
Marc Newson to Join Apple’s Design Team - stephenc_c_
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2014/09/marc-newson-apple-jony-ive
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state
It's really difficult for me to see Newson's work as anything but very, very
anachronistic. His formal language seems to me to be hopelessly trapped in the
90s.

That being said, his range is impressive. He's capable of working in many
different scales and materials. Beside the fact that he's a friend of Ive's,
this seems like the best argument for him being a good fit at Apple.

~~~
aaronbrethorst
> His formal language seems to me to be hopelessly trapped in the 90s.

Can you elaborate on this?

~~~
state
Sure, a bit.

Excessive rounded edges, bright pop-colors and lots of plastic seem to me a
staple of the 90s. CAM techniques were just starting to hit their stride, so
the work from the period often feels like it's just a direct product of the
software. Newson's work looks to me like it popped out of a rendering on a
Silicon Graphics machine. Karim Rashid, Greg Lyn are easy references. There
are many others I can't think of.

It's not just that his work fits the style, but that even his recent work
still employs the same techniques.

~~~
alaskamiller
Concur, but 90s/00s aesthetics is rebounding back in the fashion cycle. The
new design taste can be palpable to the prime demo, teens.

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Bud
Slideshow of some of Newson's designs:

[http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2012/09/marc-newson-
design...](http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2012/09/marc-newson-designs-
pentax)

Newson's timepiece designs, from his own website:

[http://www.marc-
newson.com/ProjectCategorys.aspx?GroupSelect...](http://www.marc-
newson.com/ProjectCategorys.aspx?GroupSelected=0&Category=Timepieces)

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johansch
I guess this is a sign of Apple moving more into fashion.

~~~
capkutay
This along with signing the CEO of Burberry and Yves Saint Laurent. Clearly,
they're not trying to win the battle for best tech gadget which Samsung and
others have flung themselves into in an attempt to beat Apple products.

I'm guessing things like the iWatch, phones, and tables will be fashionable,
high margin products built to

1) be easy to use 2) look very good and stylish

rather than have the most features...

~~~
Igglyboo
Apple products:

1) are very pretty/trendy/fashionable

2) have a very high build quality(no cheap plastic, lots of aluminum)

3) "just work"

Honestly 2 and 3 are why I stick with them. After owning a mbp and iphone I
can't go back to the crappy plastic that every piece of tech seems to be made
out of these days, and I never have to worry about something not working on my
phone or laptop like I had to with my countless android devices.

When I need to get work done I'll open up my vm or boot into
ubuntu/fedora/etc. but other than that I don't need/care about endless
customizability that android/linux offer me. I want something works and is
easy to use.

~~~
boyaka
I agree with your 3 points but I would add one more that isn't positive:

4) designed to the limits of failure, low design quality/resilience

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dewitt
If I were running Apple, I'd be more worried about becoming great at online
services (cloud, auth, security, identity) rather than doubling down on their
expertise in fashion and user interface.

This is probably just some poorly timed high-profile acquisitions (Beats) and
hires (Dre, Iovine, Ahrendts, Newson), though. I'm sure this occurs to them as
well...

~~~
WoodenChair
Design is much more than "fashion" and "user interface." Then again people who
don't appreciate design tend to be down on Apple more generally...

~~~
Igglyboo
I'd have to agree sadly. "Use android you can do way more stuff with it and
install custom ROMS". Too bad they all look like shit, especially the vendor
specific UIs.

Google really needs to start working on the Android UI and forcing vendors to
use it, windows phone/iOS blow android out of the water when it comes to
design.

~~~
ajizzle
Also, Android should really start restricting their users to a certain screen
size. Preferably very very small. This is a basic design principle that they
really should have done their homework on.

