watchful eye on the whole studio.
The IDg studio houses an impressive collection of advanced prototyping hardware, from industrial CNC machines to the latest innovations in 3D printing hardware, and some of this equipment is installed in airtight enclosures to safely contain toxic chemicals and fumes. The equipment list is in a constant state of review. The materials of yesteryear, like polycarbonate and stainless steel, require very different manufacturing techniques to the aluminium, muscled glass and even more scratch-resistant sapphire used today.
All this equipment is necessary to fabricate mock-up models and prototypes from sketches and intricate digital 3D design drawings. The design team employs sophisticated computer aided design (CAD) and computer aided manufacturing (CAM) techniques, some of which were borrowed from McDonnell Douglas and other aerospace organisations, then adapted for Apple's specific needs.
With all this machinery you would expect to hear a constant hum around the IDg. Yet, apparently it's far more likely you'll hear the beat of Jony's favourite techno-pop music. Is this music another secret element in the design studio's success?
As you'd expect, security is extremely tight. In addition to the highly secure entry door system, all the windows are heavily frosted to prevent anyone getting a peek inside. Only a handful of Apple employees are allowed to enter in addition to the 16-strong design team. It all helps to maintain a state of extreme secrecy, even within the Apple campus itself.
Apple New Product Process
A key element in Apple's industrial design success is the adoption of its so-called Apple New Product Process (ANPP). It's similar to the methodology introduced by Jobs when he was CEO at NeXT, after he noticed how well it served Hewlett Packard and other Silicon Valley companies.
ANPP is essentially a giant checklist of how to make an Apple product. It covers all aspects of production: each hardware part with its material specification and fabrication method; every single piece of software; and a minutely detailed breakdown of manufacturing, finance, marketing and support operations. Once completed, everyone has a written definition of what exactly needs to be done, step by step and department by department. ANPP's influence extends outside Apple to its suppliers and its suppliers' suppliers.
In modern engineering management circles, an ANPP-type process is known as 'concurrent engineering'. The more complex a product becomes in terms of materials and construction techniques, the more important it is to have a repeatable process, so it's not surprising to discover that both NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are totally committed to concurrent engineering practices.
Product Manufacturing
After returning to Apple, Steve Jobs assigned himself the role of managing Apple's suppliers and manufacturing operations. However, in 1998, he hired ex-IBM and Compaq man Tim Cook to reorganise Apple's entire manufacturing and distribution chain. Jobs famously reduced Apple's product line down to just four items, but it was left to Cook to address problems with a badly fragmented manufacturing pipeline. Eventually, he began assigning product responsibility to a single supplier - for example, Foxconn builds the iMac, while Quanta Computer builds the PowerBook (both are based in Taiwan).
This kickstarted a long relationship between Ive and Asian suppliers. He spent long periods of time at factories in the Far East pioneering new materials, new manufacturing techniques and fussing over every aspect of production quality. One key technique he employed was 'friction stir welding' (FSW), which effectively recrystallises a material's atoms to form a super strong bond. It's used to obtain razor-thin edges on Apple product cases.
To deliver the kind of volumes Apple requires, however, means purchasing huge quantities of sophisticated CNC milling machines required to handle any new process involved. In fact, in the late 2000s, Apple attempted to acquire the complete production run of certain bands of CNC equipment to this end. As you'd expect, none of this comes cheap; one CNC machine costs anything from $100,000 to $1 million, so the total investment involved is immense. In fact, to begin production of the aluminium unibody iPhone 5, Apple is reported to have invested an eye-watering $408 million in CNC equipment alone.
Design Recognition
Jony Ive has cemented his place in design history. He's seen as a legend within Apple, which promoted him to the lofty position of Creative Head in 2012. Its millions of loyal customers appear to hold his work in equally high regard, even if they may not know him by name (though many do).
His work has also gained wider peer recognition, with awards from the Industrial Designers Society of America, London Design Museum, British Design & Art Direction and many others. He received a CBE in 2005, and he was named Knight Commander of the British Empire (KBE) in 2012 - a status that exceeds his father's OBE, bestowed in 1999. It's also easy to see that his design influence extends well beyond Apple. For example, his Harman Kardon SoundSticks speakers are now in the Museum of Modern Art collection. Working for Apple has substantial monetary benefits too, both in salary and share options, so it's no surprise Ive's nimble ascent of Apple's organisational tree has left in him in an enviable financial position: in 2012 he purchased a $17m San Francisco 'Gold Coast' home, and his garage is full of high performance cars.