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Jonathan Ive Named Designer of the Year
no_demons writes "Jonathan Ive, the man behind the iMac and the iPod, has won the first Designer of the Year award from the Design Museum in London. The Independent has the scoop, and BBC2 has the documentary on Wednesday, June 11th."
Now we just need this guy to design a universal remote control since most designs suck!
I think it goes without saying that this guy has changed the way a lot of people look at computers today.
They aren't just mindless machines that perform a task, thanks to him and apple they are elegant pieces of art and form met with function.
I mean come on, take a look at the iPod for example. It uses a radial menu -- the most efficient menu design, combined with the scroll wheel and a large LCD. It's completely intuitive, and so simple to use that it justifies the extra $100 compared with other mp3 players of it's class.
- tristan
Congratulations to Mr. Ive.
I'm glad there are still companies that care about DESIGN and the feel of something in your hand.
I was thinking of this today when I saw the ugly new Canon G5, an otherwise great camera that looks like a shrunken down 1970's rangefinder, complete with gratutious and useless chrome trim.
The best designs are MINIMAL. The best designs have no more buttons than necessary, that have a screen just large enough, that focus on small details and never add elements unless they are absolutely necessary. If they are held in the hand, they should be smooth and inviting and free of buttons to accidentally press, and not sharp or cold, which may look beautiful, but subconciously you want to avoid touching it.
Although Apple doesn't get 100% right all the time (the best designs are also EGOLESS as well as minimal, and do not draw attention to themselves) they are trying hard where most manufacturers are content to use ugly swooping plastic or cold sharp metal.
The radial menu of the iPod is really efficient, but evidentally Apple doesn't know/care. The latest revision of the iPod does away with the buttons laid out around the edge of the wheel, replacing them with 4 similarly-labeled buttons above the wheel. (And they're "touch" buttons, rather than mechanical ones, allowing for easier accidental pushing than the mechanical ones, besides the fact they no longer guard the touch wheel... all in all, meaning you had better have the thing locked when it's in your pocket.)
It seems like they're willing to throw away good design to get upgrades.
Of course this is all just as bad is the newspapers, TV stations, and websites who run these sort of garbage polls and tout them as having any sort of validity. In reality they're just calculated come-on's for for the website being used and anyone with half a clue knows to discount this sort of trivially rigged "slacktivism". Nonetheless I keep getting emails asking me to vote in blahblahblah.com's poll to show my support for #cause.
My advice is not to play sucker for these folks & their fake poles, when you come across them ask the sponsors exactly how valid they consider their results to be. Then ask if this is really the "news" they pretend or are they just being slimers, do they feel this discredits their entire operation?
I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
Well isn't Apply trying to make the iPod into a watered down PDA, with its "More ways to have fun."
According to Apple: "The iPod now lets you do a whole lot more in addition to maintaining your contacts, calendar and to-do lists. iPod now includes Solitaire, Brick and Parachute... iPod also includes a notes reader that lets you download text-based information and read it on the screen... The iPod features a sleep timer, so you can fall asleep to your music."
And we all know that the iPod cn act as a portable hard drive, right?
Remeber folks, this is the man who is responsible for the aisles and aisles of "blueberry" and "lime" and other fruit colored office suplies in the past few years.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
I'm still saving up for an iPod, but I've been reading up, asking around, and visiting my local Apple Store.
The original, circular arrangement of the iPod buttons makes for one of the most gorgeous, pure-Ive creations ever, but the outermost circle of buttons (top: menu; left: skip back; right: skip forward; bottom: play/pause) are just that, the outermost, which makes them inefficient for one-handed operation -- say, in your jacket pocket. You've got to slide your thumb (or other finger, if you like RSI) all the way across the middle of the circle to reach the other side, which (1) is too much of a stretch and (2) risks messing with the scroll wheel.
The linear arrangement of those four buttons on the new-design iPod, while not nearly as visually elegant, makes for a much more ergonomic interface. The wheel-touchpad and its center button get their own dedicated space, and the transport controls get theirs. As a user of several past Sony VCRs, I can tell you that having your transport controls separate is far more sensible than having them visually melded with, and thus placed too damned close to, a rotary control.
Actually, the "touch" buttons are harder to accidentally push than the mechanical ones. I've been told that you have to set the hold button on an original iPod just to put it in your pocket; otherwise, something gets pressed, or the scroll wheel (on the early, mechanical-wheel models) gets spun, none of which is good for uninterrupted listening. The new "touch" buttons don't trigger on contact with clothing or even an accidental brush with a finger. The touch wheel doesn't need to be guarded, and you don't have to lock it for your pocket.
The original design has a beautiful geometric simplicity, but don't mistake geometric simplicity for higher usability.
Don't get me wrong: I love the look of the original iPod, and someday I'll pick up a dead one on eBay just to hold and ogle. The thick transparent faceplate, with its sharp edges, is too gorgeous for photographs to convey. But, as with the buttons, it's not a better design.
Its possibly one of the best keyboards I've ever used, including an old "clicky" IBM one I had in one of my old jobs.
I'm incredibly surprised to hear comments like this. All of Apple's current keyboards are ergonomic hazards, unless you perhaps have really small hands or have replaced your hands with cybernetic limbs. There is no wrist support, the keys do not bounce back well, and the keys are too close together. In the case of their keyboards, Apple has chosen form over function.
Only two Apple keyboards have ever been good enough for day-to-day usage. One was the Apple Extended Keyboard (the original, not the II), which had good tactile response, though its ergonomic features were slim-to-none. The other was the Apple Ergonomic Keyboard -- you know, the one they released in 1992 which could split into two sections and had a separate numpad. It was more ergonomic than anything MS puts out, its keys were reminescent of the early IBM clickity-clackity keyboards, and the keys had ample space between themselves. It's one of the best keyboards I've ever used, though it was a bit on the large side.
Sadly, Apple stopped making ergonomic keyboards, even though it helped to popularize their usage with the mainstream. I guess Steve has a secretary to dictate all his typing; I'm not sure why else he would be so ambivalent about the risks of CTS (I got minor nerve damage from use of the Mac Plus keyboard while in college).