Jony Ive

Jony Ive (born February 27, 1967, London, England) is a British industrial designer who helped make design as central to a personal computer’s appeal as its technical performance during his time at Apple Inc. (1992–2019).

Early education and work in London

Ive studied art and design at Newcastle Polytechnic (now Northumbria University). After graduating in 1989, he cofounded Tangerine, a London-based design consultancy that counted Apple (AAPL) among its clients.

Joining Apple and rise under Steve Jobs

In 1992, Apple offered Ive a full-time position at its headquarters in Cupertino, California. He accepted, but it wasn’t until Apple cofounder Steve Jobs returned to the troubled company as CEO in 1997 and appointed Ive as senior vice president of industrial design that the real impact of Ive’s design ethos began to be felt.

Redefining the home computer

Believing that the computer had become the center of home life, Ive began creating machines that were sleek, touchable, and designed to be seen. Ease and simplicity of use—his watchwords—were achieved by devoting “obsessive attention to details that are often overlooked.”

Ive’s design for the 1998 iMac desktop computer, for example, stunned consumers and critics alike with its translucent candy colors and a seductively rounded exterior over a functional core that was itself a product of high design. The design also called for reshaping the processor to fit within the machine’s colorful shell and dramatically shrinking the computer’s footprint. Two million units were sold in 1998, helping to deliver Apple’s first profitable year since 1995.

Designing for usability and elegance

Subsequent designs reflected Ive’s continuing effort to maximize efficiency and convenience for the user. The 2000 Power Mac G4 Cube, a compact desktop computer, could be easily removed from its one-piece plastic housing for internal access, and air circulated freely through its suspended core, obviating the need for noisy fans.

The 2002 flat-panel iMac housed the processor, drives, wireless technology, and even the power supply in its 26.9-cm (10.6-inch) wide base. It became Apple’s top-selling product that year.

The 2003 PowerBook G4, launched as the world’s lightest and slimmest laptop computer, included a 43-cm (17-inch) LCD screen, a backlit keyboard, the latest wireless technology, and a bevy of other features that brought Ive’s vision of the comforts of home to computing on the road.

The iPod, iPhone, and design leadership

Ive became Apple’s senior vice president of industrial design in 2005. He continued to shape the company’s most influential products, including the iPod portable MP3 player (introduced in 2001), the iPhone smartphone (2007), and the iPad tablet computer (2010). He was also involved in the development of the Apple Watch and contributed to the design of Apple Park, the company’s headquarters in Cupertino.

Awards and honors

Ive’s work earned widespread recognition both within the design world and beyond. In 2003, he was named Designer of the Year by the Design Museum in London for his role in developing the 2002 flat-panel iMac. The award, worth £25,000 ($41,000), is given annually to a designer born or based in the United Kingdom.

By 2008, he had received six Black Pencils from D&AD (Design and Art Direction), among the most prestigious accolades in the design industry. In 2012, D&AD named Ive and his team the best design studio of the past 50 years.

That same year, he was knighted for services to design and enterprise, becoming a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE). He had previously been appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2006.

Later years at Apple and transition to LoveFrom

In 2015, he became chief design officer, handing over much of his day-to-day management responsibilities. He reassumed direct control of product design in 2017.

Two years later, Ive left Apple and, with Marc Newson, founded the design firm LoveFrom. Apple was among its first clients. A partnership with Ferrari to design the carmaker’s first electric vehicle followed in 2021. The next year, the contract between LoveFrom and Apple was not renewed, ending Ive’s three-decade-long involvement with the company.

In 2023, Ive and LoveFrom created the official emblem for the coronation of Charles III.

OpenAI’s acquisition of IO

In 2025, OpenAI acquired IO, the artificial intelligence (AI) hardware start-up Ive founded in 2024 with former Apple colleagues Evans Hankey, Tang Tan, and Scott Cannon. The deal, valued at $6.5 billion, made Ive responsible for design and creative direction at both IO and OpenAI, while his independent studio, LoveFrom, remained a collaborator.

The acquisition reflected a mutual goal between Ive and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to move beyond conventional devices like smartphones and develop new hardware designed for artificial general intelligence. Ive, who has voiced misgivings about the constant connectivity enabled by devices he helped create, framed the project as an opportunity to rethink how human beings interact with technology.