Most Apple followers will acknowledge the identify Sir Jony Ive as being synonymous with a number of the firm’s most iconic designs. Nonetheless, Apple’s former Chief Design Officer was solely the chief of what grew to become a legendary crew.
Whereas Jony Ive was chargeable for a number of the best Apple product designs of the previous three a long time, his efforts weren’t and not using a few flops. Whereas Ive was joined on the hip to Steve Jobs for years, he appeared to lose his approach a bit after the demise of the legendary Apple co-founder disadvantaged him of his “editor.”
Nonetheless, no man operates in a vacuum, and Ive’s so-called “acolytes” have been an enormous a part of what made Apple’s designs so nice. One of the vital outstanding amongst these was Bart Andre, who joined Apple alongside Jony Ive in 1992 to change into one in all his high lieutenants.
Now, plainly this longest-standing member of the Ive crew can also be leaving the corporate after almost 32 years of service.
In a breaking information report, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says sources have advised him Bart Andre, a senior industrial designer who joined Apple in 1992, has lately introduced his retirement to colleagues.
It’s unclear precisely when Andre might be leaving, however as Gurman notes, his departure will mark the “near-complete turnover” of the outdated guard that was as soon as led by Jony Ive.
To place Andre’s contributions in perspective, the Apple of 1992 was a really totally different place than the Apple we all know now. Steve Jobs was off doing his factor with Subsequent and Pixar; it could be 5 extra years earlier than he returned to the helm of the corporate he co-founded within the late seventies.
Which means that Bart Andre was concerned within the design of every thing from the ill-fated Newton and colourful iMac G3 to Apple’s best hits just like the iPod and iPhone.
“His mark on Apple merchandise is indelible — I see him on daily basis within the particulars,” stated Christopher Stringer, who used to work with Andre at Apple and now runs sound firm Syng.
Bloomberg
After Jony Ive left Apple in 2019, the design crew fractured. Ive’s successor, Evans Hankey, took over for some time, heading up industrial design (e.g., {hardware}) whereas Alan Dye dealt with the software program facet of issues. Each reported to Apple’s Chief Working Officer, Jeff Williams, which sources advised Gurman “rankled some employees” because of the perceived friction between “operations” and “design” and Williams’ unwillingness to let the crew unfold its wings on extra “exploratory initiatives,” selecting as a substitute to give attention to issues that may “have an instantaneous payoff.”
Hankey departed final yr, adopted by different high designers, together with Colin Burns, Shota Aoyagi, and Peter Russell-Clarke. This left Andre as one of many few remaining designers of a bygone period. He reportedly helped to carry the crew collectively however has seemingly determined it’s time to hold up his hat for good.
Apparently, along with being Apple’s longest-serving designer — he’s labored at Apple for longer than even CEO Tim Prepare dinner — Bart Andre is often known as one of many greatest holders of Apple patents.
Whereas Andre isn’t technically a part of the “exodus” of design expertise, as he’s retiring moderately than transferring elsewhere, solely 5 of the core designers that fashioned a part of Jony Ive’s crew of 23 are nonetheless with the corporate. Unsurprisingly, a number of of the oldsters who departed Apple have determined to affix Ive at his new agency, LoveFrom, which nonetheless does some design work for Apple on a consultancy foundation but in addition has its palms in every thing from luxurious manufacturers to Ferraris, which seemingly provides extra thrilling challenges for industrial designers who may favor to maneuver past Apple’s traditional glass and aluminum motif.