Jony Ive, the celebrity designer answerable for the long-lasting look of the iMac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, will lastly cease working with Apple.
Ive initially left Apple in 2019 to begin his personal design agency, LoveFrom. In line with a brand new article in The New York Instances, Apple signed a $100 million, multi-year contract that made it LoveFrom’s main shopper—however Ive apparently chafed at how the contract restricted him from working with a fuller vary of shoppers.
Present LoveFrom shoppers embody Airbnb and Ferrari. With Apple now not within the image, Ive may additionally do the beforehand unthinkable: design for an additional {hardware} firm. However would he really take that step, particularly given what number of different iconic (and non-tech) manufacturers are prepared to pay a hefty sum for his providers?
Tripp Mickle’s current e book, “After Steve: How Apple Turned a Trillion-Greenback Firm and Misplaced Its Soul,” described how Ive, when he was nonetheless Apple’s chief designer, ultimately burned out after repeated clashes with the corporate’s finance and advertising and marketing arms. Quite than have Ive give up outright, which could have impacted the inventory worth, Apple CEO Tim Cook dinner negotiated a compromise that noticed Ive surrender each day administration duties to give attention to product design. However that wasn’t sufficient, and ultimately Ive left to spin up his consultancy. (Apple has pushed again in opposition to the model of occasions introduced by Mickle, suggesting the e book exaggerated the corporate’s inside conflicts.)
If you happen to’re considering turning into a designer, remember that you doubtless received’t earn as a lot as Ive—not at first, a minimum of. That apart, it’s probably a profitable job. In line with Emsi Burning Glass, which collects and analyzes hundreds of thousands of job postings from throughout the nation, UI/UX designers with greater than 9 years of expertise can earn $110,000 (or extra) per yr. Product designers, in the meantime, can earn hefty six-figure salaries by working for a few of the nation’s largest tech firms.