Chapter 91 studio exploration

Jony Ive's design studio is located on the first floor of Building 2, Infinite Loop Road, on Apple's campus, hidden behind stained-glass windows and heavy steel doors.Walking in, you will see a glass reception desk and two receptionists.Not even most of the company's employees are allowed inside.Most of the interviews I did with Jonny for this book took place elsewhere, but one afternoon in 2010 he invited me to visit his studio and talk about how he and Jobs worked together here . On the left of the gate entrance is a group of young designers' workstations; on the right is a large cave-like room with 6 long steel tables for displaying and experimenting with products under design.Adjacent to the great room is a computer-aided design studio full of workstations.A room further down has casting machines that turn designs on computer screens into foam models, and a robot-controlled painting machine that makes models look more realistic.The silver metal decoration makes the whole room look empty and full of industrial atmosphere.The foliage outside casts moving light and shadow through the stained glass windows, and techno and jazz fill the air.

Almost every day when Jobs was in good health and not going out, he would have lunch with Ive and then visit the studio.As soon as he walks in, he checks the products under design on several tables to see if they fit into Apple's development strategy, and personally inspects each product's evolving design.Usually the two of them are alone, and other designers will keep a polite distance from them when they see each other.If Jobs wanted to take care of something specific, he would call in the supervisor in charge of mechanical design or Ive's assistant.If something excites him and sparks ideas about corporate strategy, he brings chief operating officer Tim Cook or vice president of marketing Phil Schiller into their discussions.Here's how they work, as Ive describes it:

On the day I visited, Ive was overseeing the production of two models, a new plug for the European market and a cable for Mac computers.Dozens of foam models that differ only slightly from one another are on display after being painted, waiting to be inspected.Some might find it odd that a design lead would bother with this kind of work, and that Jobs would, too.Ever since he had a power supply made specifically for the Apple II, Jobs hadn't just been concerned with the engineering part, but with the design of such components.He is listed as the patentee for the white transformer and magnetic connector that come with the MacBook.In fact, as of early 2011, Jobs has become one of the inventors of 212 patents in the United States.

Ive and Jobs were also obsessed with the packaging of Apple products, and applied for a number of patents.For example, on January 1, 2008, the United States granted patent No. D558572 to the iPod nano packaging box.Once you open the box, you will see 4 pictures explaining how the iPod is placed in the cradle-like box. On July 21, 2009, patent D596485 was granted to the iPhone packaging box - with a hard top cover and a small smooth plastic tray inside. Early on, Mike Markkula had taught Jobs the technique of "indoctrination."You know, people judge a book by its cover — in the same way that the beautiful exterior decoration and packaging of Apple products can also indicate that there is a good product inside.Whether it's a mini iPod or a MacBook Pro, Apple users enjoy this feeling: open the exquisite box, and the product always lies inside in a charming way. “Steve and I spent a lot of time on the packaging,” Ive said. “I enjoyed the process of opening the package. Once unpacking is designed to be a ritual, the product becomes special. The packaging is Like a theater, it makes stories."

Ive, too, had an artist's sensibility, and was sometimes annoyed that Jobs was stealing too much of his limelight.Over the years, this habit of Jobs also made other colleagues very uncomfortable.Ive's personal affection for Jobs was sometimes too strong, so he was easily hurt. "He read some of my ideas and said, 'No, this one's not that good, I like the other one better,'" Iver said. "And I sat in the audience and he said, It’s almost as if he came up with it himself. I’m so particular about the provenance of an idea that I even jot it down in a notebook. So it hurts when he takes credit for the design.” Ive also gets angry when he cites Jobs as the brainchild of Apple. "It makes the company look vulnerable," Ive said earnestly, though in a much softer tone.Then he changed the subject and affirmed Jobs' true role in the company. "In a lot of other companies, creativity and great design get lost in the process," he says, "if Steve wasn't here to push us, work with us, and pull through the cracks to turn our ideas into products." , the idea that my team and I came up with must have been wiped out long ago."