Jony Ive: Briton behind design of everything from iMac to Apple Watch becomes Apple's chief design officer

Ive is now Apple’s third C-level executive after CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri

Loulla-Mae Eleftheriou-Smith
Tuesday 26 May 2015 12:10 BST
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Ive has been promoted to the newly created role of chief design officer
Ive has been promoted to the newly created role of chief design officer (Kevork Djansezian)

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Apple has promoted the man behind the design of its most iconic devices to the newly created role of chief design officer.

Jony Ive, the British man behind the design of Apple’s best known products from the iMac to the iPod and the Apple Watch, has been promoted from his previous position of senior vice president of design at the world’s most valuable global brand, in a move that will see him shed his administrative duties and allow him to “think more freely,” he told Stephen Fry for The Telegraph.

His new role will allow him to travel more, including to Apple’s new Campus 2 which is currently still a construction site but soon to be the company’s new headquarters. The building is expected to be distinctive because “Jony’s signature will be everywhere,” Fry writes.

Among Ive’s new projects will also be the development of the Apple retail stores across the globe.

His promotion sees Richard Howarth, who Ive credits as the “lead on the iPhone” from its inception, has been appointed as the new head of industrial design, and Alan Dye, who “has a genius for human interface design,” has been made the new head of user interface. Ive will “still be in charge” of both departments, he said.

Ive designed the Bondi Blue iMac G3 computer which was released soon after Steve Jobs returned to the then ailing company. It has been widely acknowledged as the computer that helped Apple return to profit, kick-starting the company’s journey to success.

He received a CBE in 2006 for services to the design industry, and became Sir Jonathan Ive when he was knighted in 2012.

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