Apple fires top industrial design position after Jony Ive and Evans Hankey leave

Apple has made a very important change to its organizational structure. According to Mark Gurman, journalist bloomberg and one of the most trusted sources when it comes to the Cupertino company, guarantees that Apple eliminated the position of head of industrial designa role that has been key to the success of many products over the years.

After the unexpected departure of Jony Quince in mid-2019, his work remained in the hands of Evans Hankey. However, last October he announced that he would leave the company in the first half of 2023, giving Apple time to find a replacement.

“The Apple design team brings together creative experts from around the world from different fields to present products that are undeniably Apple. The senior team has strong leaders with many years of experience. Evans plans to stay while we work on the transition and we would like to thank him for his leadership and contributions,” the company said at the time.

The company was expected to be looking for a new leader within a few months. In fact, it was even mentioned that Apple was in no hurry to find a replacement for him, as it pretended to be in no hurry to choose the right person. Now, however, they would stop looking.

How would such an important team function without a dedicated manager? According to Mark Gurman, an industrial design team of approximately 20 people will report directly to Jeff Williams., chief operating officer of Apple. In addition, some veteran designers will be given larger roles. Therefore, they will have more responsibilities.

Jony Ive’s departure from Apple had a bigger impact than we thought

Jony Ive, former senior vice president of design at Apple

Gurman mentions that Apple made the decision to eliminate the position of head of industrial design even before Exodus that the team has suffered in recent years. Undoubtedly, Jony Quince’s departure had a greater impact than budgeted for. Not only because of the loss of a fundamental figure for the company, but also because some designers have followed in Quince’s footsteps and joined him on his new adventure.

We must remember that Jony Ive, after saying goodbye to Apple, founded the British design studio LoveFrom. In fact, LoveFrom worked with Apple in its early years, although it seemed more like a partnership stemming from the company’s appreciation of Quince. It was not until June 2022 that both sides finally broke off relations.

bloomberg declares that about 15 industrial designers left Apple to join LoveFrom since 2015. Considering that the industrial design team is not in high demand compared to others, the fact that more than a dozen people got off the ship is not an afterthought.

Apple, fortunately, still has designers in its ranks with a lot of experience in the company. Among them are Molly Anderson, Duncan Kerr, Bart Andre, Richard Howarth, Peter Russell-Clark and Ben Shaffer. They may not be known to the vast majority at this time, but rest assured we’ll start hearing more about them as they take on more meaningful work.

Of course, at this point in time, Apple has no plans for any of those named to become the new head of industrial design. As previously stated, the entire team will answer to Jeff Williams. Due, there will be closer communication between operations and project teams; a situation that Apple’s creatives don’t quite like, apparently. Let’s see how these changes will affect the company in the coming years.