APPLE HAS COLLABORATED with
the Project(RED) charity for many
years, but Ive teamed up with Australian
designer Mark Newson to create this one–
off Leica camera. It took a team of 50
engineers 270 days to build the only model.
The designers didn’t hold back, going
through 561 prototypes until they were
happy. Luckily, the buyer was happy with
the Leica Red too, paying a princely $1.8m
for it at Jony and Mark’s (RED) auction.
THE 2013 “TRASH
can” Mac Pro was Ive
unleashed: a groundbreaking
design that no one had ever
seen before. Everything
was designed to fit into
a cylindrical case, with a
single fan at the bottom
exhausting hot air out of
the top. It encapsulated
radical, sleek Apple design.
Unfortunately, that quest
for the perfect form factor
meant Mac Pro didn’t have
the thermal headroom for
Apple to swap in more
powerful components.ONE OF THE first
devices Ive was
tasked with working on
when he joined Apple
was the Newton
MessagePad. These
days it’s remembered as
a dismal failure, but it
was ahead of its time.
Limited by the technical
constraints of the era,
Ive helped design a
forward–thinking device
that just wasn’t ready
for prime time.LEICA RED 2013
MAC PRO 2013
NEWTON MESSAGEPAD 1993
EVERYTHING WE
MAKE I COULD
DESCRIBE AS BEING
PARTIALLY WRONG,
BECAUSE IT’S NOT
PERFECT.”
Ive on the “hockey puck” mouse, from
a New Yorker interview, March 2015.
THERE IS
BEAUTY WHEN
SOMETHING WORKS AND
IT WORKS INTUITIVELY.”
Ive interview on BBC Radio 4 at Queen’s
Jubilee arts celebration, May 2012.LOVED USING IT
AND IT BECAME
A VERY POWERFUL TOOL
THAT HELPED ME DESIGN
AND CREATE.”
Ive describing his first Mac at the Cambridge
Union, November 2018.WE TRY TO
DEVELOP
PRODUCTS THAT SEEM
SOMEHOW INEVITABLE.”
Ive on Apple’s design ethos, Daily
Telegraph interview, November 2012.Image rights: Apple. maclife.com SEP 2019 39
Jony Ive